Debra and Nucu wanted a wedding day that was classic and elegant but also showed their playful personality. With that in mind, they also wanted a huge party! That’s exactly what they got with loads of DIY and help from family and friends that traveled to be with them for the day…

Bride & Groom: Debra Matsumoto and Nucu Radu

Wedding Date: July 28, 2018

Ceremony & Reception Location: Gunnery Room in the Delta London Armouries (deltahotellondon.com)

“We live in Toronto, but wanted to be able to have both of our families with us. Nucu’s parents live in Romania and traveled to Canada for the wedding. My parents live in London and my mom requires full-time nursing care so we made the decision to have the wedding close to her so everyone could be there. The Delta had two ballrooms but we chose the Gunnery because it showcases the rustic brick that is part of the original historic armoury. It is wheelchair accessible which made it easier to accommodate mom.  All four of our parents and our siblings were with us for the wedding, and it’s probably the only time in our lives that we will ever be all together. Our friends and other family were really understanding and never batted an eyelash about travelling to London to be part of our day. It was a bonus that the venue was at a hotel so guests could crash without having to worry about transportation.” – D

Colour Palette: Ivory, blush and grey with pops of fuchsia as the accent colour.

Theme: “We wanted something classic and elegant (with the ivories and blush) but also wanted to show the bright, playful spirit of our personalities (with the pops of fuchsia)…we made it very clear to our guests in advance that a great party was a huge priority.” – D&N

Flowers: “Our flowers were from Sweet Stems Floral Designs (sweetstemsflorals.com) who are based out of the GTA. We wanted to use lots of ivory and blushes in garden roses and peonies.” – D

Décor: “Our friends and family did our décor. They did lots of simple draping in ivory and champagne.” – D

Fav décor element: “When we started planning our reception, we already knew we wanted to get our cake from Amadeus Patisserie in Thornhill. We’ve been enjoying their cakes for years and always admired the displays they had in their shop. We wanted it to complement the rest of the décor, so our florist teamed up with them to decorate the cake with real flowers.” – D&N

DIY: “YES! Most of our wedding was DIY. Instead of a guest book, we asked guests to sign a little wooden barrel that is normally used to store a traditional Romanian drink called tuica. We thought it was a nice twist on a traditional guest activity. Deb designed the invitations, program, menu, kissing menu, card box and guest favours.” – N

“Nucu and our friends built all of the framing for the draping and were busy in the room before and after all of the festivities setting up and tearing everything down. The men were in their tuxes with power drills and ladders while the girls were busily arranging sashes and steaming drapery in their gowns.” – D

“We loved the rustic brick walls of the Gunnery Room, but didn’t love the decorations it came with. To give us the soft back-drop for our ceremony, our friends built a huge arched frame to accommodate the rounded arch ceiling in the venue – our neighbours were very curious about it when they stood it up in our backyard! They also built a small arch that twinkled with soft white lights and crowned with a flower arrangement by the florist. We stood under it for our ceremony and sat underneath it at our sweetheart table at the reception.” – D&N

Invitations/stationery: Designed by the Deb on Vistaprint.ca

Cake: Amadeus Patisserie (amadeuspatisserie.com) in Thornhill

Wedding favours: “Wine bottle stoppers styled to look like the LOVE sculpture by Robert Indiana. Wrapped with custom message by the Deb.” – N

Groomsmen and Groom’s attire: Moore’s Clothing for Men (mooresclothing.com)

Bridesmaids attire and accessories: Bridesmaids dresses from David’s Bridal (davidsbridal.ca). Jewelry by J.A.M Jewels(etsy.com/ca/shop/JamJewels)

Bride’s dress and accessories: Wedding gown was Morilee by Madeline Gardner. Purchased at Best For Bride (bestforbride.com) Toronto. Shoes (heels) were Christian Louboutin Pigalle Follies from Christian Louboutin. Shoes (flats) were Manolo Blahnik Hangisi flats from David’s Footwear in Toronto. Earrings were David’s Bridal.” – D

DJ: Music Central (musiccentral.ca)

Hair & make-up: Taz Hair Co. (tazhair.com)

Photography: “Deb posted a recommendation request on her Facebook page. A number of people gave recommendations, including HRM Photography (hrmphotography.com) where we met Niki Patel. After having a face to face meeting with her, we knew she was the right photographer for us. After zipping around Toronto with Niki during our engagement photos, we already knew she was someone special. In addition to saving the day during our ceremony, she even ducked in for a few quick pics when the bridal party snuck over to the Runt Club (the bride’s old favourite hang-out spot when she lived in London) for a mid-day drink after hair and make-up!  Since the venue is right downtown, it didn’t have the romantic outdoor elements we were hoping for. So, Niki whisked us over to London’s Old Courthouse; a beautiful castle located at the forks of the Thames River. We were thrilled with the location and got some of our favourite wedding photos of the day. We are so happy that she also became such an important part of our wedding.” – D&N

Biggest challenge: “Coordinating a wedding in another city was challenging. It involved a lot of driving back and forth and meetings with vendors by email/phone/video conference. The biggest challenge was definitely building and arranging the DIY décor. It took a small army of friends and family, turning our house into a bit of a factory in the final days, but in the end it was worth it because we ended up with something that was unique to us that came from a lot of love and care.” – D&N

Fav wedding memory: “Walking down the aisle with dad. He was so nervous and proud! As we progressed down the aisle I got to see surprise after surprise: a room full of the people I love the most (all crying), a gorgeous alter that was DIY decorated by an army of friends, seeing my stepson crying (in a good way) and of course seeing Nucu beaming as we approached.” – Deb

“Seeing my son immediately following the ceremony. He was looking for us with tears in his eyes. When he saw us, he ran over in tears sobbing “I’M JUST SO HAPPY!”. The three of us hugged forever…it was amazing.” – Nucu

“We had a wedding ring debacle during the ceremony! Our little ring bearer Harvey lost both of our wedding bands on his way down the aisle! He dropped Deb’s coming down the aisle and Nucu’s when he got to the front. It was one of those things that some would interpret as a disaster, but we all thought it was hilarious. Mind you, it may have been less hilarious had we not found the rings! Even though they rolled away, our guests found them and our photographer Niki was able to discreetly run them up to the alter without anyone noticing. It makes for a great story and it’s cool that Niki was a part of it!” – D&N

Advice from one couple to another: “People always say don’t sweat the small stuff, but feeling stressed is inevitable. We sweated about some small stuff but never got hung up on it…that was key. We also took a few steps back at the wedding to appreciate all the wonderful things about it: all the good stuff that came together, and how great it was to celebrate with the people we care about the most. Get a good night’s sleep the night before and wake up earlier that morning.  It’s a long day, but it will fly by.” – D&N

MORE ABOUT HRM PHOTOGRAPHY | Energy, excitement and fabulous love stories are contagious at award-winning wedding photography studio, HRM Photography (more details in their review in The Ring, here). To find out more, email HRM Photography directly using the form below. 🙂