Kelsea and Mike: Infinity Italian Wedding

Kelsea and Mike, what can I say? Their Vintage + Glam Italian wedding at the Infinity centre was everything. I genuinely didn’t know what to expect for their day but what awaited me was more than I could have imagined. When I met Kelsea and Mike at their engagement shoot, I could tell right off the bat they were gonna be such cool clients, and I was not wrong. Here’s a preview of their fabulous Italian Wedding.

I arrived to the girls getting ready at the hotel only to find Kelsea getting her hair done by the awesome Skye from JetBlack Hair Salon. The room was pretty tame as the girls were mingling about and I turned the corner to see a STUNNING dress hanging, just waiting for me to look at all her glory. This amazing vintage looking beige-rose gown, adorned with crystals and bead work and then there was the cape. Oh the cape. Matching colour, over the shoulder cape with more crystals and pink feathers. Literally the Gatsby Glam vibe of my dreams. Kelsea had her details all set out for me to ogle over as well. I couldn’t get over how beautiful even the details were, the earrings were stars (she even got a variety of star earrings for all her girls), the invites perfect, and the crown. Omg guys, she wore a crown of stars. Like, I just can’t, I’m fan girl-ing over Kelsea’s style and vibe.

But of course my favourite pieces were their rings. I’m a huge fan of yellow gold and all three rings were a beautiful yellow gold. Kelsea’s pear shaped engagement ring followed by round medium size diamond band was such an awesome combo. And Mike’s soft gold band complimented so perfectly. A perfect match just like Kelsea and Mike.

When Kelsea’s mum, Roma, arrived she pretty much insta cried seeing her daughter all done up. They shared a hug that almost had me in tears. I knew Roma would be a puddle for most of the day, and I love her for it. Now before getting Kelsea in her gown, Roma noticed her daughter may have burned while being in the sun a little and she may have been peeling a wee bit on her back. So she went to work and made sure her daughters back would look fabulous in her low cut gown. No one would ever know. Except for me, the mums, the bridesmaids and well… Now you guys. As the girls got into their dresses, we realized a few of the straps were not altered properly and not fitting on the girls. Courtney, one of the awesome bridesmaids was like ‘’it’s cause I don’t have boobs, I have Fabric Puckers!’’ and I just about died laughing. That will stick with me forever. And so, off to my second job as a fixer upper I went. Grabbed the Safety pins Sarah brought and went to work to fix the straps as best I could. Honestly, I don’t think anyone even noticed my safety pin job ;).

We did have a few other delays but nothing we couldn’t manage. I mean, what wedding doesn’t have delays, honestly? We were due to head to the Arboretum for first look and photos for 1pm but we were still figuring out rides for everyone and so I hopped to it and organized things on the phone with Mike. And so I took the bride and two of her bridesmaids and drove our booties on over to the arboretum.

There was no parking when I arrived and so I may have parked ‘’illegally’’ but I had to do it for the wedding! I found our groom and brought him over to get ready for the first look with his soon to be wife. Kelsea exited the car, full smile as she saw her groom standing just a few feet away. As she walked over and tapped on his shoulder, she held back tears. Mike turned and the biggest smile just spread across his face. I don’t even think words came out. He just stood there looking Kelsea up and down, in awe. He told her how beautiful she looked, they kissed and hugged and just laughed amongst themselves.

We wandered around the arboretum doing all the beautiful portraits we could squeeze in our short time together before the ceremony. The family photos went so quick and easy, I was honestly impressed with how organized both of their families were. They were all smiles too, you could feel the joy coming from them all towards Kelsea and Mike. Remember how I said Roma was going to be a puddle? Yeah when she did her individual photos with Kelsea, she insta cried again haha. We continued with the wedding party photos in front of a beautiful Willow Tree. When I informed them they would be doing a little jog for me they were all surprised but it ended up being a great time and we got some amazing smiles from everyone. We ended our time at the Arboretum with Kelsea and Mike’s portrait just letting them have a moment together before the craziness of the rest of their day.

We arrived at the Infinity Convention Centre a little early so that our couple could go hide in the suite as guests arrived. I haven’t done an indoor wedding at a convention centre in years at this point but I wasn’t disappointed with how beautiful the space was. The chairs had white chair covers on them, at the front of the aisle was a white draped backdrop with beautiful bouquets as well as white wooden pillars holding the candles that would be lit during the ceremony. Guests arrived and took their seats, shyly at the back until I may have spoken up very loudly and invited more people to make their way to the front. Mike and his Groomsthem, a term that Sam and Dan came up with during our portrait session which I LOVED, and it will stick, made their way to the front and it was time to get things going.

Kelsea walked down the aisle with both of her parents, she was all smiles and dare I say, a blushing bride as guests turned to look at her. Mike’s eyes lit up and it was like seeing her for the first time all over again. Their ceremony was very personal as it was officiated by Kelsea’s friend and spiritual practitioner, Jesse. They had a candle ceremony where both mum’s, Roma and Dores, each lit a candle and they lit the larger candle together to symbolize both families coming together. And Kelsea’s friend and bridesmaids, Sarah, read a beautiful poem. Kelsea and Mike wrote personal vows which they read to each other and to my surprise, neither of them cried, but the parents sure did. Jane ended the ceremony by tying her scarf around their hands in a knot ceremony. Once they were bound together, they were pronounced husband and wife and sealed things with a kiss.

They quickly ran up to their suite to hide away during their cocktail until their grand entrance but I made sure they had some drinks to keep themselves hydrated ;). Cocktail hour was fabulous with guests mingling about and drinks in hand. There were smiles just about everywhere I turned and it was so fun to walk around and capture everyone enjoying themselves. I snuck into the reception space to get some detail shots and it too did not disappoint. Sage Design did a fabulous job dressing the room and giving it that grand Gatsby vibe. The tables had three different centrepieces with varying heights, my favourite being the tall gold vase with feathers and flowers. Velvet green table numbers, candles all over the place and of course, the head table with white drapery and a chandelier right where our bride and groom would sit. Let’s not forget the amazing stage set up by the dance floor where the band would jam the night away later on.

The reception was honestly just as fabulous as the rest of the day. Guests walked in and were wowed by the space just as I was. They looked at the beautiful seating chart and quickly made their way to their seats so that we could bring our happy couple in. The Giamberardino’s officially made their way in to a standing ovation and they treated their guests to a kiss and a boogie down to their seats. Throughout the evening, Kelsea and Mike walked around the Infinity Center, table to table, to greet all of their guests and thank them for coming to their special day. Some guests they hadn’t seen in a long time and you could tell by the hugs they were giving. Weaved into the evening were speeches by many of their loved ones including Mike’s dad, Kelsea’s parents and Dan and Marisa. My favourite though had to be Roma’s, Kelsea’s mum.

She talked about Kelsea’s journal which she just so happened to find. These were from about 15 years ago and Kelsea wrote about her perfect man, a checklist if you will. A few points of content had to be; Must like good bands like Green Day, Queen and Led Zepplin. Be Ripped. Brown hair, long-ish with ‘’wings’’. Must be kind and hold doors open. Not be afraid to kill bugs. Be tan. Need to listen to music. Always be polite, but not too polite or proper because that’s boring. And as Roma read all of these off, everything was checked. Well I mean, seeing Mike now I wouldn’t see ‘’wings’’ on him but hey, you never know haha.

Everyone was laughing and Kelsea, although a little red (I mean, who isn’t embarrassed by what they wrote in their journals as a teen?), she couldn’t help but burst into laughter as well looking at her husband. A match made in heaven and a serendipitous meeting indeed.

As the dance floor opened, Kelsea and Mike opted for a non-traditional first dance. Instead, they performed a song together to get the party started. Mike on drums, and Kelsea on the keyboard and vocals. She explained that there’s this song she loved from a Montreal band called Stars called: ”My Favourite book”. How appropriate they would be called stars and the theme was Gatsby and stars. They performed absolutely beautifully and the song was stunning. Mike killed it on the drums and Kelsea was perfect. I was in awe of their talent and so were their guests.

After their performance, they jumped on the dance floor, dance for what I think was 30 seconds before inviting all their guests to join them. And it never stopped from that point on. Their live band, Sway, popped on stage and got everyone going. I’m usually not a huge fan of bands at weddings (I love bands, that’s not what I’m saying), because I find it hard for them to get the crowd dancing because often times people want you know, pop, hip hop, r&b to dance to. But Sway were MAGNIFICENT. Like please, hire them for all your wedding events because they did a phenomenal job at keeping the crowd dancing. They were just so good. They even played a traditional Italian song and dance that got the even the eldest of the guests on the dance floor just kicking it! It was seriously such an amazing time.

There isn’t much around the Infinity Center itself so when it came time to do a night shot, I snuck Kelsea and Mike upstairs and got creative with a Mirror across the way. And what came of it was spectacular. As we made our way down, Roma met up with us and I was told she would totally adopt it. I will take that as the highest compliment. I do truly believe I am now an honorary Italian!

I ended my night by putting my camera away when it was time. Grabbing a drink and dancing with all of these amazing people. I even got to go visit Courtney’s amazingly Fabulous RV (she’s driving across Canada, East coast to West coast, to her new home) that she renovated and it was truly amazing. Basically, I had an amazing time as a vendor so I can only assume everyone else had a fabulous time and enjoyed their night to the fullest.

Kelsea and Mike, THANK YOU! Thank you for being uniquely you. For doing things your way. For having a vision. And for being the coolest clients a girl could ask for. I hope your honeymoon in Italy is seriously a dream and all I can say is that I’m grateful to have met you. Xo

Vendors:
Venue: Infinity Convention Centre
Hair: JetBlack Hair and Studio, Skye and Ilona
Makeup: Lyz Plant MUA
Wedding Dress and accessories: FoundYouAdornments (ETSY)
Flowers and Décor: Sage Designs
Band: Sway
Stationary: Minted
Photography: Samantha Danis Photography