A Wedding in a Castle! ... in Canada!

     

It's not every day you go to a wedding in a castle!

     This has been the summer of special weddings!

     And we went to another one: This time in Toronto, Canada.  Our nephew Sean was getting married to the love of his life, Vanessa.  This particular wedding had a twist, it was in a castle!

     We flew to Toronto with our daughter Beka specifically to attend the event, and nearly missed the flight because of traffic in Portland.  (I wrote about this recently, how bad the traffic jams can be.  This is not exactly news, but there was a lot of response about the traffic blog post.)

     We arrived in Toronto early on Tuesday morning, following the overnight red eye flight.  We touched base with the other family members and such, and promptly made our way to the AirBNB accommodations and took a long nap.  We awoke in the afternoon and went for a walk to procure a few groceries for the apartment. 

     There was a meal that night for the wedding attenders at a local Chinese restaurant in the Toronto Chinatown which was pretty lively.  In fact, the restaurant was packed and really busy and had great food!  

     There was one moment of emotional turmoil at the restaurant when our grand nieces from England realized that the fish and crabs in the large aquarium were there to be caught and eaten.  When a guy fished out some of the seafood and it went into a pot, they were very upset.  Life can seem cruel to a small child. 

     We had a good time socializing with both sides of the family. 

 Although it was a very busy time, we were able to connect with Sean that evening and spend some time together after the meal. 

     

A brief chance to sight see in Toronto 

     The next day was the wedding and since it was an evening event, we were able to take advantage of the time to have a visit to Toronto.  I have only been there once very briefly years ago (Fiona and Beka not much either) so we made our way downtown on the subway and looked around.  

     

     Toronto is right on Lake Ontario and has a vibrant downtown with a lot to see and do.  We did some sightseeing, had coffee, went to an outdoor train museum, walked along the lakefront, and had lunch at a nice sidewalk restaurant.  

     The weather was hot and humid, and more than once there was a thunderstorm with an intense downpour, which quickly went away.  

     

     We made our way back to our apartment, which was pretty funky and quirky, as these pictures show.  It was small but had a lot of character.  

     

      

     The picture below shows Beka helping Fiona with a wardrobe issue as they were getting ready for the wedding.  They take longer to get ready for a wedding than I do.   Of course, when they're done they look a whole lot better than I do. 

    

      The apartment was in a great location, near shops and parks.  In fact, we were able to walk to the wedding around 5:00 since it was so close and it was a nice day.

The Wedding

     The marriage ceremony would take place that evening at the castle called Casa Loma.  It is a full sized castle about a hundred years old, and was rather impressive both inside and out.  

     Since Sean was born in Scotland there was a bagpipe player there, and he and his brother Paul were wearing kilts.  Sean is a fairly recent transplant to Canada.  

     His wife comes from a Philippine background so there were several there from her side of the family.  It was a real global affair and many came from far away to attend, including us!

     The ceremony was simple but stylish, and included a Philippine ritual or two.  The dinner that followed was top quality in the elegant dining hall.  

     There was a real mix of people there.  Following the dinner, there was considerable social time and dancing, and a few toasts to the new bride and groom.   

     At one point, Beka and I went outside to catch some fresh air, as the evening was quite muggy, and we were surprised to find ourselves in the middle of another torrential cloud burst of heavy rain.  It definitely cooled things off.  Fifteen minutes later it was dry.  

     They even brought out reinforcements of food later in the party and reception - good stuff!

     We were able to walk home after the conclusion late at night, and managed to make it home without getting wet, which was an item of concern!   

     All in all, it was a great time. 

     

     I think this more or less concludes the wedding season for the year.  We leave for another trip on Saturday.