They originally wanted to marry in Mexico, but COVID scuppered those plans. Not wanting to wait until they were able to travel again, Maria and Caden started looking closer to where they live in Toronto and found Pop-Up Chapel Co, who were doing an event to host eight weddings in one day! The best part was all the décor and flowers was already there, and the officiant was sorted by the chapel meaning it was a truly fuss-free wedding.
“Our plan was to marry in Mexico as it is the half way between Canada (where we live) and Colombia (where I am originally from)”. However, as many other couples affected by COVID, we had to cancel. We really just wanted to get married though and to have a party with all our family and friends together. This is why when we found out about Pop-Up Chapel we just went for it! After being together for so many years we just wanted to call each other husband and wife because we felt the other one deserve that title.”
“Doing our wedding in this way made us realise that no-one cares about 90% of the things you are going to spend money on, we’re so glad we kept it simple! It was by pure coincidence the entire theme of the ceremony was inspired by Frida Kahlo and Mexican colours. It couldn’t have been more perfect.”
The short and sweet ceremony was able to be personalised with their self-written vows and using gender-neural terms. “We asked the officiant to simply declare us ‘Married’ without mentioning anything about Mr/ Mrs., or religious references”, Maria continued. “At the end of our ceremony our cousins where waiting outside with their car decorated with ‘Just Married’ signs. This was a very nice surprise since we were not expecting it at all!”
They then had a lunch with their guests. “Since we got married on a Thursday at midday we went to Cluny Bistro and booked a private room for our guests. We had amazing food and drinks. The staff were very helpful and we couldn’t have enjoyed our day without their help. Once we finished our meal and drinks we wrapped up! We couldn’t do much due to COVID restrictions but we still had a great time and we also saved a lot of money. We wouldn’t change anything (given the same circumstances). We are grateful to have had a celebration with our close family.”
