Back to the Barn

A few years ago, we worked on the amazing wedding of Kaleigh and Iain that took place at the family farm about 90 km from Toronto. The jaw-dropping ceremony took place at 4:30 in the afternoon, just as the fading light was streaming in through the slats in the side of the barn. Magic. So when Kaleigh's sister got married recently, we knew we had to do something different, given that a lot of the same friends and family would be in attendance. This time, the marriage itself took place at a quaint Anglican Church in a nearby village. Afterwards, guests came back to the farm where the barn played a totally different role: as host of an intimate, 4-course feast cooked up by North 44.

Celebrating the end-of summer was our goal, both in the decor and in the menu. Hundreds of battery-operated pillar candles lined the walls inside the barn (and lest you think I'm joking, I assure you, there were hundreds -- many were actually lit the day before as they were put in place; some as high as 16 feet up in the air). We couldn't risk having real candles anywhere near all that wood...

I snapped this photo of the North 44 chefs in our host's vegetable patch, picking the tomatoes that would be featured in the first course. Sometimes having the iPhone in my pocket comes in really handy...

And here are the fruits of their labours -- these tomatoes were like candy, they were so sweet and ripe. North 44 Executive Chef Sash Simpson was ecstatic with the bounty he got to create with. There really is no better a time of year for tomatoes, is there?

I thought this photo of the makeshift kitchen, tucked into the drive shed next to the barn, was fun to share... there is so much charm and history on the property that even the kitchen was cool. Take note of the overhead lamp shade -- yes, it's a metal bucket!

Finally, the view from outside while dinner was going on inside. It was actually quite chilly at this point in the evening and I begged Storey Wilkins to go outside to snap this photo. So nippy, in fact, that some guests voiced their displeasure that the big barn door was open, so Storey had to work very quickly!

I love this photo showing the light radiating from within the barn and am thrilled that it was a completely different effect from the last time we held a celebration within it's storied walls...