Over the past 15 years in the wedding industry, we've had the pleasure of working in some of the most beautiful wedding venues in Toronto. On this page, you will find pictures of our floral and decor designs in some of the most iconic wedding venues in the city. We hope you enjoy this blog post and it helps you find the right venue that truly speaks to you and your wedding vision. 😍 Check back at this page in the coming months, we will be added more venues to our list.
Windsor Arms Hotel Toronto
Windsor Arms Hotel: https://windsorarmshotel.com/
Location: 18 St Thomas St, Toronto, ON M5S 3E7
Photography: AGI Studio
Floral & Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
Whistle Bear Golf & Country Club
Whistle Bear Golf Club: https://whistlebear.ca/
Location: 1316 Dickie Settlement Rd, Cambridge, ON N3H 4R8
Photography: Unknown
Floral & Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
Liberty Grand Toronto
Liberty Grand Toronto: https://libertygrand.com/
Location: 25 British Columbia Road, Exhibition Place, Toronto, ON M6K 3C3
Photography: https://samanthaongphoto.com/
Floral & Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
Guild Inn Estate Toronto
Guild Inn Estate: https://guildinnestate.com/
Location: 201 Guildwood Pkwy, Scarborough, ON M1E 1P5
Photography: AGI Studio
Floral & Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
King Edward Hotel Toronto
King Edward Hotel: https://www.omnihotels.com
Location: 37 King St E, Toronto, ON M5C 1E9
Photography: AGI Studio
Floral & Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
Four Seasons Hotel Toronto
Four Seasons Hotel Toronto: https://www.fourseasons.com/toronto/
Location: 60 Yorkville Ave, Toronto, ON M4W 0A4
Photography: AGI Studio
Floral & Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
Graydon Hall Manor Toronto
Graydon Hall Manor: https://www.graydonhall.com/ Location: 185 Graydon Hall Dr, North York, ON M3A 3B1 Photography: AGI Studio and Ikonica (this gallery consists of 2 separate weddings at the same location) Floral & Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
The Estates Of Sunnybrook Toronto
The Estates of Sunnybrook: https://estatesofsunnybrook.com/ Location: 2075 Bayview Ave, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5 Photography: AGI Studio Floral & Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
Scarboro Golf Club Toronto
Location: 321 Scarborough Golf Club Rd, Scarborough, ON M1J 3H2
Photographer: AGI Studio
Flowers & Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
The Manor (By Peter & Paul
Palais Royal Toronto
Venue: https://www.palaisroyale.ca/
Location:1601 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON M6K 3C1
Photography: AGI Studio
Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
The Hallcrown
Venue: The Hallcrown
Location: 5 Hallcrown Pl, North York, ON M2J 4Y4
Photography: James Paul Correia
Flowers: Weddings By Ardenian
Old Mill Toronto
Location: 9 Old Mill Rd, Etobicoke, ON M8X 1G5
Photographer: Unknown
Flowers: Weddings By Ardenian
Spencer's At The Waterfront
Venue: https://spencers.ca/
Location: 1340 Lakeshore Rd, Burlington, ON L7S 1B1
Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
Casa Loma Toronto
Venue: https://casaloma.ca/
Location: 1 Austin Terrace, Toronto, ON M5R 1X8
Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
Hacienda Sarria
Location: 1254 Union St, Kitchener, ON N2H 6K4
Photography: AGI Studio
Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
Eagles Nest Golf Club Toronto
Location: 10000 Dufferin St, Maple, ON L6A 1S3
Photography: Ialam Photography
Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
Thompson Hotel Toronto
Photography • Lisa Mark Photography, Planning, Creative Direction, and Production • Rainbow Chan Weddings, Floral Design • Weddings by Ardenian, Venue • Thompson Hotel Toronto, Stationery Design • Small Impressions, Gowns and Veils • Vera Wang Toronto, Shoes • Rene Caovilla, Jewellery • Kim Drosdick Jewellery, Makeup and Hair • Maggie Ng, Formal Wear • Garrison Bespoke, Chair Rentals • Divine Furniture Rentals, Lines and Napkins • Around The Table, Prisma Decor • Umbra, Plates and Flatware • Event Rental Group, Female Model • Haute Agency, Male Model • Lang Models, Cake and Dessert Design • Truffle Cake and Pastry, Videography • R2C Films
Ritz Carlton Hotel Wedding
Venue: https://www.ritzcarlton.com/
Location: 183 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON M5J 2H5
Photography: https://www.francesmorency.com/
Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
The Doctors House
Location: 21 Nashville Rd, Kleinburg, ON L0J 1C0
Photographer: Found In Love Photography
Flowers: Weddings By Ardenian
Harding Estate Toronto
Location: 2700 Lakeshore Rd W, Mississauga, ON L5J 0B4
Photography: https://avenue-photo.com/
Decor: Weddings By Ardenian
When it comes to planning a wedding, your venue is probably going to be one of the biggest influencers of your overall wedding theme and style. After all, your whole flower and décor vision is designed to improve the overall atmosphere of your wedding venue. In this article, we will go in-depth on some practical strategies you can use to find the perfect venue for your wedding day. So, let’s get started.
Types of Wedding Venues
One of the best ways to find wedding venues is to first think of the specific type of venue that you need for your wedding. The type of venue you choose will vary depending on the type of reception you are planning to have. For example, if you have a lot of family and friends coming over from around the world, you may find it more convenient to host your wedding at a popular hotel in downtown Toronto.
Hotels tend to have some of the best event spaces in the industry and they are very convenient because your guests can simply go up to their rooms once the wedding is over, this means people can party and not have to worry about getting home later at night. Also having your wedding venue at a prestigious hotel in Toronto can help give it, that touristy vibe and this will show in the pictures.
Most hotel wedding venues have lots of great areas for wedding photography and if your photographer happens to run out of ideas, you can always walk/drive to another location in Toronto. Tons of great spots in Toronto for your photographer to capture amazing shots of you either during your wedding or after. Another added benefit of hosting your wedding at a hotel venue is that sometimes the hotels might be willing to give your friends and family, better pricing since you are doing a lot of transactions with them. Although this can vary by seasonality.
Banquet Halls: This is another popular option for brides getting married, banquet halls are a good option if you want to stay on the affordable side while having a very large guest size. If you venture outside of Toronto and try to find a banquet hall in the nearby cities, chances are you’ll find slightly better pricing. This is a great option if you are having a wedding with all of your guests being local. When it comes to choosing a city, it helps to think about choosing something central within the GTA so that your reception can be as close as possible to everyone. If you find that majority of your guests live on one side of the city, then it might make more sense to find a venue in that specific area. You have endless options to choose from, almost every single city within the GTA has its own selection of amazing banquet halls for you to choose from.
Photo by Ikonica
Unique Wedding Venues: If you have a smaller guest size and you have the budget to splurge on something more upscale, consider looking for castle/manor-style wedding venues in Toronto. There are lots of amazing options that come to mind, for example, Graydon Hall Manor, Estates of Sunnybrook, Casa Loma, Hacienda Sariaa and many more.
How To Save Money On Your Wedding Venue in Toronto
When it comes to saving money on your wedding venue, there are a few things you can do, booking 1-2 years in advance can certainly help you save some money and make sure that you have a space to host your wedding. A lot of Chinese couples who plan really luxurious weddings, often host their weddings during a weekday rather than a weekend. For example, Monday weddings are really popular in the Chinese community.
Photo By Ikonica
This allows them to get the best wedding venues in Toronto for a much lower cost than if they were to host the same wedding during the weekend. The next strategy you can use is to book your wedding during the off-season, mainly being winter months. Although weddings still happen all year round, you could save a bit of money by hosting your wedding in the winter. We have had lots of winter weddings in the past and they still look amazing in photos, of course, it’s freezing cold outside during your photography sessions, so you’ll have to rush a bit, but photos in winter landscape still look pretty amazing.
Top Questions You Should Ask Your Wedding Venue Before Signing the Contract
Once you spend some time having consultations with wedding venues, there are some questions that you might want to bring up, before signing a contract with them. Here are a few examples.
· Are there any other couples looking to book the venue for the same date?
· What is the max/min occupancy allowed in the venue?
· Is catering provided and do they allow outside catering companies?
· Do they have bartenders on-site?
· What is the payment structure to book the venue?
· What are the restrictions that you should know about?
· Can you choose your own wedding vendors?
· Can your DJ use the existing audio speakers inside the venue?
· Does the venue have a safe?
· Does the venue have security on-site during the reception?
· What styles of catering does the venue offer?
· Can you bring your own alcohol (you will need a temporary license)?
· Do the kitchen staff wear masks, gloves, face guards etc?
· What’s the backup plan in case of rain?
· Does the venue have an indoor-outdoor ceremony onsite?
· Does the venue have free parking or is it paid?
· In case of emergencies can the wedding be postponed?
· What happens if some of your guests cancel last minute?
Planning the Perfect Flowers & Décor for Your Wedding Venue
Wedding flowers and décor help to play an important role when it comes to enhancing the atmosphere of the reception. Work closely with your wedding decorator to brainstorm ideas of décor that will help compliment the venue. Each wedding venue has its own distinct style and theme. You want your wedding flowers and décor to work synergistically with the room and make design sense.
Check-in with your wedding decorator if they have done any events in your venue and see what ideas they have implemented in the past, you may end up liking some of them or you may like some of their previous ideas but still want to have your own unique touch. After all the decision is entirely yours, the wedding decorator can help narrow down ideas that will help you stay within your budget. Be open and honest about what you are willing to spend so that they can create ideas that will look as good as possible in your venue and help you stay within your budget.
When to Add Draping & Backdrops in Your Wedding Venue
Backdrops are commonly used by wedding decorators to create a beautiful background for your head table area. It also helps to hide the wall if it looks unpleasant or doesn’t contribute to the overall aesthetic of the room. Draping is another option decorators use to hide the entire interior of the wedding venue, this is commonly used if you want to completely hide the design of your wedding venue to something that you can manipulate with lighting. Draping is commonly used for older venues or venues that are based inside of warehouses or contemporary event spaces that don’t have much of a wedding vibe.
Choose Venues with A Ceremony Space
As you go about finding banquet halls or wedding venues for your Toronto wedding, it can help a lot if you find a space that can also accommodate a wedding ceremony. The last thing you want to do is to have your wedding ceremony on one side of the city and your reception located on the opposite side of the city. Your wedding day will go by quick and ideally, you don’t want to waste 1-2 hours in travel time, instead, you can just find a venue that has a ceremony area on-site. Even if you decide to opt for a hotel wedding venue, they usually are able to accommodate wedding ceremonies. Another benefit of planning everything at one location is that you save a lot in travel costs and logistical costs. However, if you happen to find a venue and ceremony location that is far apart from each other that’s also fine as well. Some brides really love certain venues but also choose to have their wedding ceremonies at the church they have been going to all their lives, and for that reason, they are willing to go through the travel time for sentimental reasons.
When Should You Book Your Wedding Venue?
Ideally, you want to book your wedding venue as soon as possible. Keep in mind that wedding venues in Toronto tend to get booked 1-2 years in advance, on top of that you have lots of brides shopping around for vendors during the same week. As soon as you finalized a date, it can certainly help a lot if you shop for your wedding vendors ahead of time and have them secured with a small deposit. Don’t worry, they will give you plenty of time to make your full payment but its still a good idea to get started with a small deposit.
Seated Reception
This is probably going to be the most popular style for wedding venues, basically, all of your guests are going to be seated and a team of servers will go around and bring food to each table. Typically, most wedding venues in Toronto will serve multiple meals which may consist of appetizers, entrées, dinner and desserts. The catering team at your wedding venue will work closely with you to plan a customized meal for your guests, along with making sure there is no cross-contamination of foods for some of your guests that have life-threatening conditions. The servers will receive a floor plan that highlights which tables have specific dietary requirements. The added benefit of having a seated reception is that the venue will know exactly how much food to prepare for all of your guests, which means there is a very minimal amount of food waste.
Buffet Reception
If you are thinking of having a very casual style reception, if it’s a backyard wedding or a wedding venue in the city, buffet styles are a great option if you are looking to keep things casual but fun. It is usually available at most banquet halls and sometimes it might even cost slightly less because they don’t have to hire as much staff to go to each table and serve food, your guests will go up and help themselves to whatever they want. One of the downsides of buffet-style reception is that people will have to line up for a bit and guests tend to overeat which can lead to a lot of unnecessary food waste left on the plates.
Cocktail Style
If you are on a tight budget for your wedding, you may want to look into having a cocktail style of reception. Instead of your guests being served a full meal, they will be served hors d’oeuvres, sometimes they might be cold or warm depending on the type of food being served. Fried hors d’oeuvres tend to be warm while other options tend to be room temperature. Hors d’oeuvres are usually passed around by a few servers during the reception or they are organized at tables for guests to help themselves. Since there is less food for guests, they will usually end up drinking a bit more. It’s always best to let your guests know ahead of time so that they know to eat before coming to the venue.
Food Truck
If you are thinking of having a tent wedding or something super casual with a smaller guest count, food trucks can also be a great option when it comes to serving food to your guests, food trucks can be affordable depending on how you plan your menu. Especially in Toronto, there are so many different food truck companies to choose from. Depending on your culture and preferences, you can go on Google and search for “food truck + (enter type of cuisine)” to find lots of relevant options for your appetite.
Bar Options for Your Wedding
At some point during the wedding planning process, you will have to decide on what type of bar options you will be providing your guests. There are definitely some pros and cons to each one, so its best to think it over carefully before you make a final decision. If you are trying to decide on which option to go for, it really depends on a number of different factors. For example, if you plan on having a lot of older relatives joining and your guests aren’t heavy drinkers, then it might be best for you to have one option while if you are planning to have a younger crowd, you may consider having an open bar. Below we will talk about the different types of bar options in more detail.
Consumption Bar: This type of bar means that your guests can drink as much as they want and pretty much anything they want, however at the end of the night, you will have to cover the cost for everyone. This can get pretty expensive if you are expecting a lot of guests, only consider doing this if you have a small guest size.
Soft Bar: This typically means that you will have very light alcoholic drinks like wine, champagne and beer. This is good because your guests won’t get too drunk, however, this might make it harder for them to dance later on when the party starts. A soft bar helps you to provide reasonable alcoholic options to your guests while staying reasonably affordable on your budget.
White Bar: If you fancy some rum, vodka, gin and a few others then a white bar is perfect for you and your guests.
Dry Bar: For super family-friendly weddings that only want coffee, tea and a variety of juices, a dry bar is perfect for you.
Benefits of A Dry Wedding: There are many pros and cons to having alcohol or excluding them entirely from your wedding. Having alcohol is a great way for your guests to have fun and get into the party mood, it will certainly help them get into the mood of dancing especially if you come from a culture and background that loves to dance during weddings. The majority of weddings usually have a good experience, however, it’s a good idea to have everything planned to ensure everyone’s safety, if you do plan on having an open bar. If you decide to have alcohol at your wedding, an open bar, for example, most people will have fun and enjoy, however statistically speaking there will always be a handful of people that will get really drunk and will need supervision later on, once the wedding is over, make sure that everyone has a clear plan on how everyone is going to get home after the wedding.
Ask yourself, which of your family and friends have the highest probability of getting really drunk and potentially make bad decisions, like drinking and driving. Be proactive and have family members keeping a lookout for each other to make sure that everyone has a safe form of transportation back to their homes or hotels. See if you can ask your guests to have 1 person as the designated driver so that everyone can have a safe way to get back home.
Do You Really Need A Wedding Planner?
There is no right or wrong answer and it’s completely depended on your financial position and the amount of time you have on your hands. If you are a busy professional that works 10+ hours a day, and you get paid really well for what you do, it might not be financially worth your time to dedicate your time to planning a wedding. The thing is, wedding planning can take a lot of time from your schedule, that’s why most brides stretch out the time commitment to 1-2 years. If you find the process of planning a wedding is exciting for you, then, by all means, go ahead and plan your wedding all on your own. If you have a keen interest in how all this comes together, it can certainly be a fun project to work on. You’ll get to meet every single vendor in-person, learn about each one of their crafts and learn the ins and outs of the industry.
However, if you don’t have the time, then you can certainly leverage the time and expertise of a professional wedding planner to handle everything for you from start to finish. This will help ease your workload and help you focus on your career and making money, while you have someone planning your own wedding. Most brides have said in the past that planning a wedding is like a part-time job, it is true to some extent, but everyone is different, luckily both options can work really well and still achieve a great outcome on the day of your wedding.
How to Save Money on Your Wedding Flowers
Flowers can get pretty expensive, especially if you have a very high guest count. There are a few factors that can influence the price of flowers, most flowers come from either Europe or America or South America if you are in the U.S flower prices are slightly cheaper, while planning your wedding here in Toronto, flower costs are a bit higher because the Canadian currency is usually weaker in comparison to the USD and Euro. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to spend a fortune to have great looking flowers, it just means that you have to prioritize what’s more important to you in your wedding budget. Do you want really nice flowers or the best photographer, the best cake or something great in all the categories above.
Different products and services will have a certain level of priority in your overall wedding budget, it can help a lot if you sit down and figure out what is a priority for you. When it comes to saving money on flowers, one of the most common things you can do is to have a lower guest count, again it really depends on what is a priority for you. Having fewer tables means fewer flowers, this will allow you to have more luxury looking flowers in décor since you have fewer tables to decorate, your money essentially goes a long way by having fewer tables to decorate.
Decorating 10 tables vs 30 tables can make a big impact on your overall wedding budget, by having a smaller guest count, you can splurge on more things with the same wedding budget. But if you are tight on money and you have 30 tables to decorate, it might be harder for some Brides to budget for that. A lot of high-end weddings you see in magazines with luxury wedding centrepieces tend to have a lower guest count, which makes it easier to afford more luxurious things for your wedding unless it’s a celebrity wedding, then you will usually see the high guest count and extremely lavish everything in the wedding gallery.
If for some reason you have a high guest count but still want your wedding flowers and décor to look luxurious, you can work with your wedding florist to come up with hybrid flowers and décor, this means the use of silk flowers with real flowers, for example, your wedding centrepieces might have all real hydrangeas, while the peonies and orchids are artificial or silk, you could also have all of your centrepieces artificial, this will allow you to rent the whole centrepiece for the day but you get the look of a $300-$400 wedding centrepiece for much less than what it would cost to reproduce the same design with real fresh flowers.
Should You Have a Photo Booth at Your Wedding
Your photographers’ main goal is to capture as many photos of the bride and groom, along with immediate family members as much as possible. Your photographer may or may not have the chance to capture each and every single guest that comes into your wedding. For that reason, you always have the option of having a photo booth at your wedding venue in Toronto. Photobooths are a fun form of entertainment for your guests and allow them to take home a piece of memory from your special day.
Usually, guests can wear fun props and take photos of themselves with close friends and family members. Our photo booths will allow your guests to either have their photos printer on-site or have the photos sent to them via email or text. We have lots of print templates for weddings and pretty much any other occasion you may have in the future. See our photo booth page for more details.
How to Hire the Best Wedding Photographer?
Luckily you don’t have to worry about finding the “best wedding photographer in Toronto” because photography is a very subjective form of art. Yes, you will come across some photographers that will have 10 years of experience vs another photographer with 20 years, some that charge 10k for a full photography package while others will charge 3k, at the end of the day, all you have to do is see some of their recent works and decide who’s style of photography do you like best. There really is no such thing as “who is the best” you simply have a lot of great options to choose from, Toronto is full of talented photographers.
One thing you want to do before hiring any vendor is to check for online reviews, as long as you can see that there is a consistent pattern of good reviews, you should be good to go.
Most wedding photographers are self-employed business owners, so they have very little incentive to “deliver bad work”, it’s safe to say that all wedding vendors want to do their best work and keep their clients happy to ensure the growth of their businesses. Most brides usually wonder why photography is generally an expensive service to hire, a lot of it comes down to the fact that photography gear is pretty expensive, the average DSLR camera can range from $2000 and up, photographers will usually have 2 onsite incase one fails along with the second shooter as well.
Apart from the camera, they will usually have 2-3 lenses which can also range from $1000-$5000, really depends on the type of financial investment that a specific photographer has made for their business. After the costs of equipment, there are the usual costs of doing business like accountants, taxes, payroll, advertising, client meetings and much more. Realistically speaking, if you hire a wedding photographer to come to your Toronto wedding venue, you are essentially hiring someone with 10k+ worth of equipment and years of training on how to make use of that equipment for a much lower cost.
If you are on a tight budget you can always hire a brand new wedding photographer that is willing to work for below market price, to help them build up their portfolio, however, you can’t really expect them to have the same calibre of skill level as someone that has been in the business for many years. Either option have their own pros and cons so it’s entirely up to you on what you prioritize for your wedding. You may end up finding the next up and coming photographer that is willing to work for below-market rates, but still possesses a lot of great talent. Regardless you should try and compensate them fairly for their level of work.
Best Time of the Year to Plan Your Wedding
There’s one thing for sure that can influence the price of your total wedding cost, and that is timing. Summer months for Toronto wedding venues will sell for a premium price, while weekdays which are rare in the wedding industry, can sell for a much lower cost. A lot of couples in the Chinese community opt for a weekday wedding, which allows them to host their weddings at some of the most luxurious wedding venues in Toronto, for a much cheaper price. Winter months are generally a good time to reserve Toronto wedding venues since there are a lot fewer brides planning their weddings for winter.
Hopefully, this article gave you a lot of great info to help you plan your wedding if you have any questions feel free to ask, using your contact us page.
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