When Maggie and Mat reached out about their engagement, I was incredibly excited to reconnect with their family.
I’ve known Maggie for a long time. Her sister got married in 2016, and I had the pleasure of planning that wedding. They left quite an impression on me, so this family was one of those families you just don’t forget. There’s something about the way they love each other and the genuine joy they find in celebrating the milestones in each other’s lives that has always resonated with me.
So when Maggie and Mat told me they wanted to host their wedding at their family cottage in Southampton, Ontario, I was thrilled to be part of it.
And what a setting it was.
Their cottage sits right on the shores of Lake Huron, with the beach just beyond the property. Maggie had a very clear vision for the day: a wedding ceremony on the beach, cocktails overlooking the water, and a celebration that felt relaxed, personal and completely at home at the cottage.
The property itself was beautiful, but it was also intimate. Which meant we really had to make every inch work.
Making the Most of a Cottage Property
One of the things I love most about planning a private property wedding is figuring out how all of the pieces can work together.
With a traditional venue, you generally have designated spaces for your ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and dancing. At a cottage wedding, those spaces don't necessarily exist, so you have to create them.
For Maggie and Mat, we wanted to make sure that the wedding never felt like it was confined to one area of the property. Instead, we used the natural flow of the cottage and grounds to move guests through the day.
The ceremony took place right on the beach, with Lake Huron as the backdrop.
From there, guests moved back toward the cottage for cocktails, where the porch and staircase became part of the experience. Sitting above the beach, it was the perfect place to enjoy a drink and take in the view.
The front garden gave us another opportunity.
We tucked the tent into the garden, but rather than blocking off that part of the property, we intentionally kept the meandering path running through it. That little decision made a surprisingly big difference. Guests could still see and feel the connection between the front and back of the property, and the tent became part of the landscape rather than something that took over the garden.
That's one of those details that isn't necessarily obvious when you look at a property on its own, but becomes really important once you start thinking about how several hundred little moments are going to happen throughout a wedding day.
A Cocktail-Style Reception That Still Felt Like Dinner
Maggie and Mat also wanted their reception to feel different from a traditional seated dinner, so we created a cocktail-style reception, but that didn't mean guests were expected to survive the evening on canapés alone!
Instead, the food was designed to evolve throughout the evening.
We started with lighter cocktail-hour foods and gradually moved into more substantial offerings like sliders, mac and cheese, and other heartier dishes that made the transition from cocktail hour into the evening feel really natural.
Later, we shifted into dessert and, much later in the evening, landed on one of my favourite details of the night: pizza from Pizzeria Arrivederci, a friend of Maggie and Mat's.
It was casual, but elegant, personal and completely appropriate for the setting. Nothing felt like it was there simply because that's what you're ‘supposed’ to have at a wedding. The decisions were made around Maggie and Mat, their guests and the way they wanted everyone to experience the day.
Finding a Place to Dance
The dancing was probably the biggest spatial challenge of the day.
There simply wasn't a large, obvious space on the property where we could put a dance floor, but Maggie had a vision. She wanted to dance in the garage.
So they cleared it out, and we didn’t try to pretend it was anything else; we just freshened it up. We added a checkered dance floor vinyl and lighting. We added another small tent just outside the garage to house the bar, which created a natural little area for guests to gather between dancing and the rest of the property.
It wasn't a conventional wedding reception space, and that's exactly why it worked. It also gave us something really important for a cottage wedding in Southampton: a weather plan.
Anyone familiar with Lake Huron knows that the weather can be unpredictable. Wind in particular can be a very real hindrance when you're planning a tented wedding near the water.
Our plan allowed the wedding to continue comfortably if the weather changed. We had thought through where guests could move, how the spaces connected and how the evening could continue without everything depending on perfect weather.
And then, of course, we got perfect weather.
There wasn't a lick of wind, which for a wedding right on Lake Huron, felt like a little bit of a miracle.
We had intentionally spread the speeches throughout the evening rather than putting every toast into one long block. A couple happened earlier during cocktail hour, others came later, and then we brought everyone together in the garden tent for the final toasts before transitioning into dancing.
It created a rhythm to the evening, and a celebration that continued to unfold around the property.
And then, as the sun went down over Lake Huron, everyone had a chance to pause and take it in together.
Bringing a Vision to Life
This wedding is such a good example of why I love planning private property weddings.
It's not always about having the biggest property or the most elaborate venue.
It's about looking at what you do have and figuring out how to make it work beautifully.
Maggie and Mat had a beautiful family cottage in Southampton, an incredible beachfront setting and a very clear vision for how they wanted their guests to feel.
Our job was to figure out how to bring that vision to life within the realities of the property.
How do we move guests from the beach to the cottage?
Where does the tent go?
How do we preserve the feeling of the garden?
Where does everyone dance?
What happens if it rains or the wind picks up?
How do we make sure guests are well fed when we're not serving a traditional dinner?
How do we create a wedding that feels like a natural extension of the place rather than something that has simply been dropped onto it?
Those are the kinds of questions I love answering.
Because ultimately, that's what wedding planning is about for me: taking someone's vision and figuring out how to make it possible - realistically, thoughtfully and beautifully.
Maggie and Mat's wedding was one of those days that reminded me exactly why I love what I do.
I was so happy to reconnect with their family after all these years, and even happier to help create another milestone for them.
Service: Tent Planning and Design
Photography: Cloud 9 Photography · Florals: Ashley Elaine Florals / Marigolden Meaford · Tent: Burke's Tent Rentals · Catering: Gourmet Chef At Your Table · Washrooms: Wilton Sanitation · Late Night: Pizzeria Arrivederci · DJ: John Zibin / Easy Entertainment · Lighting: Light It Up GTA · Makeup: Beauty by Tenbita
