The goal for Ashely and Francesco was for their rustic jewel tone wedding to feel warm, welcoming, fun and special for their guests.

COUPLE: Ashley and Francesco

DATE: October 1, 2022

GUEST #: 100

LOCATION: Alton Mill Arts Centre "Alton was the perfect place to have our rustic jewel-tone wedding. They got back to our questions right away. On the day of the event, Samantha was there to oversee the ceremony and help with some last-minute issues that arose. It ended up being quite a bit cooler than we anticipated for our outdoor reception, and Samantha was able to get heaters going." - A

TELL US YOUR STORY!: "I have a New Year's tradition of celebrating with a few friends of mine. I had moved to England but we still kept the tradition going. When I was visiting for New Year's in 2015 we decided to go out to a pub. I was introduced to some friends of friends and one of them was Fran.

During the evening I ended up dancing with someone else and when he made me uncomfortable, Fran helped me dance away from him. The night went on and we danced with our friend group. When I went to say my goodbyes, Fran said to me "I still didn't get a New Year's kiss." I planted one on him in response. From there we started talking all the time and Fran made a trip to Europe and we had our first official date!

Long distance love...

From there we did long distance for two and a half years before we each moved back to the GTA. We rented a small loft apartment together. A few moves later we were moving into a house we bought together and Francesco proposed on the night that we got the keys to the house." - A

COLOUR PALETTE: "Our theme was rustic jewel tone wedding. Our colour palette was jewel tones of green, blues, burgundy, rose, purple, and gold. It sounds like a lot but we like colour and it was important to me that each bridesmaid felt beautiful in the outfit that they were wearing." - A 

BEST MEMORY: "Our first look! There are a lot of emotions and stress leading up to the weddingday along with the nerves and excitement on the day of. When we saw each other for the first time it brought about a sense of calm. I knew this is my person and everything is going to be okay no matter what went wrong. I was feeling so nervous about walking down the aisle and saying my vows in front of 100 people.

All of that went away when I saw Francesco. One of the funniest moments of the day was when our 15-year-old nephew went to walk our dogs down the aisle. Our dog Theo decided he wasn't going to walk. Our nephew had to pick him up under one arm like a sack of potatoes and carry him down the aisle. Winnie just pranced along down the aisle in her tutu."-A

PHOTOGRAPHY: Carly Kratzer Photography "Carly was so easy to talk to and she made us laugh. You could tell how much she genuinely cares about the couples she photographs. She also loves dogs as much as we do! With her positivity, and the confidence boost she gave us while hyping us up during our engagement and wedding photos, it was easy to choose Carly to capture our rustic jewel tone wedding." - A

STATIONERY + DÉCOR: DIY'd by bride ([email protected]) 

FLORALS: Callia Florals 

CAKE: Family Friend

BRIDE'S ATTIRE: Dreams Bridal

BRIDESMAID ATTIRE:David's Bridal & Baltic Born

GROOM + GROOMSMEN ATTIRE: Andrew's Formals 

HAIR: Hair by Christina Faria-Ianni 

MAKEUP: Bryanna Finlay MUA

DJ: Nth Degree Entertainment

PLANNER: Alexis Trejgo Events "It finally dawned on me that even though I made all of the stuff to create our perfect rustic jewel tone wedding and got it to the venue, I would need someone to set it up since we would be busy getting ready to get married. That's when we decided to hire a day of coordinator. It was one of the best things we spent money on. Our day of coordinator, Alexis Trejgo kept the wedding day moving smoothly while having fun at the same time." - A

CATERING: Gourmandissimo Catering

THEO'S ATTIRE: Prim and Pawfect Pets

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: "We had a fairly large bridal party but it could have been even larger and it took us a long time to try to narrow it down. We wanted to include everyone but more people means more to manage and wrangle. Thankfully we were able to compromise and come up with some unique ways to include important people in our day." - A&F

ADVICE FROM ONE COUPLE TO ANOTHER: "If you decide to DIY your wedding decor, don't bite off more than you can chew. Ask for help from family and friends, and start early. Also, don't sweat the small and the big stuff. You're getting married and something is bound to go wrong. At the end of the day, you've married your person and that's all that really matters." - A&F

This rustic jewel tone wedding can be seen in the Fall/Winter 2023 issue of The Wedding Ring Magazine.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CARLY KRATZER PHOTOGRAPHY | To speak with Carly Kratzer Photography about your wedding options, you can reach them using the form below.