LIBERTY GRAND WEDDING IN TORONTO // F10 STUDIO

Sep 3

Choosing to wed at the historical Liberty Grand was an easy decision for Karla and Christian. After all, Toronto holds a special significance to them as a couple. They said I do in the city they met and fell in love with each other, and their day was nothing short of breathtaking. They brought the feel of the outdoors in with opulent floral installations, and each of their families cultures were beautifully woven throughout the day.

Photographer, Michael, from F10 Studio shares with us an interview for this week’s featured couple, Karla and Christian.

Where are you both from? Karla was born in Lima, Peru but migrated to Canada when she was 3 years old and has always lived in Toronto Christian on the other hand was born in Toronto.

Do you mind sharing a bit of your love story and how you started your journey together?

Karla: Christian and I first met through mutual friends, his cousin was a long-time boyfriend of one of my good friends, and one night we all went to a club called the Brunswick House a club that doesn’t exist anymore and we met there. We were both 20 years old but at the time I had a boyfriend who was my first official boyfriend so Christian had to wait as always he said lol. Needless to say, my first relationship was short and didn’t last or end well. The next time I saw Christian was at my good friend's birthday party his cousin was still dating her at the time and in April we reconnected. But instead of officially becoming a couple we decided to be friends first which lasted for 3 years as at the time I wanted to focus on school and he had some projects to complete first too.

Then one day we started going out and the rest is history. January 13th, 2024 was officially our 10th anniversary as girlfriend and boyfriend.

What was your vision for your wedding day? Our vision was to have our entire families which are large on both sides and our friends together with us as we say “I do”. We wanted to share our union of love with everyone who had been with us in the last 9 and a half years and saw our struggles, success, happiness, etc.

A few things to mention:
-       We wanted it to be in Toronto where we met and fell in love, this is why we were thinking about having our wedding reception in either of the two venues; Casa Loma or Liberty Grand.
-       We wanted it to be somewhere central like downtown.
-       We wanted a historical building in Toronto.
-       We wanted a big space for our guests.
-       We wanted it to share our Peruvian culture and other South American cultures from Mexico and Brazil for example.
-       We always wanted an outdoor wedding but we had too much anxiety with rain or cloudy days so we asked our planner if we could have a feel of an outdoor wedding indoor

What was the inspiration behind your wedding theme or colour scheme? As mentioned, the inspiration for the wedding was to have the feel of an outdoor wedding indoors with lots of flowers, trees, candles, and white, champagne and gold colours as we always wanted an outdoor wedding and thought a sunset outdoor wedding would be beautiful! So our planner made that happen inside Liberty grand.

Can you describe the wedding ceremony and any special traditions or rituals you included?

Karla: The ceremony was pretty standard, as it was a catholic ceremony at the church that I grew up in. I had my first communion and confirmation there and as a little girl, I always thought I would get married there lol and it happened. But we did have confession before the ceremony, to ask for forgiveness and recognize our sins before we said our vows during the wedding ceremony.

What were your favourite moments from your wedding day?

Our favourite moments were:
-       When our parents (Chris’s mom) & my dad, each walked us down the aisle.
-       When Chris received his wedding pin with a picture of his late father and late uncle who were brothers. They were very important to Chris as his dad and uncle were the only family members on his dad's side that he had here in Canada and it was hard for Chris at first to accept that they both were not going to be present at his wedding.
-       All entrances from our family members, bridal crew and our official entrance.
-       When the mariachis from Mexico sang the song “Es mi Nina Bonita” during the father-daughter dance it related so much to our relationship from the beginning.
-       When our performers for Valicha a folklore dance from Peru and Marinera Norterna the official national dance of Peru both performed. It’s our culture and they did a FANTASTIC job
-       When I performed the Brazilian samba dance for my husband
-       Our Best Man and Maid of Honour speeches
-       Our parents' amazing speeches

Can you describe your wedding dress and suit? How did you choose your wedding attire?

Karla: My wedding dress was a dress I found on one of my first visits to a wedding store, it was perfect but I went to search at other stores just in case. But after seeing that one I couldn’t stop thinking about it! It was at Superior Bridal located in Markham and the designer was Martina Liana. It was a mermaid type of dress and had beautiful flowers on it as well as a long tail at the back.

Christian designed his entire suit and shoes with Fari Hara custom tailoring with Richard who helped him design his entire look! From the suit to his shoes. He told them what he wanted and they made it happen.

How did you choose your wedding venue? What made it special to you? The fact that it was a historical building located in Toronto, the city where we met and fell in love with each other. We wanted a place that was also local and close to any highways. The venue was also just breathtakingly beautiful.

What did you look forward to the most on your wedding day?

Karla: We looked forward to marrying each other and having our family with us especially our parents in attendance was the most important to us. My mother almost passed away in 2021 from a brain haemorrhage but miraculously survived and Chris’s father passed away in 2020 from a brain haemorrhage. We realized after my mom's incident that life is too short and we know we loved each other so why any longer? So having our parents there with us was the 2nd most important thing to us, the first being marrying each other.