A wedding is a tapestry of treasured moments woven together, and a wedding at Ancaster Mill offers a particularly beautiful canvas. We are delighted to feature Deborah and Fredner's love story, who crafted their dream day with a rustic contemporary theme infused with modern luxurious glam. Nestled among lush trees and the sound of a bubbling stream, their ceremony was a harmonious blend of tradition and modernity — marked by heartfelt vows and personal love letters sealed in a decorative box, to be cherished anew with each anniversary. Ancaster Mill, with its charming old pastoral character and seamless transition from ceremony to reception, proved to be the perfect setting for this enchanting affair. The joy was palpable as family and friends danced and laughed, sharing genuine happiness together.

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

Where are you both from? Deborah: I’m originally from Benin City, Nigeria. I migrated with my family to the Western world in 2001 at the age of 12. Fredner: I’m originally from Limbe, Haiti. I migrated to the Western world with my family in 1990 at the age of 6. Deborah and I currently live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Do you mind sharing a bit of your love story and how you started your journey together? Fredner: Back in early January 2017 I was at my longtime mechanic's shop to have my Lexus serviced. While waiting for my mechanic in the garage area I noticed a young woman walk in and began speaking to my mechanic. My first impression was surprise. I had been frequenting the same mechanic for 11 years and had never once seen a woman in the shop let alone such an attractive and beautiful young woman.

Deborah: My first impression was cautious curiosity. I thought to myself this guy is tall, handsome, professionally dressed and looks well put together I wonder what he’s all about.

Fredner: While waiting for my vehicle to be serviced I said “Hey” and she responded back with “Hey”. She said “Nice car” and then we struck up a casual conversation. I soon left after my vehicle was serviced. I didn’t make any attempt to get her contact information or give any suggestion that I was interested in her at that time. I figured that young beautiful women are constantly approached by men demanding something from them. I didn’t want to risk being placed in that same category of men neither did I want to place her in the uncomfortable position of possibly having to say no for whatever personal reason. However, I knew that I was smitten and was very interested in talking to her again. I quickly came up with a solution. A couple of weeks later I returned to the auto shop to have some follow up service performed on my vehicle. During the visit, I asked my mechanic about Deborah’s situation. He told me her name and that she had been frequenting the shop for many years. As far as he could tell she wasn’t in a relationship since he hadn’t seen her come in the shop with anyone recently. I asked my mechanic to message Deborah on my behalf to see if she remembered me and then to ask for her permission for him to give me her number.

Deborah: This is the point where simple curiosity turned into positive intrigue for me. Before Fredner, I never had a friendly conversation with a man around my age without him trying to hit on me and get my contact information at some point in the conversation. The fact that Fredner would attempt to get my number in that way demonstrated to me that he was likely goal oriented, patient, thoughtful, dedicated and strategic. All qualities that I want in a long-term partner. I said yes to him having my number. I said yes to a first date. I said yes to being his girlfriend. I said yes to his proposal and after 6 years exclusively together I finally said “I do” on August 20th, 2023!

What was your vision for your wedding day? Initially, we envisioned a grand luxurious modern wedding with all of the typical bells and whistles but later realized that financial and logistical considerations would make this vision a challenge to implement. Deborah was completing her final year in Nursing school in Canada while working as an extern and Fredner was completing his final year in law school in the US. As time went on we decided on a more intimate wedding in terms of the guest count that would still allow us room in our budget to maintain many of the essential quality features that we wanted to have on our special day. We were incredibly thrilled with how everything eventually turned out even though there were a few hiccups along the way which is common for weddings.

What was the inspiration behind your wedding theme or colour scheme? We would describe the general theme for our wedding as rustic contemporary with some modern luxurious glam. The rustic contemporary aspect refers to the old pastoral character of the backdrop to our wedding which is an old mill in a wooded area along a bubbling stream. The contemporary aspect of our theme refers to the features of our wedding that’s more consistent with current such as our choice of rhythm and blues music for our ceremony and afrobeat musical choices for our reception entrance. Finally, we added some modern luxurious touches of glam throughout our wedding through the use of gold which was part of our color scheme in addition to navy blue and white. For instance, the archway in the streamside chapel was decorated with gold leaves. We incorporated shiny gold accents on the guest chairs as well as on the silverware holders and wedding cake. Our colour scheme was navy blue, white and gold. The inspiration behind the contrasting fusion of old and new was meant to serve as a reflection of some of our beliefs. We are a young modern ambitious couple with high aspirations for the future yet we still have reverence and respect for simple traditions, values and insights gleaned from the past.

Can you describe the wedding ceremony and any special traditions or rituals you included? Our ceremony was outdoors nestled in a wooded nook with lush trees next to a bubbling stream. The structure of our ceremony had all of the standard typical features that one would expect. For instance, our wedding procession included our parents, groomsmen and bridesmaids as well as a ringbearer and flower girl. We are committed to our Christian faith so we also made sure to add Christian elements throughout our ceremony. We opened the ceremony with a prayer and a family friend delivered a scripture reading. We also added some unique touches to our ceremony. In addition to writing our vows, we decided to write our love letters to each other. After reading our vows we placed the vows and our love letters inside a decorative box that was carried by the best man. The box is meant to be opened every year on our anniversary and the vows and love letters are to be read to each other to reaffirm our love and commitment.

What were your favourite moments from your wedding day? Fredner: Some of my favourite moments included the portion of our reception where many of our close family and friends were dancing, laughing and smiling together especially my father who had suffered a stroke earlier in the year. It was an especially tragic year for my family especially my mother who lost her two elder brothers (my uncles) shortly before the wedding. She attended one of the funerals a couple of weeks before the wedding. With all of the tragedy that seems to be a constant feature of life, it was wonderful to see everyone enjoying a slice of genuine happiness together. Especially knowing the fragility of life and recognizing the fact that this may be one of the last times that everyone can celebrate together in this lifetime.

Deborah: One of my favourite moments was right after the ceremony when we left the venue to take pictures at the base of a nearby waterfall. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. One of the moments that will always make me smile is when my new husband carried me in his arms across the slippery stream filled with rocks and pebbles. It was such a sweet romantic and loving gesture that you only typically see in romantic novels or Hollywood movies. I felt like a princess that day and it reminded me that true love is real and I felt blessed to have a chance to experience it.

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

Fredner: I wore a three piece custom made fitted tuxedo. I wore navy blue ankle-length single pleated pants. I had a white button down tuxedo shirt with gold buttons and French cuff links. I wore a navy blue double breasted vest with a satin cream back and gold buttons. My suit jacket was an ivory double breasted blazer with Deborah and my name including our wedding date embroidered in the inseam. The outfit was completed with white suede Italian shoes with silver jewelled tassels.

Deborah: In choosing my wedding dress I was primarily interested in a dress that was unique and highly detailed. Also, I was interested in a curvy dress, something that would intensify my shape. Searching for such a dress was very difficult as most traditional stores did not carry what I was looking for. However, after visiting a few stores I finally found a dress that was unique, detailed and shape-hugging. As for the veil, it was extremely hard to find the exact veil I envisioned with the dress. After a few months of searching for the perfect veil- with no success, I decided to create my own. In putting my veil together, I created “The Perfect Veil”

How did you choose your wedding venue? What made it special to you? We wanted our venue to be beautiful, scenic and intimate both inside and outside. The venue was our most important choice because it would serve as the backdrop or canvas for our entire wedding day experience. Also, the green, brown and greys of a natural wooded setting would contrast well with the colour theme of our wedding. This would lead to many wonderful photo and video opportunities. We also wanted a venue where we could have the ceremony and reception at the same location to cut down on logistics. Ancaster Mill was the perfect choice for us. What made the venue unique was that it had a quaint streamside chapel in addition to an indoor chapel should the weather be uncooperative. The venue location was also minutes away from Tiffany Falls where we had the opportunity to take amazing post-ceremony natural waterfall photos. The venue was also a restaurant with a full kitchen which meant that we could have food that was made on-site therefore preserving the quality of the meal and enhancing the overall dining experience. When planning a memorable wedding the details matter.

What did you look forward to the most on your wedding day?Deborah: After six years of dating and two years of being engaged, what I looked forward to the most was solidifying our relationship in the presence of God, our family, and saying “I Do” to this man that I have waited for all of my life. I waited for six years to say those two words to the love of my life. Saying these two words in the presence of God, family and friends was the major highlight of my day.

Fredner: Simply saying “I Do” and reading our personalized vows to each other was what I anticipated the most. Throughout all of the incredible amount of stress and excitement that comes with planning a wedding the simple gesture of confirming my love and commitment to the person that I feel the most physically, emotionally and spiritually connected to was the most meaningful and impactful.