Celebrating Our Engagement

My fiancé, Alex, proposed to me on December 12, 2015 and it was magical! Whenever people ask me how he proposed, I always ask them how much time they have to listen to the story! I’m truly not exaggerating when I tell you that our proposal was like something out of a movie! Alex pulled out all the stops by planning an entire day full of surprises, including asking me to marry him with 4 framed pictures in an art gallery, a surprise lunch with our friends, dinner at my favourite restaurant, and a helicopter ride around Toronto! We were lucky enough to have our proposal story shared on howheasked.com. To read the full story, click here.

We got engaged in December, like many couples do, and we had a small celebration shortly after at his parents’ home, where our families met for the first time. However, we wanted to wait until the weather was nicer to celebrate with the rest of our family and friends, and so we decided to have our engagement party on Saturday, June 25, 2016.

The Venue

There was no better place to serve as the venue for our engagement party than the actual place that Alex proposed: LUMAS Toronto.  Since it’s not typically an event venue, the owner and staff were kind enough to not only allow Alex to propose to me there, but also to let us celebrate with about 90 of our closest friends and family members! If you’ve never been, you really must check it out. LUMAS is a photography art gallery that has locations all across Europe, Asia, Australia, and has 2 locations in Canada (the 1st being in Vancouver and the 2nd in Yorkville, Toronto). In fact, Alex chose this gallery to propose to me in because of how much I love photography. It’s so beautiful on its own that we did not need to do any additional decorating (which made our lives that much easier).

The Food

Given that I am a food blogger, one of the most important things for me at the engagement party was obviously going to be the food! We lucked out in being able to work with Daniel et Daniel, a catering company that has more than 35 years of experience and is one of the best in Toronto. They made catering for a party that size in a venue that had no kitchen look like a walk in the park! Pierre Valcarcel was a pleasure to work with and the DeD staff that catered the party were nothing but attentive and professional! We weren’t able to get many photos of the food (shame on me!), but I can tell you that the taste was great and the presentation was beautiful. We had several charcuterie and cheese platters, canapés and passed appetizers for our guests.

What We Wore

Given that I am also a fashion blogger, what we wore was just as important as what we ate! I have been crushing on tulle skirts for a long time and picked up the perfect one from Space 46 Boutique. Since the skirt makes such a statement on its own, I paired it with a basic black crop top from American Apparel and accessorized with Blue Lagoon by Mikimoto pearl earrings and necklace (generously gifted to me by Alex’s parents when we got engaged) and blush coloured heels. Alex wore a sports jacket, white dress shirt, dress pants and bowtie (he didn’t wear any accessories lol). Although not originally planned, we ended up with a sort of black and white theme, which was very fitting for the occasion.

And can we just talk for a minute about my hair, makeup, and nails? If you have been following me on snapchat, you would have seen my hair and makeup transformation go down. Anna Giannini (@anna_g_stylist) of Mosaic Hair Group gave me the braided updo of my dreams, while Anna Conte (@cocamia) of Civello Salon did a fantastic job on my makeup! Sekai Nail & Beauty Bar also did an great job on the black and white nail art to match my outfit and treated my skin to a Dermologica flash facial before the event!

Shop the Look

On Me – Tulle Skirt: Space 46 Boutique (available here, similar in nude);  Top: American Apparel (available here); Shoes: Zara (available in purple only here); Pearls: Blue Lagoon by Mikimoto (purchase here)

On Alex – Sports Jacket: Harry Rosen (similar); Shirt: Hugo Boss (available here); Pants: Topman (similar); Bowtie: Shepherd & Woodward (available here); Shoes: Ted Baker (available here)

The Little (and Big) Things

I think most girls keep notes or maybe a box of inspiration for their wedding, and I am no different. Since nearly the beginning of our relationship, Alex and I knew we were going to marry each other and I’ve kept a wedding inspiration note in my phone that I’ve jotted things in, when I’ve stumbled across random inspiration. One of the first things to make it into my notes is the Big Love Ball. I saw it a long time ago and thought it was just the cutest thing ever! While we picked up both the 5 ft. and 3 ft. versions, the 3 ft. version was the only one that made an appearance at our engagement party (the 5 ft. version wouldn’t have fit through the door). Since I’m also obsessed with aluminium foil balloons, it’s no surprise we got large silver ones that spelled “LOVE”. Love was in the air – quite literally! And, I think it’s always important to give your guests a parting gift. My sisters gave us a hand in this regard with DIY miniature Prosecco bottles that we had in a sweet and dry option. They were a big hit!

Thanks & Acknowledgements

We wouldn’t have been able to put together such a successful engagement party without the help of our family, friends, and the vendors who supplied all the extras. The biggest thanks goes out to Alex’s parents for giving us the engagement party that we dreamed of, my family for helping with a lot of the ‘heavy lifting’, and of course, to Erin Lang & LUMAS Toronto for being so accommodating to us!! Thanks also to Flow Water for keeping our guests hydrated, Tonic Blooms for providing beautiful arrangements of peonies, which were in season at the time of the party, and JustGreet for supplying our thank you cards, which we have yet to sit down and finish writing!

Special thanks to my wonderful friends, Gabriela Corsi, who arrived early to be the photographer for our mini photo shoot in the streets of Yorkville, and Melvin Tan, who became our official engagement party photographer for the rest of the evening, without whom, we would not have been able to share all of these amazing shots with you!

xoxo,
Krystle & Alex (Lextle)

P.S. Don’t forget to follow our official wedding account on Instagram, @lextletiestheknot, for more updates and photos.