Food is known for bringing people together and in this case, a pot-luck Thanksgiving was the meal that kickstarted the love story between Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor. “He brought cauliflower gratin and some old French wine and I was immediately smitten,” she says.
Ari was born in Buenos Aires, and moved to Winnipeg with his family at the age of 12. But it was a chef job at Joe Beef–one of Canada’s most famous restaurants–that brought him to Ashley’s home city of Montreal. Ashley, a freelance writer and editor, was immediately drawn to Ari and the two quickly bonded over their mutual love for amazing food and good conversation. When they began dating, they immediately noticed a deep shared connection, an inexplicable feeling that despite the newness of their relationship, they felt like they’d known each other all their lives. “It was beyond pure infatuation,” Ashley says. “Being with him felt like something eternal, as horribly cliché and nauseating as that sounds.”
A perfect lazy Sunday was the backdrop of Ari’s proposal. “He’d picked up all my favourite things–bagels, lox, pastries–and surprised me with champagne and caviar,” Ashley says, remembering how completely naive she’d been to his plans. She recounts that he waited until after they’d finished eating to pop the question. She’d been washing dishes in the sink still wearing her pyjamas, and their favourite radio program “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” was drifting around the room. Approaching her from behind, Ari kissed her and she turned to find him holding an open jewellery box. “It was perfect,” she says.
Four years after their Thanksgiving meeting, Ashley and Ari got married at Entrepôts Dominion in Montreal’s Saint-Henri neighbourhood. They danced to “Long Time Running” by The Tragically Hip, traded a classic wedding cake for a gigantic croquembouche and both ugly-cried during their friend’s speeches. There was no cauliflower gratin this time, but Joe Beef catered the family-style meal with everything from onion soup grilled cheese, to a platter of sea urchins, to a foie gras parfait.
Flip through our gallery below to find out more about how the couple celebrated.
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“The wedding dress was by Vancouver-based designer, Calla Blanche. It was the only wedding dress I had put on that I felt like myself in. I really wanted a gown that happened to be white, rather than a traditional wedding dress.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“Jennifer Behr was kind enough to lend me a stunning hair piece for the day of, a crystal-encrusted comb, which I wore tucked behind my ear with a deep side part and mermaid-y waves.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“I knew I wanted it to feel warm and cozy and romantic, and I wanted the room to be full of fall colours.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“Our relationship is built on a deep sense of respect and admiration for one another. Challenging in ways that push each of us to do better and be better.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“In his speech Ari talked about how everything he learned about having a loving relationship came from his parents—who are incredible people, and the most amazing couple—and how lucky he feels to have found in me all of those qualities. Pretty sure everyone was crying by that point.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“Ari thought I was walking down the aisle to “A Case of You” by Joni Mitchell (my queen) but I told the band to switch it at the last second to Neil Young’s “Motion Pictures”, which was the song that was playing the first time Ari told me he loved me. He heard those first few chords and knew immediately and just completely broke down in tears.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“The ketubah signing was really special, too. Done before the ceremony, it’s actually where you’re officially married. You really only need two witnesses according to Jewish law, but because we decided against having a bridal party, we wanted to use it as an opportunity to make our closest friends a part of it all. So we had ten witnesses instead: eight of my best girlfriends, and two of Ari’s oldest friends. It was really nice to be surrounded by all of them at that important moment.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“I was the last of my parents’ kids to be married, and in Judaism that’s called a mezinke. The parents sit on chairs in the center of the dance floor wearing wreaths on their heads (Jews are weird, I know) and everyone dances around them and comes over to kiss them and wish them Mazel tov. That was really nice moment to experience.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“I’m a person who needs solo time, and being with him felt like being alone but better. And he fascinates me. That’s what captivated me from our first date—the way his mind works, the ideas he has about the world, his ambitions, his principles—and still does today.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“Our relationship is built on a deep sense of respect and admiration for one another. It’s challenging in ways that push each of us to do better and be better.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“Planning the wedding was definitely more stressful than we thought. We also picked a venue where everything from forks to knives, tables, chairs, kitchen appliances and everything in between had to be brought in. The upside: we were able to choose every last detail. The downside: we had no choice but to choose every last detail.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“The one comment we heard most after the wedding was about how awesome the food was. My friend’s fiancé, Mike, actually sent us a message the next morning thanking us for the best meal of his life.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“We skipped the cake! We had a massive croquembouche instead. It was awesome.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“Definitely the funniest moment was when Pablo took the mic to give his best man’s speech. He started by talking about Ari’s vast collection of cookbooks and said there’s one for everything you could possibly want to make, but there’s no cookbook that tells you how to roast a chef. And proceeded to (lovingly) make fun of all his quirks and isms.”
Stylish Canadian Weddings: Ashley Joseph and Ari Schor
“Neither of us is into clubbing—our idea of a Saturday night out is a nice, long dinner with copious amounts of good wine (that may or may not end with closing the place and dancing on a chair or two). That was the vibe we were going for, so our DJ played really great dinner music for the greater part of the night, until the rest of our party guests arrived around 10, at which point he brought out the 90s hip hop.”
The post Stylish Canadian Weddings: Of course, food is the star at former Joe Beef chef’s wedding appeared first on FASHION Magazine.
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