Drake Devonshire intimate wedding / Caitie & Alex wedding

Caitie and Alex had a beautiful, intimate wedding at Drake Devonshire with their closest loved ones.

These two just wanted to celebrate their love surrounded by their people, without making a big production out of it. I loved being part of it because I could see how much they enjoyed it—simple, joyful, and meaningful. They also took some time to share why they chose the Drake Devonshire hotel, and what they liked about it, and they’re giving away some tips for future grooms and brides-to-be.

– Why did you choose Drake Devonshire Hotel as your wedding venue, and how did you like it? Would you recommend it?

We chose the Drake Devonshire for a few reasons. Our priority was finding a space for our smaller wedding, which turned out to be a lot more difficult than we had anticipated. It turns out it’s more profitable for venues to host big weddings, lol. Many of the venues in the GTA were extremely expensive for only 32 guests. We wanted to have a great party with our favourite people, not an extremely formal, banquet-style event (not that there’s anything wrong with that). So, we ended up extending our search outside of Toronto for this reason. We did a lot of Google searches like “intimate wedding venues Ontario” and “small wedding venues Southern Ontario.”

We had never been to Prince Edward County before, but I remembered hearing that it was very quaint and had some nice vineyards. So, I started searching in that area and stumbled upon the Drake. Then we found out it was associated with the Drake in Toronto, which we love, so we decided to inquire about their wedding venue prices, which were so much more reasonable than anything we had seen so far. We drove down for a visit and were sold.

The communication wasn’t always great between us and the venue; they often took a few days to get back to us, and I didn’t feel as informed as I could have been. I felt like I ended up having to ask tons of questions to get the answers I felt should have already been provided.

That said, they were exceptional on the day of the wedding. They anticipated everything we needed, the food was amazing, the service was fantastic, and they even accommodated all dietary restrictions. I have a friend with a long list of health problems that restrict what she can eat, and they managed to make her something she could have, which made me very happy. Our wedding officiant is from Prince Edward County and had officiated several weddings there. She mentioned that communication wasn’t always great before the wedding, but that on the day of, they were amazing and delivered completely. I almost feel like they’re so good at what they do, they just don’t feel the need to communicate as much, lol.

– FUTURE ADVICE FOR COUPLES PLANNING THEIR WEDDING:

– Work hard to avoid getting caught up in the industry and societal pressures of planning and having a wedding. Before you start planning and researching, write down what you envision your wedding to be. It’s very easy to get swept up in all the articles, websites, and suggestions from friends and family, but having your vision written down can ground you and help recenter your focus.
– Let other people help. If friends and family want to contribute, don’t resist. My day ended up feeling so effortless, in part because of everyone who helped in small and big ways.
– Expect things to go wrong. Accept from the start that there are things you simply cannot control; the weather, for example