We Threw a Dream Wedding for One Lucky Couple. Here's Everything We Did.
It started as a giveaway. It became the blueprint for everything Vèla is today.
Back in 2023, we partnered with Evergreen Brick Works to do something we had never done before: give away a full micro wedding experience to one couple, built from the ground up, with some of the best vendors in Toronto at the table. No catch. No compromise. Just the real thing.
Jennifer and Darryl won. And what we built for them that July still makes us a little giddy when we look back at the photos.
The venue
Evergreen Brick Works is one of those Toronto spots that needs no introduction but somehow still manages to surprise you. The Middle Kiln, where the ceremony and first dance took place, is all exposed brick, soaring ceilings, and industrial warmth. String lights overhead, concrete underfoot, and a floral arch that stopped every single person who walked through the door.
That arch. Lush, overflowing, built in peach roses, burgundy, lavender, and greenery tumbling in every direction. It framed the ceremony space and anchored the entire aesthetic of the day. After the ceremony, guests moved north through the kilns into the City Builders Gallery for the reception, which is exactly as cool as it sounds.
The tablescape
If you have ever wondered what a Vèla table actually looks like up close, this is it.
Dusty rose crinkle linen runners draped the length of the tables. Candlelight everywhere, crystal votives catching the glow. An eclectic mix of bud vases in amber, clear glass, and metallic finishes held single stems and small clusters: peach roses, white orchids, pampas, mauve carnations. Sparkle charger plates. Blush champagne flutes. Ivory gauze napkins. The kind of table that makes people stop talking mid-sentence when they walk in.
The food
This is where it gets really good. The Food Dudes handled catering and they came to play.
Guests were welcomed with a strawberry and mint rosé sangria, passed alongside a sparkling peach sunrise mocktail for those keeping it soft. Then came the appetizers: fresh rolls with avocado purée and citrus ponzu, French onion soup dumplings with gruyère and pickled shallot, beet arancini with herb goat cheese mousse, and tomato toast with stracciatella and Maldon sea salt on sourdough.
The first course was a vibrant kale and napa cabbage salad with quinoa, Thai basil, fresh mint, toasted cashews, green grapes, and tamarind dressing. Mains included beef tenderloin with pomme purée, asparagus, and peppercorn jus; chicken supreme with piri piri marinade and cheddar schmaltz polenta; and a cauliflower steak with black garlic glaze and pumpkin seed romesco for vegetarians. Dessert was a chocolate XO cake with yuzu gel and cacao nib crunch.
It was, by any measure, a proper meal.
The moment
After lunch, Jennifer and Darryl had their first dance right there in the Middle Kiln, surrounded by their 22 guests, under the string lights, in front of that arch. It was two and a half hours from start to finish and it felt complete. Nothing missing. Nothing overdone.
That feeling is what Vèla is chasing every single time.
The vendors who made it happen
None of this happens without the right people. A huge thank you to everyone who was part of this day:
Venue: Evergreen Brick Works
Catering: Food Dudes
Rentals: Chairman Mills and Divine Furniture
Rental Music: EpiQ Vision
Photography: Alicia Thurston Photography
If this is what you are looking for...
We would love to build something like this for you. Tell us a little about your vision and we will take it from there.
