Real Weddings: Sam and Tori

Tori Chippindale, a 31-year-old graphic designer, first met Sam Polley, a 33-year-old musician and carpenter, when they were studying at Queen’s University in 2012. The two didn’t begin dating until a year later, and they continued their relationship when they moved back to Toronto, where they’re both from. There, Tori met Sam’s parents—including his father, Blue Rodeo frontman Jim Cuddy. After over a decade together, Sam and Tori planned their engagement in December of 2022. After that came a two-day wedding in May of 2024, including an intimate ceremony at the East Room and a 200-person party at Lula Lounge, featuring performances by Sam and his dad’s band. Here’s how their east-to-west-end wedding celebration came together.

Sam: Tori and I first met at Queen’s in September of 2012. I was in my third year of undergrad, studying history, and she was in her second year, studying economics, film and media. Tori shared a house with some girls I’d gone to high school with.

Tori: We were seven girls living off-campus. I met Sam briefly when his friends passed by our house one afternoon during Frosh Week.

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Sam: We kept seeing each other on campus that school year. I’d be leaving from one class and she’d be coming from somewhere else, so we bumped into each other often. I started to look forward to bumping into Tori and having a quick chat.

Tori: Sam had an infectious, positive energy. I could be on my way to class or an exam and feel really stressed out, but then I would run into him and it would turn my day around. I knew that he was someone I wanted to be around more.

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Sam: We added each other on Facebook Messenger and started chatting that way. Our conversations weren’t that substantial, just sharing what we were doing and what our plans were.

Tori: Our first kiss was the next semester, in the spring of 2013. To be honest, neither of us can really remember much about it! It would have been at a school event or a house party. We kept things pretty casual early on and didn’t make our relationship official at that point. As we were getting to know each other, I learned that Sam’s dad was none other than Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo.

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Sam: In the summer, we both went back to Toronto, where our families are from. I was in Riverdale, and Tori was in Rosedale. We saw each other once every week or two. We’d go for a meal or for walks around the city.

Tori: Sam was always suggesting activities we could do, like drive-in movies or a Canada Day celebration at Fort York. One day, he asked if I wanted to go see his dad’s band play. I asked where it was, and he said the Molson Amphitheatre. After the show, we went backstage, and I met Sam’s family for the first time.

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Sam: I introduced her as my friend, since Tori and I were still dating casually. But I don’t think my family was buying it. That fall, when we went back to Queen’s for my fourth year and Tori’s third, we decided to make things official. I met Tori’s parents shortly after that, when they dropped her off at school. I happened to be wearing a T-shirt with a fish on it that said “I’m a catch.”

Tori: My parents still remember that T-shirt.

Sam: I moved back to Toronto at the end of that school year, in the summer of 2014. Tori and I did long-distance for a year, and then she moved back to Toronto too. I was working as a musician and as a bartender, occasionally going on tour with my band, Sam Polley and the Old Tomorrows. We were both getting our careers started.

Tori: In 2018, we decided to move in together. Sam was actually away on tour when I signed the lease for our apartment in Trinity-Bellwoods.

Sam: I had never seen it. I trusted Tori’s judgment that it would be a great place. And it was.

Tori: We moved again just after Covid, to a bigger apartment in Parkdale, which is where we are now. After that move, we started talking more seriously about what it would be like to get married.

Sam: It’s something that Tori and I both wanted. We liked the idea of having a big celebration with all of our friends, and I knew that I wanted to show my love and commitment to her. By 2022, we decided we’d get engaged that year.

Tori: We wanted to plan our engagement together. We had been together for almost 10 years at that point, and I didn’t feel like acting surprised. So we went to a local jeweller and had a ring designed together. It was simple—a chunky gold band with a single diamond in the middle.

Sam: I picked the ring up when it was ready—Tori wasn’t allowed to see it until I popped the question. We planned to go up to my family’s farmhouse vacation property in Shelbourne that December. We’d spend the weekend there alone, just the two of us, cooking, hanging out and going for walks.

Tori: I knew it would happen that weekend, but the specific timing was up to Sam.

Sam: On Saturday, after lunch, Tori and I were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace. I just decided it was time. I went upstairs and got the ring. I didn’t go down on one knee because I didn’t want to be towering over her, so I just sat down next to her to propose. I did have one surprise for her, though. I had saved a bunch of little notes that we used to pass to each other when we were studying together at the library.

Tori: I didn’t know that he’d held on to those notes for so long. It was such a sweet detail. We took the rest of that day for ourselves, to enjoy our engagement. Then, on Sunday, we called our family and friends to share the news.

Sam: We chose to have a long engagement. We didn’t want to rush it for the following year, 2023. We figured we’d do a spring wedding in 2024 instead. We started thinking more seriously about planning it in the spring of 2023.

Tori: Sam and I aren’t super traditional people in the sense of wanting a big 300-person wedding with a sit-down dinner. We imagined a nice celebration with a smaller group, where the formalities would take place, then a big party with music.

Sam: We envisioned a reception that was more like a big concert, where a bunch of our friends and family would perform. I have the pleasure of knowing a lot of talented musicians who said they’d love to play at our wedding.

Tori: For the ceremony venue, we decided on East Room, which is a shared office and event space at King and Parliament. It felt intimate, and we liked that it had a rooftop so we could be both indoors and outdoors. The owners were very accommodating when it came to decorating and moving furniture around. It’s already a beautiful space, so we knew we wouldn’t have to do much other than some florals. We’d do the ceremony on a Friday afternoon with about 40 of our friends and family.

Sam: For the party, having a stage was non-negotiable. My parents gave us the idea of doing it at Lula Lounge. The year of Covid, they had planned a big party there for their joint anniversary and 65th birthday parties, but it got cancelled, as things did. We thought Lula Lounge would be the perfect spot. It was vibrant and had lots of character.

Tori: We couldn’t rent out Lula Lounge on a Saturday since they host some really popular salsa nights then. So we chose the Sunday of the May long weekend. That meant we’d have a day between the ceremony and the reception to rest. About 220 guests would join us at the Lula Lounge party.

Sam: Before we were engaged, I’d gone on a trip to Vietnam with my family and found a store that does custom clothing. I almost never wear a suit, but while I was there, I decided to get one made since I knew I’d be going to some weddings as a guest soon. I wanted to get something fun, so I chose a green suit with a vest. I’d only worn it once, without the vest, to a friend’s wedding. For ours, I wore it with the vest, plus a white shirt to look a little fancier.

Tori: We were doing a more casual approach to our ceremony, so I knew I didn’t want the traditional ball gown look. One day, I got an email from VSP, a consignment store on Dundas West that I frequent, about their new arrivals. In it was a woman in a beautiful, formal white dress, which wasn’t specifically a wedding dress. It had long bell sleeves that went a bit off the shoulder and a crossover detail on the front. It had a bit of a retro feel. I went to try it on, and it fit me perfectly. I FaceTimed my sister and was like, “I think I’m gonna get it.” It was a great price too. The dress is from Beaufille, which is owned by two Canadian women, one of whom went to the same high school as me. I let them know I’d found one of their dresses in a consignment store. Paris, one of the owners, is also a jewellery designer and made me a great pair of pearl and jade earrings to wear with the dress. It was a nice pop of green to match Sam’s suit.

Sam: We knew that people were excited to get dressed up for the Lula Lounge party. We encouraged them to wear glitter and colour. I’d always wanted to get a Nudie Cohn–style suit, the kind that’s popular with ’50s and ’60s country singers, with rhinestones and colourful embroidery. One of my dad’s friends suggested someone in LA who makes them. I chose a red suit with green-and-white floral embroidery and white piping.

Tori: I already knew about Sam’s party outfit by the time I started shopping for mine. I wanted to do something that was still bridal in some way, but fun. A Bronze Age, which is a Canadian clothing company, was doing a trunk show at LoversLand. I went with a friend and tried on a two-piece white lace outfit with pants and a collared short-sleeve shirt. I liked that it was funky and different. While we were shopping, I talked to the designer, and she explained that she made the set to be her wedding after-party outfit, something more comfortable to change into later in the night.

Sam: The day of our wedding ceremony, it rained, but the skies cleared up just in time.

Tori: I got ready at my friend’s hair salon, Sandi White Studio, on Dundas West. She closed up her space for me for both the ceremony on Friday and the reception on Sunday. My sister, mom and a few friends joined me there to get ready.

Sam: We got to take some photos out on the rooftop. It worked really well, because the rain on the wood created a reflection. Then we had a gorgeous sunset and an incredible view of the city from the east end.

Tori: Our ceremony was just our immediate families, uncles, aunts and a couple of friends. My brother-in-law, Matt, was our officiant, and my three-year-old nephew, Logan, was our ring bearer. It was so intimate that we felt comfortable saying our own vows in front of everyone. It was a beautiful day.

Sam: After the formalities, instead of a sit-down dinner, we did canapés and had food stations from Major League Catering. Then Tori and I had the Saturday in between to recover before the party. My aunt Laurie had rented us a room at the Broadview Hotel, so we started the day with some room service and relaxing. Then we went to the Four Seasons, where some of Tori’s girlfriends pitched in for us to have a spa day. It was fantastic. We hit the waters, had a treatment and prepared our bodies for the big night ahead.

Tori: We ordered in for dinner and had an early night, since we knew we’d have a big day coming up. On Sunday, people started showing up at Lula Lounge around 7 p.m., and we had photos taken outside the venue. Our good friend Lee was our MC and kicked off the night with the Old Tomorrows, which is all of the members of Sam’s band, minus Sam. They played “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince for our first dance. Although, technically, we’d already had our first first dance on Friday, to “The Wonder of You” by Elvis.

Sam: We had four sets of music throughout the night. After the Old Tomorrows, the second set started with Blue Rodeo playing “Lost Together” as Tori and her dad danced. I took that opportunity to dance with my mom too. Then the band did another four or five songs.

Tori: At one point during Blue Rodeo’s set, Sam got up onstage, then Greg from Blue Rodeo signalled for me to come up too. I wasn’t too keen on it at first, but it was really fun—Sam and I both sang with the band.

Sam: The third and fourth sets were all different wedding guests performing with the Old Tomorrows as the backing band. My cousin Lillian sang “Stupid Cupid” by Connie Francis, and my sister, Emma, did “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad” by Tammy Wynette. My dad came back onstage and performed “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell. Barney Bentall, who is a family friend and a musician, performed two of his own songs. And I sang a few songs too: George Harrison’s version of “If Not for You” by Bob Dylan and “Faith” by George Michael.

Tori: We didn’t want to do a formal dinner, but we knew people would be hungry. We wanted something that was easy to eat while standing. So we got some beautiful charcuterie and antipasti boards from Cheese Boutique and pizza from Maker’s.

Sam: We got pizza delivered three times throughout the night, so people could have it for late-night food too.

Tori: A few years ago, my mom joked that Sam and I would probably have a little pizza party or something when we got married. She was right!

Sam: We had to leave Lula Lounge at 1 a.m., but a good friend of ours was playing at the Cameron House that evening. A big group of us, about 70 or 80 people, went down to catch the end of their set. Because we hadn’t started the evening until 7 p.m., people were still raring to go. We filled up the Cameron House when we got there.

Tori: I felt tired but happy when we finally got home. We had so much fun. We were on our feet the whole night without stopping.

Sam: The reception ended up being very easy. We’d already gotten married and done the ceremony and the speeches, so there weren’t any nerves. It just felt like hosting a big party.

Tori: One of my sisters, Meg, had to miss the party because she was pregnant with twins and went into labour three months early that same night. It was really emotional—my older sister, who was there at Lula Lounge with us, was receiving communications from my brother-in-law about what was happening. We found out a couple of hours into the party that the twins had arrived safely and everyone was doing okay. It was a beautiful moment to know that we share an anniversary and a birthday with our niece and nephew. The Monday after the wedding, Sam and I went to Sunnybrook to meet them. They were still in incubators. Then, the next day, we packed up and went to Nosara, Costa Rica, for our honeymoon. We surfed, lay in the sun and got to unwind for a week.

Sam: Now that I’m married, I really feel like an adult when I talk about “my wife.” When people talk about their marriages with me, they say, “You know what it’s like.” I’m part of the married club now.

Tori: After being so deeply embedded in each other’s families for so long, it’s so nice to officially be each other’s family now.

Cheat Sheet

Date: May 17 and 19, 2024 Photography: Erin Leydon Day-of planner: Rachel Colarossi Getting-ready location: Sandi White Studio Ceremony venue: East Room Reception venue: Lula Lounge Officiant: Matthew Ravenscroft Florist: Timberlost Ceremony catering: Major League Catering Reception catering: Cheese Boutique, Maker’s Pizza Cake: Galz Provisions Entertainment: The Old Tomorrows (and guests) Bride’s hair: Sandi White Bride’s makeup: Yours Truly Bride’s ceremony dress: Beaufille from VSP Consignment Bride’s reception outfit: Lace set from A Bronze Age Groom’s ceremony outfit: Custom suit from Vietnam Groom’s reception outfit: Double 8 Apparel