This couple accidentally had a Blue Jays–themed wedding
Their reception took place across the street from the second game in the World Series
More than 10 months ago, Sam Haggart and Troy Lawson booked their wedding reception for October 25 at Steam Whistle’s roundhouse, which happens to be right beside the Rogers Centre. They wanted a downtown wedding in fall with lots of natural light pouring in, so the historic venue was perfect—surely the baseball season would be wrapped up by then.
“My mom is a retired lawyer, and she thinks of every possible snag,” says Haggart. “When we were picking a day originally, she advised us to avoid booking the previous weekend because a marathon was on.” But, during the couple’s rehearsal dinner on October 20, the Blue Jays played their final league game against the Seattle Mariners, and the downtown core was already a rippling sea of delighted, disruptive and drunk adults donning royal-blue body paint.
Later that night, it dawned on Haggart and Lawson that their reception would fall on the second game of the World Series. While they appreciate a loonie dog as much as the next guy, they wanted to avoid any curveballs a rowdy 40,000-person horde had the potential to bring. Steam Whistle offered to beef up security by adding more guards to do perimeter walks around the venue at no extra charge. To cover their bases, the couple alerted their guests of the situation, mapped out road closures and sorted out one particular wild card: the home run horn parked outside the venue’s open front doors.
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“My day-of coordinator gets all the credit for thinking of the mobile home run horn. It’s a terrifying sound, and it would have blasted through any kind words so lovingly prepared. She worked her magic, and the owners agreed not to sound it off during our speeches—if there was a home run in the game, we didn’t hear it,” says Haggart.
Once planning was secure, they embraced the baseball spirit. Haggart decided their “something blue” should be a Blue Jays flag, so they went on a city-wide merch scramble, ending when one friend managed to have one of the last remaining flags delivered from a Canadian Tire on the edge of town. “We weren’t planning a formal entrance, but after getting the flag, we decided to burst into the hall while I wore it as a cape and ‘OK Blue Jays’ played over the loudspeakers,” says Haggart.
When the big day arrived, every possible nightmare scenario melted away. “During a photo shoot of Sam and I on the front patio, fans cheered and congratulated us and encouraged us to include a cutout we had of George Springer’s face in the pictures. It was such a wholesome addition,” says Lawson.
By dinner, the two celebrations had blended. Every speech included a game update, and nearly all of them came with a baseball reference. “I joked that we were hosting the fanciest tailgate party of all time,” says Lawson. “And we like to think of the 40,000 people across the street as our overflow crowd.”
As the night wore on, the game faded and guests stopped checking the score, surrendering themselves instead to the dance floor. Jays fans streamed past the windows with smiles and congratulations even as it started to look more and more like a losing game for their team. The real win was that every guest made it home without getting stuck in gridlock traffic.
Now, the couple jokes, they’re just waiting for one final wedding gift: a signed bat, ball and jersey courtesy of the team that made Haggart and Lawson’s wedding a surprise double-header.
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