Real Weddings: Marc and Gina

Inside a last-minute ceremony followed by a photo shoot at the Aga Khan Museum

Marc Anthony, a financial expert at RBC, and Gina Medina, a dance instructor and choreographer, met at a party in October of 2018. They were engaged the following year and had planned a lavish wedding at Hazelton Manor for 2020—until Covid derailed their big day. Here’s how they made it down the aisle (kind of).

Gina: Marc and I have a pair of mutual friends who have wanted to set us up for years. They got engaged in October of 2018 and at their bridal luncheon I finally met Marc. I was immediately attracted to his gentle demeanor and great smile. He seemed like a genuinely nice person.

Marc: I was smitten right off the bat. Gina is so beautiful and I love that she’s headstrong and knows what she wants. It was an unexpected bonus that we share a similar sense of humour. After that first meeting, we texted each other non-stop.

Gina: On our first date, we went to see A Star Is Born. It went well and we hung out a few more times that month. We even listened to the A Star is Born soundtrack when we got together on Halloween, which felt a little cheesy but in a good way. It became clear pretty quickly that we wanted to spend our lives together.

Marc: In January of 2019, I invited Gina to join me on a family trip to Jamaica for my sister’s birthday. When I saw how well she fit in with everyone, I knew she was the one. I made a plan to propose in the fall.

Gina: The following Halloween coincided more or less with our first anniversary, so we made a day of it. Marc took time off work, we had lunch at Me Va Me, went to the movies and had a pumpkin carving contest over a nice bottle of wine at my place in Thornhill—not once did I clue in that he was going to propose. I’m pretty competitive so I was focused on my pumpkin.

Marc: I carved out “Will You Marry Me?” on a white pumpkin, which took a lot longer than I expected because I wanted it to be perfect. When I was done, I brought a cardboard face cut-out of her favourite person in the world, Michael Bublé.

Gina: Marc showed me his carving and got down on one knee. I was gobsmacked, then burst out laughing when I saw the cut-out of Bublé’s face. It was the perfect touch to a perfect proposal.

Gina: Our plan was to get married in the summer of 2020 at Hazelton Manor in front of 250 guests. People were going to fly in from across the globe. We also booked the Aga Khan Museum for a photo shoot on the same day.

Marc: When the pandemic hit, I wasn’t ready to believe we weren’t going to have the wedding of our dreams. At the time Gina had just put her condo in Thornhill up for sale, and so she moved into my place in Mississauga during the early days of the lockdown. It took a few months for us to postpone the ceremony and luckily our vendors agreed to reschedule. Still, we wanted to mark our original wedding date in some way, so we booked an engagement shoot at Mint Room Studios. We planned to follow it up with a wedding once everything settled down.

Gina: My parents and I wanted to throw a grand wedding in the proper South Korean manner so we didn’t want to alter course. But a week before that initial date, my parents realized that with so many unknowns due to the pandemic, it would be wiser for us to get legally married and hold off on just the reception. Marc and I agreed.

Marc: We rushed to get our license and since we’d already booked the studio for the shoot, Gina and I decided we’d get married there.

Gina: It was all so last minute that we didn’t have time to work out the decor. My mom took care of the flowers and one of my best friends helped me decorate before the ceremony. I had bought a wedding dress from Enzoani but couldn’t get it altered quickly enough. I wasn’t too upset though—I wanted to save it for the proper ceremony and reception in front of all our friends and family.

Marc: We had an intimate ceremony with just a photographer, an officiant and our parents. Afterwards, we went to Spencer’s at the Waterfront in Burlington for a mini-reception with my siblings and our parents. My sister had ordered a beautiful three-tier wedding cake from Sammy Cakes, and we had our first dance to Mariah Carey’s “Thank God I Found You” looking out at a lovely sunset. In August, we moved into a home we purchased in Vaughan and followed that up with a Covid puppy—a maltipoo named Kiki—in April.

Gina: In the summer 2021, restrictions were loosening, so we booked our second ceremony for August. But when the Delta variant became an issue, things tightened again and we were only allowed 25 guests indoors with masks—and no dancing. Most of my friends are dancers and we want a fun reception where people can get up out of their chairs, so Marc and I decided to postpone yet again. We had already rescheduled our photo shoot at the Aga Khan Museum for August and couldn’t move it again, so we decided to go ahead with the shoot. It was a sunny day and walking around in our wedding dress and tuxedo felt magical, so we spontaneously decided to exchange vows. The next day, we left for our honeymoon in Hawaii.

Although we’ve rescheduled the wedding three times now, it was all worth it. During the pandemic, we moved in together, got married and bought a house. It was stressful but life feels easy and fun when you’re doing it with your best friend.

Marc: We are looking forward to warmer weather, finally getting to celebrate our wedding with loved ones, and growing our cute little family with kids. Our third and hopefully final wedding day is scheduled for September. We’re hoping to exchange our vows (once again!) in front of 200 guests at the Hazelton Manor. We’ll have a lot of out of town guests from Korea, L.A., Hawaii, Vancouver and New York, so it will be nice to celebrate with them.

Cheat Sheet

Photography: Hello Inspira
Hair and make-up: Blushing Belles, Suzie Kim Bridal Hair
Cake: Sammy Cakes
Florist: Inspire Design Studio
Venue: Aga Khan Museum, Mint Room Studios
Bride’s outfit: Enzoani
Groom’s outfit: Per Lui
Guests:
10

Here’s some more photos from the ceremony and shoot


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