Real Weddings: Sarah and Scott

Scott Ng and Sarah Brown started seeing each other back in 2016 when they were both working as investment bankers at RBC. Then a few months later, Scott announced he was quitting to travel the world for at least a year. Since the relationship was still new, they assumed they’d go their separate ways, but that never happened. Sarah ended up flying out to meet Scott a few times on his trip—once in Uganda to see chimps in the wild—and Scott came home a few times to make it work.

At the end of 2017, when Scott returned home for good, they moved in together and started talking about buying a house. Sarah said she didn’t care about a big fancy wedding, so they decided to tie the knot at city hall. They planned a raging house party for a reception, hosted at Scott’s brother’s house in Little Italy. They drank from red cups, ordered takeout from their favourite local places, made toasts from the balcony and encouraged nearly every guest to do a keg-stand.

Cheat sheet

Date: August 31, 2019
Photographer: Devic Fotos
Bride’s dress: Club Monaco
Groom’s outfits: Sydney’s; Park and Province
Bride’s hair and makeup: Majesty’s Pleasure
Food: Homemade pierogies plus takeout from Bobbie Sue’s, the Daily Dumpling Wonton Co., Chinese Traditional Buns
Dessert: Mrs. Frosty ice cream truck
Flowers: Euclid Farms
Guests: 80 to 100

Scott started their wedding day by making hundreds of pierogies for their guests and finalizing decorations. He had stayed up late the night before stringing streamers, hanging balloons and building an eight-foot flower wall with fake florals from Dollarama:

 

Sarah got ready at Majesty’s Pleasure with some girlfriends. The guys picked them up there, and the couple had their first look:

 

They rented a school bus to ferry about 30 of their closest family and friends to and from the ceremony. “A limo wasn’t really the vibe,” says Sarah:

 

Sarah found her dress for $100 at Club Monaco a few weeks before the day:

 

They wrote their own vows, making sure they were more funny than sappy:

 

They posed with their marriage certificate:

 

The school bus picked them up again, and dropped off the couple and close friends at Trinity Bellwoods:

 

Then, they wandered over for a drink at Union, one of their early date spots, before heading back to the house:

 

They were greeted with confetti:

 

From then on, guests hung out inside, on the lawn and on the upstairs balcony, drinking beer and diving into takeout food from Bobbie Sue’s and the Daily Dumpling Wonton Co.:

 

“I don’t think there are photos of me without a bottle of Veuve in my hand from that point onward,” says Sarah:

 

Instead of a cake, they hired an ice cream truck to pull up to the curb:

 

They did speeches from the front porch:

 

By that point, Scott had changed into a more weather-appropriate outfit, and Sarah had thrown on a kimono from their trip to Hawaii:

 

Guests were coming and going throughout the afternoon and evening. Some took to-go plates:

 

Sarah hung onto the Veuve:

 

But the couple loved the unceremonious atmosphere. “It was the exact vibe we were going for,” says Sarah. “People kept asking us why there aren’t more wedding keggers.”

 

The party continued into the early hours of the morning: