Real Weddings: Tyson and Gordon

Tyson Fillier, a 35-year-old events manager at Elora Mill, met Gordon Nicholson, a 30-year-old bank manager, on a dating app in the summer of 2020. The next year, they moved in together, then they bought a house in Fergus the year after that. After Gordon proposed to Tyson on a trip to Newfoundland, the couple was wed in a ceremony at Elora Mill this past September. Here’s how it all came together.

Gordon: I first matched with Tyson on a dating app in August of 2020. We chatted back and forth for a bit, but then his profile disappeared. I thought maybe he was a catfish. His photos looked too good to be true.

Tyson: I’d go through phases where I was frustrated with the app and would delete it. But I downloaded it again a month later, and Gordon’s profile popped up. I thought, Why did we stop talking? He’s tall and handsome and has beautiful eyes.

Gordon: When I saw Tyson’s profile for the second time, I thought, There’s that catfish again. But, still, I messaged him.

Tyson: This time around, I was ready for something more serious, and I felt there could be hope for me to find someone on an app. So, after a few days, I asked Gordon out on a date. I lived in Cambridge at the time, where Gordon was working while living in Brantford. We planned to meet up for dinner in Cambridge after work one day.

Gordon: Forty-five minutes before I was going to leave for our date, I got a text from Tyson asking if we could reschedule. Then immediately afterward, he said, “Never mind, sorry!”

Tyson: I was feeling tired and wasn’t sure if I had the energy to bring my A-game to a first date. But, after I sent that text, one of my girlfriends at work convinced me to go, and I’m glad I did.

Gordon: It was a great first date. We hung out for two hours, until the restaurant closed and they kicked us out. Then we met up another ten times over the next two weeks. It was nonstop. We were navigating Covid lockdowns, so we did a lot of patio dates while it was still warm out.

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Tyson: We’d also go to the movies or to a park to hit up some trails. A couple of times, we picked up groceries and made dinner at home. Because of the lockdowns, our dates were less about the activity we were doing and more about just meeting up and connecting with each other.

Gordon: We have a lot of similarities. We’re both from small towns. I grew up in Bancroft.

Tyson: And I’m from a little town in Newfoundland called St. Anthony. Gordon and I connected on our tastes in music and our love of being outside and active. We like going to concerts and to the beach in the summer. And family is very important to both of us. We’re both very close to our grandmothers.

Gordon: We had our first kiss after four or five dates. I was very physically attracted to Tyson, but I also liked his drive and ambition. He pushed me to do more at work, and we always had something to talk about at the end of the day.

Tyson: I was drawn to how active Gordon was. He’d have full workdays, then come home and work on house projects. I loved his family values and that he’s close with his mom. Him being tall and handsome was just the cherry on the sundae.

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Gordon: The next year, in May of 2021, Tyson and I moved in together.

Tyson: I owned a condo in Waterloo, and my tenant was moving out, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for us.

Gordon: I was moving from a fairly large house into a one-bedroom condo. And I was bringing a cat with me, so pretty early on I questioned whether we had enough space.

Tyson: A year later, we bought a house in Fergus. It was the second house we looked at.

Gordon: As Tyson and I began to hit these milestones, the idea of marriage came up. As a kid, I always imagined that I’d get married someday and have the white picket fence and the minivan. Our friends started to ask, “Are you guys ever going to get married”? And our joke in response was, “Oh, we’ll just have to wait to see who asks first.”

Tyson: In 2022, we hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house in Fergus. There were about 20 of us, a combination of both our families. I remember looking around the table and thinking about how lovely it was. I could see things going even further between us. That’s when I started thinking more about proposing. We’re both passionate travellers, so I thought it’d be fun to propose on a trip to make it even more special.

Gordon: Without knowing that Tyson was considering proposing, I was thinking the same thing at the same time. I always thought Tyson’s hometown, St. Anthony, would be the perfect place to propose because it’s such a special place to him. Tyson’s nan was celebrating her 80th birthday in July of 2023, and she wanted all of her family to be there for it. I found out about the trip at the end of May, so I only had about a month to figure out rings. Tyson doesn’t wear a lot of jewellery, so I was subtly trying to ask questions about what he liked. I ended up with matching rings with radiant cut stones that ran three-quarters of the way around a yellow-gold band. They were ready only a couple of days before we left for Newfoundland.

Tyson: A couple of days after we arrived in Newfoundland, my whole family got up early to help us buy Taylor Swift tickets. We had like eight tablets and laptops going. It was a whole production. Toronto tickets hadn’t been announced yet, but we got a pre-sale code for Portugal. The concert was in May of 2024, so in the back of my mind, I thought it’d be a beautiful story to get engaged in Portugal. Little did I know what Gordon was planning for later that day.

Gordon: That afternoon, the whole family decided to go on a hike in the L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, which is about 30 minutes from Tyson’s hometown. I figured it would be a great place to pop the question.

Tyson: There’s a trail that goes all the way up to the top of a big cliff. A bunch of us started together, but it was a tough hike, so only my mom, my sister-in-law, Gordon and I made it to the end.

Gordon: When we were close to the top, I pulled Tyson’s sister-in-law aside and told her what I was planning so she could record a video of it. She was the only one who knew.

Tyson: I could tell something was going on because they had this little moment and hugged. But I didn’t think too much of it. Once we got to the top, it was picture-perfect. It was a sunny day, we were overlooking the ocean and giant icebergs were on the horizon. It was so beautiful. And then Gordon asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes.

Gordon: We started planning our wedding after we got home. Luckily, I was working with a professional.

Tyson: I’ve been overseeing weddings for years, so I know a lot of fantastic vendors. The Elora Mill, where I work, was at the top of my mind as a venue. I have a lot of pride in the property, the building, the service and everything we do there. So I was very biased, but I thought it was important for Gordon and I to go through the process of touring other options. We saw four or five other properties, and the Elora Mill was the last one we visited. We came in for a tour as any other couple would.

Gordon: Over the years, we had celebrated so many different milestones at the Elora Mill, like birthday dinners, anniversaries or just unwinding at the spa. When we visited other properties, I didn’t feel the same magic. We kind of already knew that doing our wedding there was a no-brainer, but seeing all the other places made us even more certain.

Tyson: We were able to book our wedding on our first-date anniversary—September 17. We wanted it to be classy and elegant. I’d seen other ceremonies through Pearle Weddings where everyone dressed in all black, and it looked so chic, so we decided to implement that dress code for our wedding. We wanted our decor, like the runners and flowers, to be white and cream, to help balance our vision of the black-and-white theme. Gordon wanted lots of white candles too. We started collecting pieces for our decor, and our garage turned into wedding central.

Gordon: For our outfits, we debated being the only people not in black. But I had never actually worn a tux or a real bow tie before. I had a vision of a James Bond look in my mind. In June of 2024, one of my close friends from university got married, and I was one of his groomsmen. We got suits for that wedding in Toronto, and I loved the experience, so I took Tyson back with me to the same shop. I ended up with a black tux with satin lapels.

Tyson: My initial vision was black velvet with a big oversized bow tie. But it was the summer when we went to try on suits, and I realized it’d still be warm out in September, so maybe velvet wasn’t the best idea. Gordon looked so handsome trying on his tux that I had to have one too. It felt right. I still got my big bow tie, and I added a custom vest to complete the outfit.

Gordon: We had 80 guests coming, including a lot of family coming in from out of town, so we decided to rent a private villa near our venue—Cedarcliff Estate—where ten of us could all stay together. The morning of, we made breakfast together with some family and friends. We had a lot of space and natural sunlight coming in for our hair and makeup. It felt very relaxed and seamless.

Tyson: Everything was so well planned and organized that we didn’t really have a lot to do that day. We were lounging in our bathrobes and drinking mimosas. Our goal going into the wedding was that we wouldn’t have to leave each other’s side. After we were ready, we went down to the Grand River and took some photos at a really scenic spot, with the cliffs of the gorge, the David Street Bridge, and lots of trees and greenery behind us. We did private vows, which was a super special moment. We actually did rock, paper, scissors to see who would read their vows first. Then we headed to the Elora Mill.

Gordon: The ceremony was beautiful. We did it in a room called the Foundry, which is like a French garden indoors, with wooden beams and a fireplace. The florist brought in baby’s breath, vines and white roses.

Tyson: When we saw the room, I grabbed Gordon and told him that I thought it was so perfect. It was everything I was hoping for and more. I’ve worked with our officiant, Brianne, for about five years, and she made our ceremony so special. Plus, the room was so stunning.

Gordon: Our nans were our flower girls. It was really important for us to have them be a part of the ceremony as well. They really stole the show.

Tyson: After the ceremony came cocktail hour, which was a short walk across the river to a building called the Granary. Gordon and I got to do a private reveal of the reception area and have a private first dance. It was to the song “Always Remember Us This Way” by Lady Gaga from the A Star Is Born soundtrack.

Gordon: For dinner, we served a salad or burrata appetizer, and our guests could choose between Cornish hen, strip loin steak or a vegetable tart, then dessert: salted caramel cheesecake or a mulled wine sorbet.

Tyson: After dinner, we had our joint mother-son dances to “Mother” by Michael Bublé. Then we flowed into a special dance with our grandmothers, to “The Best Day” by Taylor Swift—which was a surprise for them. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Gordon: After that, we kicked off the party. One of our favourite drag queens, Ivory Towers, started the night with some Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift songs.

Tyson: After the drag show, Gordon and I snuck away for a costume change. One of my best friends, Steve Lejambe, is a designer in Toronto, and we got him to make us some custom sheer, sparkly shirts for the party. And then the dancing began.

Gordon: We had a 360-degree photo booth set up in the back. People would be dancing up on the platform while the camera zipped around them.

Tyson: The party ended around midnight. Because we were staying at this gorgeous property for the week, with a pool and a hot tub, we invited everyone back for an after-party that went on until about 4:30 a.m.

Gordon: Tyson and I stayed up even later, until about 5 a.m., just chatting about the day in our room. We were still on such a wedding high. Then, at 10:30 a.m., we hosted a brunch and recovery day at the Cedarcliff Estate.

Tyson: The day after, Gordon and I checked in to the Elora Mill for two days and had some couple time together as new husbands. We did a 10-course dinner with wine pairings, got a couples massage and relaxed by the pool.

Gordon: We’re planning to do a honeymoon sometime in 2025. We’re still deciding where, but we’re thinking of Europe.

Tyson: I’ve been loving married life. It’s brought us closer and brought our families closer together too.

Cheat Sheet

Date: September 17, 2024 Photography: Ema Wedding Co. Videography: Liam Good Getting ready venue: Cedarcliff Estate Wedding venue: Elora Mill Officiant: Brianne Jourdin Florals: The Cambridge School Of Flowers Food: Elora Mill, Chef Patrick McDonald Cake: Ada’s F*in Great Cakes Photo booth: Southlands Wedding Co Entertainment: Ivory Towers DJ: QA Entertainment Makeup: Christina Loughrin Tyson’s outfit: Suitsupply Gordon’s outfit: Suitsupply Afterparty outfits: Custom-made by Steve Lejambe