Real Weddings 2016: A Miami-inspired winter wedding catered by The Chase empire

Miami has always held a special place for Tali Gur, 27, and Steven Salm, 31. It’s where they met, through mutual friends and on separate trips: she was in town from Montreal, where she lived at the time; he was visiting from Toronto. They kept in touch and, months later, Steven flew to Montreal for a weekend—and the couple had their first official date, dinner at Le Bremner. Two and a half years after that, the two took their first trip as a couple—to Miami, of course—where he popped the question. Initially, the two had planned to tie the knot in Florida, but Steven—who is the president of The Chase Hospitality Group, which includes Colette and Kasa Moto—was unhappy with the creativity of the food he was seeing from available caterers and chefs. The couple moved the ceremony to Toronto and Steven took matters into his own hands, hiring chefs from the Chase’s restaurants to cook for the wedding. While Tali, an assistant buyer for the Hudson’s Bay Company, jokes that Steven was a “groomzilla,” the two agree that he took on the bulk of the planning for the wedding: “My wife showed up,” he says, laughing.

Cheat sheet

Date: November 8, 2014 Bride’s dress: Monique Lhuillier Groom’s attire: Tom Ford Hair: Prema Garraway at Salon Daniel Makeup: Tieran Barrett Venue: Andrew Richards Designs Caterer: The Chase Hospitality Group Cake: Colette Grand Cafe & Bakery
Late-night food: Mini fried chicken, french fries and rock shrimp from Little Fin Music: DJ Daniel Buckman from BelloSound and live musicians from BelloSound Invitations: Paper & Poste Planner: The Chase Hospitality Group events team Guests: 150

The couple didn’t tie the knot until after sundown, as the ceremony took place on a Saturday and Tali’s grandparents are observant of Shabbat.

A strong sense of connection was important to Tali and Steven. They flew in a rabbi from Florida who has had a long relationship with Steven’s family to perform the ceremony.

The pink YSL shoes that Tali wore under her gown were her “favourite part” of her outfit. And they were so comfortable, she wore them all night.

Tali’s bridal party comprised six bridesmaids and a maid of honour; Steven nearly doubled her, with 12 groomsmen.

The Chase Hospitality Group’s Parisian-inspired Colette Grand Cafe made Tali and Steven’s wedding cake.

Rather than indicating a formal or black-tie dress code, Steven and Tali’s wedding invitations requested “party and dance attire:” “We didn’t want to make it feel like the world had to stop because we were having a party that night,” Steven says.

Despite opting out of Miami nuptials, Tali and Steven wanted to introduce “warm-weather vibes” to their wedding. Andrew Richards Designs set up trees, lanterns and fairy lights inside the venue. “It wasn’t a formal winter wedding,” Steven says.

The couple estimates 75% of their 150 guests came from out of town, so they put together gift bags containing maps of the city with their favourite spots to eat, drink and sight-see labeled, plus plenty of treats from The Chase’s restaurants. (They also had a discount Uber code the night of the wedding.)