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Irina and Filip pose in front of a graffiti-covered garage door

Micro Weddings: Filip and Irina

Inside a laid-back west-end bar bash that cost $47,164

As Told To Andrea Yu| Photography by Vuk Dragojevic
| January 24, 2025
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Irina Vukosavic, a 32-year-old senior communications specialist, first met Filip Filipovic, a 37-year-old community development professional, at a Dundas West bar in December 2015. Irina wasn’t single at the time, but the two kept in touch, and by the summer of 2016, they began dating. After moving in together in 2019, they got engaged in 2022. Their three-part wedding started with a micro-ceremony at a Little Italy restaurant followed by a larger reception at Paradise Grapevine and an after-party at their Earlscourt home. Here’s how the celebrations came together.


Filip: I knew about Irina before I met her in person. We’re both from Serbia, and in 2013, Irina made a “Shit Serbian Girls Say” video with a friend that went a little viral among the Toronto Serbian community. It was very funny. I watched the video with a friend of mine and jokingly said, “I’m into the brunette,” who was Irina.

Irina: Even though Filip and I had some friends in common, we grew up in different pockets of Serbian communities—me in Bloor West Village, him in Etobicoke—so our friend groups didn’t overlap.

Related: Inside a Vatican ceremony that cost $52,225

Irina laugh as she tries to feed Filip food from a spoon as they both sit on a couch

Filip: One evening, in December of 2015, I was deejaying with a couple of friends at Camp4, a now-defunct dive bar at Dundas and Ossington, when Irina showed up. I went over to introduce myself. My pickup style at the time was probably a bit abrasive.

Irina: He was talking loudly and using lots of hand gestures. For me, it was hate at first sight. He clearly had a strong personality, and I thought he was annoying. Plus, I was in a new relationship at the time, so I wasn’t interested in pursuing anything. But I could tell that he was quick-witted and good with words.

Related: Inside a waterfront ceremony that cost $6,045

Filip: In March of 2016, I had a house party at my place in Etobicoke. I invited someone who happened to be Irina’s friend, so she showed up by coincidence. The theme of the party was “stinky cheese,” so I made Limburger sandwiches with strong Finnish mustard and raw onions.

Irina: It was a smaller group, so Filip and I had more opportunities to talk. I was intrigued by him. A lot of the bravado he displayed at Camp 4 faded away and was replaced by a welcoming energy. I saw different layers of him—a mix of attentive and caring combined with some roughness around the edges. He was growing on me, and my other relationship wasn’t really working out. In May, that relationship ended, and I lived my best single life that summer. I was going out a lot to DJ nights and parties, some of which were hosted by Filip and his friends.

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Filip looks at himself in the mirror while doing up the top button of his white dress shirt

Filip: I was always really big into disco and house music. Irina started coming to DJ nights more often, which gave us more time together. One Friday night in November of 2016, Irina called me when I was out for drinks with buddies and asked what I was up to.

Irina: I was a little tipsy at that point. I’ll admit it: I was calling Filip because I was interested in him. We ended up meeting at a bar on Dundas West called Bambi’s. We had our first kiss there. It felt so familiar and sweet. It’s cheesy to say, but I was absolutely smitten after that.

Irina and Filip laugh as they see each other's wedding outfits

Filip: A few days later, Irina and I went on our first official date. I picked her up from a dance class and initially planned to take her to Wallflower, a cute bar on Dundas West. She was really hungry though, and I had just eaten, so first I took her to Popeyes and watched her eat.

Irina: We started spending every single day together, seven days a week. We each lived with our parents, but we’d see each other in the morning, go to work, talk at noon for an hour, then hang out after work. We were obsessed with each other. I knew early on that Fil was my person. I used to joke that he was like my other limb.

Irina, Filip, and five family members gather on a patio

Filip: We met each other’s parents within a few months of dating. Irina’s parents were very cool with me, some random dude, hanging out in their home. I got a key to the house and would roll up late on a Wednesday night and no one would comment on it. My parents were chill about Irina sleeping over too.

Irina: It sounds like a lot to have the parents involved so early in our relationship, but it actually let us build deep connections with them. It wasn’t like we only saw them at Christmas or for birthdays. We’d just be on the couch watching movies together. I liked that Filip was so close to his parents. Both of us have strong family values, and it was wonderful for us to fall into each other’s families like that.

Filip: By 2019, it was time for Irina and me to have our own space. We moved out into a loft apartment in the Junction.

Irina: Filip didn’t talk directly about wanting to get married, but I did. I was the driver of our milestone discussions.

Irina and Filip smile as the hold hands and walk down a busy downtown sidewalk

Filip: I was a little immature about marriage at the time. I was more preoccupied with short-term plans, like filling our social calendars and making dinner. But I knew pretty quickly that our relationship was serious and that I was committed to her. Irina is unlike anybody I’ve ever met. I like to say that she’s surfing the same wavelength as me: she’s goofy, beautiful, unbelievably warm and has an incredible sense of humour. I knew she was somebody I could hang out with forever and never get bored.

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Irina: I was very clear with Filip that I wanted to be engaged before I was 30. In 2021, when I was 29, I started asking him when it would happen. I’m a firm believer in asking for what you want.

Filip: I knew I already wanted to spend my life with Irina. As Covid hit, life slowed down and Irina kept nudging, so I started thinking more about the future. I knew how important marriage was for her. So, after she asked, I started planning a proposal.

Irina: After that conversation, I sent Fil a photo of the kind of ring I wanted—a four-pronged diamond on a pavé band.

Irina and Filip smile while standing close together on a patio

Filip: I decided to propose when it was just the two of us at home in the morning, a few weeks before her birthday in May of 2022. The night before, Irina’s friend took her out for drinks. I kept messaging the friend, telling her to cut the night short because I didn’t want Irina to be hungover the next day.

Irina: I was so upset when I got home. I was still a little tipsy, and I was venting to Fil about how I thought my friend was being lame because she didn’t want to hang out with me.

Filip: I always wake up earlier than Irina, so I knew I’d have time to prepare. The next morning, I went out to buy some fancy croissants, prosecco and orange juice and set up a little spread in the kitchen. Then I went back into bed while she was still sleeping and—well, it’s kind of cheesy—but I started singing a few bars of the Kevin Lyttle song “Turn Me On.” I modified the last bit to say, “Let’s get married,” and pulled out the ring.

Irina: I immediately jumped out of bed and flipped out. It was a complete surprise. I was crying from shock and happiness and jumping up and down. We went into the kitchen, popped the prosecco and made mimosas. I loved that we had that moment to ourselves. We spent the afternoon walking down the Railpath, getting coffee and a beer at Henderson Brewery. After that, Fil told me we were going out to dinner that night to celebrate.

Filip: Little did Irina know, I had planned a surprise engagement party with 50 of our friends. It was in an old brick building beside an auto body shop at Dupont and Ossington. I told her that it was a pop-up from a Toronto chef, and she fell for it.

Irina poses in front of a darkly lit bar counter in her bright white wedding dress

Irina: I believed it right up until we showed up at the space. We were walking up the stairs to the venue when we bumped into a friend at the front door, who looked at us, sheet white. Before I could say anything, the door opened and everyone yelled “Surprise!”

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Filip: We wanted to enjoy our engagement, so we didn’t start planning our wedding right away. We also bought a house in Earlscourt, which took up a lot of our time. After we moved, in April of 2023, we started planning the wedding.

Irina: Filip and I both knew that we wanted a smaller ceremony that felt intimate, followed by a bigger reception to celebrate with more friends and family.

Filip: We didn’t choose a small wedding for financial reasons. Our priority was doing something that was personal, which also happened to cost less.

Irina: We were torn on where to do the ceremony. One day, we booked dinner at Casa Paco, a Mediterranean restaurant in Little Italy, and once we sat down, we realized, This is the place. The interior is really homey and welcoming, and we wouldn’t need to do any additional decor. Not to mention that the food blew our minds and the staff were such gracious hosts. We planned to do a ceremony outside on their patio, then have dinner inside the restaurant with 24 of our friends and family. The total cost for renting out Casa Paco, including dinner, was $11,150. After that, we’d head to Paradise Grapevine for our reception with about 80 guests in total. That would cost $11,135 for the venue, an open bar and some charcuterie boards. Our parents helped us out with some of the wedding costs, which we’re really grateful for.

Irina, Filip, and their wedding officiant stand in the doorway to the venue, while the guests look on, standing outside on the patio

Filip: We were worried that people would be upset about being invited to the reception and not the ceremony, but everyone was very understanding about it.

Irina: I started off very chill when I was wedding dress shopping. I thought I’d get a $200 slip dress from Zara and call it a day. But I ended up going to four different bridal shops, looking for a fun shorter, more versatile party dress that was still elegant. I landed on one from LoversLand that’s off-the-shoulder, had a corset top, hit above the knee and cost $4,320. I also got fingerless gloves, an embroidered bow and a headband to go along with it, which cost $1,480 in total.

Filip: I do everything last minute, so getting my suit was a little stressful. It was only ready four days before the wedding. I think it was the first matching suit I’ve owned since my Grade 8 graduation. I went to Suit Supply, in Yorkville, and got a very simple dark-blue suit and wore it with a white dress shirt, unbuttoned at the top. Everything cost about $1,200. For shoes, I had these awesome oxblood brogues ordered from Loake, which cost $500. They only arrived two days before the wedding.

Irina: Filip and I both found the tradition of the bride and groom getting ready separately a little awkward, so we decided to do it together at our house. People were just buzzing around and hanging out. Our parents brought some traditional Serbian pastries for us to nibble on: kiflice, which are bread rolls with cheese; slani štapići, which are salty breadsticks; and pita sa sirom, which are cheese pitas.

A tray of pastry rolls served at Irina and Filip's pre-wedding party

Filip: It was chill, fun and chatty. Not stressful at all.

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Irina: We arrived at Casa Paco in the late afternoon with our family. Fil and I went to take photos for an hour, then the rest of our ceremony guests arrived and mingled over cocktails. We did the legal signing of marriage documents with an officiant, and then our friend Tamara led the proper ceremony. She gave a heartwarming speech about how we’d grown together and the virtues of marriage. After we put the rings on each other’s fingers, we raised a glass to cheers the group.

Filip: There are French doors that connect the patio to the restaurant, so Irina and I stood at that entrance, and our guests gathered around on the patio. We didn’t have any seats, and we didn’t read vows. It was very casual and lasted only five minutes.

Irina: After the ceremony, we went inside for a five-course Mediterranean-style meal that included dishes like boquerones, seafood paella and grilled octopus. The food was amazing, and the staff felt like an extension of our family. I can’t thank them enough. Dinner wrapped up at 8:30 p.m., and we made it to Paradise Grapevine, on Bloor, around 9:15. Our friend Tamara hired a caricature artist as a gift, and they did drawings of us and our friends.

Irina and Filip look into each other's eyes while seated at their wedding table in a casual restaurant setting

Filip: We chose Paradise Grapevine because they have a huge patio out back where people could mingle, but it was surprisingly cold that day. Most of us ended up hanging out inside. We had a couple of our friends deejay, and it was a fun, packed party vibe.

Irina: Around 11 p.m., we got a Popeyes delivery from the same place Filip took me on our first date. People just wolfed it down.

Filip: There is precedent for our group wanting to party late, so around 2 a.m., about 25 of us continued celebrating back at our house.

Irina and Filip dance together at Paradise Grapevine, under dark lighting

Irina: Our DJ friends came back with us and took over with the music, and we hung out snacking on the extra Serbian pastries and leftover Popeyes. I went to bed around 5 a.m., and Filip stayed up with three of our closest friends. When I woke up at 9 a.m. and went downstairs, they were still there, chatting. Tamara was asleep on the couch. I told everyone it was time to go home.

Filip: Just so I don’t sound like a party animal, this was a special occasion. I was still feeling the high of our wedding and just didn’t want the day to end. I was incredibly hungover the next day, but I was still buzzing. The whole experience was so beautiful. It’s a day that I’m very proud of, and I feel blessed that it all panned out the way we’d hoped.

Irina: It was just the perfect wedding. We had a mix of all the things we wanted: an intimate ceremony that was emotional and sweet, then a huge party afterward with all of our nearest and dearest. We went on our honeymoon to Argentina a month later, in October, for two weeks. We visited cool bars and restaurants in the cities and went horseback riding and hiking in the Andes. Being married now doesn’t feel any different, just because we’ve been together for so long.

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Filip: It’s a layer on top of what we already felt. It’s nice. It took me a while to get used to saying “my wife,” but now it all feels normal.


Grand total: $47,164

Date: September 7, 2024 Photography: $4,520, Vuk Dragojevic Dinner venue: $11,150, Casa Paco Party venue: $11,135, Paradise Grapevine Officiant: $282.50, Michael Liber Bride’s hair: $250, Julian West Bride’s makeup: $250, Romy Zack Bride’s dress: $4,230.90, Ingrid Olic, plus $1,480.38 for accessories Groom’s outfit: $1,000 suit and $200 shirt, Suit Supply; $500 shoes, Loake Bridal bouquet and boutonniere: $220, Martin’s Flowers Late-night food: $445.05, Popeyes Engagement ring: $10,000, Adere Jewellers Wedding rings: $1,500, Adere Jewellers

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Andrea Yu is a freelance journalist based in Toronto. She reports on a wide variety of topics including business, real estate, culture, design, health, food, drink and travel. Aside from Toronto Life, her writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine and Cottage Life.