Real Weddings: Evan and Julia

Julia Sullivan Faith, a 32-year-old florist, first met Evan Kosiner, a 36-year-old owner of a broadcast and AV consulting company, in 2011, during an English lecture at Toronto Metropolitan University. They reconnected a decade later, when Evan shared an Instagram story about looking for a girlfriend, and were engaged in November of 2022. In June of 2024, they celebrated their wedding in Prince Edward County with fireworks and live performances. Here’s how it all came together.

Julia: In 2011, Evan and I were in the same English class at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Evan: I spotted Julia early on in the semester, and I thought she was pretty. When I went to class, I always tried to find a seat next to her.

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Julia: I definitely thought Evan was cute, but my first impression was that he was pretty annoying. He was quite loud and opinionated in class.

Evan: I don’t remember exactly when, but at some point we followed each other on Instagram. After the class ended, though, we went our separate ways.

Julia: Then, 10 years later, in May of 2021, I saw Evan post an Instagram story about how he was “seeking a single blonde Jewish woman.” It was basically a dating ad that he put up on his Instagram, and I thought it was funny. So I sent him a reply with a laughing-crying emoji and said, “Good luck.”

Evan: I had been single for about six months at that point. I was getting older and feeling ready to settle down. I just felt like I should put that out into the world.

Julia: I’m not Jewish myself, but by sending that message, I was letting him know I was interested.

Evan: We started DMing each other, and a few weeks later I asked Julia out.

Julia: We went on a day trip to King City, where we got coffee at Pine Farms Orchard.

Evan: I have a boat that’s docked north of Uxbridge, and I had plans to meet some friends there. I invited Julia to join me there afterward.

Julia: He told me he wanted to make a quick stop along the way. The next thing I knew, we were pulling into his parents’ driveway. At first, I was kind of thrown off and not impressed. I was like, Who brings someone to their parents’ house on the first date? But it ended up being a pretty pleasant time.

Evan: I thought it’d be fun to put Julia on the spot a bit. And luckily for me, it worked out!

Julia: Evan and I started hanging out pretty regularly after that, going on weekly dates.

Evan: We’d go out for dinner, or I’d cook Julia a meal at my place. By March of 2022, we decided to live together. I own a house in midtown that I used to rent out. We move into it, and Julia really made it into a home. She’s got a great eye for design. I knew early on that Julia was the girl I wanted to marry.

Julia: I started seeing the potential for marriage after we moved in together. Having that deeper level of commitment and partnership with Evan really helped. It made me feel more confident about our future together.

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Evan: I’d already asked Julia what style of ring she liked, hoping she would forget by the time an engagement actually happened. I ended up getting her an oval diamond on a white-gold band, and I planned a proposal for November of 2022.

Julia: Evan told me he made dinner reservations at Canoe. We got downtown early, and he suggested we go for a walk first. We ended up at TMU, where Evan asked to put a blindfold on me. At that point, I figured something was up.

Evan: I had coordinated with TMU administration, who graciously let me use the classroom where we met for the proposal. I hired an artist to write “Will You Marry Me?” on the chalkboard in the lecture hall, and then I had a photographer and videographer there to capture the moment. I felt so nervous through it all. It’s a big step to take.

Julia: It felt like the proposal was about to happen, so when the blindfold came off and I saw Evan go down on one knee, I only pretended to be surprised. But I still felt so happy. It was extremely thoughtful of him to do it in the room where we first met.

Evan: We went to the Met Campus Pub afterward, where a dozen of our friends and family were waiting to celebrate with us.

Julia: We happened to have a trip to Italy booked after the engagement, so we waited until we got back to start planning the wedding.

Evan: Julia likes to say that I planned the whole thing.

Julia: Evan works in event production and used to be a wedding DJ, so he knew how to handle it and had all these connections. It was perfect for me because I get a bit overwhelmed by that kind of planning. He took care of the big logistics, and I did more of the creative, artsy stuff like decor and signage. I also did the florals, of course, since I’m a florist.

Evan: At the time, some friends of mine had just taken over an event venue on a farm in Prince Edward County. It’s called the Eddie. Julia and I visited for coffee and lunch one day and fell in love with it.

Julia: Some of my family live in Prince Edward County, so the location was great for them. Given the venue, we decided on a country-chic theme for our wedding. We did a lot of coral- and pastel-coloured flowers: peonies, ranunculus and candlelight roses. We had arrangements on top of big barn barrels, plus a beautiful flower arch.

Evan: I wanted to have some traditional elements of a Jewish wedding, like the chuppah and the breaking of the glass.

Julia: I ended up getting my dress at a shop called Avenue 22. It was the first one I tried on, even though I tried a bunch of others after it just to be safe. It has long sleeves with pearl embellishments, a deep V in the front and a floor-length overskirt that I walked down the aisle in but could remove for the reception.

Evan: We got custom suits for me and my groomsmen at Jeff Alpaugh Custom. I also got a bow tie and vest to wear to the reception.

Julia: I spent the night before the big day at Wander, a resort just across from the Eddie. My bridesmaids and I got ready there in the morning. I was up so early. I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited.

Evan: I was actually working the night before the wedding, producing a basketball game. I drove into Prince Edward County at 1 a.m. and spent the night at the Country Inn in Belleville, then got ready at the Eddie’s bridal suite. I’m used to being very hands-on with the events I plan, so it was a challenge for me to step back and just be a groom for the day. Honestly, I couldn’t fully relax until after I did a walk-through of the venue and saw that everything was going smoothly.

Julia: We did our first look at Wander. Then we went over to the Eddie for photos.

Evan: Our guests arrived at 3:30 p.m. for a cocktail reception in the main courtyard. Big Smoke, a seven-piece brass band, played. At 4:15 p.m., the band marched our guests down to the ceremony spot, which was by a pond behind the barn.

Julia: I felt nervous about standing in front of a big crowd, but I was also super excited. I walked myself down the aisle to Evan. My parents were standing at the front, and I gave them each a big hug. I almost broke down and cried, but I had to keep it together. Overall, it was really magical.

Evan: Rick Campanelli, the former MuchMusic VJ and ET Canada co-host, is a friend of a friend. We got him to officiate the majority of our ceremony as a favour. He’d never done it before, but he was a natural. He did a great job and is the nicest person. Our guests got a kick out of seeing him.

Julia: After the ceremony, we walked out while the band played Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” Everyone headed back to the main courtyard for more cocktails. There was also a mozzarella-pulling station and barbecued lamb.

Evan: The next band that played was LMT Connection. They’re a Motown band that used to perform at the Orbit Room on College Street.

Julia: We did dinner family-style, so each course came out in large platters and people could build their own plates

Evan: Our caterer actually dropped out three weeks before our wedding, so we combined four caterers together to pull it off. Mama Rosa from 7 Numbers is a friend, so we had her do some Italian dishes: meatballs with cheese, eggplant parm and a classic veal lasagna. Our desserts were from Cops Donuts. Then Cucina Mauro added some extra dishes and brought everything up to the venue. The Eddie provided grilled cheese sandwiches for a late-night snack.

Julie: Our first dance was outside in the courtyard, where 4Korners was DJing—he’s the official Raptors stadium DJ.

Evan: Then we had our final band of the evening, Wing Night. They’re a ’90s/2000s hip-hop and R&B cover band that I initially saw play at Nightowl on College Street. They do everything from Nelly’s “Hot in Here” to Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby.” Choclair, the Juno Award–winning rapper, came on and performed with them for a bit.

Julia: After that, we invited our guests outside for a fireworks show. I had no idea that the fireworks would be 15 minutes long. Our photographers kept saying, “Big kiss at the finale!” But the fireworks just kept going. We couldn’t tell which ones were the last. We had a good laugh about that. At 11 p.m., we transitioned downstairs to the basement bar, where we had custom-made cigars and a two-hour pre-recorded DJ set to end the night. There was bus service to take our guests home to Belleville, Toronto and different parts of Prince Edward County.

Evan: The whole day flew by. It was a lot of preparation, but everything went off without a hitch. It was amazing.

Julia: Three days after the wedding, we went to the Cayman Islands for our honeymoon, which was awesome. Married life has been great. It’s been nice to settle back into our regular routines. Evan jokes that he knows life is back to normal because I’ve gone back to redecorating our house.

Evan: Sometimes I’ll say, “Hey, Mrs. Kosiner, where would you like to go for dinner this evening?” We’re having fun with that. We had a solid relationship before, so not much changed after getting married. Now we just have a lot of thank-you cards to write.

Cheat Sheet

Date: June 2, 2024 Photography: Kenny Lin, Luminous Waves Image Work Video production: Harbinder Singh, Dome Productions Director of photography: Garrett Smith B-camera and drone: Alex Chiu Bride’s getting-ready venue: Wander the Resort Ceremony and reception venue: The Eddie Hotel and Farm Officiant: Rick Campanelli, Anne Harvey Florist: Floris Flower Co. Catering: 7 Numbers, Cucina Mauro, The Eddie Hotel and Farm Dessert: Cops Doughnuts Cake: Vicky Worlidge Fireworks: FFP Laser Systems Entertainment: Choclair, Wing Night, LMT Connection, Big Smoke Brass DJ: 4Korners Bride’s hair: Danyelle Faith Bride’s makeup: Michelle Shaw Makeup Bride’s dress: Eva Lendel Groom’s outfit: Jeff Alpaugh Custom, Harry Rosen, Davido Afnani Wedding planners: Savannah and Tashonna Sewell, Toi et Moi Events; Sam Gabr and Emelie Savard, WeddingsByEmS