Real Weddings: Larry and Cassy

Cassy Airapetian, a 30-year-old ​​administrative assistant and freelance stylist, and Larry Airapetian, a 31-year-old tattoo artist, met at the Bovine Sex Club’s rooftop tiki bar through a mutual friend just over five years ago. After a love-at-first-sight romance that started with a legendary date, the pair moved in together six months later. On Valentine’s Day in 2024, they got engaged in a cemetery. In June, Cassy and Larry hosted a small civil ceremony at city hall followed by a family brunch at the Skyline diner and a retro reception for 175 guests in the Great Hall a week later. Here’s how it all came together.

Cassy: Shayna, a mutual friend of mine and Larry’s, was our cupid. She used to talk about her mysterious friend Larry, and I would joke that he was a fake 50-year-old character she’d made up. In September of 2019, I went to her birthday party at Planta, and we headed for drinks at the Bovine’s rooftop tiki bar afterward.

Larry: I happened to be grabbing dinner across the street at Java House with some friends after a tattoo convention. Shayna was looking to grow the party and noticed from my post on Instagram that I was nearby. She invited me to join her, Cassy and their friends for drinks. I figured, Why not?

Cassy: When I realized Larry was young, handsome, funny and actually real, I turned on the charm. We sat across from each other all night. At the time, I was training to become a funeral director, so we spent a long time talking about how I’d plan Larry’s funeral and swapping would-you-rathers.

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Larry: We were both single, but neither of us was looking for anything serious. By the end of the night, I knew I wanted to see her again, even if it was just as friends. I messaged her over Instagram to ask her out for a drink.

Cassy: I don’t drink, but I said we could go out for a daytime coffee. Shayna was so excited for us to get together that she made a reservation for us at Bampot House, a tea place with board games, two weeks later.

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Larry: A great friend move! You can’t wear shoes there, so we sat on floor pillows in our socks drinking pot after pot of green tea for more than four hours. We didn’t play a single board game.

Cassy: Neither of us had eaten, and I don’t think we realized how buzzed we were on caffeine. We practically shared our whole life stories. I didn’t want it to end. Larry was living with his parents in Vaughan at the time, so I invited him to my place in High Park to order Thai food and watch It Follows—we both love horror movies.

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Larry: About a month later, after spooky season had rolled around, we were strolling through a cemetery.

Cassy: I started doing that “What are we?” thing.

Larry: And I said, “Well, I think of you as my ghoul-friend.”

Cassy: It was so cute—and so us! I burst out laughing, which I’m sure looked funny to everyone in the cemetery. And that was it. He was my “boo-friend.”

Larry: Right before the pandemic hit, Cassy’s best friend and roommate moved out of their place, and I moved in. Cassy and I had zero hesitation about living together. It was a beautiful place to enjoy the next phase of our relationship. We weathered the first lockdowns there, making big dinners that we’d eat in blanket forts while the world paused. We had no idea what the future held, but we had each other.

Cassy: We ended up moving to Parkdale in 2022. With the lake, the cultural mix, the community energy and the Tibetan food that we’re now addicted to, it feels like home. The Skyline Restaurant quickly became our go-to diner for everything: weeknight meals, celebrations, the occasional tearful breakdown—it’s seen us through just about everything.

Larry: In 2023, we started thinking about marriage. It was tricky territory for me: my parents’ generation was all about divorce. For years, I said I’d never get married.

Cassy: I started not-so-subtly nudging Larry to propose. Every holiday, I’d ask for a ring, and after one too many fits of frustration during festivities, Larry had to promise he’d propose to me in six months or less.

Larry: My attitude had shifted. Instead of avoiding marriage, I committed to keeping our relationship healthy and resisting some of the pitfalls of the previous generation, like poor communication and not giving each other the benefit of the doubt. I scoured Toronto for a vintage engagement ring, but I ended up finding a new one with a vintage feel on eBay, through a seller called Diamonds of America. I asked Cassy’s mom for her blessing shortly after the ring arrived.

Cassy: I finally got my wish on Valentine’s Day of 2024. We went for a walk in the same cemetery where we became official, and he got down on one knee, in the dirt and all. When he asked me to marry him, I said, “Yeah, duh,” and called my mom right after. I was crying so much I had to hang up.

Larry: We had our wedding bands made by Strada, a jeweller in this beautiful old building at Yonge and College. The owner is such an eccentric character. He chatted us up for over an hour and ended up giving us the Armenian discount thanks to my heritage.

Cassy: When we started planning, we dreamed of a tiny Vegas elopement—just us, then a party back home—but my family was not happy about that idea. So we started planning a big wedding. At first it was fun: my mom hosted an engagement party with signature cocktails that was an absolute rager.

Larry: We booked a 300-guest ceremony and reception in all four rooms of the Great Hall, which meant we were scheming how to fill over 20,000 square feet with guests, food, entertainment and decorations.

Cassy: Friends and family vendors offered us discounts, and my aunt even got her florist licence and agreed to do all of the flowers at cost—such a gift. But Larry and I quickly began to feel uneasy about the whole thing. A big spectacle was never what we wanted, and stress from all the logistics was piling up.

Larry: Plus, even with the generosity of friends and family, we couldn’t really afford it. So we hit the brakes. Against our parents’ advice, we scrapped the big wedding and opted for a tiny city hall ceremony followed by a more modest reception a week later, in just the main theatre of the Great Hall. And we adjusted the catering to fit our new budget—the food was still our biggest-ticket item, but so worth it—and cut our guest list from 300 to about 175.

Cassy: After that, we finally got to focus on the fun part: the vibe. We wanted a Vegas-meets-’70s-glam wedding with a mildly surreal edge. Like a David Lynch fever dream, but romantic.

Larry: My suit was fated. We found a vintage cream Christian Dior while thrifting in Woodstock for $45. It fit perfectly, no tailoring needed, which was eerie. It was like a kind ghost wanted me to get married in it. I went full Elvis with the rest: powder-blue shirt and black-and-white saddle shoes by Dr. Martens. I’m a punk kid at heart.

Cassy: I had three dresses—a satin high-neck, open-back Sau Lee gown I rented at Fitzroy for city hall; a 1940s champagne silk princess dress from Vintage Bride for the first part of the reception; and a simple Zara slip for after-dinner dancing. My mom gifted me a Swarovski crystal necklace and Steve Madden heels with big bows, but I also snagged a pair of glitter-covered platforms to dance in.

Larry: For the dinner, I insisted on hors d’oeuvres that were ultimate comfort foods: chicken and waffles, mini lobster rolls and sliders. We wanted people to chase the tray across the room, not pretend to enjoy a fancy dish with no soul.

Cassy: The night before the city hall wedding, my maid of honour, Brie, and I had a real gals’ sleepover. We went to Bar Poet, ate candy, watched Bridesmaids, went to bed at 1 a.m. and then jolted out of bed at a cool 6 a.m. to do our hair and makeup.

Larry: Meanwhile, I crashed at my best man’s. It was such a guy’s night. We sat on La-Z-Boys watching King of the Hill and intermittently saying, “Yep.” Only when I was putting on my suit the next morning did the reality of getting married wash over me. It felt so big and exciting.

Cassy: The morning of the city hall ceremony was the silliest, best time. My godfather, a limo driver, picked me and Brie up. Larry drove himself. Our loud eastern European families filled the chambers, fifteen of us causing chaos while other weddings were happening right next door.

Larry: There was so much energy in the tight government space. Our judge got mad at our photographer for accidentally using flash, which is strictly forbidden.

Cassy: After the ceremony, we slipped away with our photographer to read our private vows under a nearby awning. It was raining lightly, which felt extra cinematic.

Larry: My vows were classic. I’ve learned that compliments always go over well. I also promised to always support her no matter what, joking that I’d even beat people up for her if I needed to.

Cassy: I told him how safe and steady he’s always been, that I’ll always meet him in the middle, and that marriage is just us showing up for each other every day. After that, it only made sense to bring the families to our beloved Skyline diner for brunch and a mini photoshoot.

Larry: It was pleasantly chaotic. Skyline forgot our reservation, but they more than made up for it with plenty of celebratory bubbly. Our families were, unsurprisingly, loud and drunk on love—and booze. We went to the Drake Hotel lobby for a day-cap afterward.

Cassy: The rest of the family partied on, but Larry, Brie and I went to the movies to catch a horror flick. That night was definitely the calm before the storm. We spent the rest of the week answering questions from family and friends—who were coming to the reception party a week later, on June 14—and finalizing all of the last-minute details.

Larry: So many people we love trekked in from great distances over the next few days. My parents came in from Panama, and two of Cassy’s best friends visited from England.

Cassy: On the day of the reception, I had to get serious with my glam squad for the best day of my life. My makeup artist, Adam Oaknine, had just worked on Julia Fox and Anna Delvey, and for my hair I went with a poofy Brigitte Bardot—style beehive covered in soft pink bows.

Larry: As Cassy was glamming it up, I was making several trips to unload things at the Great Hall—but my car battery died on the first drop-off. A random guy on the street must have noticed my agony, and he offered to jump-start it for me. I got to visit Canadian Tire on my wedding day.

Cassy: My aunt—the florist—and her assistant totally transformed the venue with their florals. I told her I wanted a Valentine’s-inspired look with deep reds, pinks, white accents and swans, and she did great. She transformed the place into a retro daydream.

Larry: Our friends and family started streaming in in colourful garb for dinner around 4:30 p.m., then more guests rolled in for the party at 7:30 p.m. We banned black outfits, which is hilarious since my tattoo-shop crew lives in black band tees. They all showed up in browns and blues looking shockingly wholesome.

Cassy: After Larry’s comforting hors d’oeuvres, we had a sit-down dinner surrounded by party favours like custom matches, motel-style key tags and a cigarette platter—ever since seeing that Chloë Sevigny had one at her wedding, I had to have one too. We also had a rotary phone instead of a guest book that loved ones could leave voice notes on. Listening back weeks later, the messages started sweet and sentimental then got progressively sillier as the drinks flowed. From the sounds of it, they quite liked our signature “Love Potion” cocktail.

Larry: Our DJ spun exclusively vinyl, and everyone hit the dance floor. I’m not much of a drinker—I’ve only been drunk a handful of times—but let’s just say that, by 9 p.m., my composed groom act was over and I was cutting a rug for all to see.

Cassy: After a wild night that included convincing my uncles not to fist-fight, our reception wound down to about eight of our closest friends, all sprawled across the Great Hall’s floor, drunk and happy. I looked around at their spread-out bodies, surrounded by surreal flowers and puddles of spilled cocktails, and felt so much joy. The night was rowdy, messy and absolutely perfect.

Larry: We got home around 3 a.m. and read wedding cards in bed while waiting for a Burger King delivery. My last memory of the night is eating a Whopper before passing out cold.

Cassy: Being married feels similar to being in a loving relationship, but the legality of it makes it feel deeper. We’re making more serious and practical moves. We’d like to honeymoon in Mexico next year, when we’ve financially recovered from the wedding, and I took a corporate job so we could both have benefits. We’re also putting the wheels in motion to have kids.

Larry: Marriage feels like turning the page to another great chapter. Neither of us will ever totally grow up—we’re too goofy for that—but this new commitment to each other opens up a whole host of new things to do together.

Cheat Sheet

Date: June 9, 2025 (ceremony); June 14, 2025 (reception) Photographers: Jessica Salemme and Matthew Laplante of @whimandwillowphoto (ceremony); Jake Ballah of @church.in.hell (reception) Venues: Toronto City Hall (ceremony); The Great Hall (reception) Invitations: Larry Airatetian; With Joy Florals: Zvez Boulet of Z Flower Shop Inc. Additional decor: Cassy Airatetian, Brie Cellucci and Paige Cellucci-Gemmiti Food: Elle Cuisine DJ and entertainment: DJ Bookshelf Party favours: Belmont cigarettes; motel fobs from Greek Create Rotary phone guestbook: Hotline Bling Cassy’s ceremony dress: Sau Lee rented at Fitzroy Cassy’s reception dresses: Vintage Bride; Zara Cassy’s shoes: Steve Madden; thrifted disco platforms Cassy’s accessories: Swarovski Cassy’s makeup: Adam Oaknine (@facesbyadam) Cassy’s hair: Charlotte Delaet (@charlotte.delaet) Larry’s outfit: Vintage Christian Dior found at the One of a Kind Mall Larry’s shoes: Doc Martens Engagement ring: Diamonds of America via eBay Wedding bands: Strada