Real Weddings: Amanda and Izzy

Amanda Morrison, an executive producer at a film-production company, met Izzy Ehrlich, a partner and editor at a post-production house, on Tinder in 2017. A few months later, Amanda moved into Izzy’s apartment. Eventually, Izzy proposed to Amanda at their cottage in Tiny, Ontario, and they were wed in October 2023 in an elegant ceremony at the Gladstone House hotel. Here’s how their big day came together.

Izzy: I initiated the conversation with Amanda on Tinder. It was in 2017, and I remember seeing a photo of her wearing a button-up shirt with a zip-up hoodie underneath. I thought it was kind of weird but also cute.

Related: Inside a scenic wedding on Lake Como

Amanda: Izzy was very quick to suggest hanging out in person, which I liked.

Izzy: We arranged to meet up at Bar Fancy.

Amanda: I was going to have one drink and see how it went. But then we ended up going to a second bar, then a third. We really got to know each other. We talked about our past relationships, our families, growing up, our siblings, work. The conversation and banter with Izzy was so easy and fun. I felt like we could have kept hanging out for days.

Izzy: I fell in love with Amanda as soon as I saw her. It was like, Oh, I never want this night to end. There was this wild energy between us. I know it’s clichéd, but it was like a magnetic attraction. As the night progressed, we felt more and more connected.

Amanda: A few days after our first date, I went on a week-long trip to Jamaica with some friends. When I came back, we were pretty much inseparable. Izzy is so incredibly charming and charismatic. Her energy is infectious. We’d spend hours on her front porch just talking our heads off. It was like time didn’t even exist.

Izzy: Amanda is so fun to hang out with. She’s always up for anything and constantly makes me laugh. Everything feels easy and light when we’re together. At that time, I lived alone in Parkdale, whereas Amanda had roommates. So we hung out at my house a lot.

Amanda: Three months after we met, the end of my lease was coming up. So I moved into Izzy’s place. It was quick, but it made sense for us.

Izzy: Even though we hadn’t known each other that long, I didn’t even question it. That’s how a lot of our relationship has been—we don’t really map out our life plans; we just roll with the punches. But I definitely knew that Amanda was my forever person.

Amanda: We talked about marriage pretty early on in our relationship. I was never one of those people who grew up dreaming of their wedding day, so I didn’t feel like we had to stick to any specific timeline, which was nice.

Izzy: In 2018, we bought a cottage together in Tiny, Ontario. We wanted a place that we could escape to when we needed it. Then, in 2020, right when Covid hit, we bought a house in Little Portugal.

Amanda: It was a good starter home but not our forever place. So we bought another house, in the Junction, in 2022.

Izzy: When we were selling our first house, I wanted to celebrate the moment. It felt like the right time to propose to Amanda. I thought it would be a really special way to mark this new phase of our lives.

Amanda: In May 2022, we had to leave our house in Little Portugal so that it could be staged. We went up to our cottage to live there for a month.

Izzy: It felt like the perfect place to pop the question. Before we left, I picked out a ring—a triangular diamond with hand-engraved flowers on a yellow-gold band. We’d never talked about rings before, but I knew she would love it. I planned to propose on the beach the day we arrived because I was so nervous about carrying around the ring.

Amanda: Right when we got to the cottage, Izzy asked if I wanted to go for a walk. I actually said no. I told her I just wanted to sit and relax, which was true.

Related: Inside a stylish wedding celebration at Soos restaurant

Izzy: I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get her down to the beach. I finally convinced Amanda by saying that the forecast was calling for rain the next few days, so we had to take advantage of the weather. Finally, she got up and came with me. Once we got to the beach, she started writing “I love you” in the sand while looking out at the water. I didn’t know exactly what to do, so I just put the ring in my fingers and held it out in the air. She turned around and said, “What are you doing?”

Amanda: I was stunned because we hadn’t talked about it. People always say they have some idea about when a proposal is going to happen, based on conversations or trips that get planned, but I was absolutely shocked—and also happy and so excited. Once we got settled into our new house, in the fall of 2022, we started planning everything.

Izzy: We wanted our wedding to feel like us. Modern, warm and elegant—but not too stuffy.

Amanda: We knew we wanted it to be inside and not in the dead of summer when it would be super hot. We definitely wanted to keep it in Toronto since we love the city. We toured a few different venues, but some were too big—we only wanted about a hundred guests—or they felt cold and empty. But, once we walked into the Gladstone House, we knew it was perfect. It was intimate and the staff were so lovely. We’d also both been to so many queer events at the Gladstone over the years, so we loved the idea of getting married there.

Izzy: For my outfit, I got a suit made at Got Style. I’d never done anything like that before, but the process was really simple. I decided on green for the colour, and we picked out the fabric, the buttons and the fit. It turned out really nicely.

Amanda: I was anxious about buying a dress because I don’t always feel super comfortable in formal attire. I loved the vibe at LoversLand, though. I found my dress on the second visit. It was fitted and had long sleeves, a low back and a train.

Izzy: We rented a hotel room at the Gladstone for the night before the wedding, and we had a separate room downstairs for getting ready. We got our hair and makeup done together. I wasn’t nervous at all about marrying Amanda, but I don’t love being the centre of attention, so that aspect was a bit nerve-wracking.

Amanda: I felt super nervous about the ceremony and all the things that could go wrong. But it was nice to be with Izzy and talk about how we were feeling.

Izzy: The ceremony was in the ballroom. I walked out first. I’m really close with Amanda’s nonna, so she brought me down the aisle.

Amanda: After I made it up the aisle without falling on my face, I felt pretty calm. I was able to just be present with Izzy at that moment.

Izzy: Our ceremony was really quick, about 15 minutes. The room was beautifully decorated, with some earth-tone florals and a few pops of darker colours. Our florist built sculpture-like designs, which we had at our altar. There were also dried flowers hanging from the chandeliers.

Amanda: After the ceremony, our guests went into the adjoining bistro bar for a cocktail hour while the ballroom was flipped for dinner. We took a little snack break up in our room, then we headed back down to join our guests. We wanted to maximize time with our friends.

Izzy: The Gladstone handled the dinner. We had a beef option, a fish option and pasta for the vegetarians.

Amanda: We did our first dance to “Video Games” by Lana Del Rey. Then we invited everyone up to join us, which helped get the party started. 

Izzy: The DJ played ’90s tunes, oldies, hip hop and current club tunes. It was kind of all over the place, but it was also very true to our style.

Amanda: The party naturally wound down at 1 a.m., which was our cut-off time. It was kind of fun, though, because people moved into the lobby area as they were leaving. There were a bunch of chairs and couches there, and it was nice to hang out and say goodbye to people as they walked out the doors.

Izzy: Honestly, I felt relieved when the day was over, but in the best way. Everything went off without a hitch. The food was great. There were no meltdowns. Everyone had a fun time. I felt really happy about it.

Amanda: The next day, we hotel-hopped over to the Drake for brunch with our nearest and dearest, which was about 15 people. It was nice to hang out, enjoy a meal and debrief.

Izzy: We went to Cancun for our honeymoon. We really just wanted to relax because we’d been so busy between the wedding and our careers. It was awesome.

Amanda: Being married to Izzy feels the same, honestly. Marriage was never a pressing thing for us. It was more like a way to celebrate something beautiful, and I’m so glad we did it.

Izzy: It feels the same for me too, which is really comforting. I wouldn’t want to change a thing.

Cheat Sheet

Date: October 14, 2023 Venue: The Gladstone House Photography: Bradley Golding and Greg Trumper Wedding planner: Lexi Haslam Day-of planner: Amanda Hewitt Officiant: Charity Adams Florist: Rosalie Villanueva Chairs: Divine Linens, napkins, chargers and side plates: Simply Beautiful Decor Carpet runner: Reznick Invites and signage: Chris Brown Printing: Paper Damsels Catering: The Gladstone House Cake: Kwento DJ: Regina Gently AV: V Productions Hair and makeup: Lisa Vella Engagement ring and wedding bands: Elana Ginsberg Amanda’s dress: LoversLand Amanda’s shoes: Christian Louboutin, Nike Blazers Izzy’s suit: Got Style by Natasha Morén-Espinoza Izzy’s shoes: Prada