Real Weddings: Maryanne and Nico

Maryanne Casasanta, a 44-year-old artist educator, first matched with Nicolas Aldea, a 39-year-old chef, on Tinder in the summer of 2020. After pandemic-era park dates, the new couple bubbled up and bonded over cooking new recipes and trying new wines at home. Things got serious quickly after Maryanne’s mother passed away in 2021. They moved in together the following year and were engaged on a trip to Italy in 2024. An intimate 14-person wedding in the backyard of their High Park rental followed in the fall of 2025, along with a dinner reception at Annabelle Pasta Bar. Here’s how it all came together.

Maryanne: Nico and I connected through Tinder in 2020. His profile had a lot of great photos, and I thought he had a warm face. He mentioned that he worked as a pastaio—a fancy word for a chef who makes pasta by hand—at an Italian grocery in Roncesvalles up the street from where I lived. Being Italian, this piqued my interest because I dabble in fresh-pasta-making myself. I figured we’d probably have a pretty good conversation about food in the neighbourhood.

Nico: After we connected over pasta, the conversation flowed naturally. I was instantly struck by how cute Maryanne’s profile photos were. Her smile had a smirking quality that made me want to get a chance to talk to her. I was coming back from a pretty long hiatus from dating—I wanted to work on myself. I didn’t want to divulge too much. Plus, with the pandemic being in full swing, I felt like we had more time to let things happen at a natural pace without having to rush. So after the initial connection, our conversation slowed down. It was actually Maryanne who finally made the push for us to meet up and go on our first date after a month of chatting.

Maryanne: We agreed to meet after work and share a couple of drinks in Sorauren Park. Nico arrived with some wine and a big smile. I brought a blanket, and we sat down and just jumped right in. The conversation was seamless, like talking to someone who was already in my friend circle.

Nico: I remember being excited while I was walking over to meet Maryanne. Immediately, we were good at bantering. Maryanne never seemed distracted. We talked about pasta some more, plus the good meals we’d picked up lately and what restaurants we thought were overrated.

Maryanne: We didn’t go too deep on that first date. It was light-hearted. We talked a bit about our professional lives—I am a practising artist, so we made some connections between hospitality and the art scene. We also talked about where we’re from. Nico grew up in Toronto, near Christie Pits, and I grew up in Brantford, which is where Nico’s mom is from.

Nico: Summer was just turning to fall, and it was a windy day. When the sun set, we started to get cold, but I remember having such a good time that I didn’t want the date to end.

Maryanne: I lived across the street from a big Polish church and did a lot of Covid hangs on the steps. They have a little alcove that would block the wind, so we moved our date there and kept chatting into the evening and until 11 p.m.

Nico: Our second date happened a week later. We went on a picnic date in High Park. Then, on our third date, I invited Maryanne over to my place for dinner so I could cook for her. I remember her mentioning that she was leaning more toward vegetarian dishes, so I made an asparagus and mushroom risotto, and Maryanne brought dessert.

Maryanne: Nico and I fell into a comfortable rhythm after that. We made dinner at each other’s places a lot. Nico has so much expert culinary knowledge, and I was learning to bake more desserts. It was fun to collaborate in the kitchen. We also spent a lot of evenings watching The Sopranos.

Nico: We started at the beginning of season one, and I was hooked. My family is Chilean, but I loved watching all the Italian culture and food.

Maryanne: About three months in, we made our relationship official. It was partly for safety, since we were still in the pandemic, but also because we wanted to focus on each other and explore what was developing between us.

Nico: Because we weren’t able to hang out with friends as often during the pandemic, Maryanne and I spent a lot of time together, which felt really good. It was easy to be vulnerable with each other during that time.

Maryanne: In November of 2020, four months into dating, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. That really ramped up our needing and wanting to be vulnerable with each other, to cut the bullshit and get straight to it. My mom’s cancer was advanced, so in December, I gave Nico the option to step back if he didn’t feel prepared to be with me since I didn’t know how everything was going to shake out.

Nico: We had blunt and frank conversations about how we were feeling in those moments. I knew that I wanted to support Maryanne and to show her that, no matter what she might be dealing with, I could be there for her.

Maryanne: Instead of stepping back, Nico stepped forward. He said, “I’m not going anywhere. What’s happening to you is life.” It took a lot of courage from both of us to see each other in all these different states and for Nico to absorb that. My mom got her terminal diagnosis in February of 2021, and she passed that July. Nico and I had just moved in together into a rental condo in High Park the month before. My dad had already passed, so having lost both my parents, I was grateful for how Nico’s family embraced me. As the lockdowns lifted, I spent more time getting to know his aunts and uncles, siblings, nephew, and grandma. My sense of security, family and identity shifted dramatically during that time.

Nico: Prior to meeting Maryanne, I found it difficult to imagine myself getting married. I’ve been a professional chef my whole life and have always worked the worst hours—evenings and weekends. But, when I met Maryanne, I had started a new job where I worked only during the day and had most weekends off. Coming home to Maryanne and talking about our days and making plans for the following day or next month made me feel more seriously about marriage. It felt like that was our trajectory.

Maryanne: Marriage wasn’t something that we spoke about until a few years into dating. When we first met, we talked about how we were on the same page of not wanting to have kids—we’d listed that in our Tinder profiles. Neither of us envisioned marriage, but after my mom passed and I was starting to spend more time with Nico’s family in 2023, I started to reconsider. I told Nico that I wanted to be part of a family again. I wondered to him, out loud, if that was a reason for people to marry. Nico was receptive to the idea, and we started to have these discursive conversations about it. They were all casual and natural, which is the way that Nico and I always communicate.

Nico: I understood why she was thinking that way. We revisited the conversation many times, often while we were cooking dinner. It started as an idea that orbited around us, then we started to think about it more seriously. There was a moment, about three and a half years into dating, when I realized that my life revolved around Maryanne—she was the first thing I thought of in the morning and the last thing I thought of before I went to bed—and that marrying her was what I really wanted. That’s when I started ring shopping. I found a ring I thought she would like at Malleable Jewellers in January of 2024 and started dreaming up the most grand and romantic way I could to propose.

Maryanne: When I thought about marrying Nico, I imagined us making a commitment to each other privately—an elopement or a civil service. I wasn’t imagining a party or a wedding or Nico getting down on one knee for a traditional engagement. I joked with him about this, and his response was, “You don’t think I’m capable of proposing to you?” From that point on, I knew he wanted to do things differently and left him to his own devices.

Nico: Maryanne and I had a trip planned to Abruzzo, Italy, in the summer of 2024, to spend time with her father’s family. I knew that I’d propose to her then. She had shown me videos and photos of her parents getting married at the church in the piazza of their small town of Pratola, so my goal was to do it on those same church steps. But, every time we were at the piazza, there was something going on—a market or another wedding. I had to change plans. One day, we took a small hike with Maryanne’s family to a neighbouring town called Bominaco, where there was a church from the fifth century that had frescoes on the ceiling. We toured it, and at the end, the guide recommended that we hike up the hill, where there are ruins of a castle and a great view. Just Maryanne and I decided to do the hike, so I knew the proposal had to happen up on that mountain. When we got up there, she was enjoying the view and I was searching for a private spot to pop the question. Earlier on, Maryanne had shared that her mom believed that she would visit Maryanne in the afterlife as a butterfly. So when I found a semi-private nook behind the castle ruins and a butterfly flew in front of me, I knew it was the spot. Maryanne saw me, came up, and that’s when I got down on one knee and proposed.

Maryanne: I think I burst out laughing. I was so happy and thrilled. I felt disembodied. I couldn’t believe it. Nico was so formal about it. He was shaking and nervous. I was shocked, but I also felt like, This is the moment. It was the right time to do it. I was really happy that he chose that moment.

Nico: We dove right away into wedding research. Initially, we thought we’d do a restaurant buyout for 50 guests. But, when we started getting quotes between $10,000 and $20,000, it became apparent that this was not within our budget. We were spending so much time fussing over where to have it, so we just decided to focus on what was really important about that day—the ceremony itself—and pivoted to go small. That lifted a lot of the pressure and stress of wedding planning.

Maryanne: Things got easier after that. In 2024, we moved from the condo into a second-floor apartment in a century home in High Park. It has a wrap-around veranda and a nice landscaped backyard. The landlords live across the street, and they take good care of it. I’d always thought that our backyard would be a nice place to have a wedding, so once we’d decided to have a small wedding, we asked our landlords for permission to use the yard and they said yes.

Nico: Our guest list was 12 people. That made it easier to look into half-buyouts for restaurants. We went back to one of the restaurants we had spoken with earlier, Annabelle Pasta Bar, and booked out a half-buyout of their upstairs dining room. Maryanne took charge of designing the ambiance and feel for the day.

Maryanne: My mom was very sentimental about her wedding. She had kept her wedding dress, her invitations and my dad’s bow tie. After she passed, my brother and I inherited all these things. I have their wedding album with all these beautiful photographs and a video on Super 8 film. They got married in 1975, so everything has that retro look to it, but it’s elegant and timeless. I knew I wanted film photography for a warm, intimate, slightly European look. I considered restoring my mom’s dress but decided to wear just her headpiece, a flower crown headband that drapes down your back. My mom kept it in good condition, but it had become squished and yellowed over the years, so I took it to a place that specializes in vintage gown restoration, Style and Grace Cleaners in Scarborough. Our florist, Carmel Floral, made me a bouquet of orchids to compliment the headpiece. We also got them to do a large table arrangement and an installation on the fence that would serve as a makeshift altar. I sent my parents’ wedding photos to everybody as inspiration.

Nico: For my suit, I played off of what her father wore—although my lapels weren’t nearly as wide. I got a chocolate, deep-brown suit at Suit Supply in Yorkville that looked a little bit vintage. I wore it with a light-beige woven tie.

Maryanne: Because we were having our wedding in a backyard, I wanted to be comfortable. And because the headpiece was really busy, I wanted a dress that wouldn’t compete with that. I’d been to LoversLand on Ossington and combed the shop a million times over but could never find anything I liked. One day, I was browsing their website and saw a really simple white wrap dress on sale. I went to try it on, and it was way too big for me, but I decided to go with it anyway because it was on sale for $300. I brought it to a tailor who made adjustments. I liked that it was an understated dress and allowed the headpiece to be showcased in its full glory.

Nico: A week before the wedding, the weather forecast was calling for potential rain. Our backup plan was to get married on the veranda, which wasn’t as nice. But, as the day got closer, the forecast cleared. I felt so excited to get married.

Maryanne:

At 3:30 p.m., Nico and I decided to walk out together. Once we got to the altar, I noticed all the little details and how everything came together. I felt so proud and happy for both of us. I was a little anxious for a moment, but felt really locked into Nico.

Nico: I felt an absolute joy I’ve never felt before. I was so happy to stand across from Maryanne. It was magical. My smile was from ear to ear the whole time. My cheeks were sore by the end.

Maryanne: After the ceremony, we had small bites in the backyard that Nico put together—platters of salumi, cheese, fresh and dried fruits, various grissini, and amaretti cookies. Then we headed to Annabelle’s Pasta Bar around 5:30 p.m. for some photos. By the time our guests arrived, we had prosecco poured and ready for them. Nico and I did our first dance, and we had some speeches during dinner—my friend Rizie spoke, and Nico and I gave a speech too.

Nico: We had a set menu for the evening—warm olives and bread, fresh burrata with seasonal fruit, three classic pasta courses, a light fish, juicy steak, and jars of tiramisu to take home. We finished up with our elderflower, rosemary and bay leaf plum chiffon cake. There was a lot of food. We were stuffed.

Maryanne: We cut the cake at around 7:30 p.m. We ordered it oversized because Nico and I were keen on bringing it home and freezing the leftovers. We were out of the restaurant by 8:30 p.m.

Nico: I was tired when we got home, but I felt blissful and a little out-of-body, like I was floating.

Maryanne: I definitely felt a sense of relief that the day was done. It was a lot of work. Even though it was a small wedding, we still had the same amount of vendors a large wedding would have. Planning felt like a part-time job for six months. But I was also sad that it was over. I was in a bit of a daze.

Nico: We definitely felt accomplished after all the work we’d put in to make our day happen. I think we really nailed it. We haven’t gone on our honeymoon yet. We’re planning to go back to Europe in May of 2026. Italy is definitely on the table, but we’re also looking at Spain and Portugal, since neither of us have been.

Maryanne: In terms of next steps, I’m looking forward to us having a pet together. We may not want to have kids, but I definitely imagine us extending our family in a way, with a cat or a dog. That’s something I’m excited about.

Cheat Sheet

Date: September 20, 2025 Photography: Kelsi Gayda, Toujours Wedding Photography Ceremony venue: Maryanne and Nico’s backyard Officiant: Rev. Zahra Bakhsh Florals: Carmel Floral Furniture rentals: Element Event Solutions Additional decor: Michaels and Euclid Farms Catering: Noctua Bakery and Tre Mari Bakery Reception venue: Annabelle Pasta Bar Cake: Reverie Deli Guest favours: Pelino Confetti Maryanne’s dress: LoversLand Maryanne’s headdress restoration: Style and Grace Cleaners Maryanne’s makeup: Alanna Chelmick Nico’s outfit: Suit Supply