We’ve seen a lot of different kinds of weddings take place at Liuna Station over the years, but we must admit that Gregory and Lindsay’s “WeddingMania” wrestling themed wedding was unlike anything we’ve ever seen – and we can’t get enough of it! We absolutely love when couples make their special day uniquely “them” and are able to transform our venue to fit the vision they have in mind. We recently caught up with Liuna Station bride, Lindsay Braunsar who tied the knot to her now husband, Gregory on October 21, 2017. We asked Lindsay about their experience working with various vendors, the quality of service they received at Liuna Station and how they were able to pull of such a unique wrestling themed wedding!
LS: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your husband?
LB: Greg and I met April 1, 2001 (we were both 16). I had met his cousin at a WWE autograph signing in October 2000. We kept in touch and he invited me and my sister over to watch WrestleMania 17 at his house the following year and that is when I met Greg. We did not start dating until April 2012, we both agreed it was better that we were both somewhat more mature, but not really. I lived in Brampton and he was in Burlington. I eventually moved out to Burlington in 2014.
The majority of our friends and family had been saying all along we would end up together.
LS: How did he pop the question?
LB: We got engaged Christmas 2015, it was just the two of us at home, I was opening a small jewellery box which was earrings and then Greg took a ring out of his pocket and was on one knee.
LS: There are so many wedding venues out there – what made Liuna Station stand out among the rest?
LB: It was the first venue we looked at and nothing else could compare – the history and the overall look was perfect. We are also big comic book fans so when we realized that the first X-Men film was shot there, that helped too.
A lot of other venues had very strict rules and Liuna is way more laid back and didn’t make us feel stressed out at all.
LS: Tell us how you incorporated “wrestling” into your wedding!?
LB: We dubbed our wedding, WeddingMania (WrestleMania) and our hash tag was #LetsSettleThis a play-off of Greg’s last name. Our wedding party all had wrestling theme music into the reception; Greg and I wore the championship belts into the reception. One of our groomsmen surprised us and made up a bunch of signs for the guests to hold up as we made our way into the reception; it looked like a WWE crowd.
- We had a photo booth that had all WWE wrestler props, Diana who organized it did amazing. She had ropes in front and all the wrestling stats to go with the props.
- We had wrestling quotes on the bars just a small encouragement to tip the bartenders.
- Our moneybox was a wrestling ring.
- All our groomsmen wore WWE socks.
- We also used WWE themes for the garter and bouquet tosses.
- Greg’s aunt offered to do a candy bar as a gift to us, she dubbed it “Candy Mania” she loves themes and went all out in having a wrestling related name to each candy she had on the table.
- Our MC decided that if you wanted the bride and groom to kiss you had to come up to the mic and do a wrestling impersonation, surprisingly a lot of people went for it.
- All our family and friends said they were very unsure of the theme but they all loved it and thought it was great.
- Anyone can make a beautiful wedding, it was nice to stand out and be different. We met through being WWE wrestling fans so why not make it our theme.
LS: Tell us about your experience working with your suppliers/vendors?
LB: All the vendors we used were either recommended by friends or Liuna. Our florist is a family friend, they gave us such a great deal and the flowers were outstanding, everyone wanted to take our centerpieces home. We had a few small arrangements that were left throughout the venue; I gave them to the bartenders and the wait staff.
Our officiant did a perfect ceremony it was about 20 minutes he did not drag anything out.
Diana who did our photo booth, really made our theme, she did her research and was worth every dime. We had picture frames as our guest gifts, our hope was people would use them for the photo booth pictures they took and majority of our guests did that. She had our WeddingMania logo also on the print outs.
The band are friends of ours and they did fantastic, they played our first dance which was nice, they cut it short so we weren’t in that awkward moment too long. We did our first dance after dinner so when it was done they went right into their first set, it transitioned well.
Our photographers captured everything; I believe there were around 2000 photos taken.
I did not have any worries with our vendors they were all professional and they exceeded our expectations.
LS: Describe the meal that was served on your wedding day?
LB: We had salad, pasta, choice of chicken, prime rib or stuffed pepper and a crepe for desert. There was no wait for the food it was very fast, no one went hungry everyone said they were full. We then had a late night table with poutine, pizza, pastries and donuts around 11 pm; I did have this printed on our menu so that our guests knew there was more to come. Everyone was very happy with the late night food. Liuna gave us the extra pizza and pastries to take home.
LS: Describe the quality of service you received at Liuna Station?
LB: We ensured our ceremony was later in the afternoon so our guests did not have to wait long. After our ceremony we did a group photo with everyone and by the time that was done the bar was open and the hors d’œuvres were being handed out. We had the reception room open for the cocktail hour so people could sit if they wanted. The weather was very warm for October and the patio with the fountain was lovely. We had around 180 guests, there was plenty of room. The staff were very quick, there were no complaints all our guests were very happy.
LS: What advice do you have for couples who are about to begin the process of planning their special day?
LB: Obviously book your venue first; everything else will fall into place much easier. We booked Liuna in April 2016, we had a good year and a half to arrange everything else, and as well it made the payments more spread out which was nice. We knew we rather a long engagement we had 6 weddings to attend in 2016 and we did not want to plan ours around all that, as well most of our family and friends were invited to the same weddings so we didn’t want them to have the extra expense. My second piece of advice is take any help that is offered, I was originally going to do my own candy bar and centerpieces but looking back I don’t know when I would’ve had the time. Our candy bar was a gift from one of our aunts and she did amazing with it. The flowers we opted to go with real flowers, which were a bigger expense but worth it, they did all the set up and again it was one less thing for me to do. It was also nice to hand out all the flowers after to the guests, many of them were happy to take them home.
I would also recommend using vendors who are familiar with your venue. Everyone we booked, right away knew what time they had to be there and where they had to go to set up. There was no worry of anyone getting lost or being late.
LS: Would you recommend Liuna Station to a friend for his or her next event? If so, why?
LB: I would defiantly recommend Liuna Station; again they made the planning process stress free. Whenever I would email in a concern or question I got an answer the same day. The location is beautiful; we did all our photos on site. There were 2 other weddings going on at the same time; however we were downstairs so we had our own area and privacy. With the weather being so warm as well they kept the fountains running. The staff was very professional and the ladies who ran the event on the day of had everything timed perfect and helped us out with everything we needed.
Thank you to Gregory and Lindsay’s amazing vendors!
Gatto Flowers
Sophie’s Gown Shoppe
Cakes Sweets & Treats
Hamilton Limo
Dream Wedding Officiants
Tony F Photography
The Dirty Pioneers
Chronicle
Classic Hair Design
We’d also like to thank Lindsay for sharing her love story from highschool in Oakville, to the beaches of Mexico all the way to the beautiful ceremony at Liuna Gardens. We’re wishing everyone a very happy start to the new year and look forward to all of the extraordinary events to come at Liuna Gardens in 2018!
Stay tuned for weekly blog updates and make sure to connect with Liuna Station on Instagram and Facebook as we deliver fresh, new content to inspire, excite and assist as you plan your dream event. Be sure to check out our latest Liuna Gardens blog to read all about Thomas and Rachael’s very sandy (but sweet) proposal!
