IT’S HAPPENING! McDAVID WEDDING PICS ARE OUT! – Jack & Matt (Lauren had 5 dress changes. That seems like a lot)

Lauren Kyle tells Vogue, “being on the water is so peaceful and calming.” Located about two hours drive north of Toronto, the region is dotted with cottages, marinas, and other lakeside attractions that has made it a hotspot during the Canadian summer. It’s where Lauren’s now-husband Connor McDavid, the star centre and captain of professional ice hockey team, the Edmonton Oilers, proposed to her.

“Connor told me we had a charity event at a golf course in Muskoka to attend,” Lauren says, “ as we were on our way to the event from the City, we stopped at our cottage to drop off our dog Lenard, to my surprise as we got out of the car there was a trail of flowers leading us to a beautiful set-up on the deck.” Connor was playing their favourite song, “Only Love” by Ben Howard on guitar, and proposed to Lauren on the spot. It was a fitting memory for Lauren, as the next time the two would find themselves listening to that song at their cottage, it would be for the first dance at their wedding.

The wedding was to be held at Old Woman Island, a tiny swathe of land in the archipelago of islands dotted across Lake Muskoka, its lodge-style accommodation the perfect backdrop for Lauren’s vision of the ceremony. Lauren credits wedding planner Ashley Pigott and her team as vital in bringing it to life. “It was a 10 day production,” Lauren says, “four events in different locations, and building infrastructures on an island with only boat access.” Despite the grandeur of Lauren and Connor’s plans, she didn’t want that to come at the sacrifice of the small things. “I was really entrenched into all the finest details of the wedding,” she says, “I wanted everything we did to have meaning.” And so, right down the catering, every detail hinted at a memory shared between Lauren and Connor.

Festivities commenced with a rehearsal dinner that was hosted on a converted steamship that sailed the lake that surrounds the island. “We asked for our guests to come dressed in ‘old money themed attire’ to play into the steamship’s charm,” Lauren says, which would complement the ‘old world’ theme of the ceremony itself. “I sourced vintage trinkets which we displayed on our tablescape,” she says, “my mum put together old vintage framed photos of our grandparents wedding photos to display around the boat.” On the night, Lauren wore a vintage Ralph Lauren dress from the spring/summer 2007 collection, with Tiffany & Co. jewellery.

The following night, the welcome dinner, saw Lauren change into a contemporary bridal favourite, Danielle Frankel. “I knew I wanted a mix of vintage and custom,” Lauren says, “I didn’t want all of my looks to be white.” Lauren worked with stylist Olivia Ivy Bannock, who helped her carefully select pieces that felt in harmony with the design of each event during the ceremony. To coincide with the theme of the night, and her vision of a colourful wedding, Lauren’s dress from the New York City-based label was the Yara, made with lace and silk, and resplendent in a soft shade of butter yellow.

On the weekend, the two wed at the picturesque lakehouse. A long time in the making, Lauren walked down the aisle in a custom Vivienne Westwood Couture gown. “I knew I wanted something that felt timeless and elegant, but had a little bit of ‘modern’ and a touch of sex appeal,” she says. Making the dress involved plenty of back and forth from LA to London, Lauren making the journey until it was perfect.

The ceremony was held right on the water, on a floating dock that was constructed for the wedding itself. Musician Jack Botts flew all the way from Australia to sing Lauren down the aisle. After, the guests moved into cocktail hour and into the reception, where Lauren changed into an embroidered Oscar de la Renta gown, as she says, “the embroidered crystal leaves reminded me of the organic elements of olive trees and grasses surrounding the reception space.”

Saving her most dramatic—and historically momentous—look for last, Lauren changed into the Chloé dress for her afterparty, a vintage look from when Stella McCartney was creative director. “When I was looking for an afterparty look,” Lauren says, “I stumbled upon a photo of Kate Moss on the runway, wearing the most beautiful ice blue mini dress with a beaded tassel and embroidery—I knew this was what I needed my “something blue” to be.”

And so began the hunt. Lauren reached out to several vintage stores over a period of many months to source this dress. Moss wore the dress in 1997, during Chloé’s spring/summer 1998 presentation, McCartney’s first with the label. After a prolonged effort, she gave up the hunt and tasked Annie’s Ibiza with recreating it, who were more than willing to help.

But then, fortune struck. “ Two weeks before the wedding, we got a message from a vintage store in New York, the Chloé dress was found. It was truly meant to be.” Lauren wore it for the first part of her afterparty, before changing into the Annie’s Ibiza version to preserve the original, and danced the night away.

And so, everything came together seamlessly in the end. Trans-Atlantic clothing hunts, summer weather, and planning an entire wedding on an island, all combined to deliver Lauren and Connor their magical day.