I love weddings. Weddings are fun; they’re a celebration; they’re a time to get together with friends; and they have open bar. Weddings are also great because it is a reason for old friends to get together, get dressed up and act like old times. So when my buddy Panos decided to get married at the Trump Toronto Hotel, I was really excited. It meant that everyone would come together for a long weekend in Toronto.
My business school friends and I are like a big family. People live all over the world, literally, but everyone loves to come together whenever we can. So Panos’s wedding at the Trump Toronto Hotel was a sure fire way to get everyone to town.
I have always liked Toronto. I have been 5-6 times now and have always had a good time. The skyline is beautiful and while I think the city resembles Chicago in a lot of ways aesthetically, it is definitely Canadian.
The Trump Collection Hotels are fast becoming my favorite luxury hotel brand. They are all fabulous and I have pretty much stayed in all of them including 2 in New York, 1 in Las Vegas and Panama City, Panama of all places amongst others. But I think the Trump Toronto Hotel is the best of the bunch I have seen.
I was thrilled they selected the hotel for the wedding and the hotel didn’t disappoint. The wedding was gorgeous, the food was fantastic and the aforementioned open bar served its purpose nicely!
But the highlight of any wedding is the people. Seeing my friends was the major attraction of the weekend. The wedding was Sunday night on Canadian Thanksgiving so Monday was a holiday. We all got there Friday and made the most of the weekend in Toronto.
Toronto has no shortage of great bars and restaurants and we definitely visited a few of both including the best sports bar in North America-Real Sports! Toronto is also renowned for sports, mainly hockey, as the Toronto Blue Jays are terrible. Not that the Toronto Maple Leafs are much better but the atmosphere at Leafs games are as good as anywhere in the NHL.
Just being at the Air Canada Center (ACC) is a treat for any hockey fan. We were especially lucky because it was two Canadian teams playing on Hockey Night in Canada. It was a pretty thrilling game as Toronto beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 in overtime so I was pumped.
Toronto is also home to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In my opinion, it is the second best Hall of Fame is sports behind the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. I may be biased but I think most sports fans that have been to them all would agree with that assessment.
I love walking around and seeing all the displays of the greatest players the game has ever seen including Canadian heroes, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. Messier, of course captained the New York Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup; which was their first in 54 years and a very exciting time.
Getting back to the wedding itself at the Trump Toronto Hotel. It went from 5pm until 2am. Ya that’s a long time but we certainly had a great time. The next morning, catching flights was a lot harder than I thought it would be and one of my friends had a 6am flight back to Washington DC-I have no idea how he made it although I assume it was his lovely wife pushing him out of bed!
That all said, I can’t wait for the next opportunity to get together with all my friends from business school for whatever reason. But if it’s for a wedding…who will be getting married?!
Wedding Weekend at the Trump Toronto Hotel
October 27, 2013 by 10 Comments
Hope you got a chance to have some Labbatt 50 while you were here! Seriously though, the Toronto Maple Leafs actually seem like they might be on to something after almost 15 – 20 years. I thought the shortened 2012 -13 season was just a fluke for the Leafs when they made the playoffs, but based on what is going on with the 2013-14 Leafs, I might be wrong! Here’s hoping that I am since the Toronto Blue Jays are still a few seasons away from being “competitive” again.
On a side note, are you going to be in Ann Arbor for the NHL Winter Classic at all? Or have any travel plans to check out any of the outdoor NHL games this Winter? Or is it looking more like the Super Bowl (since it is in New Jersey) and the World Cup Final for you next year? Would love to see more of these Sports-related travel blogs from you in the future!!!
Hi Ray, I will likely be at the WInter Classic in Ann Arbor this year yes and definitely thew World Cup in Brazil this summer for sure. I will also be at the Masters and will be running a trip there I will announce shortly.
Wow it sounds like an amazing weekend. Being from the area, I have not even been inside the Trump hotel but it sounds like. Although I’m not much of a hockey fan, the one time I got the chance to go to a Leafs game, I can definitely say the atmosphere and the excitement of the fans can’t compare to any the other Toronto sports teams. I think when you’re from a city, it’s easy to take advantage of some of the cities great places to eat and visit. Glad you had a great time!
Thanks Shereen always happy to be in T.O.!
Awesome! I got married there too and loved it.
It’s a great spot, I am sure it was awesome, thanks John!
Lee, you said something that got me think. Your friends live all over the world and it’s always nice to have an opportunity when you can all meet. I’ve been always thinking about that because I decided I want to travel the world but not lose my closest ones. I guess the joy is even higher when you dont see someone for a long period of time and then you meet all together.
Thanks for this moment.
I am fortunate to have friends that always try to meet up whenever we can. I have different groups of friends and all have the common theme of making effort and that is what sustains friendships when you aren’t in the same place over a period of time. It is very possible and of course it makes it sweeter if it’s been a while.
That is a good looking crew!
that it is!