The date is June 26th, 2023 and Edmonton Oilers Captain Connor McDavid proposed to his longtime girlfriend Lauren Kyle.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-qCEZ_O3XG/

Fast forward to a year later, July 27th, 2024 when the couple tied the knot on Old Woman Island— a nearly 16-acre island in the middle of Lake Muskoka. According to TorontoLife.com, the lakefront property is currently for sale starting at $13.9 million, with the property featuring seven buildings, six beaches, four boat slips, a yoga pavilion, a tennis court, and an exercise centre. But is still available for summer and fall wedding bookings in 2025 and 2026.

The couple spoiled their wedding guests with a weekend getaway packed with four different events in four different buildings. Lauren is a visionary when it comes to design, which clearly came across as she planned this extravagant wedding in a little over a year.

I do give her full credit as it is not easy to be so in tune with your taste and opinion on things like silverware or fabrics, but her expertise with owning her own interior design company Kyle and Co. has a cookbook on the way, and have a passion for art it does make it easier.

But as the saying goes, it takes a village and that is a reason why the wedding business thrives. When you are as talented as they come, of course, Lauren Kyle would choose Ashley Pigott and her team to plan their dream wedding. Alongside Birch Event Design and their powerhouse of a production studio, they have worked with magazines like Vogue, Elle, and People.

Clicking through Ashley Pigott’s website shows she is a trailblazer in the high-end wedding industry. According to her website, she’s had a 20-year career in high-end hospitality including luxury hotels and prestigious restaurants. She’s developed a reputation for expertly managing complex logistics and delivering flawless results.

As mentioned in the Vogue Australia article detailing the wedding, Ashley and her team purposefully integrated small details that meant a lot for Connor and Lauren on top of their already exorbitant weekend. Including vintage frames of family members past and present and trinkets displayed that held meaning to their love story.

On top of having an incredible wedding planner and events team, we do have to pay high respects to the photos that were also dropped in the Vogue article. Pablo Laguia and Ana Gomez are two of the top photographers for Vogue, with works that include shooting weddings for TV stars, to working alongside Stella McCartney with fashion shoots around the world. Their work transcends through different eras of modern photography to more film camera style. Nonetheless, these photos are meant to stun.

The full list of everyone involved in making this event happen is as follows:
Planner @ashleypigottevents
Photo @pablo_laguia
Floral & Design @bircheventdesign
Gown @viviennewestwood
Video @dcfilmco
Entertainment & Production @solepower
Catering @fooddudes
Special performance by @jackbotts@loudluxury
Tent @premiertents
Property Management @jaynescottages
Stationery @plumecalligraphy
Cake @staijandco
Glam @jessicaesavedra @allison_kam@fl.aw.less @virasack @jeigebeauty @jakemduby
Content Creation @bysarahsingleton
Stylist @oliviaivey
Staffing @harrisonstaffing@cdbartending
Transportation @walkerspointmarina

This wedding was a 10-day whirlwind, Lauren told Vogue Australia, where 56 photos of their wedding were shared alongside an article. You can view all the photos here.

According to the Vogue article, the rehearsal dinner was hosted on a converted steamship that sails through the lake that surrounds the island. The vibe of the dinner was to be met with the jazz age couture to go hand in hand with the charm of the steamboat.

Ornate tableware sat upon long tables within the boat. Pink, white, green and orange bouquets were placed between candles on this romantic yet simple-looking dinner table. Around the boat were vintage frames with family and friends photos inside. Bottles of Ruinart were placed in ice buckets and sipped on in fancy old-rimmed glasses. Thank you Dangersuede for being the food and beverage correspondent throughout this article.

To fit with the theme of old money, Gatsby style wedding look, Lauren started off her nuptial celebrations with a classic diamond white plunge dress from Ralph Lauren’s 2007 Spring Collection. The vintage hardware and simple jewelry really give this look an elegant look.

Connor is pictured wearing a sage linen suit from Brunello Cucinelli, along with a brown and beige tie, and a gold watch to complete the old-time look.

To continue the theme of old money, an array of pastel suits and dresses were worn on a pickleball court. A wagon is set up covered in hydrangeas, and bottles of Veuve Champagne, Nonino Amario and Campari were ready to be sipped.

Touches of lemons were added to the decor as well as the crest that was created for their wedding. A C and an L flourished together, is stamped upon matchbooks for guests to take as a souvenir.

In some of these photos, you get a glimpse of the guest list, spotting many of Connor’s teammates. Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisaitl were in the wedding party but present teammates include Zach Hyman, Cody Ceci, Evan Bouchard, Vinny Desharnais, Brett Kulak, Connor Brown, Ryan Mcleod, Derek Ryan, Evander Kane, Stuart Skinner, and Philip Broberg. Even the son of the Edmonton Oilers owner, Harrison Katz is spotted in a soft white suit. Others that were there were former teammates Warren Foegele, Devin Shore, Kyle Turris, Luke Gazdic, Zack Kassian, Patrick Maroon and Sam Gagner as their wives were in the bridal party. Members of the Oilers staff like assistant equipment manager, Brad Harrison and Connor’s long-time trainer Gary Roberts.

The guest list was around 200 people, which is considered small, especially for an event team of this size.

Lauren chose a soft golden yellow strapless Danielle Frankel gown with a soft tulle overlay decorated in hand-cut corded and chantilly lace appliques. While Connor is pictured wearing a sage linen suit from Brunello Cucinelli. White button-down, and gray sneakers. Paired with some brown-tinted sunglasses.

The moment everyone has been waiting for.

Overlooking the lake, a barge was built for the event where the ceremony was held. Littered in white, green and pink hydrangeas, a gray stone walkway led to the altar as the bridal party and guests welcomed the bride’s entrance. Australian Musician Jack Botts flew in from across the globe to sing Lauren down the aisle.

Lauren met her husband-to-be at the altar in a custom Vivienne Westwood Couture gown. With her dress being made to order, flights between home and London were needed to make sure all the measurements were correct. This dress screams royalty to me and as Oilers fans, I think we can somewhat agree that Connor and Lauren were up there on our rankings of Edmonton royalty.

Speaking of Connor, he looked dapper in a custom black and white tux from Cloakroom. Paired with a white button-up and black bowtie. A gold watch on his wrist for an element of sparkle.

Lauren had eight bridesmaids. The two maids of honours, her childhood best friend Liv Hall and Celeste Desjardins, Leon Draisaitl’s fiance, looked stunning in strapless a-line slip dresses that were decorated in lace. While the other six of the bridesmaids compliment these looks in satin dresses with varying styles.

The flower girl, Connor’s former teammate Sam Gagner’s daughter, looks adorable in a flowered lace Dior dress.

One thing I do need to point out is that in some of these photos in the Vogue article you can see family and friends having their devices on them. Taking photos and smiling at the joy they have for the bride and groom. I think a lot of trust goes into who you invite to these kinds of events, so I am amazed how nothing came out until Vogue dropped 50-odd pictures almost three weeks after the wedding, so kudos to you weddinggoers.

A tent was set up on the island that looked like a forest was brought inside. Willow branches hung from the ceiling as did chandeliers for ambiance. Candles were lit on the tables, dressed in white tablecloths and white and green centrepieces.

Pasta seemed to be on the menu from one of the empty dishes. and according to Dangersuede, our food and beverage correspondent, “if you look at the white wine glasses, you can see they are not the same color wine. So they obviously also had multiple wines with the food. Add the spritz and the coup glasses, they went hard on good and booze. For the wine, probably a chardonnay and from what slightly saw earlier, my random lucky guess would be a chablis wine.”

Now, officially the husband and wife the pair were off to have their first dance. Lauren was dressed in a $16,000 Oscar De La Renta beaded gown. The dress had a nude sheer underlay with beaded olive leaves and a halter neckline. Connor had his own outfit change of the night, swapping the black suit jacket for a white one.

They danced to “Only Love” by Ben Howard. These two were meant to make mouths drop but also sparkle and shine as they danced into their new life together.

Now’s the time to celebrate. Canadian DJ duo and personal friends Loud Luxury played the rest of the night away after flying in from Vegas the night before, attending the McWedding, playing a Toronto Pool club, and then playing the McWedding after party. Based on the handful of pictures it looks like the party was a blast.

With this celebratory bash, Lauren knew she needed to make a statement with her final dress. She tried to source a one-of-a-kind Stella McCartney piece from her debut collection Chloe SS 1998 that Kate Moss wore. According to the Vogue article, after trying many different vintage stores worldwide, Lauren tasked Annie’s Ibiza with remaking the dress.

Annie designs her own collection of timeless items by entwining rare and ancient techniques into her designs, making her studio the perfect place to remake and re-envision the blue dress. Up until two weeks before the wedding, the original Chloe dress was found at a vintage store in New York City. Lauren wore the dress for the first part of the after party, then changed into her Annie’s recreation to fulfill her “something blue” moment.

I have FOMO from a wedding I wasn’t even invited to.

Now, I am a mere observer of this wedding from afar, and I don’t have any credentials to have a groundbreaking opinion on this wedding. But as a working creative and a known planner I have a lot of respect for the work that goes into events like this, and also a lot of respect for the work that Lauren McDavid (Kyle) does.

As I grow with Oilersnation, going into my fourth season here, I have found myself helping plan events and travel which is something I’ve always had an interest in. I have such a respect for the talent, the patience and the vision of wedding planning. I know money plays a factor in this wedding but I think if you have that opportunity, you need to do it right and well. This wedding wasn’t over the top glitz and glam to show off their wealth, it was a tribute to themselves as young lovers becoming adults and entering this new chapter of life together.

We as Oilers fans pride ourselves on being one with the team. I know I still hear stories to this day of Gretzky’s wedding day why not pay respects to our current captain who brought us back from the dead last season. We are all a part of this wedding, naturally solidifying Connor’s ambition to stay in Edmonton. As his now wife Lauren has established herself here with her own company and building on 124th Street downtown. We celebrate with them just as much as they celebrate each other with their friends and family.

In all, congratulations to Connor and Lauren. This won’t be the last ring either of you receive.