Real Weddings: This Vancouver Cemetery Is a Surprisingly Chic Wedding Venue

The idea of a graveyard wedding might sound a little spooky—but Hilary Twa and Cam Jones’s union at the chic and modern Celebration Hall in Mountainview Cemetery in Vancouver felt decidedly more garden-party than goth.

“I was looking at a picture on Pinterest of a Frank Lloyd Wright house with tall glass windows and thinking about a nice cocktail party in the courtyard, and when I searched for ‘Vancouver courtyard,’ this appeared,” explains Twa, who fell in love with the Birmingham and Wood-designed building as soon as she stepped inside. The venue had only hosted one other wedding previously, but it easily accommodated the romantic, 100-person reception, with plenty of long tables for dinner set up in the high-ceilinged space beneath twinkling Bocci lights.

This was actually the second wedding for Twa, an artistic director, and Jones, a fitness content creator. The couple had gotten married during COVID in a tiny legal ceremony, but in September 2023, with crowd restrictions lifted, they were ready to celebrate with a proper party. The indoor-outdoor Celebration Hall would be the ideal backdrop for a day of love and togetherness. “Some people were outside having cocktails, and some people were on the dance floor, and I felt like I really had the opportunity to spend time with guests,” says Twa. “The flow of the space,  allowing us to be with everyone, was so special.”

SPEED COUTURE Twa was going to wear the dress from their first wedding, but when she took it to her sister Aileen Twa Vipond at Relic Atelier a few weeks before the big day with some small changes, Vipond suggested starting from scratch and whipped up a new design inspired by Christian Siriano. “She was the MVP of the wedding,” says Twa. Twa’s make-up and hair artist was Rio Translado.

SUIT YOURSELF Though many modern weddings feature the bride doing a costume change, in this case it was the groom who switched things up for the reception. Jones sported the red RW&Co suit from their legal ceremony for the first part of the night, then switched to an embroidered outfit from KidSuper (his favourite designer).

BLISSFUL  BOUQUETS  Marta Sanderson from La Bomba pulled together florals that fit with Twa’s blue, gold and yellow palette, with a heavy emphasis on miniature orchids. “They were easy and beautiful,” says Twa.

DECOR  DETAILS  Twa and Vipond collect vessels, and pulled out every vase, tray and bowl from their collections to decorate the space. Twa got DIY with the seating chart, ironing Cricut-trimmed letters onto canvas. Additional decor was sourced from Bespoke Decor and Pedersen’s.

TYING THE KNOT Because they didn’t need to do any paperwork or a ring exchange this time, the couple did a Scottish unity knot ritual at their Reality Church ceremony to commemorate wedding number two.

STAR POWER  Photographer Meghan Hemstra “made everyone feel like celebrities,” says Twa, who was thrilled with how the photos turned out. “She just made the day feel extra-special.”

A FEAST FOR THE AGES Catering was provided by Tastefully Yours by Jeff: guests dined on barbecue and beautiful, colourful salads. Friends put together a charcuterie spread. Twa’s mother baked the cake—a carrot cake with chocolate stripes. Her siblings made cookies to be given out as wedding favours (under Twa’s art direction).