Joyful wedding weekend

"We came across the Breathe Easy website the night of our engagement and knew immediately it was the perfect venue for our intimate wedding weekend. About twenty-five people, all family members and close-friends, stayed on-site comfortably with plenty of rooms and space for everyone. We loved that there were sizable common spaces for us to gather as one big group, but also lots of room for people to socialize in smaller groups or find some private time in one of the many rooms. The well-appointed kitchen provided ample space and amenities for the chef (a dear friend of ours) to prepare an incredible meal for over forty people. We appreciated the multiple barbeques and double-ovens which made cooking all of our favourites worry-free.

The amazing grounds provided everything we could have wanted for group sports, country strolls, beautiful picture-taking spots and evening fires, still leaving plenty of space for a group of friends who pitched a tent and family who travelled to Breathe Easy in a motor home.

The weather was quite chilly the day of the wedding, so we took advantage of the beautiful living room and exchanged our vows in front of the fireplace with family and friends looking on from rented chairs from a nearby party supply store. It couldn't have been more perfect. That same space was easily converted into a dining space for our guests and then later converted again into a cozy space for dancing and party games. The ping pong table also provided a wonderful opportunity for guests to interact when our nephews organized a weekend-long ping pong tournament that included everyone, pairing up those who were just getting to know each other and creating a fun way to get people acquainted.

Simply put, the Breathe Easy is an incredible place, one that created the perfect atmosphere for our intimate, joyful wedding weekend. And even now, more than 6-months later, our family and friends are still remarking on the unique, wonderful weekend we spent at Breathe Easy.

Thank you Ed and Jerrine for creating such a magical place. It was spectacular!"

Making dreams come true

"Everything we dreamed of and needed for our wedding we found at the Breathe Easy cottage.

The spacious but at the same time cozy house on the top of the hill warmly welcomed and easily accommodated our whole family and friends who joined us in the celebration. The wedding was completely self-made, from cooking and decorations to music and games, and the cottage proved to have all the necessities to prepare for our big event. There was plenty of space and utilities to make a feast for about 50 guests. A rental company nearby supplied us with a large tent, chairs, and tables – everything needed for our party outside.

The beautiful forest surrounding the house reminded us of the fairy tales we grew up with and offered a backdrop for the most special moments of our wedding. Before the wedding ceremony, the bridesmaids probed the groom’s wit and humor in the traditional “buying-out-the-bride” game in the forest. The ceremony took place in this sunny, ambient space thereafter. The forest added a magical feeling to the celebration. It was a ceremony that we envisioned and that the owners of the cottage we so kind and open to help us arrange.

The field around the cottage presented a stunning setting for our feast, dancing, and games following the ceremony and the general area rich with waterfalls, rivers, and lakes gave us a chance to explore and relax after the wedding day.

Overall, our wedding was all that we wished for. We are deeply thankful to the owners of the Breathe Easy cottage for being so accommodating, flexible, and understanding from the beginning to the end of the event planning and celebration and for sharing their warm and beautiful space with us over the special days that we will never forget. Thank you!"

An easy casual wedding location

"Breathe Easy is the largest cottage available for rent in the area. The house and location are perfect. We found it very relaxing and comfortable. It was laid back and casual, but that's the kind of wedding reception we wanted to have. It's secluded location makes it ideal for large active groups. The surroundings are great - lots of privacy, forest, etc. There is lots of room to throw around a football, frisbee or whatever else. It was also great to have multiple rooms and supplies around. This made things much easier for us and the guests.

The large kitchen and twin BBQs worked well to produce food for about 80 people! Also, it was great to have enough parking area for everyone. Some of our guests were quite happy to camp outside, so it is nice that was an option for them. Everyone felt at ease and had lots of fun."

Fun under the starry skies

"Breathe Easy cottage was a great choice for our wedding, easily accommodating 60 family and friends of all ages.

We chose it because we wanted to be able to stay up as late as the fun lasted without worrying about keeping the noise down. Breathe Easy is on a very large property, so disturbing the neighbours was not an issue. We also built a large campfire towards the end of the night and those still up sat around and enjoyed the outdoors, fresh air and beautifully starry sky.

We needed a place that could accommodate a lot of people and Breathe Easy fit the bill. We had 30 people sleep in the cottage and others camped out in tents at the large field north of the cottage. There is also a very large open field south of the house where we set up a large marquis tent, a dance floor, tables, chairs, etc. We had no trouble renting what we needed from an excellent party rental store in Markdale.

The spaciousness of the house also made things easy. We prepared everything ourselves, from the food to the drinks to the flower arrangements. Breathe Easy was excellent because there was enough space to do all of this. The kitchen was especially good because we had constant cooking for about 24 hours. The two fridges and large freezer were perfect for the amount of food we had to keep cool.

We could not have picked a better place for our wedding! It was perfect! We will definitely rent the cottage again for family gatherings in the future."

An intimate family wedding

"We wanted our wedding to be small, intimate and located in a beautiful and relaxing setting. When we found the Breathe Easy Cottage, we knew it was the perfect venue for us!

Our wedding had 35 attendees and consisted of immediate family and close friends. The idea of our dream wedding was for all of our guests to come for the wedding and stay/relax for the weekend. The cottage had enough room to accommodate the bulk of our guests for the weekend and the cooking facilities allowed us to prepare our own food onsite for all meals including the wedding dinner.

The house itself is quite large and the layout is very convenient. Everything you could possibly need is onsite and there are lots of games and toys to keep kids busy! The location was close enough to downtown Toronto that everyone could travel quite easily. The area the cottage is located in has many amenities nearby and we did not experience any difficulty finding vendors for our tent rental, flowers, etc.

The property surrounding Breathe Easy is both vast and picturesque. We have amazing and unique wedding photos as a result. Even when the rain clouds rolled in, the property had enough options that we could continue to get great shots.

I couldn’t imagine having our wedding anywhere else and would highly recommend this property!"

An open air wedding

"My husband and I had our wedding at the Breathe Easy Cottage (although we re-named it the 'True Love Jamboree Dude Ranch' for the weekend). The house exceeded our expectations in every possible way. The kitchen was impressively stocked with dishes and appliances, the long table allowed us to have an intimate dinner of 12 guests the day after the wedding, the bedrooms were cozy, private and comfortable, the washrooms were large and accomodated us with enough hot water for a seemingly unlimited number of showers...

The layout of the house is such that we each had privacy when we needed it but were still able to enjoy time together as a large group. Most importantly, though, Ed and Jerrine were so accomodating as our wedding plans evoloved and changed. They went above and beyond to ensure that the Cottage was set up perfectly for us and for our guests- the BBQs were full of propane, all of the beds were made with fresh linens, the whole house and grounds were spotless when we arrived. From the time that we first emailed the Verkaiks to inquire about renting to the moment we left, renting the Breathe Easy Cottage was by far the best rental experience we've had."