Fonda Fora

Not every couple imagines their wedding beneath chandeliers in a traditional ballroom.

Some picture cocktails first.

A long dinner.

Beautiful food.

Music somewhere nearby.

And everyone they love filling a restaurant until it feels as though the entire place belongs to them.

Fonda Fora offers exactly that kind of celebration.

Located inside The Westley Hotel in downtown Calgary, the restaurant brings warm contemporary design together with Modern Mexican food and several distinct spaces that can be used separately or brought together for a wedding.

Couples can plan the ceremony, dinner and reception here, with wedding celebrations of approximately 50 to 200 guests depending on the spaces being used.

There is a private dining room for smaller gatherings, a bright main dining space, a lounge and an enclosed patio.

For a larger celebration, couples can take over the entire restaurant.

That creates a lovely progression through the evening.

Perhaps guests begin with drinks in the lounge.

The ceremony happens somewhere nearby.

Then everyone settles around the tables for dinner while the city continues moving outside.

Fonda Fora's kitchen makes food part of the personality of the wedding, with menus rooted in Mexican flavours rather than the predictable banquet meal couples have eaten at a dozen other receptions.

And because The Westley Hotel is right there, guests can stay in the same building.

That matters later.

Nobody needs to leave early because they have a long drive.

Friends can stay for one more cocktail.

Family can go upstairs whenever the night finally catches up with them.

And the following morning, everyone may find one another again over brunch, slightly tired and still telling stories about the wedding.

There is something wonderfully modern about a celebration like this.

The wedding does not need to imitate anyone else's idea of what a wedding should look like.

It can simply feel like one extraordinary evening in Calgary.

Beautiful food.

A room full of people.

And a restaurant that, for one night, becomes entirely theirs.