The Ashwood Inn

The Ashwood is for couples who would rather disappear into the woods for their wedding than walk into another ballroom.

At the edge of the beautiful village of Bayfield, this intimate inn turns a traditional wedding day into something closer to a weekend away on Ontario's West Coast.

The forest becomes part of the celebration.

Rather than surrounding the vows with walls, couples can marry among the trees, with the natural landscape creating the kind of ceremony setting that does not need very much added to make it feel extraordinary.

Then there is Bayfield itself.

Lake Huron sunsets, beaches, the heritage village, restaurants and little shops are all nearby, giving guests plenty of reasons to arrive before the wedding and stay after it.

That is precisely what The Ashwood encourages.

There are 22 rooms on the property, allowing couples to make the inn a home base for the people travelling to celebrate with them. Depending on the size and timing of the wedding, the property can even become exclusive to the wedding group.

And that changes the rhythm of everything.

People begin arriving before the ceremony.

Bags disappear into rooms.

Friends wander into Bayfield.

Family members start finding one another around the property and slowly the weekend begins to feel as though everyone has gone away together for one enormous reason.

Then the wedding morning arrives.

The woods wait outside.

The ceremony begins beneath the trees and afterwards the newlyweds do not have to leave the property searching for somewhere that looks like them for photographs. The landscape that brought them here is already surrounding them.

For the smallest weddings, The Ashwood goes even further.

Elopements of up to ten guests can take place in the woods beneath an arbour, creating a ceremony where almost every person standing nearby is part of the couple's innermost circle.

And when evening finally comes, nobody needs to hurry away.

That may be the loveliest part.

A wedding here does not simply happen near Bayfield.

For a weekend, everyone gets to live inside it.

• Cérémonies en plein air
• Une salle de bal ou de réception
• Un cadre historique
• Chambres pour les invités sur place
• Service de bar
• Une personne pour coordonner la journée
• Forfaits mariage
• Piste de danse et scène
• Fêtes sous chapiteau possibles
• Petits mariages et fugues amoureuses aussi
• Départ aux cierges magiques ou feux d’artifice