Ontario residents Kimberly Fishman and Mitch Potashner have had to change and postpone their wedding plans multiple times over the past year due to ongoing pandemic-related restrictions, but they were finally able to celebrate the wedding of their dreams in an incredibly special location last month.
The couple were scheduled to host a small backyard wedding on April 25 so guests could safely practice physical distance outdoors. However, when the provincial regulations changed to allow a maximum of 10 participants in weddings and / or drive-in and virtual services, they had done just a week to work out another new plan.
“I don’t even remember thinking about it,” Fishman told blogTO, “but when I knew how close it is to where we live and how much we all love the Schitt’s Creek show, I said to my parents and Mitch: “My dream would be to get married at the Rosebud Motel. ‘”
Kimberly Fishman and Mitch Potashner got married on April 25th outside the Rosebud Motel.
Fishman and Potashner were both born in Thornhill and now reside in Maple, Ont. together – about a 45-minute drive from the famous Schitt’s Creek Motel in Orangeville, Ont.
So the popular house became the Fishpot Motel (a combination of their last names) for just one day for an unforgettable pandemic wedding organized by Fab Fête Event Planning.
The “Fishpot Motel” sign, a combination of the newlyweds’ last names, was created by Event Graffiti.
“Never in a million years would I have thought that I would get married in formal attire in a motel parking lot, but what an amazing experience it was!” Potashner says.
To keep security as safe as possible, according to Fishman, most of the guests followed the ceremony virtually while some guests watched from their cars and a total of 10 people had chairs set up in the parking lot.
During their first dance as a married couple, both parents surprised the bride and groom by dressing like Moira and Johnny Rose from the show.
Both pairs of parents surprised the couple by dressing up as Moira and Johnny Rose from Schitt’s Creek.
And later the couple received a surprising message of congratulations from Dan Levy himself – orchestrated by the owner of the motel.
Dan Levy sent a congratulatory message to an Ontario couple who got married at the Schitt’s Creek motel via Kimberly Fishman #Ontario #Wedding #DanLevy #SchittsCreek pic.twitter.com/vpVStZh7Ak
– blogTO (@blogTO) May 3, 2021
“I didn’t think the day could get any better until I was surprised by the video message,” says Fishman. “I absolutely love and admire Dan Levy and I was so excited to have him as part of the day.”
The newlyweds finished watching all six seasons of Schitt’s Creek a few months ago and they said it brought them lots of joy, smiles and laughter while communicating “invaluable” messages about what is really important in life.
“I liked the show so much that after we finished I started doing a painting on the theme of Schitt’s Creek,” says Fishman. “When we decided to have the wedding at the motel, I was determined to get the picture ready in time for the big day!”
Just in time for the wedding, Fishman made her Schitt’s Creek painting.
She achieved this goal and the painting was displayed for all to see.
“Throughout the wedding, the locals were thrilled to snap photos and cheer us on as we drove by, and some even posted on social media about how brilliant the concept was,” says Fishman. “A neighbor even gave us a bottle of champagne.”
Fishman says the wedding went better than ever expected.
While this couple’s Ontario wedding was not what they originally expected from their big day, they end up saying it was even better than they could have imagined – and many guests described it as the best Wedding they’d ever seen.
“While the pandemic was an incredibly difficult time for everyone, we made an early decision to focus on what we had instead of focusing on what we no longer have or can no longer in these unprecedented times,” says Potashner.
“When planning a wedding, this attitude helped us stay positive, expand our comfort zone, get creative and ultimately play an important role in the success of our big day.”
