Gen and Emmanuel’s journey began like something out of a modern rom-com, complete with plot twists, pauses, and a grand finale.

The year was 2011. Gen, in the midst of an ambitious career pivot, sought advice on management consulting. Enter Réal (a prof who made the intro - merci!) and Emmanuel—already a seasoned consultant—dialing in from his Vegas room during a bachelor party (Phil's!). Their "quick chat" turned into a lively conversation. Hindsight 20/20, perhaps there was a connection... but timing was not on their side. He was in a relationship, loyal to a fault and working abroad, while her career ambitions left little room for distractions.

Over the following year, they met, in passing, in Montreal and Toronto for networking. But life was pulling them apart. Gen’s sporadic gmail checks didn’t help either, leaving Emmanuel wondering if she’d fallen off the grid! And just like that, almost six years passed.

In late 2017, fate - or was it Instagram - stepped in. A simple “like” on a picture of Mount-Royal's fall foliage opened a crack - that is, after all, how the light gets in. What followed was a flurry of late-night texts, leaving their connection to blossom from where it had left off.

By December, they had their first date at Bar George, complete with a snow-covered kiss in the parking lot. From then on, their story unfolded across continents, from a boutique resort in Arizona to Champagne's vineyards for a wedding (Etienne & Lauren's!), from the sweet Algarve sun with friends (Nicole et al!) to sunset Vespa rides up and down the Amalfi coast... and all the way to Gen's big leap of faith in Colombia and to the rugged trails of the Camino de Santiago.

Their journey wasn't without challenges. The loss of parents, COVID, demanding careers and lingering grief tested their relationship in ways they hadn’t imagined. But far from drifting apart, they strengthened their bond, sharing cozy cottage moments, outdoors adventures... and even a newly shared passion for sports cards.

In July 2023, after walking 450km together, Emmanuel proposed at Finisterra, the “end of the world.” He got down on one knee, ring in hand and champagne not far behind, to ask Gen to continue life’s journey by his side. Her answer? A resounding yes, of course, celebrated by cheers from strangers, a sparkling ocean view and an impromptu video by a willing bystander.

Gen and Emmanuel are a study in shared values and complementarity. Her Shell ops efficiency balances his McKinsey strategy. His "Fareed Zakaria" (global affairs) meets her "HollywoodPQ" (pop culture guilty pleasure). She reaches down, he reaches up - quite literally and figuratively! Together, they are building a partnership that is as adventurous as it is grounded.

And now they invite you, their family (both kith and kin), to celebrate the next chapter of your incredible shared story. From the snowy streets of Montreal to the farthest corners of the globe, life’s greatest adventure is love—and we’re all just getting started.

Woah, rewind for a moment, please tell us all about the engagement!

In July 2023, after walking 450km together on the Camino de Santiago, Emmanuel proposed at Cape of Finisterra, in Northern Spain, once believed by pilgrims to be the “end of the world” (or at least where some hitched a boat ride back to where they came from). Overlooking the cliff, he got down on one knee, ring in hand and champagne not far behind, to ask Gen to continue life’s journey by his side. Her answer? A resounding yes, of course, celebrated by cheers from strangers, a sparkling ocean view and an impromptu video by a willing bystander.

Ok, great, but why a destination wedding?

Notorious late bloomers, we've had the privilege to be inspired by many over the years. Most recently, we've celebrated the love of our friends Etienne and Lauren (in Champagne, France), Nicole & Kevin (at Casa de Campo, in the Dominican Republic), and Tatiana & Mantas (in Sintra, Portugal). These destination, multi-day, events all shaped our vision and, through this celebration, we pay tribute to the inspiration their brought us. That is not to forget, of course, all the other fabulous weddings we've had the chance to attend, from Niagara (Xav & Sarah, Maria & John) to Toronto (Francis & Frances) and from Le Club Hermitage (Fred & Karine) Montreal (Philippe & Caroline) and Laval-sur-le-Lac (Bruno & Mélanie).

We also felt an urge to tap into our love for the outdoors and Europe's"old world" charm, themselves core elements of our Camino and engagement experience, to forge our concept. The result: an outdoors event in Southern Europe with 300+ reliable days of sunshine a year.

Finally, what also convinced us to go for a destination, multi-day, event, is the feedback we've heard from many of our friends. Over the last several months, we've asked many of you about the lessons learned from your celebrations. For those who held a single day event, a recurring theme was the fact that it just flew by, that you barely remembered many parts of it and that you hadn't really spent any time with most people there. We're hoping to get to enjoy time with all of you, in addition to bringing you all together.


Amazing, that's so much fun! But why Syros, in Greece?

Since our engagement, we've shared our vision of an outdoors destination event in Southern Europe with various people. That kept too many options open... Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Greece... where to start... how to pin it down? Analytics... or what?

Increasingly, however, we are trying to follow the flow of people in our lives and to stay open to explore opportunities that come up. Enter Rima and Ibrahim, whom we reconnected with recently, years after Emmanuel had joined Ibrahim's team in Energy the Middle East.

At first over drinks at Bar George (also where we had our first date!) and later over lunch at Brasserie Bernard, they explained how they had purchased a property on the off-the-beaten path island of Syros. They went on to describe how they had recently celebrated a personal milestone by bringing together dozens of their friends from Lebanon, the Middle East, Europe and beyond for a multi-day event on the island.

That fit our vision and was more than enough for us to start envisioning how it might work. That's how, in May 2024, Ibrahim and Rima ended up welcoming us into their home on Syros and spent well over a week showing us around and introducing us to their connections there. On the way, we got our footing in Greece by also staying with our friends Jan and Veronique in Athens.

And that, kids, is how we're all ending up on the island of Syros!

Why We The Babes??? What's with the red homeplate banner?

As many of you know, we are very big sports fans, primarily of the Montreal Canadiens (the Habs), but also more generally, not to forget that Gen is incredibly drawn by the Olympics given her own diving, swimming, skiing and artistic skating experience.

In 2019, the Toronto Raptors (Toronto's, and Canada's, basketball team) reached the final and won the championship in the NBA playoffs. At the time, the Raptors galvanized Canada under the We The North chant and red homeplate banner. Gen and I traveled between Montreal and Toronto, and watched a particularly thrilling win with an overflowing crowd at legendary (but now defuncted) sports bar Chez Serge in Montral.

Canada + Sports + Coming Together: we have adopted the We The Babes motto ever since and have our own custom banner!