It was a romantic fairy-tale wedding for Kaaren de Zilva on August 22 when the actress wed fellow actor John Cuthbert at the Guardian Angels Catholic Church, Vancouver, with the reception being held at the Sutton Place Hotel.
Born in the United Kingdom, Kaaren grew up in Canada and describes her ancestry as a mosaic of ethnicities. Her parents were born in Sri Lanka, but married in the UK. She studied dance and began her pursuit of an acting career at a young age. Her film credits include “Post Mortem”, “Dragon Boys” and “The Last Mimzy”. Kaaren hit a career high point with a well-received turn in the Oscar-nominated movie, "Juno". Her credits in episodic TV include “Stargate Atlantis”, "Stephen King's Dead Zone," the highly acclaimed "DaVinci's Inquest", and recurring roles on "DaVinci City Hall" and "The L Word”.
Arriving in a stretched Limo, Kaaren, radiant in a strapless Pronovais gown (Spanish Couture) and veil, entered the church on the arm of her proud father, Douglas de Zilva. He walked her up the aisle as Norbert’s “Ave Maria”, was sung by Renee Geronimo.
Fr. Patrick Tepoorten, pastor and friend of the family officiated at the mass. The bridal party consisted of mainly actors, a producer and Kaaren’s long time friend from school who flew in from Texas. Following the ceremony, the couple left the church in a white horse drawn carriage led by the Irish Bagpiper to the Rose Garden in Stanley Park for photographs.
At the Sutton Place Hotel, the newlyweds along with their bridal party made their grand entrance up the main staircase to the Chateau Lafite room for cocktails.
At the reception that followed at the Versailles Ballroom, traditional Sri Lankan mixed fruit wedding cake was presented to each guest in a gold box trimmed with an organza cream ribbon and a flower. Guests enjoyed the dinner buffet followed by toasts, speeches and a hilarious short film starring the bride and groom. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnPgiLegWLw) Traditional Sri Lankan patties, rolls, sweets and coffee were served towards the end of the evening, as the dancing continued until the early hours of the morning.
The beautiful wedding cake/structure was lovingly hand-made by Kaaren's mother Lorna, her brother Al and her cousin Gerard Fonseka. This cake had a lot of history - The pink rose on the top was over 25 years old- hand-made in parchment icing by Kaaren's aunt and godmother Noeline Fonseka. Noeline, an older sister of Kaaren's father Doug was a well-known cake and pastry decorator in Sri-Lanka. It was one of the last roses made by her before she passed away. It was sent to Kaaren's family by her son Noel, also a well-known pastry chef.
Kaaren's family had carefully preserved this lovely pink rose for this special day. All of the other flowers on the cake were hand-crafted by Lorna, Al and Gerard.
Bridegroom Jon Cuthbert from Ottawa has been in numerous television shows and films, including "John Tucker Must Die", "The Hitman", "Broken Trust", "Cyberjack", "Deadlock and Run" and in television shows such as: "Stargate", "Supernatural", "Highlander", "Stargate Atlantis" and "The X-Files". |
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