Mayor draws crowd after inviting town to wedding
Justin Altmann’s Stouffville nuptials had moments that felt like a community event
It was Whitchurch-Stouffville’s Big Fat Mayoral Wedding.
More than 1,000 guests attended Mayor Justin Altmann’s wedding to his new “first lady of Stouffville,” Jenny Hillier, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, after he decided to invite the entire town.
Flowers adorned the aisles at the Civic Square in front of Lebovic Centre for Arts and Entertainment, a local community centre, where Altmann and his wife took their vows and exchanged rings from the balcony overlooking the sizable crowd. Altmann became mayor of the small town north of Markham in 2014, after longtime mayor Wayne Emmerson took the position of chair of York Region. Altmann announced his plans for the public wedding in a news release in July, after a fivemonth engagement and “powerful” three-month courtship.
“When we first met, everything was very different,” Altmann said in the release.
The event, which saw guests receive carnations and heart-shaped fans, started off more like a community event than a wedding.
Councillor Rob Hargrave served as the master of ceremonies and volunteers spoke to the crowd about donating, in lieu of wedding gifts, to a project to build an “accessible trailer” with a washroom usable by those with special needs at events and festivals around the region. Others then spoke about the mayor’s upcoming golf tournament and encouraged guests to sign up.
But once Hillier and the bridal party arrived in a horse-drawn carriage, the event took on a more intimate feeling.
“Sometimes, you don’t get to see the human side of politicians, or even know who they are,” said resident Sylvia Ainsworth. “So this is really nice,” she said.
The couple exchanged vows and rings, released doves and made personal speeches, including remembering Altmann’s mother, Tanis Altmann, who died last week.
“We know she’s here, because she threw Jenny’s veil off,” said Altmann, referring to the moment his wife’s veil got blown off by the wind. “Because she thought it was covering her beautiful face.”
When she heard Altmann was inviting the whole town to his wedding, it hardly surprised resident Mert Hoover.
“He’s a real people person,” said Hoover.
Ashley Chappell, the Lebovic Centre program co-ordinator who works for the town and helped organize the event, said the mayor was footing the bill.
“He’s paying for everything out of his personal pocket,” she said. “It’s not a town-run event, it’s his wedding.”
But there were moments when it was hard to tell.
When he took the microphone, Altmann joked with the town’s media officer to bring him his speech and he wore his mayoral chains as he greeted well-wishers during the reception.
Local Councillor Hugo Kroon, who wasn’t in attendance, said “all politicians need at all times to be very cognizant of the necessity to separate their official duties from their personal lives.” He added that he was not “in a position to judge as to which side of the line Mayor Altmann has put himself in this instance or any other.”
But politics seemed to be the last thing on the minds of spectators who were happy to be at the small-town “celebrity wedding.”
“It’s a love story, and one that all of us in the town got to be a part of,” said resident Evelyn Gundlach.