In the spring, he married Alexandra Schmidt of the Bata shoe empire. The family that puts food on Canadians’ tables was thus joined in matrimony with the family that puts shoes on their feet. The couple had met at Windsor—the Florida one—and they were married in a small, private ceremony at a château in Provence. But first they entertained 440 family and friends at a pre-wedding bash in an abandoned Loblaws warehouse on Lake Shore Boulevard that had been transformed into a reception venue. White carpet was laid underfoot, brick walls were transformed into waterfalls with the couple’s image projected onto them, orchid chandeliers blazed the night away and tractor-trailers of lilacs and white hydrangeas graced the tables while guests sat on clear Philippe Starck Gazelle chairs and drank buckets of Cristal champagne.

Bernadette Morra, fashion editor of the Toronto Star, described the rest: “A classical trio, including a Mozart impersonator, entertained during the champagne reception. During dinner, Galen Sr. toasted the couple, recalling that decades earlier he had learned to stock shelves on the site. Ben Mulroney of eTalk Daily and ESPN host Thea Andrews headlined a video congratulating the betrothed before the groom took to the microphone to serenade the bride with ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’ Then the dance floor erupted, with the 25-piece Samy Goz band, flown in from Paris, keeping guests fuelled until the wee hours.” Samy Goz, by the way, is not your average wedding singer. He has played receptions for Prince Charles, who said, “Well done!”, and for King Carlos of Spain, who called Samy “a phenomenon.” It is not known exactly what G2 said, but no doubt words to that effect.

Great families think alike. Galen and Alannah’s English cousins are also involved in family businesses. Garry’s eldest son, Guy, is chairman of Wittington Investments, the family’s private investment company. His brother, George, recently returned from running Weston businesses in Australia and New Zealand to become chief executive of Associated British Foods, which has the same tentacle-like reach as George Weston Ltd. With 35,000 employees and annual sales of £5.2 billion, it manufactures such household names as Twinings, Ovaltine, Mazola and Ryvita, buys the entire U.K. sugar beet crop to provide half of Britain’s sugar and sells value clothing at Primark, a retail chain that is nearly as popular among the cost-conscious PLU as Selfridges. But the crown in this empire is Fortnum & Mason, whose chairman is Jana Khayat, at 44 the eldest of the English Westons. Sister Kate is also employed at Fortnum’s, while sister Sophia runs the family’s charity arm. The youngest sibling, Garth, works for Associated British Foods.

Jana Weston was 25 when she met London banker Antoine Khayat, who was 36. They rushed into marriage despite the objections of her father. For one thing, she was young; for another, the Cairo-born and Arabic-speaking Khayat was not cut from the same WASP cloth. Garry refused to attend the wedding and was not on speaking terms with his daughter until the birth of her first child, George, a dead ringer for his grandfather. Garry melted and all was well again between father and daughter, who had much in common, including his frugal ways. Although Antoine retired from banking some years ago and now runs a winery at Château du Gaby in France, he and Jana commute back and forth on bargain airfares and decorate their home with furniture from IKEA.

It is now up to Jana to save Fortnum’s by riding the fine line between preserving its 300-year-old traditions and making it relevant to the modern shopper. Store revenues have been in decline ever since 9/11 cut the number of overseas visitors to London—a sign that it has become, like Harrods, too dependent on tourists. Profits fell from £2.25 million in 2001 to just £351,000 last year. To restore its prestige, she has initiated a £24-million refit that will give the store a lighter look and a central atrium. Fortnum & Mason outlets have been opened in Japan—the store is mainly filled with Japanese and U.S. tourists already, so why not move the mountain to Mohammed? And the venerable victualler is looking at introducing a new line of food products, including—gasp!—ready-to-cook frozen gourmet meals. It is not a shakeup on the scale of Alannah Weston’s at Selfridges, but it’s in the same direction.