Two down one to go… Kat and Mark’s wedding was our second of three in Cuba!

Also at the Iberostar Varadero, Kat and Mark had the same location as Liz & Brad but that’s where the similarities ended. I love being able to highlight the unique personalities of everyone we photograph. These two and their crew were quite the crowd - so much energy! My favourite shots are definitely the group trashing session in the ocean - HOT!

Kat and Mark’s week started with a group tour to Havana with a few engagement shots captured along the way

The Wedding Day - The Aisle

The Newlyweds

The Guys and Gals

Shoes!

Reception

First Dance

And my favourite shots of all - the Trash the Dress session featuring the entire bridal party! Just look at those clouds… WOW

I know you guys are missing Cuba now that you’re back in Toronto, but hopefully this sneak peak takes ya back!

CONGRATS again, we’ll be in touch soon!!

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Liz and Brad got hitched in Cuba!

The Iberostar Veradero was the resort of choice for these two earlier this month. I love destination weddings - whether local destinations or those far away - because there really is something magical about getting away for a vacation to celebrate with your closest family and friends. Everyone is so relaxed and has an amazing time, and it really really shows.

After having talked on the phone and via email with these two many times in the months coming up to the wedding, we were so excited to finally meet them. They are both so sweet and so obviously passionately in love! The photos speak for themselves, and this is only the very tip of so many gorgeous images.

Congrats guys!

Getting Ready

The Aisle!

Newlyweds

Liz

Into the Evening

Trashing the Dress

Again… wow. You guys rocked it. Hope all is well now that you’re back in Calgary, and we’ll be in touch soon!!

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It’s true! We’re hitting the road with a whole month in Cuba - and we should be safely tucked into our room in Varadero by the time you’re reading this.

We’ll be back in the studio on June 3rd. Internet is spotty in the land of the mojito, we’ll be getting online as much as possible but our responses may be a little slower than usual. Don’t have too much fun without us!

For all of you brides and grooms planning your upcoming weddings, don’t despair.  We’ll be setting up consults for the beginning of June based on the order people inquire and will be able to confirm our availability from here. If you want to finalize your booking and don’t want to wait - no worries. We’ll send you the info and we can get it all done remotely.

OK! We can’t *WAIT* to share all the awesome images we’re going to have when we get home. Have a great month, and we’ll catch you on the flip side!

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Wow.

You know, we go to a lot of weddings and we’ve seen countless different venues and types of celebrations. And sometimes, things really just click for us. This was one of those times.

We were married 7 years ago (as of last week! weu!) and I can absolutely say that if we were to do it all over again right now, this would be the exact way to do it.

Small, destination wedding. Not very far away though - Tofino/Ucleulet is so very close and yet feels like it’s worlds away. A big house to hold the wedding and reception as well as to provide accomodations for a sizeable group of friends and family. Beach and rocks and waves and trees. Amazing food served all night long. Mingling. Drinking. Gorgeous details and decor. And most importantly, an incredible group of family and friends to share it with.

The Dress and the View from the master bedroom

The rings on the pages of the Prophet - later to be used as the source of a ceremony reading

My favourite ceremony shot. Deanna hugging her father after they’ve walked down the aisle

Some of the amazing food, flowers, and other details

The Bride

The Groom

Together

The View

The Cake

Congratulations again to you both, from the bottom of our hearts. It was such an honour to be there to celebrate with you!

Kudos to Camilla at Crabapple Floral in Tofino who blows me away each time we do a wedding in Tofino or Ucleulet with her gorgeous work, and to our friends Albertine & Brina from Blue Skies and Daisies who did their magic with invites and website goodies here as well. It was great to see you both! Here’s one final shot of the Blue Skies clan!

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Last weekend we travelled to the Sooke Harbour House on Vancouver Island for our 3rd destination event in a row! Rob & Jill travelled there with their close family and friends for their weekend away. What I love most about their choice in location is that it will be the perfect place to escape to for years to come for their anniversaries! The perfect retreat.

A few of our favourites so far - first, the flower girls!

Rob & Jill just after the kiss. I’m standing below them on the path, and Rob is looking out over the ocean. I can only imagine all of the wonderful things he is thinking of as they officially start their life together as husband and wife!

The Champagne Toast!

Portrait of the newlyweds

Walking along the path in front of the Harbour House

And - of course - just a few of the amazing dishes served up by the chefs for the evening dinner.

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I just returned from a week in Seattle hanging out with some great photographers for the ANTI-workshop. We talked about business, played with some light, explored what it means to create art, and generally had a great time. And for me, it was just what I needed at this point in our season to get refreshed and recharged for all of the amazing weddings we have to come! I love getting away to see what other photographers who have been pushing the limits are up to, and to take time to shoot just for me.

As for the photo? I like to stretch outside of comfort zones on occasion to push myself to grow as an artist. Part of one assignment in Seattle was to take a shot that was risky, and thanks to a perfect setting and a willing-to-do-anything-for-art bride turned model, I snagged this shot. If it makes you look twice or makes you ask questions or even if it makes you angry, I accomplished what I set out to accomplish.

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Keith and Julie chose Bodega Ridge Lodge on Galiano Island as their perfect wedding destination. Avid cyclists and kayakers, the island was close enough to home yet still felt a million miles away and provided plenty of opportunities for both sports.

Here are a few of our favourite shots so far!

The Dress

The Girls getting ready

The Guys before the ceremony (and the stark contrast between the two!)

The ring!

One of many heartfelt speaches

And finally, a candid shot of the newlyweds enjoying the sunshine that finally broke through the rain later that evening!

Thanks again to both of you for inviting us to celebrate with you!

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I’ve spent the last week in Vegas with hundreds of amazing wedding photographers who travelled from around the world for the convention this year. It’s been a great week! So much inspiration and some great changes to come for us including some new products and some site tweaks. We can’t wait!

Earlier today 2 other photographers and I arranged the ultimate Vegas shoot - a trash the dress session at sunset in the desert. Here are a few of my favourite shots.

And yes, ladies, you too can look this hot!

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Every time we pick up our cameras to photograph a wedding we are charged with capturing the memories of a couple and of a family that will be cherished and looked at for years to come. These are the images that will be carefully tucked away to be shown to children, to grandchildren. We aren’t just creating art for today - we are entrusted to document events which will be looked at by the families of our clients 50 or 100 years from now.

When I look through the images that have been proudly displayed and those that have been carefully tucked away and stored for so many years in my own family, I get a glimpse of the lives of my loved ones that I never had the ability to see. When people look at our photos years from now, I want them to see not only how everyone looked but to also get a feel for who they were then - whether they were wonderfully quiet and introspective with a wedding draped in elegance or if they were outgoing with a flair for being different, that’s what I want them to see.

If anyone was ever the quintessential big sister, it was me. No matter how old he gets, my little brother will always be my little brother. For those that know Roy, you know that unique hardly describes him, and the concept of marriage and wedding would stun and surprise almost anyone who has met him. For me, having gotten to know Tara when they were inseparable in junior high and high school years ago, it caused a chuckle but no real surprise when they not only had found each other again in this crazy world of ours but when they told us that they had eloped, knowing they didn’t ever want to lose each other again.

Of course, to elope means no wedding and celebration for the family, so in just 3 short weeks a party was thrown together so we could all get together and raise a glass to Roy & Tara. As the big sister who demands only the best, I was the remote wedding coordinator and day of decorator, I was the queen of seeking out the most perfect desserts, I was the MC, and I was the photographer, too, along with Reilly (so, although we got married 6 years ago, I have recent experience in what all all of you planning weddings are going through!). The focus was the party and that’s what we put on, and it was wonderful.

And, for once, instead of documenting the memories for everyone else, we got to turn the cameras on our own family and record our own.

My brother, the Groom

My Mom

The Dance

The Day After - The Graveyard

The Day After - The RollerCoaster

The Day After - The Swings

The Day After - The Snow
(and for those of you in Vancouver, this was real Albertan snow - and it was about 24 below at the time. Needless to say, this was a bride determined to get snow angel pictures out of her wedding dress purchase!)

Love to you both, Roy & Tara!

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Linda and Paul were married in one of our favourite places on earth last weekend - Tofino. We were excited to be able to visit our fav bed & breakfast while celebrating with them and their families.

The weather on Saturday was amazing and their beach wedding went off without a hitch.

A plan had been hatched on Saturday to officially trash the dress (you’re not going to wear it again anyway!) by running into the water first thing Sunday morning. Morning came and it was POURING - there were wind and wave warnings from environment canada and it wasn’t looking promising. We were game but weren’t sure if minds might have changed from the day before…

We knocked on the door as planned at 8:30 in the morning and Linda answered the door in her wedding dress with hair still done from the day before completely ready to go. We were on!

It was probably the quickest session we’ve ever done - maybe 10 minutes total - due to a tight timeline and the drenching downpour. It turns out, though, that the rain doesn’t seem so cold after you’ve run up to your waist in jeans into the ocean!

We’ll share more when we’ve gone through them all, but here’s a taste of the fun we had. I love shooting with weatherproof gear that allows us to do stuff like this (thanks to Canon), and I love any couple who is willing to run into the ocean or any similar craziness in the interests of capturing some great images. I can’t wait to finish these!

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