Ancaster Mill Winter Wedding

Lisa + Tyler

LIsa + Tyler had an amazing winter wedding at the Ancaster Mill in Ancaster, Ontario.

I started my day hanging out with Tyler and his identical twin brother (not going to lie, I almost got them mixed up a couple times during the day) as everyone got ready in their townhouse. From there it was off to meet up with Lisa and her girls at her parents house as she had the finishing touches of hair and make up done. Once the dress was on it was time for a really nice reveal with her dad.

The ceremony was held at the chapel on the grounds of the Ancaster Mill. They did a fantastic job with the construction of the chapel, everything you could want in a ceremony venue1 After the ceremony we staid in the chapel for some family pictures and then braved the cold for some winter portraits on the beautiful grounds of Ancaster Mill.

Dinner and speeches were fantastic, Tyler’s brother doing his best to embarrass Tyler! Lisa had great choreographed dances with both Tyler and her dad to kick off the party!

You can see some of my favourite wedding images from their wedding above as well as the full slideshow below! If you have the password you can also access the full gallery over on the proofing section of my website.

Getting married at the Ancaster Mill? Check out some other weddings:

Michelle + Nick

Haley + Stephen

Jennifer + Conan

Burlington Engagement Photographs

Lisa + Tyler

Here are some of my favourite pictures from Lisa + Tyler’s great fall engagement session in Lowville Park in Burlington, Ontario featuring some really beautiful fall colours.

These two are having a winter wedding at the Ancaster Mill in the new year, check back then to see their wedding pictures.

Toronto Wedding Photographer Year in Review

2016 was a great year for me. Amazing clients, fantastic moments and some stunning weddings.

I had the pleasure to photograph weddings at some of Toronto and Ontario's best wedding venues including Malaparte, Fermenting Cellar, Langdon Hall, Liberty Grand, Sunnybrook Estates, SteamWhistle Brewery, Paletta Lakefront Mansion, Art Gallery of Ontario, Ancaster Mill and Graydon Hall
 

I had a really hard time picking these pictures, and I'm sure I forgot about a few, but I hope you like them and here's hoping 2017 is just as good!
 

I love this image from Christina + Tim's wedding at Malaparte in Toronto.  All their guests surrounded them as they had their first dance by candlelight.  After shooting over 300 weddings it's always great seeing something new!

This year I've really been trying to capture wedding details that have a human element to them.   I don't know about you but I think a wedding dress looks so much better on then on a hanger. This is Danielle's beautiful dress from her wedding at the Fermenting Cellar. 

I love simple window light.  On any wedding day you'll find me dragging people towards that beautiful soft window light but in this case Jing was already standing there and I grabbed a quick candid portrait of her before their Chinese tea ceremony.

Not the Mediterranean... this is actually Lake Ontario.  We grabbed this beautiful portrait during Laura + Chris' amazing wedding at Paletta Mansion in Mississauga.

It's better to be lucky than good!   (it also helps being good).

Sometimes when you have an uncooperative ring bearer you turn lemons into lemonade.  As we were trying to get a big extended family picture the groom's nephew decided he was going to do his own thing.

This one is from Alex + Bobby's small, intimate wedding at Langdon Hall in Cambridge, Ontario.   

There were only about a dozen people at the wedding but even so it feels like these two are the only ones there.

I love this casual, relaxed portrait of the wedding party from Danielle + Felipe's wedding at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto's Distillery District. 

Love this portrait of Jenny + John from their autumn wedding at Graydon Hall. 

Even when I'm shooting portraits I try and keep things very relaxed, letting the couples just interact with each other in some nice light and see what happens!

Always helps to have a classic Rolls Royce too!

Always looking for a different angle, I got this picture during the Tea Ceremony at Haidee + Martin's wedding at the Estates of SunnyBrook in Toronto.

Love the joy and laughter on Jing's face after their backyard wedding ceremony in Toronto.

This was one of the best moments of the year as Melanie and David were surprised by their theatre friends with an amazing flash mob at their wedding!

I love this small, intimate moment as Laura + Chris walk back to their wedding at Paletta Mansion after we did some wedding portraits down by the lake.

Christina + Tim dance the knight away late into their reception at Malaparte in downtown Toronto. 

A beautiful sunset portrait from Alex + Bobby's intimate Langdon Hall wedding.

Whenever I can, I always try and sneak my couples out of the reception for a few minutes of portraits during the golden hour.

I'm always looking for a different angle, especially during wedding ceremonies. 

Sometimes you have to get right down on the floor for that different angle.   This one is from Jenny + John's Catholic wedding in Toronto.

Love the look from mom as she looks on during the Orthodox wedding ceremony of Christina + Tim this past September.

This is one of my favourite first dance images from this year, I love the contrast of the Danielle + Felipe with the warm tones in the background.

Plus, check out his expression.... that's one happy groom!

I love a good, classic wedding portrait with some nice window light.

This one is from Haidee + Martin's spring wedding at the Estates of Sunnybrook in Toronto. 

This is from Sherry + Jonathan's wedding during their Chinese tea ceremony during their wedding in Toronto.  I love the expressions and framing in this picture!

I'm a sucker for emotion in pictures so I live this one as Augusto's mom gives him one final hug before he marries Mashael during their outdoor wedding ceremony at Ancaster Mill.

Sometimes you have to go a little abstract... this one is from Jing + Rene's backyard wedding in Toronto as Jing has her makeup done.

I snuck Danielle + Felipe away from their wedding reception at the Fermenting Cellar for some quick, intimate portraits of them.

We didn't go far, this is just at the entrance way to the Fermenting Cellar.  I love their expressions in this one.

This one is from Melanie + David's wedding in Toronto.   Whenever I have weddings in ballrooms I always try to get back from my subject and try and show the entire scene.

In my mind, this kid is thinking 'Dude, don't do it... girls are gross!' but him and his brother were two of the best behaved ring bearers I've ever seen.    The stood still and kept quiet even during a long Orthodox ceremony... better then my kids would have done!  :)

It's not much of a secret that my favourite part of the wedding is the party at the end of the night... I'm one of the few wedding photographers in Toronto that cover the entire day from start to finish.

Haidee is having an amazing time with her friends on the dance floor during their wedding reception at Estates of SunnyBrook in Toronto. 

I grabbed this shot as I was leaving Alex + Bobby's wedding from outside at Langdon Hall.

Indian wedding ceremonies are amazing to shoot!  There's so much going and such vibrant colours.

This image is from Shilpa + Rishi's wedding at Liberty Grand this pst autumn.

MMMMM... Golden hour portraits.

Whenever I can I try to get my couples out at sunset for a quick portrait session.  The light at that time is amazing and we can get so many great pictures in such a short time!

This one is from Savanah + Bernie's wedding at the SteamWhistle Brewery in Toronto.

I love photographing joy.  And I think it's safe to say that Jenny + John are enjoying their big day at Graydon Hall.

This one is from Najwa + Trevin's wedding at the Art Gallery of Ontario. 

I always try to get a casual, relaxed portrait of the wedding party along with a more formal one.

Ancaster Mill Wedding

Mashael + Augusto had an amazing two day wedding in her parents backyard and then a beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony and reception at the Ancaster Mill in Ancaster, Ontario.

I always joke with my clients that it almost never rains on weddings that I photographer... something like maybe 10 out of over 300 weddings?  

Well, this one was the exception to the rule.  But honestly, it really didn't matter.  Everyone was having such a good time and we just sort of rolled with it.  

It's no secret that I'm a fan of weddings where two cultures come together and it was great having both Pakistani and Columbian traditions at this wedding.

Both days began with Mashael getting ready at the Janie Laing Salon in Oakville with her family and friends.   As we looked out the window it was pouring cats and dogs!

We headed back to the house where Mashael put on her traditional Pakistani wedding attire.  It was so cool to see how intricate and detailed it was!   Augusto and his family from Columbia where then led dancing into the backyard by a traditional drummer where he waited for his future bride who made quite the entrance under a canopy of umbrellas!

The rest of the night consisted of traditions like guests feeding the bride and groom and lots of traditional dances... thankfully all under a tent to keep us dry!  The dinner was a fantastic Pakistani BBQ all cooked right on the spot.

Day two of the wedding was a more traditional 'western' wedding at the Ancaster Mill.  We snuck off to a beautiful waterfall for some portraits and then had a intimate outdoor wedding ceremony. My favourite part of the ceremony was the recessional when they danced down the aisle as the guests blew thousands of bubbles.

The reception featured some traditional Columbian dancing, some amazing food stations and finished off with a sparkler exit!

You can check out some of my favourite wedding photographs in the gallery above as well as the full wedding slideshow below!

• Wedding Flowers  |   Margo's Flowers
• Wedding Dress  |  Nina Duong  
• Wedding Cake  |  Molly Cake

A year in review....

As we begin 2016 I thought it might be nice to take a look back at how great 2015 was!

I had a bunch of amazing couples and weddings at some of the best wedding venues in Toronto and Ontario including Fermenting Cellar, Hessenland Country Inn, Bruce Hotel, One King West, Liberty Grand, Waterloo Region Museum, One King West (again!) The Tannery, Copper Creek Golf Course, The Stirling Room, 99 Sudbury, Ancaster Mill, Federation Hall and WhistleBear Golf Course as well as weddings across ontario including Tobermory and Windsor.

Now, usually I do a slideshow for these year end posts but this year I thought I'd try something different and post 10 of my favourite images.  Wow... it was way tougher to pick 10 than I thought.   So many great moments from the year but I finally managed to whittle it down to my favourite 10 (in no particular order!)

I love this portrait from Josh + Paul's wedding at the Bruce Hotel in Stratford, Ontario.

The best light is always around sunset (or sunrise... but that's not happening!) so I always try to sneak my couples out for a quick portrait session to take advantage.  

To me this image feels really natural, not forced at all... which is exactly how I like to work.  I put the people in the nice light and then let things happen!

I really like this photograph from Spencer + Jonas' wedding at the Stirling Room in Toronto's Distillery District.

During the wedding ceremony, they had something called a 'ring warming' where the two wedding rings were passed around to all the guests before they said their vows.

Having shot over 300 weddings, it was nice to see something new and unique!

For me, a great moment will always trump a great portrait but there is something about this photograph of the wedding party from Emilie + John's wedding at 99 Sudbury in Toronto that I really like.

I think it has that timelessness and elegance to it, something I'm always striving to achieve!

Plus, I photographed it vertically so that makes it pretty rare for me.  :)

I'm always looking for a different angle when I photograph a wedding.  It's a hazard of the job that you're essentially photographing the same events week after week so you have to keep looking for new ways to see things!

This picture is from Rebecca + John's wedding up at the Hessenland County Inn in Ontario on the shores of Lake Huron.

Here's another one from Rebecca + Jeff's wedding at the Hessenland Country Inn (what can I say, it was  great wedding!)

I like everything about this picture... the look on Rebecca's father's face as he dances with his daughter... the guests looking on in the background... the contrast  of tones between the subjects in the foreground and the warmth in the background.

This wedding photograph is from Jennifer and Alex's wedding in Toronto.

The speeches during the reception were really great, and really emotional.  

Somewhat surprisingly, this image was captured as the best man was giving his speech and talking about how Alex and him had a bond closer than brothers.   This really touched Jennifer and I managed to capture this just as she wiped away the tears.

 

This image is from Andrea + Chris' wedding at One King West.

I love the connection they have as Chris listens to Andrea's speech.

This is a portrait from Joohee + Joel's wedding up in Tobermory. 

We had just finished the civil wedding ceremony, right on the water at Joel's mothers property, and paused for a few pictures. 

I love the colours in this picture, from the traditional Korean hanbok to the brilliant blue of the sky.

I love it when people are smiling in wedding photographs (I'll take happy crying as well) so obviously I love this picture from Kaylen and Roberts wedding this spring at Federation Hall in Waterloo.

You can see the joy on Kaylen's face as she enjoys their first dance during the wedding reception.

Photographers love the soft light of overcast days and golden hour sunsets.  Unfortunately, wedding portraits sometimes need to be made during the middle of the afternoon under harsh sunlight.

This was the case during Maria + Theo's wedding this fall in Toronto as we met for portraits near the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Ancaster Mill Wedding

Haley + Stephen

Haley and Stephen had a great autumn wedding at the Ancaster Mill in Southern Ontario.

These two own and operate an AMAZING restaurant in Toronto called The White Brick Kitchen.  Seriously, check out the menu... I can't wait to eat there!  We actually wound up doing their engagement pictures there (check back to the blog soon for those!).

Haley started the day at her Aunts house in Hamilton getting hair and make up done with her bridesmaids... and their dog.  :)   Stephen and the boys got ready at nona's house which was literally just down the road... nice and easy for me!  It's always a bonus when the bride and groom get ready close together, it allows me to just bounce back and forth and get more coverage of the guys.

Once everyone was ready and looking great we headed out to Canterbury Falls, an amazing waterfall just down the road from the Ancaster Mill, for their first look.  First looks, or reveals, are such a great idea since it allows you to get the formal portraits out of the way before the ceremony which helps with the flow of the day (allowing your guests to go straight from the ceremony to the cocktail hour) as well as to get the big reveal done and settle the nerves.  :)

From there it was over to Ancaster Mill for a beautiful outdoor ceremony and then into the Ancaster Mill for cocktail hour after a few quick family portraits. 

Since these two were both chefs, they wanted something very specific for their meal at the reception... in this case, it was some of their favourite comfort foods served family style.   Fried chicken, beef sliders and even a  soft serve ice cream machine for desert.

You can see some of my favourite wedding images above and the full wedding slideshow below.

 

Ancaster Mill Wedding

Jennifer + Conan

Jennifer + Conan were married this august at the Ancaster Mill... click the link to see their downtown Toronto engagement session 

Right off the bat, the first thing you notice is the dress... bright red.  This was my first wedding with a dress that wasn't some form of white and I have to say that I loved it.  It was such a great pop of colour throughout the day.

Jennifer began the day getting ready at her parents house with Fiona Man doing a great job with the makeup!

Conan and the boys showed up for some traditional door games... some women's underwear, some seaweed leaves and a nice test of his Chinese vocabulary.  :)

Once Jennifer and Conan had finally seen each other and some family pictures at the house it was off to Canterbury Falls for some pictures with the couple and wedding party.  I've shot a bunch of weddings at Ancaster Mill but honestly had no idea that such a great photo location was just 5 minutes down the road!

Ancaster Mill has a beautiful outdoor chapel... which was even more beautiful since the rain held off!

We finished the day with dinner and a great reception in the Governor's Room at the mill.

Please check out the gallery of my favourite wedding photographs above and the full wedding slideshow below!

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