distillery district

Happy Anniversary!

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Danni + Felipe 


Can’t believe this wedding was 4 years ago, feels like yesterday!

Still one of my all time favourite weddings, it’s actually my current sample album.

Happy anniversary to these two (and their adorable daughter!).

This wedding was amazing.

Danni + Felipe met on the beaches of Australia and have been globetrotting ever since.   They currently live in British Columbia so it's always a bit of a worry when I haven't met a client before their wedding... needless to say this this wasn't problem.  Danni + Felipe, their family and their friends welcomed me with open arms and I felt like one of the gang!

The wedding started out at the fabulous Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Toronto with the guys and girls getting ready. Wendy Rorong did an amazing job with the makeup; giving all the girls a clean, natural look! We then headed over to Osgood Hall for an amazing first look and a few formal portraits of Danni + Felipe and their wedding party!

Over at the Fermenting Cellar the amazing wedding planner Alusha from A Lush Affair had put together a beautiful candle lit space for their wedding ceremony, which was partly in Spanish by Paula Da Nova in honour of Felipe's friends and family from Ecuador.  The flowers from the Coriander Girl looked great, especially the bouquet. 

Some good speeches, some good food and some great dancing (Helped out by DJ Lexx) rounded out the rest of the night!

I'd like to give a huge thanks to wedding photographer Nick Driver from Artanis Collective who did an amazing job second shooting!

You can check out my favourite wedding pictures above and the full wedding slideshow below.

If you have the password, you can see their full wedding gallery here.

 

 

Archeo Toronto Winter Wedding

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Emily + Aaron

Archeo is one of my favourite Toronto wedding venues… it’s got a great vibe & decor, is the perfect size for an intimate wedding and is located in Toronto’s Distillery District. Throw in the fact that it’s winter and the Christmas market is in full swing and you’ve got something magical.

But we’ll get to all that, first things first I met up with Emily and her girls at her apartment as they all got ready. They were lucky enough to be able to rent their neighbours house as an AirBnB so there was lots of room for everyone to relax and get ready. Once Emily was into her amazingly cute dress, it was off to Archeo and the Distillery District.

After a great first look and some wedding party portraits, Emily, Aaron and I went off to tour the Distillery District for some wedding portaits…. One of the highlights was when we ran into a group of Christmas carollers and they sang to Emily + Aaron!

The ceremony was chock fill of great moments: an officiant I’d never worked with before but who was great, multiple kisses before ‘the kiss’ , the rings on a little dog statue and a Stranger Things duet to finish things off.

Dinner was great (mmm… steak) and was filled with tons of laughter and some amazing speeches, capped off with an amazing wedding toast by Emily’s sister the maid of honour. Emily + Aaron’s speech finished off with Christmas crackers… one of Emily’s favourite things.

The DJ that night was DJ Nine and let me tell you he was one of the best I’ve worked with in all these years… really kept the night moving and the dance floor jumping. Aaron was part of fraternity in university and they have a great tradition where they welcome one of their brother’s new wives by serenading her on the dance floor. Garter and bouquet tosses, slide bars and a donut table rounded out the night!

You can see some of my favourite wedding photographs at the top of this blog post and Emily + Aaron’s wedding slideshow below.

If you’ve got the secret password, you can see their full wedding gallery here.

Also check out Emily + Aaron’s engagement session at Toronto’s Riverdale Farm.

Looking for a little more Archeo wedding inspiration? Check out Anne + Tim’s winter Archeo wedding and Cindy + Enrico’s autumn wedding!

Archeo Winter Wedding

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Anne + Tim

Lunch time weddings… why has no one told me about these before? They might be my new favourite thing!

Anne and Tim had a beautiful winter wedding at some of my favourite wedding spots in Toronto…. the Intercontinental Yorkville, Trinity Chapel at the University of Toronto and Archeo in the Distillery District.

Began the day nice and early (unavoidable with a 10am ceremony!) at the Intercontinental Yorkville Toronto hotel with the Anne and her friends and family as they all got ready for the wedding. Since the hotel was so close to the wedding chapel, Anne decide to she could easily walk there. Luckily the polar vortex had ended the day before so it was only a respectable -5 for the walk over. Anne also made the very wise decision to no wear her dress for the walk and instead get dressed at the chapel.

The ceremony went great even with a reluctant (but still adorable!) flower girl leading the way for Anne to walk with her mother down the aisle. Trinity Chapel is one of the most beautiful wedding venues in all of Toronto but it does have some strict conditions on photographing there but even with those conditions I managed to great some great shots and even made it up to the balcony for some nice scenic shots of the ceremony.

After the ceremony we hung around for some family pictures and then we all headed down the the Distillery District for some pictures with just Anne and Tim…. and their adorable dog! Anne and her friends also have this great tradition of a leather jacket with ‘Just Married’ bedazzled (???) on the back that they pass down from wedding to wedding!

The reception was great, the staff at Archeo always do an amazing job! The reception featured some great speeches and a fantastic sprinkle cake as requested by Tim!

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

Toronto Fermenting Cellar Wedding

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Meghan + Jeff

Meghan and Jeff had an amazing spring wedding at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto's Distillery District.

Meghan, her sister and her mother spent the morning getting ready at One King West.  One King West has stunning suites that are the perfect place to spend the day.   I met up with Jeff and his best man at the Fermenting Cellar to photograph the finishing touches as they got ready.

Meghan and Jeff decided to have a first look which I always think is a great idea as it allows the bride and groom to spend time with their friends and family after the ceremony instead of running off to do pictures for an hour.   

While we were doing some family pictures Meghan was dive-bombed by a bird.  Meghan HATES HATES HATES birds.   :)

Meghan + Jeff had a really beautiful candlelit ceremony in the Fermenting Cellar that was full of laughter and emotions followed by a cocktail hour with some amazing appetizers. 

The Fermenting Cellar is one of my favourite wedding venues in all of Toronto... I love the dramatic uplighting, the industrial feel and the great layout.  I can't recomend it enough if you're looking for something a little different from your traditional wedding venue in Toronto. 

Dinner was intermixed with some amazing speeches and toasts by Meghan + Jeff's family and friends.   They had a great kissing game where guests had to answer (impossibly hard) trivia questions about Meghan + Jeff's favourite TV couple.... seriously hard questions.  

Once the cake was cut and the desert was served, it was time to hit the dance floor and Meghan + Jeff's wedding was an amazing fun party.

You can check out some of my favourite wedding pictures from Meghan + Jeff's wedding at the Fermenting Cellar above and their full wedding slideshow below.

You can also check out some other weddings I've photographed at the Fermenting Cellar:

Danni + Felipe
Renee + Ian

Their Favourite Wedding Photograph

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Cindy + Enrico  -  Archeo, Toronto 

archeo-wedding-toronto-001.jpg

Here is one from my ongoing series of Heirloom Photographs from Cindy + Enrico's fantastic wedding at Archeo in Toronto's historic Distillery District.

I really enjoy this project because it gives me some insight into the kind of wedding photographs my clients (and future clients) cherish and appreciate.  

I love the wedding photograph that Cindy + Enrico chose for so many reasons... the connection between the two of them, the fact that it's not your 'typical' wedding picture and of course that it's from late into the night during their reception.  Right from day one I've always believed in photographing the entire wedding day, from getting ready to late into the night. 

So here, in Cindy & Enrico's own words, is their favourite wedding photograph:

"It’s  important to us because it  symbolizes our soul connection which always comes when we are lost in anything creative together....like dancing. It’s especially beautiful because we were not aware of the camera ..."
 

Thank you so much Cindy & Enrico, I hope you still love this picture for years to come.

For more of Cindy + Enrico, check out their full wedding on the blog here.

You can also check out their stunning beachfront engagement session here.
 

One from the portfolio....

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Renee & Ian finish their first dance in style during their wedding reception at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto's Distillery District.

Picking up with an idea I got started with last year and then got busy... you know how it is!

Anyways, I'm going to try and continue my series of 'One from the portfolio...' where I take one of my favourite images from my main wedding portfolio and talk a little about the wedding and how I captured the image.

This week, I'm going all the way back to 2014 and Renee and Ian's amazing spring wedding at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto's Distillery District.   This wedding, like most I shoot at the Fermenting Cellar for some reason, is one of my all time favourite weddings!  The entire wedding from start to finish was near perfect... great group of people, beautiful venue and a great party late into the night!

For this wedding photograph, Renee and Ian were just finishing up their first dance when Ian went for a dramatic dip and kiss at the end of song.   Luckily, he picked the spot where I had my off camera flashes dialled in just perfectly!

The Fermenting Cellar is one of those wedding venues I hear other photographers complain about all the time... it's too dark, there's no white ceiling to bounce their flash off of etc etc... Personally, I love it.  I'm very comfortable using off camera flash so the lack of white ceilings and the low light levels don't phase me at all.

I love the moment captured in this image as well as the pop of colour from the candles and the purple uplighting.

You can see the wedding album I designed for Renee + Ian here.

You can see Renee + Ian's wedding featured on WeddingBells magazine here.

Archeo Wedding in the Distillery District

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Cindy + Enrico 

Cindy + Enrico had a beautiful, intimate wedding at Archeo in Toronto's Distillery district.

Everyone spent the morning hanging out and getting ready at the beautiful Hazelton Hotel in the Yorkville neighbourhood in Toronto.   I must have walked by this hotel, and it's amazing suites, a dozen times in the past and never even knew it was there.

Once everyone was ready to go we piled into the limo for the ride down to Archeo and their outdoor wedding ceremony.

The ceremony kicked off with a truly special moment when one of Cindy's son's walked her down the aisle while her other son sang for her (He's in the band Magic!).

Cindy and Enrico incorporated so much of their own heritage into the wedding ceremony... a native tradition of honouring the four directions and elements, an Italian wine blessing and an Irish hand fastening.   They also had a ring warming ceremony which is fast becoming one of my favourite wedding traditions. 

After exchanging vows and a kiss, Cindy + Enrico were showered with bubbles by their guests as they danced their way down the aisle.  We made a quick trip out to the historic Distillery District for some wedding party portraits and then back to Archeo for cocktail hour and an amazing meal.

I'd like to pause for a second and take a minute to thank Alusha from A Lush Affair for doing such an amazing job with this wedding.  The room looked great and everything went off without a hitch.

When you have such an artistic group of friends (Cindy + Enrico were both actors, Cindy still teaches acting) it's no surprise that these two were treated to several performances during their wedding reception.   Enrico's father recited a beautiful poem in Italian... Well, I assume it was beautiful, all the Italians were tearing up!  :)   And to top it off, two of their closest friends sang and their mentor gave a beautiful toast to the happy couple.

After giving their own heartfelt speech and toasting their guests, Cindy + Enrico did an amazing job getting the dance floor open with their first dance... the party was still going strong when I left late in the night!

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

Also be sure to check out Cindy + Enrico's amazing Toronto Beaches Engagement session.

Fermenting Cellar Wedding

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Danni + Felipe 

This wedding was amazing.

Danni + Felipe met on the beaches of Australia and have been globetrotting ever since.   They currently live in British Columbia so it's always a bit of a worry when I haven't met a client before their wedding... needless to say this this wasn't problem.  Danni + Felipe, their family and their friends welcomed me with open arms and I felt like one of the gang!

The wedding started out at the fabulous Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Toronto with the guys and girls getting ready. Wendy Rorong did an amazing job with the makeup; giving all the girls a clean, natural look! We then headed over to Osgood Hall for an amazing first look and a few formal portraits of Danni + Felipe and their wedding party!

Over at the Fermenting Cellar the amazing wedding planner Alusha from A Lush Affair had put together a beautiful candle lit space for their wedding ceremony, which was partly in Spanish by Paula Da Nova in honour of Felipe's friends and family from Ecuador.  The flowers from the Coriander Girl looked great, especially the bouquet. 

Some good speeches, some good food and some great dancing (Helped out by DJ Lexx) rounded out the rest of the night!

I'd like to give a huge thanks to wedding photographer Nick Driver from Artanis Collective who did an amazing job second shooting!

You can check out my favourite wedding pictures above and the full wedding slideshow below.

If you have the password, you can see their full wedding gallery here.

 

 

Stirling Room Wedding

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Spencer + Jonas

Spencer and Jonas had an amazing fall wedding at the Stirling Room in Toronto's Distillery District.

These two really focused on having the wedding they wanted... a late ceremony (featuring a ring warming, something Ii've never seen before!), a few quick portraits and then straight into dancing and a great party at one of Toronto's best nightspots.   Even dinner at the reception was stand up food stations (mmmm.... sliders & tacos!).   The party and dancing were some of the best yet this year, it's without a doubt my favourite part of the wedding to photograph!

Check out the full slideshow of their wedding photographs below!