Ontario Backyard Wedding

Kristin & Adam

As a wedding photographer every year there is one date that you get inquiry after inquiry for once you're already booked.  And this year it was for Kristin and Adam's wedding day.   Thank god their wedding was truly amazing, one of my favourite weddings in years.

Planning a wedding is never easy.  Planning a wedding in your own backyard for 150 people while you have careers and a young family is one hell of a challenge... but I have to say that Kristin & Adam pulled it of amazingly well. 

It was a really relaxed morning hanging out with the girls and then the guys as they all got ready for pictures and the ceremony.   

The first look took place on Adam's stepfathers's dock overlooking Lake Simcoe.  Such a beautiful spot for this!   Afterwords we headed over to a nearby abandoned building and forest for some pictures with the family and bridal party.

The wedding ceremony took place in their backyard under one of the most beautiful old trees I've ever seen.  I seriously would have bought that house just for the tree.

Their little boy and girl did an amazing job and ring bearer and flower girl before Kristin walked down the aisle on the arm of her father for their wedding ceremony that was standing room only.

The ceremony featured lot's of smiles, laughter and great moments but one of the most touching moments during the ceremony was when Adam's grandfather gave a traditional blessing.

One of the great benefits of having a backyard wedding is you get to do whatever you want... including heading straight to the bar after the ceremony for a first drink as a married couple.  The other thing you get to do is have taco's for dinner.  That's right, I said taco's for dinner.   Take that prime rib.  :)

The cocktail hour and the rest of the night was really relaxed with speeches and dancing throughout the night.  I loved how Kristin and Adam just gathered everyone around them at the bar and gave their speech outside under the stars.

And of course, they had a Smoke's Poutinerie truck pull up in their driveway for some late night munchies. 

You can check out some of my favourite photographs above and their full wedding slideshow below.

 

Tobermory Wedding Photographer

Joohee + Joel

I hope you enjoyed the pictures from Joohee + Joel's rehearsal!  And now it's time for the wedding post!

I've been to the Tobermory area a bunch of times so when I got an email from Joohee + Joel I was really excited to be going up there for a wedding!  We decided to make a little family trip out of it and rented a cottage for the week!

Joohee is originally from Korea and her family made the trip over to Canada for the wedding which was great!  I really like weddings where it's two cultures coming together.  You get to see the differences but even better you get to see all the similarities in the cultures.

Joel's mom has a beautiful property right on the water outside of town (little bit jealous) so everyone gathered there in the morning to start the day.  There were actually two wedding ceremonies, the first one was in the morning right on the windy waters edge with Joohee and Joel wearing traditional Korean wedding dress.

This wedding also had a first for me... a break in the middle of the day!   So I met up with the wife and kids for lunch before the second afternoon backyard ceremony with everyone changed into traditional western wedding attire.

We hung around for a nice cocktail hour and some pictures we then loaded up the school bus and headed into town for the reception at the Tobermory Community Centre.  I know many photographers out there would shudder at the thought of shooting a wedding at a community centre but I loved it.   So much of my photography is about the emotions, moments and people at a wedding that it really doesn't matter to me what the venue looks like.   Plus, the decorator did a fantastic job making the community hall look great!

Check out some of my favourite pictures from this Tobermory wedding above and the full slideshow below.