wedding photography

Le Jardin Wedding Photography

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Harshini + Mike

 

Another beautiful spring Toronto wedding with Harshini & Mike!

We started the day getting ready, Harshini at her parents house with the girls and Mike at a nearby hotel with the boys.

A beautiful ceremony at the Islington United Church and then it was off to the beautiful BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, a Hindu temple located in the north end of Toronto.  It is absolutely stunning,  I only wish they weren't so restrictive on where we could take pictures.   I'm never a fan of venues that have favourite/best photo locations... they might be fine, but I don't want my couples wedding pictures to look like everyone else's wedding pictures.  I'm always looking for something unique and different... even if it's not the normal.

I think my favourite part of the day was the visit we paid to Harshini's 102 year old grandmother at her nursing home... it was a really touching moment and I was so glad I was there to photograph it.  Check out one of my favourite images from that in the gallery up top!

We then headed up to Le Jardin to finish off their portraits and kick off the reception!  It was a great team that Harshini put together for this wedding, from the massive team of hair & makeup girls to the amazing wedding planners to the great video guys!

Check out the full wedding slideshow below!

 
 
 

Toronto Award Winning Wedding Photographer

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ISPWP Spring Photo Competition

It's always nice when your work as a wedding photographer is recognized by your peers from around the world!  I woke up this morning to learn that one of my wedding images had won 5th place in the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers Spring 2014 contest in the Movement & Motion category. 

This picture is from an orthodox wedding ceremony in Toronto as the bride and groom circled the alter.

Archeo Wedding Photography

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Julia + Kevin

Had the pleasure of helping my good friend Tim Forbes out with Julia + Kevin's wedding in Toronto's Distillery District.  

It was a rainy day so we started off with some portraits in the Stirling Room which the couple had rented just for the occasion, and then headed off to the beautiful St Pauls Basilica for their Catholic ceremony and then back to Archeo for an intimate wedding reception.

Fermenting Cellar Wedding

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Renee + Ian

 

This was such an amazing wedding... I loved ever bit of it.

The day started off interestingly... the power was out at Renee's fathers house so all the hair & makeup was done from a generator her dad scrambled to find at the last minute!  It was actually a bonus for us photographers... not mixed light source!

I had my good friend, and Toronto wedding photographer, Sam Wong helping out with second shooting over at Ian's parents place (they had power).  From there, we all met up at the Fermenting Cellar for a beautiful ceremony performed by a close family friend.

We had a nice day for portraits out in the Distillery District too, overcast skies and not too cold.  Although I always prefer sunlight for my portrait sessions, I'll take what we had over the rain they were forecasting the entire week before. :)

As always, a reception at the Fermenting Cellar is simply stunning.  Katie and her team from Always A Bridesmaid did an amazing job helping out and coordinating throughout the day.


My friend Tim Forbes was also helping out and  photographing with his new Olympus Camera setup.

You can check out some my favourite wedding images in the gallery above and the full wedding slideshow below!

 
 
 

Top 10 wedding tips

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I go to weddings.  A LOT OF WEDDINGS!  :)

At last count, it was close to 200.  And I’ve seen everything that works and doesn’t work.  Here are my top 10 tips and suggestions to help you have the best wedding possible.

1.  Leave time for moments to happen.   If we spend most of your wedding day racing from from location to location, event to event then there’s going to be no time left for anything spontaneous to happen… And those spontaneous events are the moments that make the best pictures.   It could be a reassuring hug from your dad, grandma breaking out the moves to some music in the limo or just a quiet moment with you and your new spouse.  So when you’re figuring out your schedule, drop 15 minute chunks of ‘nothing’ into the schedule….  We don’t need 3 hours for pictures or 5 different locations.  We need time for people to relax and be themselves.

 

2.  Hire a wedding planner.   Even if you’re a hardcore DIY kinda girl, hire someone to take care of all the little details on the day.  You don’t need to be involved in babysitting a flakey DJ or last minute seating chart changes.   Spend your time and energy on your loved ones and leave the stress to a pro…. but make sure you hire an actual pro!  Not your friend who loves weddings or the planner just starting out!  The only thing worse than no planner is an incompetent planner!  :)  I’m happy to provide some great recommendations.... Cynthia or Crystal would be a good place to start.

 

3.  Spend the money on a good photographer.  I know, shocking coming from me right?  But hear me out.   It’s such a cliche, but like most cliches it’s true, but the only thing you will have in 20 years to remember your wedding are the pictures.   The cake will be eaten, the dress will be donated, the DJ’s music will have faded.  Those pictures I take will be the only thing your kids will ever know about the day you started your life together.  I know it’s easy to get wrapped up in the ‘things’ about a wedding, especially since photography is the one thing your guests can’t see (and be impressed by!) on the big day but it’s really, really, really important.   Ditch the stretch limo you’re only going to sit in for 20 minutes.  Scale back on the wedding favours that 90% of the people drunkenly leave on their table anyways.  Spend the money on what matters.

 

 
 

4.  See each other, and take most of the portraits, before the ceremony.        I know your mom will probably hate this... but honestly?  It makes the day sooooo much better!  Why?  Couple of big reasons… first, you get to see each other earlier in the day so you can relax.   Second, it makes the scheduling so much easier for your guests.   Instead of them having to amuse themselves for 3 hours they can go straight to the cocktail hour and enjoy themselves.

 

5.  Lighting.   Remember back in my 3rd point where I talked about not spending money on things other than photography?  yeah, ignore that when it comes to lighting.  If your venue offers uplifting, pin lighting,spotlighting etc etc…. GET IT!  It makes a huge difference to how your wedding will look in both pictures and to your guests.

 

6.  Delete your Pinterest.  No, seriously.  Delete it.   Your wedding is your wedding, there’s no point in trying to make it look like somebody else’s.  Embrace you and your own quirky sense of style.  Besides, 90% of the stuff you see on Pinterest is from styled shoots.  What’s a style shoot?  It’s a fake wedding set up by people in the industry to create content for wedding magazines and blogs.   No wedding actually looks like these shoots and they just create unrealistic expectations for real brides.  When I photograph your wedding I'm going to find the amazing moments and beauty unique to that day.

 

7.  Smile.  Yes of course it’s your wedding day and it’s going to be one of the happiest days of your life but if you spend the entire day worrying and stressing about all little things it’s going to show in pictures.   This is another big reason why should hire a planner (see point 2!).  Smile, laugh, cry and everything will work out.  Something will go wrong during your wedding.   Limo is late.  Power goes out at your house.  Bouquet isn’t exactly what you wanted.  But I always say ‘If that’s the worst thing that happens, this is going to be a great day!’.

 
 

8. Talk to your officiant about pictures.  I can’t tell you the number of times where a couple has assured me that their priest/minister/officiant is cool with pictures and then 5 minutes before the ceremony starts I’m giving a draconian list of restrictions about what I can’t shoot, where I can’t shoot from and when I can’t shoot.   If you’re ok with this, then I’m ok with this but too many times it comes as a complete shock and the couple is disappointed with not having great pictures of their ceremony.  If you’re looking for an officiant that does an amazing job does a great job working with photographers then I’d recommend going with Martti and his team over at KettleCreekWeddings.com

 

9.  Take 5 minutes for yourself.  During the reception and sneak away with your new spouse and go for a little walk.  The time away from the hustle and bustle will do you good and it will give you a chance to reflect on the day and soak it all in.

 

10.  Invite only the ones you truly care about.   I know that you’ll be getting a lot of pressure from parents and friends to invite so-and-so and so-and-so's best friend but unless that person is really an important person in your life… ditch them.  Every B list person you invite to your wedding means that you get to spend less time with the people on your A list and those are the people that matter.  Those are the people, and the time you spent with them, that 20 years from now will be the memories you cherish. 

 

Ancaster Old Mill Wedding

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Michelle + Nick

Michelle + Nick had a fabulous winter wedding back  at the Ancaster Old Mill back in February.

Yes it was cold.  :)

Yes, we still got great pictures.  :)

We started off at the salon owned by Michelle's childhood friend and then I headed off to hang out with the boys as they got ready.  

They had a first look out in the snow, very cool!  First looks can be such a great part of your wedding day.  They can help with an awkward schedule (or an early sunset in this case) and also take a lot of the anxiety out of seeing your spouse for the first time at the ceremony.

Speaking of ceremonies, they had a beautiful Jewish wedding ceremony in the Governer's Room of the Ancaster Old Mill.  And following some family pictures it was up to the Falls Room for a great reception!

You can check out some of my favourite pictures from this Ancaster Old Mill wedding in the gallery up top and their full wedding slideshow down below!