Toronto Indian Wedding

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Shilpa + Rishi 

Shilpa & Rishi were married in a beautiful Indian wedding at Toronto's Liberty Grand.

We started the day with portraits in the beautiful courtyard of the Liberty Grand, we even managed to dodge the raindrops.

It's not many times that the bride walking down the aisle can be upstaged, but since Shilpa had their beautiful daughter in her arms we can make an exception in this case. I actually did a newborn photography session with their baby a couple months ago, check it out here!

Indian wedding ceremonies are always so cool, so many traditions and details go into them.

It was great watching the kids at the wedding ceremony desperately searching for Rishi's shoes in order to sell them back to him after the ceremony (it's an old tradition at Hindu weddings!).  Rishi hid them VERY VERY well.   :)

After the ceremony everyone headed up to the lounge for appetizers and cocktails.

I thought it was really great that even with a wedding of over 400 people Shilpa & Rishi made the time to go around to every table and talk to everyone... it really shows how much they value their family and friends. 

Rishi is a very quiet guy when you meet him but he gave one of the most elequouent speeches by a groom I've heard all year... really well done!

The party was great, the DJ did an amazing job of keeping the dance floor jumping and playing a great mix of music.

A huge thanks for Steve from Tara Lilly Photography for helping out and doing an amazing job second shooting.

Julla from 87 Events did an amazing job planning and coordinating both the wedding and the mehndi ceremony the day before at the beautiful Sunnybrook Estates (check back soon for a blog post on this!)

Check out some of my favourite images above as well as the full slideshow below. 

WEDDING FLORIST  |  Berries and Blooms 

WEDDING DECOR  |  Dance Floor Decor

WEDDING PLANNER  |  87 Events

WEDDING DJ  |  Empire Entertainment

Steam Whistle Toronto Wedding

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Savannah + Bernie

A bit of the backstory how I know these guys. Bernie was a friend of friend who happened to be the bouncer at a local bar we all used to hang out at back in the day and especially for birthdays (21 shots on your 21st!). On my birthdays, it would be Bernie's job to 'escort' me out for some 'fresh air' when I looked too 'tired' He was always very gentle.  :)

Both the guys and girls spent the morning hanging out at the Radisson Admiral down on Toronto's waterfront.  Once everyone was ready, we headed out for a first look on the pier and some wedding day portraits. 

And even after 300+ weddings, there are always firsts.   This first was riding around in a fire truck limo... Bernie was living out the dreams of his 5 year old self.  :)

SteamWhistle is one of my favourite Toronto wedding venues, it's an amazing mixture of old and new school.

We really lucked out with some amazing light at Steamwhistle for the rest of the portraits and then the beautiful outdoor ceremony. 

One of the most touching parts of the entire day was that Savannah's grandmother is a minister from out west and she officiated the ceremony with a little help from a local officiant (that whole 'by the power vested in me by the province of Ontario' bit...)

The ceremony also featured a ring warming ceremony where the two wedding bands are passed around to each guest to hold and 'warm them up'.

Cocktail hour was spent in the SteamWhistle bar and featured some amazing appetizers by the Food Dudes.

The reception features amazing food stations (TACOS!) and some great speeches by their friends and family and then it was time to hit the dance floor!

Bernie has caught 42 garters as a guest at weddings so it was time for him to hang up his belt.

You can see some of my favourite pictures above as well as their full wedding slideshow below.

You can also check out their Liberty Village engagement pictures here!

WEDDING CATERER |  FOOD DUDES    

WEDDING MAKE UP  |  FANCY FACE 

WEDDING DRESS  |  PNINA TORNAI

WEDDING FLORALS  |  WILDFLOWERS & CO

WEDDING OFFICIANT  |   DREAM WEDDING OFFICIANTS

 

Guild Inn Engagement

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Jenny + John

Here are a couple of my favourite pictures from Jenny + John's engagement session this past fall at the Guild Park in Toronto.

It was one of those late October days that you wound up sweating because it was so hot but none of us were complaining!

The Guild Park Inn is currently undergoing a massive redevelopement and will open as one of Toronto's premiere wedding venues this spring!  (I'm shooting Helen & Nelson's wedding there in May!)

You can see pictures from Jenny + John's wedding at Graydon Hall.

Malaparte Toronto Wedding

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Christina + Tim

Christiana + Tim had such an amazing wedding at Oliver & Bonicini's Malaparte on King Street West in Toronto.

Of course, the wedding might not have been quite so amazing if all the rain we got in the morning hadn't stopped by the afternoon.

Christina had one of the most beautiful and unique weddings dresses I've ever seen even after over 300 weddings.  She got the wedding dress from an amazing store called Lovers Land out on Ossington.   The look on Tim's face when he saw it for the first time during their pre wedding reveal was great.  

Right after the reveal was a touching Ukrainian tradition where Christina's mom blessed the couple before we headed off to the church.... but not before we managed to sneak in some pictures with their three beloved dogs!

The ceremony was held at the absolutely stunning Ukranian church of St Mary's in downtown Toronto.   Lots of different things going on in a Ukrainian wedding ceremony... the priest meets them half way up the aisle, crowns are worn and exchanged and the circle the alter several times.  The little ring bearer was an absolute dead ringer for one of my sons (but much better behaved through a long wedding ceremony than one of my kids ever would be!).  

Christina + Tim each wrote their own vows and after Christina read her amazing and heartfelt vows to Tim I think everyone was holding their breath to hear what Tim had written... and he hit it out of the ballpark!  His vows were amazing.... not going to lie, I wasn't sure he had it in him.  :)

We headed down to Osgood Hall and the King West area for some pictures and then headed up to Malaparte on the 6th floor of the Bell TIFF Lightbox.

The reception featured three performances by a troop of traditional Ukrainian dancers from Arkan Dance Studio in full costume to entertain the guests in between courses.

Angela from Maven Weddings & Events did such an amazing job co-ordinating the entire wedding day but without a doubt the highlight of the night was Christina + Tim's candle lit first dance.

A huge thanks to my second photographer Nick from Artanis Collective for doing such an amazing job covering the groomsmen in the morning and the wedding details at Malaparte.

You can see some of my favourite wedding photographs from their Malaparte wedding in the gallery above as well as their full wedding slideshow below!


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

WEDDING PLANNER   |  MAVEN WEDDINGS AND EVENTS

WEDDING DJ  |  SOUND OBSESSIONS

WEDDING VENUE  |  MALAPARTE

WEDDING DRESS  |  LOVERSLAND

WEDDING DECOR  |  SUSAN MURRAY INTERNATIONAL

WEDDING FLORALS  |  CARISMA FLORISTS

WEDDING DANCERS  |  ARKAN DANCE COMPANY

Langdon Hall Wedding

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Alex + Bobby

This was such a great little intimate wedding at Langdon Hall!  

Alex and Bobby were joined by some of their closest friends and family for the ceremony and then dinner in the Colonel Langdon room at Langdon Hall in Cambridge, Ontario.  As you would expect, the food at Langdon Hall is second to none.  The presentations are a work of art!

In a former life, Bobby was an assistant OHL coach so it wasn't really a surprise to anyone there that he had the staff at Langdon Hall set up a TV during dinner so they could all watch some World Cup of Hockey!   They even had a custom hockey stick made up with their wedding date and his team colours on it!

It was a beautiful autumn day and we got an amazing sunset for pictures.    

I really love shooting these smaller, intimate weddings at Langdon Hall!

Ancaster Mill Wedding

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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!

 

Art Gallery of Ontario Wedding

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Najwa + Trevin

Najwa and Trevin had an amazing wedding at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto!

These two had a real sense of style and an individual look that I really liked!  Those shoes by Valentino were something else!  Trevin's blue shoes were great too!


I spent the morning going back and forth between the girls and guys but if you ever get a chance to get ready for your wedding in a suite at the Four Seasons I highly recommend it.  :)  The rooms are simply stunning... full of light and lots of room to shoot. 

Trevin and his boys (and one girl!) got ready over in his suite at the Park Hyatt in Yorkville.  The first thing anyone would notice meeting Trevin is his amazing, infectious laugh... I don't think I've ever had a wedding where I've had so many pictures of the groom laughing!   Once Trevin's crew were ready, his family joined them for a traditional pre-wedding blessing before heading off to the church for the ceremony.


The day threatened (and did) rain all morning but thankfully it ended by the time we needed to head off to the ceremony at St Basil's Catholic Parish.   Being a Saturday in the summer in Toronto, there was some sort of parade/festival/gong show going down Bloor so we all had to abandon our taxi's and Uber's and hustle down on foot!

The ceremony at St. Basils was great, it's always nice when churches don't have too many rules about photography.  I'm always discete and respectful when I photograph wedding ceremonies but I'm also trying to get my clients the best pictures possible!

One of the best parts about having your wedding at the Art Gallery of Ontario is that you get to access to their beautiful galleries for wedding pictures! 

Cocktails were held in the Galleria Italia and the reception was upstairs in Bailey Court with an amazing view of the Toronto Skyline. 

The details at the reception were great, Coriander Girl did an amazing job with the florals!

Danielle and her team from Love by Lynzie did an amazing job planning and coordinating the wedding... everything looked amazing and went off without a hitch!

The reception was great with DJ Dopey & DJ Serious spinning some great music.  Of course the highlight  of the reception was when it was announced that Trevin and some of his buddies were semi pro breakdancers and proceeded to put on an amazing show for everyone.

You can see some of my favourite wedding images in the gallery above as well as their full wedding slideshow below!

You can also follow this link to check out Najwa + Trevin's Stratford Ontario engagement pictures!
 

Milton Ontario Engagement

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Here's a recent pre-wedding engagement session I did with Sarah + Rob at the Kelso Conservation Area in Milton, Ontario!

We were hoping for a shoot up at their cottage but just couldn't get the dates to work so Sarah thought the conservation area would be great instead... and she was right!

These two are getting married next spring at Whistlebear Golf Course in Cambridge, Ontario!