Nelson & Winnie 2011

I had the pleasure of shooting Nelson & Winnie’s wedding a few weeks ago with a friend of mine (he uses Pentax but he is forgiven ;) ). It was a beautiful day in the GTA for a wedding. Very few clouds in the sky, moderate temperatures and best of all a cool breeze coming from the west!

I first met Nelson 4-5 years ago when I first began playing ultimate and learned a lot being just a beginner! Our paths crossed again at a common friends wedding earlier this year and was asked to photograph his upcoming wedding. He and Winnie are avid ultimate players and I was hoping to capture that in some shots throughout the day.

The bridal preparations started in the morning and the house was a buzz with activity from that point on as many family members came to celebrate with a morning tea ceremony in addition to the afternoon tea ceremony! A short walk through the park and then onto the ceremony for a wonderful event filled with friends and family. A unique twist to the evening was that Nelson enjoys puns, and every so often someone would come up to the mic and make a “punny joke” in order to encourage the bride and groom to kiss. Truly a unique moment filled with hilarity.

Here are a few shots from their wedding. Congrats you two!!

Wedding #4….

The 4th wedding of the year came and went in a flash. The day started off foggy and cloudy but as the afternoon rolled around, the day became bright and beautiful. Similar to the last wedding, it was held at Markham Shangri-la banquet centre but this time in the room connected to the backyard tent. It’s a permanent structure with full lighting and fans attached as well as a majestic walkway with flowers and a canopy towards the banquet hall. I never knew this existed until now, I was quite amazed.

The wedding went flawlessly and everyone had a great time. This wedding meant a lot given I’m considered family amongst all 7 siblings, yes 7! I was able to take a few snaps here and there while enjoying time with the family. They had a photo guest book where the guests would arrive and have a Polaroid taken and it would immediately be put into the guest book so they could write a message or sign around the picture. A great keepsake.

Here are some snaps. Congrats Vivien & Chris!!

Wedding #3....

Wedding #3 With a another wedding just around the corner, it reminded me to post some of these photos of a fantastic couple I’ve known for years, Richard & Assunta. Their unique style was further seen during their day as they walked down the aisle to a beautiful string quartet playing various Nintendo video game musical pieces and their dancing entrance into their reception. A choreographed masterpiece. Congrats you two; it was an honour being part of your day!

Wedding #2 ….

On the weekend of the 2nd I was lucky to be a part of the wedding of my friend Edwina and her now husband Michael. They had a wonderful ceremony in Markham in a beautiful church and a reception at the Crystal Fountain Banquet hall just down the street. A traditional Chinese meal was served followed by a wonderful arrangement of desserts and fruits. As usual I wasn’t the official photographer (it’s very rare that I am when it comes to friends weddings – just a personal rule I try to keep if possible) but I was able to take advantage of some amazing sightlines and take a few shots to capture their moment. The next wedding is at the end of April, so for now here are a few shots from M&E’s wedding.

First Wedding of the Season….

Typically “wedding season” would usually fall during the spring through autumn period of the year; which makes sense given those are the warmer seasons.  It’s not often you find yourself going to a winter wedding that is not a destination wedding of some sort, especially in this climate of Canada/Upper north eastern USA.  However this year, the first wedding was on January 8^th, 2011.  The destination was Salem (Massachusetts), more known for their rich witch history rather than their winter getaway spot.  The couple that day would be two good friends who I have gotten to know over the years and who are absolutely perfect for one another in every way.

Frank & Rebecca asked me to be one of their main photographers for this event. Usually I would decline such a role since I prefer to enjoy a friends wedding without being distracted by work, but I guess they caught me in a moment of weakness a few months prior.  I found myself in a situation which I wasn’t 100% comfortable with or familiar.  I have taken a lot of photos at weddings, for friends, colleagues etc but I’ve never had the complete responsibility of getting all the shots fall on my shoulders.  Even with this previous experience under my belt I still found myself somewhat nervous.  I find myself usually at ease going to these types of events and that usually translates into the photos I capture.  I suppose my main fear was that this nervousness would translate into the photos I take for my two friends and not capture all that I wanted to from their most important day.

With all this on my mind I went to the wedding in hopes of doing my best and recording the event with my camera as best as I could. I was put at ease when I discovered that I would be working with someone else, well at least they’d be open to my instructions on what to shoot and so forth.  Between the two of us we were able to capture all that I had hoped and planned and hopefully that’ll translate into two very happy friends/customers.

I’ve been slow to work on the images taken, working on a few here and there as the days went by, but I’ve been able to show the couple a few images and they do seem very happy with them.  I plan on finishing everything by next week if I can since I need to ship the DVD’s with the images back to Boston and I’m sure they want to use them in a scrapbook of some sort as Rebecca is very creative in that manner.

Here are a few of the shots taken of the happy couple on that day.  I was lucky enough to have it snow the day of the ceremony so it was fun to work with the natural environment.  The venue was rustic and gorgeous and the overall ceremony was very intimate since it was only about 75 people.  I must say it was one of the coziest weddings I’ve been to thus far.  With 8-9 more this year (none of which I’ll be a photographer in an official capacity) I’m sure I’ll have my share of variety when it comes to venue/setting/experience.