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Congrats to Brad and Aliya who tied the knot recently in Waterton.  :)  They were a real blast!  In fact, the whole wedding party was a lot of fun.  It’s not every wedding you see the first dance turn into a bridal party chorus routine to the tune of Monty Python’s Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.  And I have so many photos of Aliya laughing.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bride laugh so much!  Aliya also had some fun ideas that we did, like arm-wrestling with her brother, Kareem.  You have to check out the funny, intense expressions in the image I posted from that sequence.  We did a lot of their portraits beforehand, with the family group photos being done at Cameron Falls and the wedding party images being taken all over the place—it is Waterton after all.

Their wedding cake was one of the most creative designs I’ve seen so far.  It was a tropical-themed cake with bamboo-shaped edging and flowers, all in bright colours.  

The sunlight was really quite harsh for their ceremony and I remember commenting that it was one of our most challenging lighting situations so far.  Ironically, we’ve now done three weddings in a row with similar conditions and they’ve got progressively harder!  I’m not sure I like how this is going!  Lol!  ;)

The speeches and slideshow were hilarious.  I’m not sure if Brad is going to live some of those moments down, but at least by now he should have come up with a good excuse for that Michael Jackson pic. Anyways, we wish them all the best in their new life together—even though they are Oilers fans.  ;)

Sarah and Matt are a great couple with a really cool sense of fun.  We did a real variety of photos for their engagement session from fashion to candid.  We started with some more candid-style romantic moments in the Lethbridge Coulees then went to Suede night club for some posed fashion portraits.  The owner and staff at Suede were very accommodating and pretty much gave us the run of the place.  Although it’s normally a busy place, thankfully it was wasn’t filled with customers at that time of day, so we were able to do things that we couldn’t have done with a crowd there.  

We finished with some fun shots in the new fountain at Galt Gardens.  I’ve been eyeing that fountain since it went in and we timed Matt and Sarah’s engagement session so that we could spend the last few moments there as the sun set.  I wanted the lights in the fountain to be as visible as possible, so I knew it had to be dark when we were there.  Matt and Sarah were so up for anything that they were willing to go right into the fountain itself!  I was in there, too, with all my gear to get the shots I wanted.  The thing was, when we got there we saw a sign that said that the water was about to be shut off.  And the water was quite low!  So we hopped in thinking that we were just in for a few final dribbles.  But I swear someone must have been watching us, because right after we got in the water spouted sky-high all around us and we were soaked!  We all started laughing and I was trying to give them some directions for the photos while keeping my gear from getting too wet (pro camera gear is weather-sealed, so this wasn’t too risky for it) and not getting a mouthful of water at the same time.

Anyways it was lots of fun and we look forward to more fun on their wedding next year.  Here are a handful of images from their engagement session.  :)

Yes, folks, we have it all for you this week—partial nudity, tears, laughter, funny signs, danger, romance, and even some wedding photos! What more could you ask for?

Alicin and Andy are a wonderful couple who are just really genuine people.  Wedding days often change people a bit, because of the hectic pace and the crowds of guests, but Andy and Alicin were themselves through all of this and that’s so refreshing to see.  :)  They were married at the Southminster United church, which is one of the larger ones here in Lethbridge, with attractive dark polished wood and a big balcony wrapping around the top level.  It was dark in there, though!  Only a little bit of light came in through the stained glass windows.  

Alicin’s bridesmaids were all her sisters and Andy’s groomsmen were his brothers!  That’s the first time I’ve seen such a balanced, related bridal party lineup.  Andy’s family were a riot; the guys were all joking around and they talked me into playing a trick on Andy, too.  So, when he asked me if I’d come from Salon Quattro, where the girls were having their hair and makeup done, and how they all were, I told him that, yes, I’d been there and the girls were good.  Then I paused and straight-faced asked, “Was Alicin supposed to be there this morning?”  The poor guy’s jaw dropped and his eyes went wide until we all laughed and then it clicked and he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Alicin and her sisters fed us a great lunch.  Sherri and I always pack something for ourselves, but they insisted and I never turn down food.  Plus it was better than what we had.  Alicin, Sherri wants the recipe for that salad!  :)

Anyways, here are some of their images!  

Back in December last year we did an engagement session with Corey and Krista—and their dog, Jake—down here in Lethbridge and just recently we did their wedding.  :)

I know I say a lot of our couples are laid back, but Corey and Krista are the most laid back couple ever!  An hour before their ceremony they still did not have an exact time picked out for it to start!  We were waiting for the marriage officiant and they just said, “I guess when she gets here we’ll start.  It doesn’t matter, as long as we get married some time today”.  It is nice to hang out with such relaxed people.  :)

Krista got ready at the Ramada hotel in Pincher Creek and then they had an outdoor ceremony on a property near Pincher Creek.  It was a beautiful day with blue skies and a bit of a breeze.  The sun was almost directly overhead, which makes for lighting conditions that really separates the men from the boys, so to speak.  Normally I’d have used flash to get better balance on the faces, but this time I just carefully chose my angles to make sure I got the best lighting possible naturally.  The altar was specially made for Corey and Krista by a friend and decorated with flowers.  It looked really nice!

Their reception was in a big marquee tent right next to the ceremony area and we got our favourite wedding favours ever: honey!  This must have been gathered from someone’s farm locally, because it was the best honey I’ve ever had.  Ok, so we have had other nice favours at past weddings, but I happen to like honey.  I’ve already finished the first jar.

A big congrats to Mark and Tanya who had their wedding here in Lethbridge recently. No, I’m not saying when, because then everyone will know how behind I am on updating the blog! Anyhow, they were a really easy-going couple who were very flexible and happy all day. Normally people get a bit frazzled by the end of a wedding—weddings are long days, after all, and pretty intense—but Mark and Tanya were both all smiles the whole time we were there.

They were married at the Lethbridge University ballrooms and the reception was also there later that evening. We started out doing their portraits before the ceremony down around Fort Whoop-Up at Indian Battle Park near the river bottom and then we borrowed them again for a few more quick portraits during the reception as well. It was a beautiful day, with lots of sun—and none of these weird tropical storms we’ve been having lately!

The ballrooms were a fun place for the ceremony and reception, though with black upper walls and ceilings it’s tricky for lighting. Just as well I like challenges. I’d hate to see photos by an amateur in that location!  An uncle of the bride did the ceremony and it was a humourous and personal service with a lot of funny anecdotes from the childhoods of both the bride and groom.

I’m only posting a few photos this week, because I thought it would be cool to just give a taste and create a bit of anticipation.

Congratulations to Panos and Donell! They were married here in Lethbridge at the Ukrainian Orthodox church and Sherri and I were honoured to be their photographers for the day.

Panos, whose name is apparently pronounced to sound similar to Bono—though I think I kept messing it up on the day—and Donell are a great couple who were so easy to work with. They were relaxed and fun and generous. We started out at Reflections hair salon near the old fire hall, which is currently my favourite hair salon to take photos in. It has big windows that let in lots of bright sunlight, which is more flattering than artificial lighting, and the booths where you get your hair done are fairly close together. You always capture more fun moments when the bride and bridesmaids can talk with each other without yelling across the room. There’s a tip if you’re taking notes.

Then I left Sherri with the girls and headed out to take photos of Panos and the groomsmen. As soon as I arrived Panos offered me something to drink and gave me a set of cufflinks. It felt more like I’d popped over for lunch than was working. I surprised the guys by choosing to take their photos in the basement—”Oh, you won’t want to take photos down there”, they said—ha! And then I headed off for more photos of the girls. Donell was going over her vows and laughing with her bridesmaids, which makes it easy to get fun shots!

I’ll say one thing about traditional Greek Orthodox ceremonies: they give you plenty of time to get a bunch of different and interesting images! I actually enjoyed it, even though it was a long ceremony. It was really hot that day, but I like the heat, too.

The reception was catered by Luigis on the north side and the food was excellent. The dessert was the best I have ever had at a wedding so far. I never usually eat sweet stuff and I ate the whole thing. The DJ was Shad, from Sound Barrier Entertainment, and he did a great job of keeping the music and lighting rolling. I gave him a bunch of photos from the wedding day and he was able to project them onto a screen right then and there. The night finished for us with everyone doing Greek dancing, which is super fun to take photos of!

I’ve posted some photos and also a short slideshow at the top. Click on the play button and give it some time to load—it’s short but big.

Congrats to Emily and Daxter, who came all the way from Vancouver Island, B.C. to be married here in Lethbridge at Heritage Hall last Saturday.  It was a really cool experience photographing their wedding and we were able to get lots of great images, if I do say so myself.    I’m all worn out from getting the new blog ready, so I’m just going to let their photos speak for themselves.