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Karlo and Sandra live in Calgary, so on the way back from our latest Banff wedding I stopped in to shoot their engagement session.  As you can see from the photos, these guys are a lot of fun and very individual.  Both of them are musicians and Karlo is recording a demo album.  I loved the decor in their house, too.  The colours and natural window light was just fantastic for getting cool photos!

Sandra and Karlo were both happy, laid-back and so easy to take photos of.  Karlo looked kind of rough with his tattoos and all the rest, but he was smiling constantly and I actually had to tell him a few times, “Ok, this time I want a serious expression!” 

We started out in their bathroom, of all places—lol!  That’s the first time I’ve ever done that at an engagement session!    Then we visited a few areas close by them for some more photos, finishing in a grungy part of Calgary not too far away.  I’m really looking forward to one location for their wedding day that we didn’t get into for the engagement session, but hopefully we will get to on their wedding.  I’m leaving it up to Karlo and Sandra to sweet-talk the venue owners into allowing us to take photos there.  I won’t say where it is, but they’ll be photos unlike any location I’ve ever been in.    I’m definitely looking forward to their wedding and you’ll have to check back in here in the beginning of August to see their wedding images blogged.

Congrats to Michelle and Farid, who were married in beautiful Banff last weekend! They were such a great couple to hang out with.    Even our pre-wedding meeting when Michelle and her sister Angela came down to check us out before booking was a blast and I had been looking forward to the wedding since then.

Their wedding ceremony was at the Rundlestone Lodge in Banff and it was a blend of Persian and Canadian traditions, mixing Michelle’s heritage with Farid’s.  The Persian traditions include rubbing a cone of sugar over the heads of the bride and groom to “sweeten” their marriage, which was not nearly as messy as I thought it would be.  Farid’s family had also made some traditional sweets, which we got to sample.    One of the dishes was baklava, which I thought was interesting, because I only knew it as a Greek delicacy.  It’s funny to see different countries share foods and traditions that you think are specific to just one place.

Michelle and I share a similar warped sense of humour and we had been making each other laugh with various quotes from Flight of the Conchords, so there were a few photos I took that captured Michelle’s and Farid’s off-beat humour.  They’d also brought some books from the turn of the previous century, titled Successful Marriage and Sexual Knowledge, to be used in some of the photos.  You should see Farid’s expressions in these images—priceless! 

Michelle also asked for photos in the Banff cemetery.  She explained that sometimes she thinks of the people in cemeteries and wonders about their lives and who is thinking of them now and so she visits to sort of almost reassure those who have passed that someone here is thinking of them. When Michelle told me this I immediately had an idea for an image—something positive, yet with a moody atmosphere to it.  I thought I’d start with one of the images from that session and when I update this blog entry later, after editing more images, I’ll come back with a few others from the other times of their wedding day, including Michelle’s cute pink boots, the handmade Persian tapestry that Farid’s parents had at their wedding, and more.