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Congrats to Mark and Whitney!  They were married recently at the River of Life church here in Lethbridge.  Mark is from London and several people from his family and his friends flew out from England to be here on his wedding day, which was very cool.  Oh, and the speeches were hilarious!  It’s hard to beat the British sense of humour when it comes to reception speeches.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  The day started for us at the hair salon with Whitney and her bridesmaids—and her eight flower girls!  Yes, eight!  I’ve never seen so many at a wedding.  They were all very cute.  :)

Their wedding ceremony was quiet and authentic, starting with worship music—that bit wasn’t quiet!—and including our first ever foot-washing ceremony.  Well, not ours, per se; Mark demonstrated his love of Whitney and willingness to serve her needs by washing her feet.  It was, like the rest of the service, a sincere and open showing of their love.

The reception at the Galt museum was amazing!  The tables were decorated with large ice sculptures and the cake was incredible.  It was a very elegant occasion for sure.  And, of course, there is the great view through the huge windows all around the room.  Check out the images toward the end of the slideshow below to see what I mean.  The speeches were both heart-felt and funny.  We have so many photos of people laughing at the speeches toasting the groom, poor Mark.  Whitney’s dad—also named Mark—and Mark the groom gave two touching speeches at the end.  It was an honour to shoot their wedding and we wish Mark and Whitney the best in their marriage. You can see a short slideshow of their wedding below.

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.