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Congrats to Brad and Danielle, who were recently married at Lethbridge’s Galt museum. After their ceremony we did a bit of a tour of Lethbridge for their photos, starting with their family group portraits at the river bottom near the Helen Schuler Coulee Centre, then we were off to Henderson Lake Park, which we have only ever gone to once before for wedding portraits, and then to an alleyway in town. Finally, we finished off at the new-ish Abyssinian restaurant for some more intimate portraits of the bride and groom. This is one of my favourite restaurants in Lethbridge and I knew that the colourful walls and wooden furnishings would make for cool photography backgrounds.

Brad and Danielle’s reception was back at the Galt museum, where we enjoyed a home-style dinner and listened to some heartfelt and funny speeches. And kudos to Danielle’s dad for picking one of the very coolest and most original songs for the father-daughter dance that we’ve ever heard! As the sun set over the coulees we finished up with some more portraits of the married couple in and around the Galt museum, ending our day with them nicely.

Here are some images.

This was a cool wedding.    Erin had a bright red birdcage veil and her wedding dress was really different, too.  Very unique.  And it’s not every wedding you see a Corpse Bride cake topper!  I really love that we get such a diversity of couples for our weddings.  I think they choose us because they want something different and non-traditional and so we end up with lots of people who are not your typical traditional couple as well.  That’s very cool. 

Erin hadn’t asked for any getting ready coverage so we started our day at the wedding ceremony itself, which was at Lethbridge’s Galt Museum. This is one of several weddings we have there this year.  In fact, we have been there for our last three weddings!  I like the Galt; there’s lots of natural light and a great view.  I usually balance the photos so I can show the outside in my images, but this time I let the sunlight really just brighten the whole scene up.  As I said, I like to do things differently at different times, but the main thing is that I like to do whatever works for the particular scene at the time.  There’s no sense doing something just because it worked the last week for the last couple.  You have to be adaptable in this job! 

Erin and Jonathan had chosen Nikka Yuko, Lethbridge’s Japanese Gardens, for their portraits, so we stayed there the whole time for the portraits. Even though it was the tail end of winter there was a little bit of green poking through. It had snowed just a couple of days before, and though it rained and sleeted during the reception we had bright daylight for our portrait time. We stayed for the reception, which was also at the Galt and I have quite a few of photos of the two flowergirls, since they were so photogenic and fun.  The reception was really relaxed and informal and towards the end of the evening I asked Erin if there was anything she’d really like photos of before we left and she replied that she wanted lots of photos of the two flowergirls and I said, “Good! That’s what I’ve been doing!”

So thanks to Erin and Jonathan for letting us hang out with them at their wedding!  We wish them all the best and here are some of their wedding images.

Allan and Wendi, the Global TV Wedding Wish winning couple, were a very cool couple to work with.  Of course, I would expect nothing less from them after knowing their antics in trying to win the Wedding Wish contest. You can read more about them and their masked adventures on their Facebook page.

Allan and Wendi saw one another before their ceremony and I set up a romantic meeting for them.  Then we did most of the rest of their portrait images before the ceremony around town, including inside Henotic restaurant, which has become my favourite place for indoor photography in Lethbridge. The decor and ambiance is probably the best in Lethbridge. The owners are friendly and accommodating, too.  I was first there for photos during Heidi and Clark’s wedding last January and I’ve been back a few times since then.

Allan and Wendi’s wedding was on the grass at the top of the coulees just behind the Galt Museum here in Lethbridge on a nice sunny day without too much wind—for Lethbridge, anyway.  Allan and Wendi both wrote their own vows and you could tell immediately how much love they had for one another. Their words were so touching and meaningful. I have a photo of Wendi wiping away tears during Allan’s vows. This was the most well-videoed wedding we’ve been to, with a big news camera from Global TV as well as two, only slightly smaller, cameras wielded by George Gallant, a instructor who teaches video production at Lethbridge College, and his son. These guys all knew what they were doing and we had no problem with them getting in our way or anything like that. I’m hoping to get some footage from George to put up later as well to show you how I shoot at weddings. Stay tuned for that, too.

The reception entertainment for the evening was provided by J.R. Matthew, Entertainer Extraordinaire. His show was fantastic! If you’re ever looking for someone who can keep things alive at your reception, he would be on the top of my list. With his wife Lyn working the sound for the evening they did a very fun game show that had everyone madly competing in crazy events to win points. I will be posting some of those images in the slide show, so make sure you check back at the end of the week to see some hilarious photos of the wedding party guys in drag, and more.

The first dance started out normally and then there was a brief moment where it looked as though Lyn and JR had messed up the music, but it was all a prearranged stunt and Allan, Wendi, and Allan’s brother and his wife all launched into the Evolution of Dance routine. This was something that was going around YouTube a little while back, but it’s the first wedding we’ve been to where anyone has done it. They did it really well!

Here is a slideshow of some of their images. 

Congrats to Heidi and Clark, a great fun couple who were married at St. Patrick’s church Lethbridge on a not-too-cold January day.  Well, not cold for us, compared to how it could have been.    The temperature for their winter wedding was a relatively-balmy minus five degrees, with the wind chill.  The week before it had been down in the minus thirties!  It’s days like this I’m glad I’m a photographer and not a bridesmaid, because those dresses can’t be very warm.  Plus, I would look scary.

Anyways, after the service we did some quick family photos and then headed off for some more fun ones with the bridal party.  Heidi really wanted some outdoor photos at the top of the coulees, but it was so windy!  One of the guys kindly volunteered to model while I set up and then when I was ready everyone rushed outside and we took a few quick photos.  After they had braved the wind we moved on to less windy locations around town, like the old firehall, the Lethbridge Lodge, and the new Henotic restaurant and bar.  We had quite a bit of time with Clark and Heidi and so were able to get a nice variety of photos of the two of them.

Their reception was at the Galt museum, which is one of my favourite reception places in Lethbridge, and they had it decorated with their winter wedding theme.  Everything was blue and white, with silver snowflakes.  Sherri and I stayed for the speeches and cake cutting but left before the dancing—which Clark assures me was a good thing. 

The slideshow, featuring a few of their wedding images is below.  Give it a little time to load; it’s a quick-but-large slideshow.  Oh, and check out the cool images we got in an old jail! 

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.