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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! 

We photographed Kristy’s wedding back in 2006 and off and on since then Kristy and I had talked about doing a trash the dress type of session. We finally got a chance to put some of our ideas into action!  I had wanted to do a “bride on a snowboard” image for about a year now and when Kristy said that she owned one and asked if she should bring it with her I leapt at the chance.  The temperature was around zero celsius and Kristy kept warm with a winter jacket and a thermos of coffee in between shots.  She was really brave though, because I was pretty chilly even with a jacket on!  We spent a little while outside and then headed to the Lethbridge Lodge where Kristy changed out of her wedding dress and the shoot morphed into a regular portrait session.

Sharon Ulrich from the Sun Times had just interviewed me about trash the dress sessions and you can read her excellent article by clicking here.

And here are some images from our 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!  

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.