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I really enjoyed photographing Matt and Andrea’s engagement session. We met up at Milestones restaurant on Stephen Avenue to chat about their session and it seems like every time I mentioned a possible location idea they’d get excited and say something like, “That place is special to us, because we went there on our first date!”. That was very cool. I also noticed as soon as they sat down that they were very affectionate with each other. They held hands across the table the whole time and and it was totally clear that they really loved each other.

Their whole session was very relaxed. We all wandered around Calgary Zoo and nearby areas chatting about various things as we did the photos. They were s-o-o-o-o easy to work with and great fun. We are photographing their wedding at the Rimrock Resort very soon and I’m looking forward to seeing them again.

Mountains! Forests! Caves! Dragons! Goats!

And the most important thing: a happy couple in love.

From my very first lengthy and chatty phone call with Ngan, in response to her enquiry email, I knew this was a wedding that I wanted to photograph. I book most of my couples without meeting up first and I’m used to getting right into the swing of things on the wedding day itself, so it’s such a good thing when you can click so well and have such a cool connection right away.

John and Ngan were married at the Juniper Hotel in Banff, which is a stylish, modern-rustic venue away from the main town. The place has an eco-friendly focus and is entirely wind-powered, which is pretty cool. Ngan and John were ably assisted in many things throughout their day by wedding planner Sonia and her assistant from Cornerstone Events. They did a fantastically amazing job and I highly recommend them.

The first event of the day was John and Ngan’s Vietnamese tea ceremony. We’ve photographed a number of Asian tea ceremonies (Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, etc.) and they have to be some of the most challenging things we photograph. So much happens so fast! And it’s all important! Lol! If you’ve never seen one, imagine a western ceremony where the first kiss happens in the blink of an eye every few seconds for half an hour and that will give you some idea of the timing of it all. Of course, there aren’t actual kisses happening constantly in the tea ceremony; they exchange gifts and greetings and have other traditions.

At the end of their tea ceremony they had a surprise for their guests: traditional dragon dancers! That was so cool! There were eight of them and there was so much sound, colour and energy in the dancing! Then John and Ngan snuck off with us for some quick portraits in their traditional Vietnamese dress.

Their western wedding ceremony was outside on the Juniper’s terrace area and, although the weather had been threatening snow, the sun popped out just for their wedding. After that we visited a few locations around Banff for their portraits. They were so easy to take photos of. In fact, their whole wedding party was very easy-going. And John has to be one of the smiliest grooms we’ve ever seen! He basically didn’t stop smiling all day!

Their reception was full of laughs and there was a touching moment when Ngan gave a speech to her family in Vietnamese. I have no idea what she said, but there was so much emotion in the room that I nearly cried, too!

Thanks for having us at your wedding. Here are some of your photos.

Congrats to Dan and Caitlin who were recently married at Toronto’s Liberty Grand, in a day filled with laughter and tears. If you are a regular blog reader you may recognise Caitlin and Dan from a bridal fashion shoot I did last summer in Kelowna. A lot of people thought that they were models I had hired to act the part of a couple when in fact they are actually a real-life couple and were engaged at that time.

This was such a cool wedding in so many ways! The entire day was based in the Liberty Grand complex, which is a really beautiful wedding and event venue down near the waterfront in Toronto. The combination of the bright colours of the cherry blossom theme for the wedding and the Liberty’s own classic elegance gave a great look, both timelessly classy and fun as well.

Caitlin was such a stunning bride! And her Lazaro dress and ornate veil were amazing also. The guys were a lot of fun to photograph, with Dan and the groomsmen all joking around. There was also a very touching moment when Dan received a special gift and card from Caitlin.

Their ceremony was held in the dome area of the Liberty Grand, which is a very beautiful room and they augmented it with cherry blossom decorations. After the ceremony I had only a few minutes to do all of the portraits and I took most of Dan and Caitlin’s portraits in literally two minutes! But that’s ok; it doesn’t take long to capture some great moments when a couple are really in love.

The reception was in the Liberty’s Renaissance ballroom and so much care had been taken to ensure a good time for everyone—they even had chefs cooking your food as you chose it! After the speeches everyone got out onto the dance floor and I love it when people get into the dancing! Caitlin’s bridesmaids are all professional dancers—Caitlin was actually in the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympic Games—and as well as the bridesmaids there were tons of people out on the dance floor giving it everything they had. As the dancing continued, Valerie Stanois, an amazing singer from hit Broadway musicals such as We Will Rock You, sang live for Caitlin and Dan while they danced and did the bouquet and garter tosses. She was accompanied by the lead from the current Dirty Dancing musical and as a duo they totally rocked the place.

So, thanks for having me along, Dan and Cait! All the best to you both!

Click on the play button below to see a slideshow of some highlights of the wedding day.

I’ve been wanting to take a couple into a car wrecking yard for nearly a year and a half now. About a year ago DQ Studios did portraits of Sherri and I in a wrecking yard, which was really cool, but it’s different being in front of the camera to behind it, so when Julie told me that she wanted something kinda edgy for their portraits I saw my chance.

Jake and Julie are a great couple and so cool to work with. It would be hard to get a bad photo of them! They were so easy in front of the camera and just so relaxed with each other and in love. We hit a few locations in Calgary, starting with a car wrecking yard and then heading north to see what cool locations we could use in the city centre. We ended up at Stephen Ave, which is such a rich location for photography, especially when they have the lights up in winter. Plus, the pubs and restaurants have really nice ambiance for indoor photos.

We are looking forward to their wedding this year. Here are some of their engagement images.

Kevin and Jen are a wonderful couple who are just so positive and in love. They were married in Coaldale in a moving ceremony with lots of tears, smiles and laughs. We did the main portraits at a canola field in Lethbridge that I happened to drive past a few days before the ceremony and thought would make for a nice location. Don’t you love how the yellow of the flowers and the blue of the sky goes so well together? I love colour.

We also did some quick photos in the Henotic restaurant in Lethbridge and nearby there, too.

These guys could hardly keep their hands off each other and it was really sweet. They were so obviously in love. We have so many images of them laughing, smiling, and just gazing into each others’ eyes. I love it when we have couples like that! It makes it so easy to get wonderful moments of them together. We were only with them for their ceremony and then their wedding portraits afterward, but I wish we’d had more time, just to hang out and get those moments that were happening so naturally and spontaneously.

All the best, guys.

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.

Congrats to Shaun and Pam!  They were married in May at Lethbridge’s Galt Museum.  After a moving ceremony filled with tears and laughter, we did some quick family photos on the steps of the Galt and then headed down to the river bottom for the rest of their portraits.  We’ve had a few large wedding parties in a row this year, so it was a nice fast session this time round.  Fewer people mean less time setting up lighting and that sort of thing, so we flew through the wedding party group photos in around 15 minutes and then were able to spend over an hour with just Shaun and Pam.   Just like during their engagement session, they were relaxed and easy to take photos of.  Thanks to Brad, the groomsman, for holding a flash for me and Jen, the bridesmaid, for braving the high-level bridge. 

Thanks also to Lethbridge Limousines, who stayed an extra 20 minutes or so after they were supposed to head back, so the whole wedding party was able to ride in style to their reception at the Italian-Canadian club.

Oh, check out the photo of the two flowergirls cuddling each other.  Isn’t that the cutest photo ever?  I love how their flip-flops match their dresses.  Too cute. 

With Sean, Miranda and their cute daughter, Ellie!

Before I go on I’m just going to quickly say that I’ve been naughty for not updating the blog regularly, but I’ll be playing catch up this week and will have more posts than usual.  Now back to the main post!

This family were a wonderful bunch, easy to work with, fun and relaxed in front of the camera.  Actually, a bit of a secret is that you don’t have to be someone who is relaxed in front of cameras.  If you are relaxed with each other, that is the main thing, and the images take themselves.  And that’s how it was with Miranda and Sean.  They clearly loved being with each other and their love and openness comes out so well in the session.

After a few quick photos in their house we went to Nicholas Sheran lake on the west side of Lethbridge for the rest of the session.  The weather was good and everything was nice and green.

Ellie was a really good-natured kid and extremely patient during the session.  Well, other than when we tried to get a shot of them lying down.  She didn’t want to lie down for anyone!  Lol!  It’s funny how different kids have such clearly differing personalities.  Obviously adults do, too, but with kids it’s so clear (adults rarely cry when you ask them to pose a certain way).  Ellie was happiest when she was doing something.  As long as she had her hands full or was reading, playing or being tossed in the air, she was bright and full of smiles.  Just don’t ask her to sit still for too long!  To be honest, I can relate to that.  ;)