Unique Images Photography | Weddings | Portraits | Fashion » Wedding, Portrait, and Fashion Photography Blog

Congrats to Clint and Jill, who were married in Lethbridge on a cold winter’s day. After dropping my assistant photographer Jessica off to stay with Jill and taking a few images of her having her hair done, I took off to cover the guys getting ready, arriving just as Clint got out of the shower. That’s always the time you want your wedding photographer to show up, right? (Jill, we’ll talk about those photos later). After this I drove back to where the girls were getting the final touches done to their hair and makeup. The girls were—how shall I put it?—so wonderfully self-entertaining. They laughed and joked around constantly and were definitely a blast to photograph.

Their ceremony was held at the Southminster United Church and after the ceremony and some quick family portraits we headed to a new location just outside of Lethbridge itself for the rest of the photography. We stayed here for all of the portraits and I cycled through different people and arrangements so that everyone could take turns warming up in the limo between photos. It was cold! I can’t believe how well Jill did, seeing as she was so lightly dressed—wedding dresses aren’t really made for Canadian winters—and how long we were outside for. Apart from myself, she was outside the longest. And I was wearing a winter jacket and two pairs of socks! Well, and other stuff, too, but I don’t really want to list absolutely everything. Anyway, we had a lot of fun with the portraits, getting some cool fashion-style images as well as fun ones of people messing around and the wedding party roasting marshmallows.

The wedding reception was held at the Grandstand and it was decorated in a tasteful winter theme. We stayed until just after the first dance, also covering the speeches and cake cutting before we had to leave. By the way, Clint, I have heard that the last person the bride cuts the cake with is destined to be their soulmate forever.

I had a hard time narrowing down all our images to a few faves for the blog, but here are the ones I chose.

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.