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I met Julie and Erik for their engagement session at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel, where they will also have their wedding next summer. As I drove out to Banff in the pouring rain I was going over my various “Plan B” ideas, but thankfully the rain let up almost right after I arrived—yay!—and we were able to go out and actually see blue sky and sunshine. Not that being stuck indoors at the Banff Springs is a bad thing; it is such a fantastic venue, part historic hotel and part castle, complete with lichen-adorned stonework and marble halls. So we started out inside and then ventured out into the surrounding areas, taking advantage of the cleared-up weather to capture some of the beauty of the Banff Rockies.

Erik and Julie were a great fun couple, who were so easy-going the whole time. They were really cool to hang out with and I am definitely looking forward to their wedding back at Banff next year!

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.

This was such a wonderful wedding, with a really nice couple—and it was in Banff! I love Banff. Actually, the weather forecast had been predicting rain all week, but thankfully, when the wedding day dawned there was beautiful blue sky, with just a few clouds.

The wedding schedule was based at the Rimrock Resort, which is a really incredible place. It is quite large and absolutely filled with beautiful and elegant areas. Plus, it has the best view of any hotel in Banff that I have been to. Chantelle got ready there, while Brandon and the groomsmen got ready at the Fox Hotel. So, I left Sherri and Jessica with the guys and met Chantelle at the Rimrock.

By the way, the cloth over Chantelle’s shoulder that you can see in some of the images is a tartan representing her Scottish heritage. I thought that was very cool. We have a Scottish groom later this year who is wearing a kilt, but it’s not often that you see a bride wearing the tartan.

Their wedding ceremony was held outside—yay for the sun!—at the Rimrock Resort’s Pool Patio. Check out the big smiles as they see each other for the first time that day!

After the ceremony—ok, I have to admit being totally in the dark about the mustache thing!—I was following the bride and groom and all of a sudden the girls break out these fake ‘staches. It was a funny moment.

When it came time to do the portraits I thought about taking them to the Fairmont Banff Springs, but everyone goes there, so instead we chose a location that I have not yet seen anyone else use before. Banff is such a beautiful area with a great range of gorgeous locations available.

After the portrait time we headed back to the Rimrock Resort for their reception in the Wildrose Ballroom. Chantelle and Brandon had a private look at the room before everyone else was allowed in and the decor looked fantastic, thanks to wedding planner Lisa Hanslip from The Wedding Planner, in Calgary.

We finished our evening there with some more portraits in and around the resort. Brandon was particularly keen to get a few shots with Chantelle’s dad’s cool, blue 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T.

I’ve gone way overboard with the number of images I’m posting on the blog for this wedding! Normally I only post about half this many and most of them are from the portraits I take, but I thought that I’d include more candids and details in today’s blog post. We capture more of those photos during a wedding day than anything else, and our clients always have many, many candid photos in their private galleries, so today I wanted to show a few more of those images.

All the best, guys! Enjoy your wedding photography preview.

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.