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Here are some more sneak-previews for the blog from 2011. I’ll be properly updating the blog soonish, with some major announcements thrown in for good measure.

Shawna and Ryan, Kelowna Wedding:

Bahar and Atta, Banff Wedding:

Maureen and Dave, Emerald Lake Wedding:

Margaret and Pat, Waterton Wedding:

Megan and Evan, Canmore Wedding:

Lyndsay and Simon, Calgary Engagement:

Lyndsay and Simon, Jasper Wedding:

Karen and Darren, Calgary Wedding:

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 Fritz and Winnie, who were married right before Christmas last year on a cold winter day, on a frozen lake in front of a castle made of ice. Not everyone can say they’ve done that.

We started the day in Canmore, where both Fritz and Winnie were getting ready. Unlike western wedding traditions, where the groom doesn’t have to worry about much more than getting dressed and showing up on time, Chinese weddings have some really fun little challenges for the groom to overcome before he can even see his bride-to-be. In this case, it meant that Fritz had to do pushups while singing something from his laptop and then he read some prank vows written by Winnie’s brother—stuff like sticking with her if she went bald and her teeth all fell out—through the door to Winnie to convince her to come out. The whole thing was a lot of fun, with Winnie’s family there making sure he did it all properly and chuckling at him as he went through with it all.

Once Fritz had completed the pranks and challenges there were Chinese tea ceremonies with each of their parents. I love how the tea ceremonies involve their parents, with everyone else gathered around as well. There is a strong family atmosphere to the whole thing.

After the Chinese tea ceremonies we drove up to Lake Louise for the western wedding ceremony, which was held on the frozen lake behind the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. It’s a gorgeous location, the hotel—which looks more like a castle—and the lake are ringed by mountains and forest and the lake has a castle built of ice sitting right on it. It was truly a winter wedding, with steady snow and temperatures down to around -20℃ with the wind chill. And the ladies wore skirts and dresses! I don’t know how they did it without freezing! I had about a billion layers of clothing and Winnie and Fritz didn’t even have winter coats on. Love kept them warm.

We did all of their photos around the Fairmont. Fritz and Winnie were fantastic and happy to brave the cold for some outside photos, but it was too cold to stay out for long and so we ended up doing quite a lot of the portrait photography inside the hotel. Fortunately, the Chateau Lake Louise is an amazing location for photography!

Congrats again, Fritz and Winnie. All the best.