As Jessica and I got to Waterton early that morning, it was damp and overcast, with mist greying out the landscape and hanging over the lake. But right before the ceremony the sun popped out, which was just as well for when we jumped in the lake later that day.

After a short but heartfelt ceremony with emotions really coming out during the vows, we did a mini tour of Waterton for their portraits, going to the historic Prince of Wales Hotel, Cameron Falls, and a few other places—it’s hard to find a non-photogenic spot in the Rockies.

Elva had asked to do a trash the dress session when she booked us and she was bold enough to do it right on the wedding day—and before their reception! I saved those photos until the very end of the portrait time, because I knew the water would be cold. And oh, my goodness, it was cold. It comes from glaciers, so what should I expect, I guess. Elva waded right in! She handled the cold amazingly.

Because we had planned all of this ahead of time, we all had changes of clothes for the reception and I had brought towels, too. Except, I had forgotten to let Jessica know. She was soaking up to her neck in glacier-melt and had nothing to change into. Thankfully, there was a store open selling outdoor clothing, so I bought her a dress from there to wear for the rest of the day. (Who wears a dress to go hiking or camping, anyway?)

Their reception was back at the Bayshore Inn in a very relaxed atmosphere. There were no speeches, just dinner with their friends and family, following by cutting the wedding cake.

Thanks for having us, guys.

We started our day with some photos of Renee getting ready in the hair salon, just like I would for a wedding. Renee had a very cool birdcage veil that looked awesome with her dress. Guannan had asked for some photos with his car, so we did those as soon as everyone was ready, because the weather looked a bit iffy and I didn’t want the car to get rained on or muddy—it was so shiny! The sky was very overcast, so I went with it and created dramatic-looking images with the dark clouds.

Since stylish imagery was a big priority for Guannan and Renee, we mainly did posed photos, so this blog post is almost like a Unique Images Photography guide to posing couples! The goals for our session, apart from getting great images, were that the photos have a stylish and somewhat romantic feel, that the time be relaxing and not rushed, and that the photos show off the Banff area.

Thanks to Guannan and Renee for being such a wonderful and hospitable couple!

We shot mostly around the Liberty Grand again, using some locations that we weren’t able to get to on their wedding day due to weather and a tight wedding schedule. Right near the Liberty is a really cool historic house with a beautiful garden. I love the first few images from there—with the dappled sunlight streaming through the tree branches it just looks so summer-y and secluded, like we were on a farm somewhere. And check out the last photo of Dan with the Toronto skyline—it looks like a Batman poster!

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: