When we met Shelby and Damien and they started to explain what their vision was for their big day, our hearts skipped a beat. For a year we have been sitting and waiting for the opportunity to film this amazing couple and share their story. Shelby and Damien met in Army Cadets, she lived in Thunder Bay and he in Calgary. They began a phone relationship that was quickly becoming more than a casual talk. Finally Shelby’s mom took her aside and told her that either she had to end it or Damien had better move to Thunder Bay. Knock Knock Knock….Damien moved to Thunder Bay and attended LU Engineering and has graduated this year. They made that long shot relationship work and the way they look at each other is mesmerizing. It was truly an honour to spend the whole day with these two and their amazing families. Enjoy this highlight and be forewarned that Shelby’s smile is infectious and will have you beaming from ear to ear without you realizing it.
Laura and Tyler flew me to Mexico to photograph their wedding and ‘trash the dress’.
This was my first time shooting in a tropical location and although it rained a few days while we were there, we were lucky enough to have great weather on both of our shooting days!
Laura and Tyler got married at 4:00 in the afternoon on the 13th of January; it was a wonderful ceremony. Afterwards, we had to quickly jump into the photoshoot, as the sun had been setting in the neighbourhood of 5:30, and we had SO much we wanted to do!
The whole wedding party was amazing to shoot with, and we (just barely) managed to fit in all the shots before the sun was gone. The reception was gorgeous, -held outside on the beach; the food and service was fantastic, not to mention the hilarious MC and dinner guests.
The Saturday before we left, we headed out to shoot the ‘trash the dress’, Laura and Tyler were going to meet me at the nearby ruins and start out there, but we soon found out that wedding dresses were “not allowed to be worn there”!
Undaunted, we found a quiet beach with some gnarled rocks and lush, vibrant plant life; it turned out to be a grand place to shoot and we didn’t have a ton of people walking around the background to every photo.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip. Laura and Tyler- thank you so much for having me be part of your day!
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Sue and Ryan’s wedding day was such a blast to shoot!
Even at 7am at the hair salon it was clear that everyone was ready for a happy, high energy day. The sun was out and everyone was ready to get the party started!
There were so many details involved in this wedding, from the guys socks, the ladies boots, candy buffet and oh yes, the water bottles! There was so much to shoot!
Sue and Ryan got married out at the beautiful Whitewater, we did family shots (while dodging the golfers) down by the river.
We then packed up and headed out to a great abandoned home and spent the rest of the shoot there, using all the different scenes it had to offer!
We had some people wandering in from the road, wondering why there was a limo bus parked on a dirt road, and we heard a few ‘ghost’ stories too.
After a lot of fun, and A LOT of sun, we headed back to Whitewater for the reception; the details were amazing, and almost everything was made by Sue and her amazing girls!
Such a wonderful and totally in love couple,
Sue and Ryan it was amazing to work with you!
Where to begin?
Nadine and Kris booked with us two years in advance and while Kris was working in Indonesia for most of the year, Nadine was constantly planning. If you have never met Nadine, she is the most organized person you will ever meet. She has backup lists for her backup lists.
Nadine and Kris were married at St. Andrew’s church, barely!
This wedding was filled with obstacles galore, but lets start at the beginning. Nadine and her girls were getting ready at the NorWester Resort where the reception was to be held. The night before they were lucky to be a couple rooms down from Mantracker. That’s right Mantracker. The show was filming an episode in Thunder Bay and all of Nadine’s family especially her dad were ecstatic and stayed up all night drinking with him. I forgot to mention that Nadine is from Atikokan, so it is imperative that you be an outdoors expert in order to live there. In the morning while we were shooting we noticed the Atikokan High Heels (rubber boots) and were pleasantly surprised by the Camo Tuxedo her dad was sporting. It was freakin awesome to say the least.
We left the hotel in order to setup at the church and while the time flew by, we had no bride. Father Luigi began to pace and Kris had a bead of sweat begin to trickle down his face. Then it happened, the phone rang and there was an accident on the highway. Thankfully, Nadine’s limo was only facing a detour. Thirty minutes late and we had a bride. The ceremony began and everything was rolling now until the ring exchange. We had no wedding ring! Oh no it was left in the limo. So as Shelby darted out the doors I couldn’t help but think that this was the perfect movie. As Shelby furiously ran down the aisle to deliver the ring the place erupted and we were on again.
Our next step on our journey led us to Pioneer Village, which Nadine had booked over a year in advance. While the Caddy Limo pulled up and the wedding party and family poured out we met the owner of this establishment who promptly told us that he didn’t have any reservations for her wedding! As Nadine pulled out her confirmation papers (that organized) he looked them over and told her that she booked with Francine and she doesn’t work here anymore. As we all sat there dumb founded he did give us the option to shoot for 15 minutes but, it will cost $150. What a nice guy, this is her wedding day by the way. So as we began shooting, Nadine’s dad gently took the gentleman behind one of the buildings for a few minutes. When the man came back we had unlimited access to the premises for any amount of time needed. 
gotta love dad’s.
After that we headed on down to the reception where everything went according to plan without anymore interruptions. That is until the DJ slapped on Redneck Girl by Gretchen Wilson and I was lucky enough to see a bridal party dance in a circle and drink from the bottle. It was awesome!!
Nadine sit back and enjoy…..
Jacyln and John are two of the most outgoing couples we have ever worked with. From John’s “whatever she wants” attitude to Jacyln’s “Do what you do, we love it” freedom, we were inspired and a little jealous from the get go. Jaclyn and John were married on a beautiful sunny day at St. Paul’s cathedral and a stunning reception at the Valhalla Inn. I have never seen the ballroom look like that in my life. The decorating crew at Silk and Cedar really outdid themselves. They created an intimate, yet warming environment for all the guests. Especially the dance floor which was redesigned to a nightclub, complete with cocktail tables and comfy sofas and chairs. The elegant crystal lighting which was draped on all four corners of the dance floor made for an impressive filming opportunity and set the mood throughout the evening. Of course the dance floor was never empty with the extremely talented band Viva on the stage. This band has never let us down once in all of the weddings we have filmed. They keep the floor packed from the minute they start to the minute we leave. Although a band can be expensive, it completely changes the atmosphere of the night.
Jaclyn and John spent their bachelor/ette parties in Vegas! When most people heard that John was going to Vegas for the party the first question was “is Jacyln okay with this?” Imagine the look on their faces when John said it was Jacyln’s idea! They also honeymooned in Bora Bora (this is where the jealousy reaches the boiling point). One night Jaclyn and John were sitting down watching the movie “Couples Retreat” and Jaclyn said “that is where we are going” and the next thing John knows she is on the phone booking the vacation. Complete with the huts that have the see through floors, but I digress…
John and Jaclyn met on the volleyball court so it was only fitting that we shoot where it all began. We also ended up at Keifer Terminal where John began his training in manual labour. John’s father was the manager of the terminal and would bring John to work and teach him what hard work and determination could get you in life. John took this to heart and went in the opposite direction and became a banker (were kidding John).
Please sit back and enjoy their highlight film. Of course comments are always welcome.
On a side note, the music in this highlight is that of indie artist Tyler Ward. I stumbled upon Tyler’s music while searching for Eminem on YouTube believe it or not. I was blown away at how his cover songs were better than the original artists. In this case it is Katy Perry’s “Firework”, which I can’t stand, but Tyler put so much emotion behind the words I thought it was fitting about never giving up and being true to yourself, and if you know Jacyln’s past family situation you will understand. You can check Tyler out at http://www.youtube.com/tylerwardmusic and you can purchase the song on Itunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/firework-katy-perry-acoustic/id405469791
When we first met with Jeremy and Shauna it was apparent from the get go that she was an old soul and wanted a vintage wedding shoot. Being the daughter of an automotive painter, naturally she had a flair for hot rods, and 50′s diners. She wanted her bridesmaid to represent the glamour of old hollywood and her dress and birdcage veil accented the era perfectly. Through some more investigative questioning we also learnt that Shauna was a tomboy growing up and just recently turned in her baggy pants, baseball cap, and skateboard for pretty high heels and makeup. Jeremy on the other hand comes from a very hard working Dutch family who owns their own construction company. His dad built their house with his own two hands (and what hands they are. They were the size of my head and he could crush a basketball easily in one hand) He was brought up and taught to appreciate hard work and dedication. An amusing side note, Jeremy’s family has chickens and a rooster that crows every morning when the sun comes up and Jeremy hated it. One weekend his parents went away and left him home alone, when they returned the rooster was nowhere to be found. Jeremy claims he knows nothing of the incident.
We had our full photo team commissioned on this shoot so we didn’t miss a thing. When we spoke to locations, Shauna had mentioned that her dad’s friend had a custom built hot rod that we could shoot with if we wanted to, and he has a dream garage as well. What we expected was to show up to a small garage with a cool hot rod out front, what we got was something unbelievable. We pulled up to Dave’s house and went to check out the garage at the back, it was amazing. Dave had built a vintage 50′s gas station in his backyard complete with vintage Coca Cola signs and gas pumps, thats right, gas pumps. Not to be outdone, Dave’s wife is a 50′s collector and their downstairs is a retro diner complete with red stools and a working jukebox that plays 45′s. Needless to say this was the most unbelievable location we have ever shot at to date.
The reception was held out at the beautiful White Fox Inn. It was an intimate party of family and friends and extremely cozy. We hope you enjoy the images and again please feel free to comment
JB
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