A year in review....

As we begin 2016 I thought it might be nice to take a look back at how great 2015 was!

I had a bunch of amazing couples and weddings at some of the best wedding venues in Toronto and Ontario including Fermenting Cellar, Hessenland Country Inn, Bruce Hotel, One King West, Liberty Grand, Waterloo Region Museum, One King West (again!) The Tannery, Copper Creek Golf Course, The Stirling Room, 99 Sudbury, Ancaster Mill, Federation Hall and WhistleBear Golf Course as well as weddings across ontario including Tobermory and Windsor.

Now, usually I do a slideshow for these year end posts but this year I thought I'd try something different and post 10 of my favourite images.  Wow... it was way tougher to pick 10 than I thought.   So many great moments from the year but I finally managed to whittle it down to my favourite 10 (in no particular order!)

I love this portrait from Josh + Paul's wedding at the Bruce Hotel in Stratford, Ontario.

The best light is always around sunset (or sunrise... but that's not happening!) so I always try to sneak my couples out for a quick portrait session to take advantage.  

To me this image feels really natural, not forced at all... which is exactly how I like to work.  I put the people in the nice light and then let things happen!

I really like this photograph from Spencer + Jonas' wedding at the Stirling Room in Toronto's Distillery District.

During the wedding ceremony, they had something called a 'ring warming' where the two wedding rings were passed around to all the guests before they said their vows.

Having shot over 300 weddings, it was nice to see something new and unique!

For me, a great moment will always trump a great portrait but there is something about this photograph of the wedding party from Emilie + John's wedding at 99 Sudbury in Toronto that I really like.

I think it has that timelessness and elegance to it, something I'm always striving to achieve!

Plus, I photographed it vertically so that makes it pretty rare for me.  :)

I'm always looking for a different angle when I photograph a wedding.  It's a hazard of the job that you're essentially photographing the same events week after week so you have to keep looking for new ways to see things!

This picture is from Rebecca + John's wedding up at the Hessenland County Inn in Ontario on the shores of Lake Huron.

Here's another one from Rebecca + Jeff's wedding at the Hessenland Country Inn (what can I say, it was  great wedding!)

I like everything about this picture... the look on Rebecca's father's face as he dances with his daughter... the guests looking on in the background... the contrast  of tones between the subjects in the foreground and the warmth in the background.

This wedding photograph is from Jennifer and Alex's wedding in Toronto.

The speeches during the reception were really great, and really emotional.  

Somewhat surprisingly, this image was captured as the best man was giving his speech and talking about how Alex and him had a bond closer than brothers.   This really touched Jennifer and I managed to capture this just as she wiped away the tears.

 

This image is from Andrea + Chris' wedding at One King West.

I love the connection they have as Chris listens to Andrea's speech.

This is a portrait from Joohee + Joel's wedding up in Tobermory. 

We had just finished the civil wedding ceremony, right on the water at Joel's mothers property, and paused for a few pictures. 

I love the colours in this picture, from the traditional Korean hanbok to the brilliant blue of the sky.

I love it when people are smiling in wedding photographs (I'll take happy crying as well) so obviously I love this picture from Kaylen and Roberts wedding this spring at Federation Hall in Waterloo.

You can see the joy on Kaylen's face as she enjoys their first dance during the wedding reception.

Photographers love the soft light of overcast days and golden hour sunsets.  Unfortunately, wedding portraits sometimes need to be made during the middle of the afternoon under harsh sunlight.

This was the case during Maria + Theo's wedding this fall in Toronto as we met for portraits near the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Tobermory Wedding Photographer

Joohee + Joel

I hope you enjoyed the pictures from Joohee + Joel's rehearsal!  And now it's time for the wedding post!

I've been to the Tobermory area a bunch of times so when I got an email from Joohee + Joel I was really excited to be going up there for a wedding!  We decided to make a little family trip out of it and rented a cottage for the week!

Joohee is originally from Korea and her family made the trip over to Canada for the wedding which was great!  I really like weddings where it's two cultures coming together.  You get to see the differences but even better you get to see all the similarities in the cultures.

Joel's mom has a beautiful property right on the water outside of town (little bit jealous) so everyone gathered there in the morning to start the day.  There were actually two wedding ceremonies, the first one was in the morning right on the windy waters edge with Joohee and Joel wearing traditional Korean wedding dress.

This wedding also had a first for me... a break in the middle of the day!   So I met up with the wife and kids for lunch before the second afternoon backyard ceremony with everyone changed into traditional western wedding attire.

We hung around for a nice cocktail hour and some pictures we then loaded up the school bus and headed into town for the reception at the Tobermory Community Centre.  I know many photographers out there would shudder at the thought of shooting a wedding at a community centre but I loved it.   So much of my photography is about the emotions, moments and people at a wedding that it really doesn't matter to me what the venue looks like.   Plus, the decorator did a fantastic job making the community hall look great!

Check out some of my favourite pictures from this Tobermory wedding above and the full slideshow below.

Tobermory Wedding Rehearsal

Joohee + Joel

This was an amazing night for Joohee + Joel's rehearsal dinner up in Tobermory in September.

Family and friends from around the world came together for a sunset cruise (and what a sunset it was!) on one of the Blue Heron boats.   The cruise was almost canceled because of the weather... going out from the harbour, the waves were so rough the guests had to hang onto the catered dinner!

Once we were out there amongst the islands it was nice and smooth and everyone settled in for a great night. 

Photographing the rehearsal gives me a great chance to get to know everyone before the wedding, allowing everyone to relax when the camera is around.  

Check back soon on the blog for pictures from their amazing wedding the next day!