Heirloom Wedding Photograph

I have an ongoing series I call Heirloom Wedding Photographs where my couples choose the one image from their wedding that means the most to them.   

Here is Emilie's pick...

My grand-papa and I always had a strong bond. I spent many summers when I was young in Chicoutimi with him and my grand-maman. It meant so much to me that he made the trip for our wedding in October, especially knowing he didn’t like to leave the comfort of his home in recent years. 

I still remember the emotion on his face from this moment, so happy and proud to see his eldest grand-daughter be married. I am so grateful Scott was there to capture it. What makes this picture even more special is that my grand-papa passed away almost 6 months to the day of our wedding. I will cherish this picture for the rest of my life and remember a man that brought so much joy and love to my life. 

                                                                   Emilie + John

Thank you so much for sharing this image Emilie.   You can see the rest of Emilie + John's Toronto wedding at 99 Sudbury.

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.

99 Sudbury Wedding

Emilie + John

Emilie and John had an amazing autumn wedding at 99 Sudbury in Toronto!

Okay there was a brief moment during the day when it sucked for me.  I dropped some very expensive camera gear and it wound up in many more pieces than it should have been... but hey, that's what insurance and back up gear are for!

We started the day at the Gladstone Hotel in their amazing Tower Suite room!  The room is massive, over two levels and even has its own rooftop terrace which we used for Emilie + John's first look.   

Emilie and the bridesmaids makeup was done by Elite Beaty Makeup.  Once everyone was looking great and we had done the big reveal, we took a classic Rolls Royce limo to Liberty Village for some wedding portraits with the bridal party, families and the couple!  We finished up with a few more portraits at 99 Sudbury just before the wedding ceremony began.   

The wedding ceremony and reception were great but the party afterwards was amazing... great group of friends and family partying the night away!  

Some of my favourite pictures are posted above and the full wedding slideshow is below.

 

• WEDDING CAKE  |   FOR THE LOVE OF CAKE
• WEDDING DECOR  |  REVE EVENT DESIGN
• CATERER  |  FOOD DUDES
• WEDDING SHOES |  SHOES OF PREY
• WEDDING VENUE  |  99 SUDBURY
• WEDDING DRESS |  PRONOVIAS
• GROOMS WEAR  |  INDOCHINO
• DISC JOCKEY  |  MIKE VIBE

Toronto Wedding Photography | 99 Sudbury

Evelyn + Wayne

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Evelyn + Wayne had an amazing fall wedding at 99 Sudbury, which is a really cool, open concept wedding venue in downtown Toronto.  
 
A huge thank you to Ben Benvie for doing an amazing job second shooting that day!
 
Evelyn & Wayne are both chefs who moved from BC to Toronto two months before their wedding to begin working on opening their first restaurant... talk about busy.  They had an amazing group of friends and family from all over... Hong Kong, California, Seattle.
 
Of course with these two being chefs the food that night was amazing but the real showstopper was the cake.  Hands down the coolest  wedding cake I've ever seen.  It designed as a stack of their favourite cookbooks but the covers and images were all photos on the icing or edible paper or something.   Either way, it was cool.

Check out their slideshow below and hit this link to see some of their Toronto engagement pictures at the Distillery District.

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• Second Photographer  |  Ben Benvie
• Wedding Venue  |  99 Sudbury
• Wedding Cake  | Bobbette & Belle Artisanal Pastries
• Wedding Flowers  |  Berries and Blooms
• DJ  |  Rhythm Force
• Wedding Dress  |  Something Blue

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