May 29. The day his parents were married. And many years before that, May 29 was the day his parents’ parents also tied the knot. They’d been waiting for this day for a long time, and finally, they too became husband and wife.
Here’s a sneak peek at this gorgeous bride from the wedding we photographed this past weekend, on May 29. Can’t wait to share more with you from this beautiful day.
Without her, I wouldn’t be here today. And I mean that in more ways than just the obvious.
She first landed in Toronto at eighteen years old to work as a live-in nanny (think Mary Poppins…or Maria/Sound of Music) and a few years later, married and with a young daughter (that would be me), moved here permanently to live and work and raise her family. She was one of those adventurous young people and I think has maybe instilled a bit of that spirit within me. And today is her birthday.
So here’s wishing this wonderful woman that I have the honour of calling mother and friend a very happy day today!
Love you……xox
Dear Brianna & Ewan,
Dave and I feel so lucky, inspired, grateful, encouraged and overwhelmed by our time together yesterday. You two are both such lovely, talented, and smart people. Yes, so smart. Smart even on few hours of sleep and while losing your voice and going through an entire packet of fisherman’s friends. We just can’t thank you enough for everything. We learned so much.
We knew back when I sent that first email that booking a mentor session with you guys would start something big in our lives. We knew it would force us to let go of our fear and stretch us outside our comfort zone. We knew it would and it did and still I’m not sure we were quite ready.
We spent the whole drive home just talking…we stopped for a bite to eat and spent all of dinner just talking…then talked some more this morning. It’s so much to take in, but we’ve started to take what we’ve learned, how it applies to us, and think about what our next steps need to be. I think big changes are on the way. We are so excited and can’t wait for this next chapter of our business. Thank you so much for being a part of it.
I’d like to take a bit more time to write up some more thoughts about our day together but it may take me a few days to get my thoughts organized. But just know that we came away from the experience feeling very full, like after a huge holiday meal – completely stuffed, a little bit drowsy, immensely happy :)
Love,
Dave & Jenn
PS – we owe you a dinner sometime!
When I first started my blog I wanted to be one of those bloggers who blogged a lot. Maybe even every day. I wanted my blog to be a sort of record of my personal journey into photography; like a diary I could look back on. I wanted it to be filled with photos, yes, lots and lots of photos; but I also wanted it to be filled with stories – of couples in love, of wedding day celebrations, but also filled with stories of just the plain old everyday, of what I was up to and what I was thinking and feeling and doing. I feel like I used to do that well but that lately well to put it simply, I’ve found myself just really busy and other things have come first. And I wondered if really, at the end of the day, anybody really cared.
Funny enough though it’s often the more personal posts that I get the most feedback from and I want to get back into the habit of doing more of them. This past week has been a bit of a blur as I’ve tried to get on with all the normal everyday stuff while having hurt my back quite badly a few days ago. I’ve had problems with my back for pretty much as long as I can remember but every now and then something just tweaks. Yes, yes – I will go to the doctor. But for now I am armed with a bottle of back pain caplets and a very supportive husband and am plowing through a weekend of photo shoots with amazing people. Got one more later today and I really can’t wait for this one.
In other news I am so so excited to be heading up to London tomorrow to attend a mentor session with an amazing husband + wife team, photographers and business owners Brianna + Ewan! If you haven’t yet discovered their blog, you’re in for a treat. I can’t wait to learn and laugh with them, and I’m pretty sure I might just fill an entire notebook full of notes. And you can bet I’ll be giving a full review of my experience back here on the blog later this week.
I’m going to leave you with this frame from a shoot we did yesterday afternoon. I found new parents Jon + Andie in the middle of our family shoot lying out on the grass enjoying just a few seconds alone. They’ve just adopted the two cutest kids and I can’t wait to show you the rest of their beautiful family. But I just love this one: a rare, peaceful moment in a world of crazyness. Makes me want to just lie down and take a breath.
Where do I even begin to try and describe to you this day of days? I actually feel like there’s just too much to say and that I’m going to turn this post into a short novel once I get started, but here goes anyway…(big breath!)
Danielle and Adam were married this past Sunday in Mississauga and held a wonderful party for everyone afterward at Carmen’s Banquet Hall in Hamilton…seriously, the hall looked gorgeous, and once everyone was inside it was filled with drum beats from djembes, amazingly heartfelt speeches, African songs, lots of smiles, and the best dancing I’ve ever witnessed at a wedding, period. Seriously. The Kenyans know how to bring it on the dance floor! The two of them had recently traveled to Kenya (where Adam is originally from and where most of his family still lives) and brought back with them what must have been a truckload of beautifully hand-carved statues of the “big five” African mammals for everyone to take home as their party favours. This might give you an idea of what a lovely, considerate and generous couple these two are.
There were a great many stories told during speeches about Danielle and Adam’s time in Kenya, the funniest that I’ve just got to share involving a dinner that had been prepared using a whole fish – head, eyes, tail and everything. “Oh, you can’t serve that to a Canadian girl!” some of the family cried upon seeing it, but nevertheless they placed it down on the table anyway – head, eyes, tail and everything – and Danielle didn’t so much as flinch. She dug right in. One of the reasons why I can’t help but love this girl.
I guess the thing that struck me the most about this day was how, yes it was a celebration of Adam and Danielle getting married, but it was so much more than that. They really celebrated the union not just of the couple, but of two whole families. I actually cried a little bit into my camera’s viewfinder as I watched a lovely traditional ceremony take place on the dance floor where all the relatives danced and sang and clothed each other with colourful swaths of fabric, symbolizing the creation of one new big family. The way they just embraced each other and welcomed each other in just melted my heart. This is one of the reasons why I love being a part of wedding celebrations.
So, this is to Adam, Danielle, and your families: thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of your special day. What a great day it was to be a part of, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. I also have to say a big thank you to Adam and Danielle’s wedding planner Angelique, who months and months ago sent this couple my way…and who ensured that the day went by oh so smoothly. It was such a pleasure to work with her and if you’re reading this and looking for a wedding planner, this is my wholehearted plug for Angelique, she does an amazing job :)
Here are a few photos of this fabulous day, hope you enjoy!
I’m not even sure how to put it into words. I sit here and stare at the images on my computer and feel my heart swell and a lump rise up in my throat. And I can’t find the words to describe what it felt like to be a part of it.
I stood as a part of the circle in the middle of the dance floor, the African words rising up around me sung over and over again, I realized that I was a part of something. Something that can’t be put into words. Tears sprung to my eyes then. As they do now.
The mother of the groom embraced the bride, who was now, to put it as she did, her new daughter. She and her family danced and sang as they clothed not only the bride but her entire family in colourful swaths of fabric, formally welcoming them into their family. Two families were now one. The joy was just written all over her face.
It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever had the privilege of being a part of.
I can’t wait to show you the rest of this wonderful, wonderful day. I just hope the images manage to do it justice.
I always love hanging out with this girl – we first met while I was going to teacher’s college at a time when I don’t think either of us thought that we’d one day be running our own photography businesses…but fast forward a few years and here we are doing exactly that. As a little mini-celebration of Kendel just being finished her own year of teacher’s college, we met up in Niagara-on-the-Lake a few days ago for a chat, a coffee, a stroll, and of course some photos.
I don’t think I can stress how important it has been for me to actually be the one on the other side of the camera and experience having my photograph taken. To experience the indecision of picking out the right outfit. Of stressing out about the zit on my face. Worrying as I’m standing there if I look alright or just plain awkward. It reminds me of my goal as a photographer to make people feel comfortable and maybe even fabulous about having their photo taken. Kendel does that really well, and I realized after the first few shots that everything was going to be ok and maybe even fabulous and we had a ball.
We roamed around the main street getting the most wonderful stares from retirees out for the day, both with our cameras in hand, taking turns shooting each other, flipping through each others’ images, getting inspired, trying a few more shots…then we ate yummy food and drank hot drinks and chatted photography, business, weddings, and life. I always get so much out of our talks. Kendel wore the cutest retro outfit and brought her collection of vintage cameras to play around with and…well, why I don’t I let you take a look for yourself? Here are a few of the shots that I got from our afternoon out…Kendel, you are gorgeous and amazing…when can we do this again?? xx
The weather has been super fickle lately and has resulted in numerous shoots to be rescheduled and even (begrudgingly) digging out the winter jacket from the back of the closet. Then we get teased with gorgeous sunsets like this one last night…Mr Sun, can we be expecting to see just a little bit more of you soon? Please?
Sometimes people are surprised when I suggest we do their photos close to sunset. This is why I suggest we do their photos close to sunset.
Yesterday I finished up an edit of a session I was so proud of. I had a huge conversation via email with a bride-to-be who is days away from her wedding that I can’t wait to photograph. I met with a couple who plan on getting married under a huge tent and they booked us for their wedding later this summer. I looked at my calendar for the month of May and it looks quite full, with lots of neon streaks of highlighter everywhere, and it makes me excited and happy and nervous all at the same time and like I’m standing here on the brink of something really good; something that I’ve been waiting for. It hasn’t always been easy and there have been many weeks and months that have come and gone where I’ve wondered how this was all going to turn out. But now I feel like I’ve actually gotten somewhere, that I’ve made it to where I only hoped to be during those long weeks and months that went before. It feels like I’m standing on the brink of a dream that I think and hope might only get bigger and better.
It’s all been worth it.
I’ve shot one wedding so far this year but I feel like my actual season of weddings kicks off next weekend. I’ve got more brides and grooms than I could have ever imagined who’s weddings I’ll be sharing on here between now and November and I simply cannot wait to get started.
Watch this space.
Forecast for Sunday called for almost guaranteed afternoon thundershowers in Toronto. We rolled into the parking lot a little bit early and had a scout around this location we’d never used before under sunny skies. We were all like, yeah, thundershowers? I don’t think so. Let’s put this umbrella back in the car. And then, of course, as we were heading to our meet up point to find Melinda and Matt, big dark clouds rolled in and we couldn’t help but smile. Never doubt the weatherman.
But the rain did hold off long enough for us to have an awesome time walking around with Melinda and Matt taking their photos and chatting about weddings, life, and everything in between. We even treated ourselves to ice cream at the end of the shoot, so things couldn’t have been too bad weather-wise (although I’m pretty sure that even if it had been snowing Matt might still have dragged us over to the ice cream truck!) I don’t know if any of you who follow my work will find Matt’s face a little bit familiar, but if you do – I had the pleasure of photographing his sister Jen’s wedding last fall (which is where I first met Matt and Melinda). Let me say it’s awesome to be hired by people who have been a part of a wedding I’ve photographed before. These guys are going to be married on what I’ve found to be the single most requested and sought after wedding date of 2010, and we couldn’t be happier that it will be their day that we’ll be documenting. Wouldn’t have wanted anyone else :)
