I’ve just written my first ever post on our brand new blog. Which, inevitably means that this will be my last post ever on this one.
To keep up to date with us and for new posts, please head on over to our new home at http://jennstarkphotographers.com. Can’t wait to see you there.
This was my first blog ever, so it’s kind of sad to leave. But it’s time. Why do I feel like I’m breaking up with somebody right now???
See you over at our new blog!
- Jenn xx
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.
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.
As I sat on the dance floor in front of the podium where speeches were happening this past Saturday, I wondered what was running through Shannon’s mind that first moment she met David. I’d already heard the story that Steve (the best man) was recounting for the hall full of guests before. She was working for a summer as a server at the Skydome — ahem, I mean, the Rogers Center — He was there catching a Jays game with some friends. Steve goes on to tell us how one of the guys — not David — started talking up Shannon that day. But her sights were set on someone else in the group — David. Later, their maid of honour tells her side of the story – how Shannon called her up soon after that fateful day, wondering if she should start seeing this stranger she met at the game. She did. That was seven years ago now. I wonder if she knew that the guy sitting in the stands watching baseball would one day become her husband?
David & Shannon were married this past Saturday, January 30 at the Old Mill Inn in Toronto and we were so happy to be a part of it. These guys have great family and friends who ensured that the day went by smoothly and that the party lasted well into the night! David & Shannon, it was such a pleasure to take your photos — we hope that right about now you are enjoying a cold beverage, the nice warm sun is shinning down on your faces, and that you’re loving your first week as husband and wife in Turks and Caicos!
And for the rest of us stuck here in the cold, here’s a few images from their beautiful day:
This is David getting ready to marry Shannon yesterday. They got married, and it was a pretty awesome day. I had a fab time, and I’m pretty sure they did too.
This might be my favourite part though: the getting ready. The anticipation and deep breaths. The last moments of looking forward to a day that you’ve thought about a million times before. But this will be the last time – the last time you’ll rehearse what you’re supposed to do; the last time you’ll worry that you’ll somehow mess it up; the last time you’ll wonder what you’ll feel when you’re there at the end of the aisle. Then it’s happening.
James was one of the first people I can remember meeting back when I was 18, shy and scared, out on my own for the first time having moved away from home to go to university. He’s one of those people that just puts you right at ease, and he became a quick friend – Dave, my boyfriend at the time (now my husband), lived with James and a few other guys for the years that Dave and I dated, leading right up to our wedding day…so as you can imagine, I was over there quite a bit, and got to know a few interesting things about James: First, he wears his socks inside out (so your toes don’t get irritated by the seams – makes sense right!). Second, he does a pretty awesome dance to the theme song from ER. Third, his one indulgence is to occasionally take swigs from the good old bottle of pure Canadian maple syrup, straight out of the bottle. I also know that he’s been smitten with Charlotte for forever, and it’s been a pleasure getting to know her over the past little while too. She must have a few fun and interesting “facts” of her own too, but lucky for her I haven’t found out what they are yet haha.
Charlotte and James were married on Charlotte’s parents’ property near the town of Wakefield Quebec – a beautiful backyard wedding complete with birkenstocks, flowers from the garden in glass jars, dogs, BBQ, games of badminton, rides in a horse-drawn wagon, a campfire, lots of dancing, lots of cute kids, a late night order of pizza…basically the most relaxed, laid back and fun atmosphere you could probably ever hope for at a wedding. It even rained right when the ceremony was scheduled to start. No problem! Did the bride panic? Nope. Not one bit. She mingled with the guests huddled under the awning beside the house, a big smile on her face. It was wonderful. Here are some of the images.
Graeme was one of Dave’s closest friends growing up – he lived right around the corner and they’d have school lunches together at Graeme’s house pretty much every day . . . I’d only met Graeme a handful of times before, and his fiancee Sabrina even less, so I was super stoked and a wee bit nervous when they agreed that I could tag along at their wedding as an “unofficial” photographer, helping me out tons when I was in that stage of portfolio building and just needing to practice taking photos at weddings. I was the third (yes, third!) photographer they had for their day, so I couldn’t ask for a more perfect way to jump into wedding photography with minimal pressure and other photographers around to help me out and learn from!
Strangely enough, I think I learned more that day about the actual logistics and interactions that come with being a wedding photographer than anything else. How to pose people, work with families and wedding parties and convey your ideas and visions to them effectively and how to manage your time well and make things fun for everyone involved. I strongly believe that this is one of the greatest assets your professional wedding photographer can bring to your wedding day – this expertise that comes with having shot many weddings and worked with tons of brides and grooms and having been behind the scenes at more weddings than your brother’s friend who happens to own a nice camera. For that very reason, with the level of experience I had at that point, I’m relieved that I wasn’t the only photographer at Graeme and Sabrina’s big day!
The ceremony took place at St. Thomas’ Church in Toronto and the reception at St. Mike’s campus at the University of Toronto. It was a stunning location to work in with an open courtyard in the middle for photos – would love to go back someday for another wedding! Most of my shots from that day were taken in that courtyard. Here are Graeme and Sabrina…
I had never met anyone in their wedding party before, but I look through the photos now and realize that pretty much all of them have become awesome friends! I had no idea who these two were (other than being quickly introduced at the beginning of the day) but thought they’d make a cute couple as I snapped photos of them planning out their duties as the emcees for the reception…they got together a few months later and have been dating for about a year now! Here’s Sarah & Jeff…
A few more of my faves…
Turns out Graeme & Sabrina loved their photos and have become dear friends of ours. It still means so much to me that I was able to snap photos at their wedding and with their help, get my business off the ground and running! Thanks guys!
All summer long I was looking forward to Andrew & Jen’s big day in September. In the week before their wedding, I snuck into the grounds of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington with my equally sneaky husband to have a peek at what we’d be working with, and it was as though we’d stepped into a dream. If possible, I started looking forward to Saturday even more than before. The location was beautiful – fitting for Andrew & Jen, who are truly beautiful people from the inside out.
This wedding was shot on September 19 of this year, but since I didn’t have this wonderful blog back then, I thought I’d get my past weddings up on here, one by one, for you guys out there to take a look at (in the future, I’m going to try and have weddings up on here within a couple of days of the actual wedding date). Dave & I enjoyed shooting this wedding so much – we were working not only at a great venue, but were surrounded by great people the entire day. When we got home at the end of the night, I’m pretty sure we still had the biggest smiles on our faces.
It was a bad day. From start to finish. Just a truly awful day. And the thing that made it that much more awful? The fact that we had just finished saying that it had been a pretty smooth week, with no major catastrophes to speak of. Lesson learned – never ever say anything like that before the closing bell has rung on Friday afternoon. Because you know as soon as you say that it’s been a smooth week, something will go wrong. What do they call that? Murphy’s Law?
But bad days never seem quite so bad when you’ve got a friend to laugh them off with. A friend to glance towards during the middle of all the awfulness and roll your eyes at, to suppress groans of frustrations with, and to finally let it out with when it’s all over and no one is around to hear you let out the scream you’ve been holding in all day. Someone to battle through the awfulness with and come out the other side still alive, and most times, with even a smile on your faces.
Rebecca is one of those people. And for that I’m forever grateful. She’s moving onto greener pastures after next week and while I’m thrilled for her I’m also in my own slightly selfish way sad that she’ll be leaving. I’ll miss all the little things – eating our yogurts together (mmm!), making fun of Stanley’s pants, answering random questions like “if you had to go on a date with one celebrity, who would it be?” or “why do dogs get injected with the rabies shot before they get it, but humans get the injection afterwards?” and discussing the finer details in life, like inappropriate levels of public displays of affection over facebook.
I actually first met Rebecca on her wedding day last December! I had been asked to second shoot at the wedding by Hannah Carter, a photographer friend of mine who is based in Waterloo, Ontario. This past September, I found myself needing an extra job on top of wedding photography to get myself and my family through the quieter winter months and Rebecca showed up with an email at just the right time with the perfect job.
Becky, what can I say? If our paths do happen to cross again in the next few months, you’d better not be heckling me!! Or else I think I will have to tell you to stand up and go sit on the side!
And if you’re out there reading this and are having a bad day too . . . just remember what the Monty Python boys always say: Always look on the bright side of life! A positive attitude goes a long way!
