Jennifer + Family Portraits - Tree Farm

Check out these highlights from my mini-session with Jennifer and her family at the tree farm!

Jennifer + Arthur Wedding - Grand Cayman

Last month I was lucky enough to be hired to photography Jennifer and Arthur’s wedding in Grand Cayman. Surprisingly, it was my first real destination wedding outside of the country. I didn’t know what to expect but I’m so glad I was able to experience it. It also helped that Jennifer and Arthur were the most laid back and amazing couple ever.

The day started on the cruise ship with some getting ready photos of Jennifer, the first look, and a short portrait session in and around the ship. Shortly after, it was time to head into Grand Cayman for the wedding itself.

The ceremony took place on the beach which, as you would imagine, was absolutely beautiful. It was a short and intimate ceremony. It was just their closest friends and family that came with them on the cruise. Once the ceremony was done we headed back into the city and eventually made our way to the tour of the day, to see and swim with the stingrays.

It was my first time doing so, so I was very excited. I think everyone in the wedding party (and tour), had a great time as well. I’m so thankful I got the chance to meet, and of course photography, Jennifer and Arthur. :)

Jennifer + Carmine - The Chanterelle

Jennifer and Carmine got married right around when Covid hit in a very small and intimate ceremony. Fast forward to a couple days ago, and they had a full on proper ceremony with all their friends and family. It was a long time coming and so worth the wait.

My day started with Jennifer and the girls getting ready and then it was off to Boulevard Lake to capture all the wedding party and family photos. The weather was absolutely perfect and we came away with so many sweet photos.

The reception itself took place at The Chanterelle, which as I always say, is one of my favourite locations in the city. There was amazing food, heartfelt speeches and plenty of dancing. The highlight for me was one of the bridesmaids dressing up as a banana, and committing to it, for the entire dancing portion of the night.

I’m so glad I was able to spend another full day with Jennifer and Carmine. I hope they cherish these moments for years to come. I know I will!

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Jennifer + Les Wedding - Delta Hotel Thunder Bay

The Delta Hotel was once again the latest location for a recent wedding I captured. Jennifer and Les were the beautiful bride and groom this time around, and it ended up being a very memorable and fun day. My day started about an hour before the ceremony which gave me some time to capture the details of the ballroom and some of the arriving guests.

Before I knew it, everyone was sitting down and anxiously awaiting the Jennifer and Les to make their way down the aisle. It was a very sweet ceremony, and capturing some of the reactions of the crowd, you could tell everyone in attendance were very happy for the couple.

Shortly after the ceremony finished up the wedding party, and a few of the closest family members headed down to the nearby Marina. Before returning back to the reception, Jennifer and Les spent a short amount of time with me getting some photos of just them amongst the gorgeous backdrop.

The rest of the night went by very fast for me. The food was amazing, the speeches were great and of course, the dancing, once it began, resulted in many spontaneous photos. I couldn’t have asked for better couple to photograph!

Jennifer + Jason Wedding - Pass Lake

Even though Jennifer and Jason live in Southern Ontario, they decided to have their wedding here in Thunder Bay with family. The location, their parents’ camp out on Pass Lake. It was definitely one of the most beautiful settings I have had the pleasure of being at for a wedding. Luckily I was there from the afternoon to the late evening, which allowed me to spend some quality time with everyone.

The day started with Jennifer getting ready in the main house. I could feel the anticipation in the air, but otherwise, everyone was pretty laid back. It made for a great atmosphere to take photos in. Both candid, and of course some posed. The only drawback was that there was cooking going on in the kitchen, which was making me hungry.

Next up were the guys. It was a very small wedding, so it was just Jason and his brother. As you can see from the photos, there was no mistaking that they were brothers. From there, I wandered around the property to capture all the nice details and scenery, along with candids of people as they arrived. It was an overcast day which made for the perfect weather for photos.

The ceremony began a little bit later in the afternoon and it was a short but definitely didn’t lack on sweetness, and laughs. With the backdrop of the Lake behind them, it was pretty difficult not to come away with great photos.

We then did some family portraits and eventually the first set of photos with just Jennifer and Jason. The reception took place under a nice big open tent. The great thing was that everyone wandered around and mingled, which allowed me to continue to get nice candids.

The rest of the night was super fun, with the usual speeches, first dance, cake cutting and just general good times. I got to meet a lot of the friends and family which is probably the thing I like most about these short ‘backyard’ weddings.

The highlight of the day for me was meeting their grandmother. I learned quickly that she spoke her mind, and didn’t hold anything back. Long story short, she told me the they shouldn’t even have hired a photographer. She didn’t believe it was worth it. She then went on to ask me how much I was charging! After telling Jennifer and Jason about this, laughing as I did so, word quickly spread and everyone was not surprised. That was just how ‘granny’ was. I took no offence, and to be honest, it’s those fleeting conversations that I embrace as weddings are adapting to become smaller and more intimate. I just hope she likes these photos!

Jennifer + Family Portraits - Centennial Park

Even with forest fires looming far off in the distance and extremely hot weather, Jennifer and her family still joined me for a mini session at Centennial Park the other evening. One of her sisters wasn’t able to make it, but we still had a great time capturing some formal portraits and a few candid ones as well. I swear we laughed most of the session too! All in all, it was a lot of fun, and I’m already looking forward to a potential session in September with all of Jennifer’s family.

Jennifer + Family Portraits

It’s always nice when families book me for a session after getting a gift certificate from a previous client. That was exactly the case with Jennifer and her family this past weekend. They chose the field beside Confederation College and it was the perfect location. I never thought to use it before, but I think I will be doing so again in the near future.

Even though it was a 30 minute session, we came away with a lot of great photos!

Stacey + Family Portraits - Tree Farm

Here are some highlights from another session this weekend at the Tree Farm. It was my first time photographing Stacey and her family, and I’m hoping I get to do so again in the near future!

Jennifer + Carmine Wedding

One of my last weddings of the year took place at Valhalla Inn with Jennifer and Carmine. I was so excited to spend a day with such a beautiful and kind couple, and also the rest of their family and friends. The good thing about the times we are in now, is that weddings have no choice but to be smaller and much more intimate. I really do enjoy smaller weddings, I almost feel like I’m part of the family. My day started with the getting ready shots. It was a nice way to ease into the wedding day.

As with almost all of my wedding photography, I focused on candid, natural moments. I get so much joy out of anticipating and reacting to split second things throughout the day. Having photographed so many weddings over the course of my career has definitely helped my timing, but I am always evolving as a photographer.

After spending about an hour photographing the getting ready portion of the day it was time to move out to the outside courtyard, which is always such a lovely venue to get married. Rain threatened most of the day but it held out long enough to fit everything in, which I was super thankful for. The ceremony itself was very sweet. Anytime a dog is the ring bearer, means it’s going to be a good wedding!

The ceremony and the remaining portion of the day was very relaxed which was perfect. Everyone was super easy going. Once the ceremony was done, everyone kind of just relaxed for a bit. The videographers took the newlyweds aside to shoot some footage and I tagged along to get some nice candid ‘behind the scenes’ moments. The cake was eventually served along with a wonderful array of meats, cheeses and fruits.

Before the wedding Jennifer had asked if we could do the portraits at Trowbridge Falls. That was an easy answer of course. So once everyone was nice and full and relaxed, we all met over at the park. It took a bit longer for some people to arrive but it was a great opportunity to get some more photos in the parking lot of the wedding gang. Plus, we actually headed into the park ahead of everyone else to get some photos on the nice bridge overlooking the water. Those ended up being some of my favourite photos from the entire day. It was an off and on light drizzle, but in all honesty, I’m glad it was overcast. It made everything look that much better.

Once everyone arrived, we made our way down to the water and did all the family portraits there. The rain started coming down a little harder so we used the cover of the bridge to cycle through the group shots. That meant I was out in the rain, but I’ve been in much worse situations. Plus, it was barely raining. We finished off down on the water with a few quick portraits of the beautiful couple, and then it was time to head back to the cars. When we got back to the parking lot, we got a few more family photos with their grandmother who had such a great sense of humour. I loved the way she talked.

The last stop of ‘my’ day with the couple was Tim Hortons. Yup. You heard that right. The reason being that that is where they first met. So it was only fitting to get a photo there. Along with one outside, I captured a couple nice ones of Jennifer and Carmine sitting at a table. It was such a perfect end to the day for me. I still can’t get over how many moments I captured throughout the day. Below are just a few highlights, but some of my favourites nonetheless.

I still can’t believe wedding season is almost over. Even though it’s been challenging (for everyone) it’s has still been memorable and full of nice surprises. As I write this, I have my last wedding of the season tomorrow. I only hope it is as beautiful as this one!

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Jennifer + Robert Wedding

My last wedding of the season was actually the most interesting one of the year. It was a surprise wedding! Yup, my first ever surprise wedding. Usually when I shoot them, everyone actually knows exactly what is going on. In this case, Jennifer invited about 25 of her closest friends and family over, for what they thought, was going to be family portraits. Admittedly, I was a tiny bit nervous because I only had an hour and half to work with and I wanted to make sure I came away with a lot of great moments. Well, it couldn't have gone any better, as the photos turned out great.

It was of course, all indoors at Jennifer and Roberts house. When I first got there, Jennifer gave me the scenario for the evening. I walked around snapping candid photos of the guests and then when it was time, Jennifer and Robert snuck away to get ready quickly. I was to gather all the guest into the living room and tell them to get ready for 'family portraits'. Once everyone eventually made their way into the room, that is when Robert first entered and then Jennifer. The shock on almost everyone's faces was priceless. I think I got quite a few great expressions too. I think I even heard some 'I told you so's' too. A few guests had a feeling of what was going on I presume. All in all, it was such a unique experience for me and I was happy to be a part of it. 

I must say, it was a bit challenging to photograph because we were all gathered around the tree in Jennifer's living room. Don't get me wrong, she has a lovely house and it has a ton of space, but when 25 people are in one room it's not the most spacious scenario. Luckily, there was a hallway that looped around the living room and I was able to run around it without interrupting the ceremony. The ceremony itself only lasted about 20 minutes, then we did some quick portraits and everyone congratulated the bride and groom. It was a very laid back wedding which made for some truly natural moments. Before I left, I made sure to get a few photos of Jennifer and Robert in front of their wonderful cake and also a couple shots of the rings. 

I couldn't have asked for a better way to finish off the wedding season. I really can't wait for next years wedding season to get there. Thanks as always to Jennifer and Robert for letting me be a part of their special day.

Jennifer + Family Portraits

This past weekend I got the chance to photograph Jennifer and her daughter once again, along with her sister and their family as well. Just like last time we walked down to the neighbourhood playground and basically let the kids do their thing. They were both very easy going and extremely easy to photograph. I was also able to capture some great moments between the two of them. 

We of course took advantage of the swing set where they both had a lot of fun and eventually we finished up across the street on the small trail leading into the forest. As always, there are always a some posed shots but I was able to come away with a ton of candid and natural photos as well, which is what these portrait sessions are all about. 

Thanks again to Jennifer and her family for letting me spend some time following them around for a bit capturing some special moments.