Patrick Chondon 7/20/21 Patrick Chondon 7/20/21

Caylene + Tim Wedding

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, backyard weddings are becoming the new normal, and also my favourite type of wedding. One of the main reasons why I enjoy photographing smaller weddings, is that you get to spend more time with the immediate family. Plus, they tend to be a lot more laid back, which lends itself to many more candid moments. Which I’m all about.

That’s not to say I still don’t enjoy the epic large weddings. I do hope we get there again someday soon. Case and point, this past weekend I had the pleasure of capturing Caylene and Tim’s backyard wedding. I got to meet both of their immediate families, I learned about the history of the house, and I got to witness some real sincere moments.

Even though it was a short day for me, I still came away with a lot of great moments, that I hope both Caylene and Tim will cherish for a long time.

Patrick Chondon 9/20/12 Patrick Chondon 9/20/12

Alicia + Tim Wedding

As the wedding season winds down I am really cherishing the last few that I have. Luckily, my latest wedding was at yet another location which I have never photographed before. And, the weather was great, as usual. Stepstone Centre, which is located just north of Thunder Bay on Onion Lake Road, was where Tim and Alicia chose to have their wedding. As soon as you arrive, you notice the long driveway leading to the main house accompanied by a smaller guest house. Everything is surrounded by a huge forest.

Alicia spent the first couple hours getting reading at the guest house. Her and her bridesmaids got their makeup done and generally tried to calm the nerves. I spent most of my time with them up until the ceremony. I did get a chance to photograph some of the decor in the main tent where the reception would be held later that evening. Each table was named after a band which was a nice touch. There was a main cake which looked wonderful. It was also accompanied by a huge array of cupcakes.

It was then time to make my way to the main ceremony area. To get there, you have to walk down this long path through the tall trees. There were photos of Alicia and Tim hanging from the trees all along the way. Kind of like a trip down memory lane. The seating was set up right by the river. That combined with a local guitarist playing music in the background made for a perfect setting.

Once the ceremony was done, everyone mingled for a while and congratulated the bride and groom. Then it was time for some group portraits. I thought the main trail between the trees would be the perfect spot so that is where we went. We then walked back to the main house and captured some photos by the water and with the sun shining down in the background. It made for some magical backlit photos.

We then walked back to the ceremony area and took advantage of the tall trees along the path. There were multiple pathways within the forest so I got Alicia and Tim to walk slowly along them. This created some natural candid moments. We then finished off by the river, capturing a few more photos there. As we were walking back, we did do one more sequence which was with the empty picture frame Alicia had brought. We stopped along the path, where some of the photos were hanging from the trees, and quickly took some fun spontaneous photos where they were both looking through the frame and making faces at each other.

My day was done after that so I congratulated Alicia and Tim and hurried home so I could look at the resulting photos, which turned out great. Thanks again to Alicia and Tim for letting me be a part of their wedding day!