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Here it is, the last wedding of this year… Even wet, pretty cold and gloomy weather could not dampen the spirits of Laura and Shane on this day not even the late evening chill when we had our attempt at night photography seen below. Their wedding was held at the Richmond Hill Country Club, a quiet, welcoming and very accommodating host (they even allowed us to move their furniture around a bit for one of the group shots). Everything from the ceremony to the reception was exquisitely set and delivered as a surprise Shane prepared for Laura. The wedding cake too!!!
Stylish is the word Sandra and I used a lot when we were talking about this wedding. Warm, intimate, emotional. And crazy. All wrapped up in a smooth blend delivered appropriately at every moment. Just about perfect one might say…
Perfect for good photography too.
Here is a snippet of their day. Enjoy!
It was cold and wet. Perfect timing for my otherwise trusty Pocket Wizards to start acting up…
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Dec 01, 2013 | Categories: Wedding Photography | Tags: Richmond Hill, Richmond Hill Country Club, Wedding Photography | Comments Off on Laura and Shane’s Wedding, Richmond Hill Country Club, ON.
Two all Romanian weddings in a year, it must be a special year. You might remember Codrina and Liviu from their Distillery/ Downtown Toronto engagement last summer. Today is their turn to say “I Do” but funnily, in Romanian tradition when you show up in church all dressed up for a wedding ceremony, it is assumed your mind is set and you must be there for a reason so no one will neither ask nor question your grounds for standing in front of the altar. There are no vows and the priest sets the rings the other way around, the bride’s on groom’s finger and the groom’s on the bride’s. The couple exchange them toward the end of the service, this being the only confirmation they are getting married by their own accord.
Our day started at the Godparent’s house where everyone was getting ready. The atmosphere was cheerful and happy despite the cloudy, rainy weather outside and the seemingly ruined plans for a Richmond Green outdoor bridal photo shoot after the ceremony. Our fears were unfounded as the sky cleared in the afternoon allowing us to proceed undisturbed. Besides, speaking of Romanian tradition, a bit of rain on your wedding day is a lucky sign believed to bring good fortune to the couple.
Sandra and I were especially impressed with the service held in the Holy 40 Martyrs Church. It was emotional, heartfelt, beautiful. The priests, Marius Antonel Dumitru and Stefan Dan Morariu have beautiful, deep voices capable of intricate harmonies doubled by a humble, down to earth, truly dedicated approach to their duties. A special nod has to go to George, Codrina and Liviu’s Godfather and one of our old clients who was instrumental in bringing everyone together and making this event one to be remembered (not to mention the main negotiator in bringing the stolen bride back 🙂 )
Without further ado, here is the story of this day.
Enjoy !
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Nov 04, 2013 | Categories: Wedding Photography | Tags: Aurora, Holy 40 Martyrs Church, photography, Richmond Green, Wedding Photography | Comments Off on Codrina and Liviu's Big Day, Holy 40 Martyrs Church, Aurora, ON.
If you’d think Brada and Ryan are familiar faces you’d be right. No, is not the engagement session we had earlier you’re remembering them from but from a wedding last year more precisely the one in which a little flower girl was offering a healthy carrot to his Dad in the middle of the ceremony… Ryan is Amanda’s brother ,he and Brada were in the bridal party there. This event is shaping to be a bit of a revisit of the same families, a lot of familiar faces. Brada and Ryan have been together for 9 years and their life together had plenty of time to evolve to include three boys and a house in a quiet corner of Brampton but don’t think for one second the wedding was a mere formality, a piece of paper to make it all official. The tears at the ceremony, the emotion it’s all real, raw and genuine. And so was the party !
The morning preparations at the two houses could not have been more different. At Ryan’s house, a bit of late partying the night before was pushing things behind schedule. The little ones and especially the boys could not see a single valid reason to get all dressed up in what looked like pretty stiff, boring attire and were trying their best shot at something not unlike Ghandi’s Passive Resistance. In contrast, at Brada’s house everything was quiet, calm and relaxed, the girls were rolling with their wedding morning routine with absolutely no drama.
Things were sorted out eventually and the day proceeded right on time and continued that way with no hiccups. The weather held up nicely, the food was great and the party wild….
Here’s a snippet of how it all went. Enjoy!
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Oct 22, 2013 | Categories: Wedding Photography | Tags: Brampton, Chinguacousy Park, Wedding Photography | Comments Off on Brada and Ryan's Wedding Day, Chinguacousy Park, Brampton, ON
You might remember Melissa and Ben from their engagement earlier this year. Now we’re back with them for their wedding day. We knew this will be one heck of a day the minute we stepped inside Ben’s parent’s house, where he was getting ready : the Coronas were free flowing and the boys could not wait to get started. The situation was no different at the Heintzman House, where Melissa and the girls were set into the house’s gorgeous corner parlor. Hair and makeup were on the go along with the last minute wedding dress preparations, lots of activity but somehow a relaxed, cheerful atmosphere. This atmosphere continued pretty much throughout the entire day, all the way to the last beats of the party. And what a party it was ! Kept us, the wedding photographers busy and with big smiles on our faces.
A few words about Heintzmann House. The venue itself is unusual in it’s setting and set up. It’s a designated historic property protected under the Ontario Heritage Act, a beautiful 13 room mansion, built sparing no expense in 1817, with a nicely sized ballroom, a lounge, a kitchen and several big rooms (parlors) one can hire for any kind of events. With carefully groomed grounds and original walnut paneling this is just about the perfect setting for a wedding day. Cue in a cloudless sunny but not overly warm weather for a great recipe for nice photography. The guests also absolutely loved the fact they could roam around and explore this estate.
Without further ado, here is a snippet of this day.
Enjoy!
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Oct 06, 2013 | Categories: Wedding Photography | Tags: Heintzman House, Thornhill, toronto wedding photo, Wedding Photography | Comments Off on Melissa and Ben's Big Day, Heintzman House, Thornhill, Ontario.
It is with a tear (of joy) I’m writing this blog entry, Andrei and now Raluca, are close family. Their joy on this day is almost palpable, contagious, overrunning all the anxiety caused by all the planning mishaps inherent in each wedding ( Will it rain? It did. Will everything be perfectly set up? Yes, almost everything was 🙂 ). The families and friends on both sides, some coming from pretty far corners of the Earth, were running on that kind of high octane emotional fuel only weddings seem capable of producing. And let’s not forget the tranquility and, at times, sadness of the present grandparents who have been so instrumental in getting Raluca and Andrei where they are now. I can’t help thinking the happiest of them all would have been someone who was not with us. I close my eyes and I almost feel my father’s presence there with that special serene smile, that blissful expression on his face we’d only see when he was at his happiest moments.
So how does one approaches documenting an event which holds this much emotional weight, when one is involved personally so deeply ? “Dive right in” I thought to myself…
I could go at quite some length about all the wonderful details of this day but I somehow feel everyone is here to see the pictures. Here it is, the longest ever entry in our blog.
Enjoy!
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Sep 24, 2013 | Categories: Wedding Photography | Tags: Biserica Sf. Nicolae, Brasov, Wedding Photography | Comments Off on Raluca and Andrei's Second Wedding Day, St. Nicolae Church, Brasov, Romania
We’ve had a bout of unpredictable and rather uncooperative weather here in Toronto over the last weekend. Understandably Laura was concerned our scheduled Richmond Green Park engagement session might end up looking more like swimming lessons, therefore we started counting our indoor options. The Downtown Toronto core is always good for this kind of sessions and with the pharaonic improvement construction works going around Union Station one is better off sticking to the Path and the surrounding big indoor spaces to avoid the big mess outside.
Laura and Shane’s relaxed, easy-going attitude made this photo session really fun and engaging, we can wait to shoot their wedding this upcoming October!
The following are a few photos we liked from this engagement shoot. Enjoy!
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Sep 06, 2013 | Categories: Engagement Photograpy | Tags: Brookfield Place, e-shoot, engagement, engagement shoot, photography, Toronto | Comments Off on Laura and Shane Engagement, Brookfield Place, Toronto, ON
We knew Richelle and Noel’s wedding would be a meticulously planned day from the first meeting we had with them as prospective clients. Noel was very particular about what he wanted, a perfect day for Richelle, their families and friends to celebrate their union. With their fall engagement done last year everything started to take shape nicely and Sandra and I begun looking forward to this event. The day went without a hitch with Swiss clockwork precision despite the hot and humid, bright July weather which made the after ceremony formals outside the church and Humber Arboretum photo session a bit of a challenge especially for the boys who insisted on keeping their jackets on along with their smiles.
Down at the Embassy Grand venue the reception spotted impeccably set gorgeous decor, a relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff to go along with a tasty cocktail menu and , among other liquid things, ice-cold non alcoholic mango cocktail, a welcome way to quench the thirst after our session outside.
Another thing worth noting: Sandra and I were impressed by the number of guests which knew well ALL the steps to ALL the music the band played from waltzes to country line dancing. Awesome stuff.
The following is a snippet of this day. Enjoy!
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Sep 03, 2013 | Categories: Wedding Photography | Tags: Humber Arboretum, photography, toronto wedding photo, Vaughan, Wedding Photography | Comments Off on Richelle and Noel Wedding Day, Embassy Grand, Vaughan, ON
When Brada contacted us thru Facebook inquiring about our availability we were both happy and pleasantly surprised. We photographed Ryan’s sister’s, Amanda, wedding last year so we are really looking forward being part of the family’s celebrations again this year. This was perhaps the most rescheduled engagement session I’ve ever shot due to a variety of unexpected scheduling conflicts and truly uncooperative weather… At some point it almost appeared we would be forced to scrap all plans but a small window of opportunity miraculously appeared and jumped on it. What’s funny is that after all the delays and rescheduling, we were so in sync this day we even got stuck together on HWY 410 rush hour traffic on our route to our meeting point.
So, here we are in Kariya Park on a beautiful mid week day… fish are jumping… ducks and rabbits… the perfect setting…
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Aug 04, 2013 | Categories: Engagement Photograpy | Tags: engagement, engagement shoot, Kariya Park, Mississauga, Ontario | Comments Off on Brada and Ryan's Engagement, Kariya Park, Mississauga ON
It was fun planning this photo session with Codrina and Liviu. They wanted a bit of everything. A bit of the financial district, with perhaps a church, a park and (time permitting) a fountain night shot if at all possible. All with a pinch of Distillery. That sounds like a lot but we knew it’s was also going to be a lot of fun executing it as well.
Toronto is a great city to try and pull all of that. Within the Downtown’s core there are nice green spaces, old churches and new buildings, plenty of opportunity for street shooting and characters like this guy who was playing an instrument made out of a converted cigar box, with 3 strings which reminded me of Seasick Steve and his old arsenal of odd looking guitars. He was incredibly nice and allowed us to shoot a few frames while he was doing a bit of a blues solo. He was quite good actually.
Liviu mentioned he was a bit camera shy and indeed he was … for a few seconds… then he could not stop smiling for the whole duration of the engagement. It was a very pleasant evening of shooting down to the gorgeous warm sundown light.
Here is a snippet, enjoy!
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Jul 31, 2013 | Categories: Engagement Photograpy | Tags: Distillery District, e-shoot, engagement, engagement shoot, Toronto | Comments Off on Codrina and Liviu’s Engagement, The Distillery District, Toronto
Back with Raluca and Andrei for their first Wedding Day. In Romania a couple wishing to tie the knot still has to go for an official wedding and the marriage license to the City Hall before they can have a traditional Church Ceremony. Rather than rush and cram everything in a single day, Raluca and Andrei decided to have relaxed, separate ceremonies in two different days. We’re always very happy to participate in events like this but in this particular case I had tiny little knots of emotion going through pretty much thru the whole event. We’re photographers documenting the proceedings however this couple is very dear to us, they are family. And there is another personal reason to have this mix of emotions, undoubtedly shared by my Mom and my Sister also present. My late Father, Andrei’s Grandfather would have loved to be part of it all. Raluca and Andrei and their future together were about the only thing he would talk about before losing his fight with cancer last year.
A word of note of how everyone participating in this event was welcomed by Raluca’s family and Godparents in Brasov. Extraordinary warm would be perhaps an understatement as the way everyone pulled together to make this day memorable was simply incredible.
This is but a small photographic snippet of that day. Enjoy!
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Jul 28, 2013 | Categories: Wedding Photography | Tags: Brasov, Wedding Photography | Comments Off on Raluca and Andrei, City Hall Ceremony and Cocktail Party, Brasov, Romania