What can I say about my last wedding of the year. It was epic. I started at 11:00am and didn’t end until after 12:00am. It was actually my very first New Years wedding and it will always be one I remember. Many of you might think that is a long day but it went by so fast because it was just so much fun. I’m so happy Rheana and Chris invited me into their lives one day and allowed me to capture one of the most important day of their lives.
The day started with Chris and the groomsmen. It was my first time meeting him and I immediately felt comfortable. It was very laid back which made for extremely natural photos. I’m all about the candids and photojournalistic type style of wedding photography, and this was no exception. I was only here for about 40 minutes but I came away with a ton of great photos. The next stop after that was with Rheana and the girls. Just like Chris, this was my first time meeting Rheana too. She was immediately very inviting once I arrived. All the bridesmaids were also so nice and easy going. I spent a bit more time with them and it was equally as fun as the guys.
It was then off to the church for the ceremony. As you would expect it was quite beautiful. Even though it was a big church, it was an intimate gathering of family and friends which was really nice. As I always do I simply walked around and captured moments and people. Especially when in it’s in a church, the ceremony is one of my favourite parts of the wedding day, mainly because it really allows me to focus on the people of the wedding, not just the bride and groom.
Once the ceremony was done the wedding party left pretty quickly and made their way to Vickers Park for some outdoor portraits. Now remember, this is the dead of winter and it was very cold out. They were troopers though and we made it happen. I knew I had to work fast so people didn’t freeze to death so we found a nice backdrop in the park and set up shop there. Even though it was cold out, there was a lot of fresh snow on the ground and the trees so it was absolutely perfect. I think we managed to all the portraits in under 30 minutes, which was quite impressive.
The last stop on the day was the reception which took place at the DaVinci Center. I have shot quite a few weddings here so I was excited that Rheana and Chris chose it for their reception location. That is where I spent the rest of my night up until the New Year began.
As soon as I arrived I made sure to get photos of all the table settings and some of the decorations. Rheana wanted to do all the family portraits downstairs before the guests arrived and that is what we did. It was definitely a lot warmer then having all of the family go out to Vickers Park. I still had some time after that to go to the main ballroom and photograph more of the decor.
After the guests arrived and got comfortable there were some initial speeches, the an awesome 5 course meal which I made sure to eat. Chris checked on me to, to make sure I was doing so. You would be amazed how many wedding couple check up on me to make sure I eat. Chris and Rheana had their first dance after they officially entered the hall and Chris also had a dance with his mom. There was a bouquet toss which resulted in probably one of my favourite photos below which you can see below. Rheana’s daughters’ expression in the line up was just priceless. Of course, she caught the bouquet too.
After that there was just a lot of dancing and celebration up until the clock struck 12:00. As I mentioned above, this wedding will always go down as one of my favourites. Not only because it was my first New Years wedding but also because Chris and Rheana were such an awesome couple to photograph. Oh, and their family and friends were also very fun and friendly. I got approached a few times throughout the day saying I was doing a great job. That’s always nice to hear and reminds me why I do this thing called wedding photography.
