The thing I like about weddings is that they are all different in some way. This past weekend I had a wedding where we went to 4 different locations. For Jenna and Jeff’s wedding which took place earlier this month, it was all at the Nor Wester. It was a nice change of pace because there was no travelling around, and it all happened at one beautiful location. With that being said, I love the variety of each and every wedding I do.
Just because this one was at one location, doesn’t mean it was boring. Far from it! The Nor Wester is by far one of the nicest spots in Thunder Bay to get married. I arrived, just as Jenna was doing a first look with her dad in the hotel room. It was the perfect start to the day. Once we finished that I was off to the races. It’s summer, so the ceremony took place in the courtyard with the gorgeous backdrop of Mount McKay.
As with all ceremonies, theirs was very sweet and you could really feel the emotion. After a short break once the ceremony was done I gathered everyone in what little shade there was and we did all the family and wedding party portraits. During the portraits, I still made sure to keep on snapping in between as there are always opportunities for candid photos. It helped that the entire wedding party was a blast. They were always laughing and having a good time. It made my job 10x easier. I just sat back at times and assessed the situation.
Once we were done the portraits, there as about an hour break before the reception started. It was great because I just wandered around the grounds and photographed people hanging out. Down by the pond, most of the people were gathered, and some of the guys were also fishing. Surprisingly, this was the first time anyone in the wedding party decided to fish and it was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately the biggest catch of the day was waterlogged grass. Ah well. There was also some goose chasing which also provided some unique photos.
I then headed to the reception about 15 minutes before everyone was scheduled to arrive and photographed the details. It’s one of my favourite parts of the wedding day because it’s just me, walking around, taking my time seeing what I can create. Everyone entered shortly after and the rest of the night flew by for me. There were speeches, great food, a shoe game, a bouquet toss, a garter toss, lots of dancing and of course, some portraits with the happy couple just before sunset.
Almost every wedding I do at the Nor Wester, I suggest to the couple to step out before sunset to do some portraits of just the two of them. The lighting and the way it plays off the scenery at that time of day is to die for. Shortly after that my day was over. It went by very fast, and looking back on all the photos, brings me back to just how much fun I had with everyone during the wedding.
