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!
