When you’ve known a family for as long as I’ve known this one… you completely “get” it. You know to not pay too much attention to little Juvio at first, because he gets overwhelmed and a bit shy. You know that all it takes for Sole to loosen up and be more comfortable in front of the camera is to tell her to shake those little Chilean hips. You know that it will be incredibly important to the amazing Auntie (Tia) Sole to have images with her beautiful nieces and nephews. You know that it will be your main job to ensure that her father doesn’t hijack the photo session. It was all incredible. I had many silent tears drip down my cheeks seeing Sole so happy, seeing Dan full of anticipation. Seeing them both in love, so young, so vibrant, so full of life… getting married, in front of Hatley Castle. It’s the sort of thing, dreams are made of.

May your lives be full of joy, adventure and endless blessings. So much love to you both.
ox

Photographing weddings are like that too. You can plan, you can obsess, you can put everything into place. But they have a life of their own. Hard to control, you just have to move with them. I had never been to any of the venues, locations… or hadn’t even spoken with Tristane before the wedding. But we just let it all unfold in front of us. Letting go of control, moving with the day, letting the images take form. This past Saturday with Tristane and Rob in Vancouver everything was exactly as it was supposed to be, and I love the results.

I first met Tristane’s family in 2007 when her sister Martha was married to Tom at Strathcona Park Lodge, near Campbell River. Martha and Tom’s wedding resulted in one of my favorite images ever… see post here.
So you can imagine how happy and excited I was to be able to be a part of another amazing wedding with this amazing family.

A wedding story is best told with images. It was an honor.

When I’m laying in my bed, I often take a deep breath and truly appreciate my big comfy bed. That I have somewhere to lay my head safely at night.
When I’m in the shower. I am thinking about how lucky I am to have hot running water.
Lately, when my back hurts and shoots pain down my legs… I feel lucky to have legs.
When I’m eating dinner. I am thankful for a fridge full of food.
When something strange happens like forgetting something at home, making me turn around to go get it… I choose to believe I am possibly avoiding some unforeseen danger down the road, I always try and choose gratitude. You get the idea.

It has lead people in my life to let me know that at times “You’re too intense”, “its too much”, and that I shouldn’t expect others to think like me. And I don’t… and I try not to preach… but… my amazing and cherished friend Momma Mady used to always say to me, “Pull your boots up girl. You’ve got two feet and a heartbeat”. It’s a beautiful way to live.

So, when I meet someone who lives the same way, and shares the same views. It makes me happy. Really happy.

When I met up with Jennifer on her wedding day, the first words out of her mouth were. “I am just so blessed, so lucky. It’s amazing.” She couldn’t get over having all of the people she loved most in the world, in one place. For such an amazing celebration. She would well up with tears, just thinking about it. She lives in a massive amount of gratitude and it shows and is absolutely beautiful. The autumn season, was a perfect fit for their wonderful wedding.

Look at these images, and know, that these two are wonderful. Jennifer and Pedro, been together twelve years, were married this past Saturday at the amazing Dolphins Resort in Campbell River. Anyone looking for a different, rustic, beautiful destination wedding on Vancouver Island… should take a serious look at Dolphins. What a wonderful crew of people and what a beautiful place to have all of the people you love celebrate your wedding.

One of Jennifer and Pedro’s guests at the reception asked me, “so how long have you and Jenn been friends?”, I responded, “oh since forever”. We’ve only met one other time, for their engagement photos. I love my clients. (Especially Jennifer and Pedro) I love my chosen profession. I love living in gratitude. As cheesy as it may sound, if you’ve never tried it, you’re missing out.

I think beauty makes you beautiful, but only your attitude can make you radiant.

Some girls get excited about Manolo Blahnik footwear, others are thrilled with the classic elegance, of Hunter Gumboots.

Jennifer’s mom lives on a beautiful little farm property that we decided to have a ‘first look’ at and create some images on the property before the ceremony.
Here is Pedros first look at his beautiful bride.

The handsome ring bearer at the ceremony.

Love this one of Jen and her dad.

I’m in love with this photo of Jen through the crowd.

Down to the beach for some more images, love the colors in the trees here.

The Dolphins Resort with Jennifer’s amazing autumn decor, looked perfect.

I told you it was rustic.

The little ones were partying hard, minus their shoes.

You have to be special to have the ever auspicious rainbow make an appearance at your wedding.

No wedding would be complete without small people, passing out all over the place.

Wishing you both nothing but happiness.

Hopefully I will satisfy your photographic hunger with Rob and Veronica… and try and get a few more up here this week as well!

Its been an interesting few weeks. To be honest, I’ve wanted to be curled up in bed most of the time. (more on that later) I believe I’ve shot 20 weddings so far this season. Which means, I’m trying my hardest to stay rested and away from cameras as much as possible, until the next wedding… so I can stay fresh and full of creativity. So Sunday/Monday amounted to Bryce and I being the laziest I think we’ve ever even been. It was awesome. However, back to work today.

Meet Rob and Veronica. They booked me over a year and a half ago for their August 1st wedding. I was thrilled to be a part of it. They were all so much fun, had an amazing time laughing and making fun of each other and their happiness is infectious. What a great day!

Love this one of Veronica waiting to get into her dress.


A float down stairs

At Painters Lodge in Campbell River, Rob waits patiently.

Kisses for Veronica’s niece Sienna (who you may recall from this post)
A brief and intimate ceremony results in a happy bride and groom. Love this ‘just married’ image.

We snuck off for some wedding party shots, the guys… hilarious.

The ladies? Stunning.

Then we stow away with the newlyweds for some more intimate images of the two of them, on their wedding day.

And then, onwards to the reception held at Sequoia Springs Golf Course.
For some more wonderful moments.

A father/daughter dance that had me in tears (and Veronica too).

And I’ll leave you with this image of a beautiful bride on her wedding day.

Thoughts about weddings that should never be written, by a photographer. Especially by a wedding photographer. Thoughts that I’ve had, and felt and known all along.

It’s no secret that I am lucky enough to be able to make my living on photography, and on wedding photography. The secret is maybe that I really don’t ultimately care a whole lot about details. I mean, I love flowers. I love the little things, I do love details… I just don’t love them, when they don’t really mean anything. Is that wrong? Maybe not, should I admit it… probably not. But, I would be a fraud if I only said what I thought people wanted to hear. Truth be told, that’s just not how I roll. What I know for sure now, more than ever. Is that the whole reason, I truly love my profession. My craft. Has very little to do with expensive shoes, and fancy rings and wildly decorated venues. (Although granted they can make the shoot fun and interesting to photograph)

The reason I stay up late, get up early, work all day and at times neglect my own personal life…has everything to do with love. Real love, and the inspiration in finding that love within my couples, my families and everything around me. Not to mention the intense gratification I feel when my images mean something to someone. Not to mention being surrounded with what I find beautiful all the time.

Expensive things, although they may be crafted beautifully and contain luxury and exude richness, are nothing more than expensive things.

You can set the scene perfectly, have all of the best things around you, the most expensive venue, the best food, the most exquisite music. However, if the love is missing. The whole thing is dangerously, just wrong. The kind of thing that should be the most important about a wedding should be the love. Hands down. Without question.

Every single one of these images are unscripted. There is nothing fake about these two. It took them a long time to find each other in this life, but when they did… magic. To me, although there is intense beauty in struggle and the courage to overcome barriers. There is also, something to be said about effortless beauty, and love.

I am so honored to have photographed another wedding from one of my favorite families on the planet. The Black Family oozes love and meaning like no other. From the necklace handed down from generations with the little card from Grandma Win stating “May love and happiness go with whomsoever wears this pendant”, to having photographs on the exact spot Tara’s parents were married 37 years prior, to driving the car that her parents drove on that day, to the heirloom pinned on the inside of the dress…

Real stories, create real moments. Real moments, create the most inspiration, and to me… the most amazing photographs.

Tara and Glenn, inspiring.

Obviously having a miserable time.

The following image, during Tara’s Vows…
“I will be by your side, looking with you towards our future; the future that we create together.”

Melts me.

A proud father of the bride, warmly welcomes his second son in law to the family.
After the ceremony, while everyone else was scurrying around for family photos… Tara and Glenn, oblivious to it all. Perfect.

Of course I snuck in with the fabulous Black sisters

I am only able to post this because it is equally hilarious and unflattering of all four of us!

Taras parents were married @ The Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver, so naturally we ventured there for photos.

Reception held at Grouse Mountain. What a view.

Tara looking so peaceful on the gondola to the top of Grouse Mountain.

We snuck off for some more images on top of the world.

Heartfelt emotional and hysterical speeches.

May we all be so lucky.

Katie and Kyle.

The girls getting ready consisted of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. The guys getting ready? KFC and Lucky. Hilarious and very entertaining!

Katie looked at me, and said when I arrived “You can fix this right” (the pouring rain) My response, “Absolutely I love it. It doesn’t even phase me”.
In fact, these days rain + wedding= inspiration overload. If you can deal with a bit of dirt on the dress, a bit of water… well, I’m in. I’m your gal.

It was sprinkling with rain, then it was pouring, then it was really pouring. Then it was silver light and dramatic clouds and a bit of blue sky. None of it could have been more perfect. In my mind, if I can feel the rain, it means I am alive. If I am alive, I have the opportunity to create. If I can create, anything is possible.

And besides, if there is no rain, there is no dramatic clouds or light. If there is no dramatic clouds or light… life is no fun. Here are a few of my favorite images from Saturday.

Katie has a radiant smile. Truly.

Kyle

and Katie.

(P.S… stay tuned for a sneak peek from Alana and Justins Saturday wedding… coming VERY soon!!)