When I met Shawn and Michelle last Fall, I asked them how they met. They said "Oh! It's embaressing..." So then I was dying to know!! What was so humiliating? "We've known each other for years - we went to high school together. We don't have a good story!" If you ask me - it is a phenomenal story! Shawn & Michelle have not only been together for ten years and known each other for ages... there wedding party was made up of friends from throughout grade school and high school. Some of them even went to nursery school together! This is so rare nowadays to see.. it's beautiful to witness the beauty of lifelong friends!

Fast forward to today. What a fun day!! Shawn has a way of not only making Michelle laugh constantly... but Beth and I also were in stitches! We had a blast! And had some fun surprises in the Distillery district while shooting... more about that below... But let's start at the beginning.

Their venue - Berkeley Events Centre... wow! Love this place! So much character and beauty!



















Then we went down to the distillery district and had a lot of fun!











It just happened to be a festival with the food network - Michelle & Shawn's favourite TV station!

The wonderful people at Peller Estates gave the happy couple cotton candy, a class of champagne as we walked by and a bottle of ice wine!! I'm going to dig out my wedding dress and start wearing it to get freebies!!





And I can not remember the name of these guys from the Food Network - but Michelle loves them!



And, I was pleased to see in their DVD collection Arrested Development (could there be a funnier TV show??). So when we saw the Segways - how could we help but get a photo with them?? (Gob on the show rides one all the time)



And back to Berkeley for the reception!





The littlest guests loved the cake cutting!



And everyone was up dancing!





A great day - thanks for letting us be a part of it!

Celebrating life and love,

Krista

Labels: weddings

Way back in 1994 I visited Mark's parents farm for the first time. It was a little overwhelming to meet Mark's ten siblings. Mark's sister Aidan wasn't even a teenager - still in that stage between kid and adult. And now... she's married!

Last weekend Aidan was a stunning bride... no signs of the little girl I met at the family farm all those years ago. Chris and Aidan are two of the sweetest people - and I'm thrilled to have Chris as my newest brother-in-law.



















Everyone watching the weather... it poured rain!!





Madi was convinced she has to carry Aidan's dress... took her flower girl role very seriously!



The minister was the cutest I'd ever seen... my hubby!









My girls!



My in-laws whispering during the ceremony...



The happy couple!!





Chris being welcomed into the family by the new nieces..



Madi exhausted from the festivities



Aidan and her grandpa (we call him "Poppy") have a special relationship. Here is one of the few special moments Aidan spent with Poppy.



We went to Poppy's nursing home later for Aidan to have a dance with him. The residents and family watched as they danced... and not a dry eye in the place.





Even though it poured rain we found a few spots around the church and farm to go and have fun!























Chris is a firefighter and we had hoped to do a photo shoot on the firetrucks in Clifford but... It turned out to be pouring rain so we couldn't do it then... and good thing! The trucks were flourescent green! Watch for photos in the near future at Chris' fire station in Mississauga.

Celebrating life and love,

Krista

Labels: weddings

All week it called for rain on Saturday. Today, on the drive to Sarnia there were dark clouds overhead... but it turned out to be a gorgeous day for an outdoor wedding after all!

I posted the other day Darryl & Laura's engagement story you can read HERE - and today they got married under the same tree that they got engaged at! There were so many creative, personal touchs to the wedding - very meaningful!

It was a beautiful day - thanks for letting Beth and I be a part of your celebration!








































And now I am officially on vacation!!! Watch for lots of guest bloggers every weekday until I get home!!

Celebrating life and love,

Krista

Labels: weddings

I love outdoor weddings. Loooooooooooooove.

Back in the day I envisioned a casual summer outdoor wedding for my Big Day. BBQ and lawn games. A party! But alas! Mark proposed in September and I'm too impatient to wait the standard year or so of planning and so we got married in two and a half months in December (and it was perfect!).

Fast forward 12 years.... and now I get to live vicariously my dream of an outdoor wedding through my clients! Today was Andrew and Jessica's Big Day! I didn't want to say anything to them... but as I listened to the weather report all I heard was "thunderstorms" and "rain"..... oh oh!! But the rain held off until after the ceremony... about 10 minutes after! Perfect timing!

Here's a look at their day...























































And I'll end with this funny photo - when it started to pour, we realized everyone had left their umbrellas in the cars! (rookie move) So some of the guys grabbed the tablecloth and carried it over Jessica's head. Such gentlemen!



Now I'm off to BC - leaving the house at some ungodly hour of the morning. Yawn! I hope to post while away about my adventures!

Celebrating life and love,

Krista

Labels: weddings

Thursday night we had the rehearsal for Andrew & Jessica's wedding today at Dundurn Castle.
They all had cute shirts on with "Bride" or "Groom" - so fun!













And Andrew's brother Ryan is married to Julie. Julie's sister Melissa is married to my brother Dave - confused? Anyhow, Julie is like family (or so we think!) and this was my first chance to meet her daughter Emma!









Now I'm heading out to the wedding - can't wait!!!!!!!

Labels: weddings

Today started off with rain - a lot of rain. And the clouds looked dark and ominous... but it stayed dry for AJ & Jody - yeah!!!

We had a lot of fun exploring around Elora with AJ and Jody and the gang before heading into Guelph for the reception. They are such a sweet couple - just beaming at each other the whole time!

Jody getting ready - she is so gorgeous!







Jody is a tomboy at heart - and a soccer player - so these were her shoes of choice! More of this to follow...



AJ loves his hats - I've often seen him in a cool fedora. He bought black fedoras for his wedding party! Note - his dad was his best man. What an honour! My brother had our dad as his best man too... I love that idea! Speaks volumes about the parent-child relationship!







Of course Jody had to try on the hat too!



The girls were all soccer players and we had some fun with that!





And just some fun shots from the happy couple!























And a couple of the wedding party





Thanks for a fun day!



Celebrating life and love,

Krista

Labels: weddings

Oh! Let me tell you about the wonderful Craig & Jessica!! We met up with Jessica at One King West - she had a great suite looking over the CN tower!





Soren did an awesome job at makeup! Teach me your ways....





Jessica wore her Grandma's pearls - stunning!







Then we went to their ceremony - it was suppose to be outside, but with the rain we went inside the art gallery which was beautiful! Great find on the venue to their wedding planner, Sarah!

Jessica and her Grandpa waiting to walk down the aisle.









Not sure why they are laughing - think it had to do with Jessica's response to "Do you take this man? She said "oh yeah!!!"



Craig waving to the guests as they announce them man and wife!





The happy couple in and around the art gallery....

















And into the Bentley Jessica was so excited about and downtown for the reception...





They parked in behind the building and I fell in love with the loading dock area. Seriously - such cool textures!







Upstairs the venue was amazing! It was the first reception held at this location at the St. Andrew's Club (where Craig works) - it's amazing!





We didn't stay too long into the reception - but before we left I bumped into Jessica in the bathroom and had to catch her goofing off under these pot lights! She is a riot!

Well, I'm talking about Jessica... she is the one who inspired me to now offer all our wedding clients a portion of their sales to go to the charity of their choice. Jessica has MS and is the MS ambassador for her area. When we first met and she spoke about the work she does for MS I was inspired to give back too! You're great, Jess!





What a fun day! Beth and I had so much fun - thank you!

Oh - and this is how we started our day...

We started our day today with a quick stop at Vistek- and who should we bump into.... but George Stroumboulopoulos! We took that as a good sign for a great day... and it was!






Celebrating life and love,

Krista

Labels: weddings

Who would have thought that a Halloween dance would lead Laurie to Mr. Right? But when Scott and Laurie first danced together they "knew" - and yesterday, I had the pleasure of being a part of their Big Day! Friday evening weddings make me think back to my own Friday night weddings many moons ago - so much fun!

When I got to Laurie's we found teh dresses and clothing hung up just like this - so cute!



Laurie had this great lace jacket that went over her dress in place of a veil - beautiful! I loved how she had it hanging in the room too.





The lace jacket was also fun for flower girls to hide in - hee hee





Laurie's Maid of Honour Nina helping with the finishing touches



And over to the goofy guys... they were a blast!







And on to the ceremony!







Afterwards, we stopped at Valley Park for a fast 30 minutes of formals...

















Wishing you both all the best! Can't wait to meet your new Pug, Scott!

And now I'm of to Craig & Jessica's wedding in Toronto! Stay tuned for their photos tomorrow.

Celebrating life and love,
Krista

Labels: weddings

Wow! I had so much fun yesterday at Mark and Amanda's wedding - I love these two! Mark and Amanda are one of those couples that just love everyone - always something kind to say, and I don't think I've ever heard "I love you" so much in one event! I even got an "I love you " from Amanda at the end of the night!!

Getting ready...

















The church - ST. Jude's in Oakville - is just gorgeous! Amanda's mom works there and was able to pull a few strings to get a special flag for the Leafs fans...























The happy couple....

Amanda wore her mom's 26 year old veil. Beautiful!























It was a scorcher - so we went for ice cream with the bridal party. What a good way to break the heat!







I am heading out to a full day of shoots but wanted to leave you with a couple images at least. These two are of Amanda and her Grandpa when they had an intimate chat together. Grandpa was saying "I remember when you were this big- you were so small, and it went so fast..... I love you..." and the est of us were a blubbering mess of tears at this beautiful moment!







More to come of the reception - but here's a few for now!



I loved the candy bar with all pink candies!





Celebrating life and love,

Krista

Labels: weddings

Today was Paul & Kate's wedding - and it was memorable! I've never had to shoot a wedding ceremony in the dark! Anyhow, I'm jumping ahead of myself....

I started the day at Kate's home...





Kate and her daughter Arianna snuggling.



Kate waiting and watching the dark clouds...





And off to the ceremony...









The rain held off until the ceremony - and then it let loose full force! The rain came down so hard that looking out the window during the ceremony all you could see was white as the rain was like a sheet outside! And then the power went out - ahhh! Made for a romantic atmosphere!

These photos are fairly grainy - but those little candles at the front were all I had for light. I have some I took with teh flash too but this tells a bit of the story...





Arianna watching the rain out the back door....



As we waited for the rain to stop, we snuck in a stairwell at the church for a few photos...





After the rain we decided it was too muddy to go to the park as planned - so we went to Kate's parents farm. What a great spot for photos!











And I just loved this one of Arianna....



Celebrating life and love,

Krista

Labels: weddings

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day! Perfect for an outdoor wedding.

Chris & Lexie are about the sweetest couple ever - so genuine and loving. They were an absolute joy to spend the day with photographing their "Wicked" themed wedding. It's after 2am (yawn) and I have a full day of photo shoots tomorrow - but I'll post just a couple images for now. More to come Monday!











To be notified when their photos are online and ready for viewing and ordering - pre-register here!

Celebrating life and love,

Krista

Labels: weddings

Yesterday I had the fun of photographing Aaron & Kathryn's wedding. This wedding was extra special to me as Kathryn is my little cousin - I first knew her as a little munchkin I would babysit. Living with their family in the big town of Emo in the summers to watch her and her siblings. Then in recent years Kathryn and I connected as friends - she and I are so alike in many ways! And Aaron has charmed his way into our family's hearts when they have visited us for Easter and Thanksgiving the last couple years as Aaron has been studying in Waterloo. We're thrilled to have them both in Waterloo soon so that we can have them near us!

Here are just a few personal faves



One of the flower girls, Ava, spotting Kathryn coming down the aisle



And my Eden is always such a lady...



It was a very windy day!



Aaron and the boys...



The wedding party...





Madi running free...



Some from the end of the day...

After the reception Mark and I went to their cabin with them for some photos. You can only reach the cabin by boat or plane so we had a nice boat ride across with the happy couple!



The cabin where these two will be spending their first days as husband and wife...



These two are real outdoorsy folks!






The sun at sunset was gorgeous!

Labels: weddings