Romantic Fall Micro-Wedding in Wakefield

Imagine launching a snowball at a woman you like and that snowball… inevitably snowballs to a wedding.

Well this is my summation of Allister & Nourhan. Two people who we could all learn a little from — people who like to snowball - that is plan with flexibility but also immense care. I am not sure that I could have ever planned a wedding where I hired my photographer a month before nor that I hire them solely on liking how they interacted with me over the phone. That said, Nourhan had received a glowing review about me from a former bride who runs the Eco Bride Popup Shoppe in Ottawa (something I wrote about here - which is where she had found her beautiful wedding dress) so I had that going for me, too.

These two romantics also changed their wedding location to the fairly new and beautiful wedding venue: Le Peaches & Cream in Wakefield, Quebec within a week of their wedding… and it all went down without a hitch.

Sidenote: In my experience and as a witness it can be hard at times to not get bogged down in all the things at your wedding. My advice is to re-orient yourself back to the love that started these plans: make your love for each other the epicenter of your day… the details that don’t work out will not matter. Nobody remembers the 100 napkins I sewed for my wedding tables.

Working on this wedding over the last week or so was a perfectly timed reminder that there is only so much you can control in your life and all of which you can not control can still be met with grace, perspective, a huge sense of humor and kindness with a side of gratitude.

Nourhan & Allister’s wedding day was intimate, colorful, and filled with laughter. Laughter that is so infectious that my daughter asked me why I was laughing while editing their photographs.

I want to give a shout out to Kaara from Eco Bride for connecting me with Nourhan; to Mik Gelineau for being the planner we all needed on their wedding day; to the owners of Le Peaches and Cream for just having such a welcoming space and to Nourhan & Allister for being the inspiring people that they are.

That was a perfectly timed snowball to launch at Nourhan, Allister.

Vibrant Romance with Skyline Views - PART III - An Indian Wedding at Le Belvedere

Here we are, the last post from this three day wedding — as promised in part ii, you will see that Fannie & Deep’s wedding day is filled with color against the backdrop of Montreal’s city skyline from the rooftop of Le Belvedere.

As someone who at one point had a wardrobe that was mostly black, white and grey, I have to consciously opt for color when I shop to balance out the neutral. And so it was refreshing and an absolute delight to be in a sea of colorful clothing at this last celebration.

I’ve talked a little bit before about how much I love a good ceremony and an Indian Wedding mixed with Traditional wedding components has so many rituals to admire including a modernized parade to kick the whole thing off! I really wish I could infuse the sound of the drummer in my images, it was such a powerful moment.

A quick tip for anyone planning a wedding — if you are looking for more natural and less flash based wedding photography — find a wedding venue that invites the light in. It doesn’t have to be ALL windows, but having a few windows that let in natural light allows for options. Also, having the view of the skyline at all times WITH the city lights in the backdrop at Le Belvedere created ambience in spades.

This wedding was nothing short of epic in all kinds of ways for me, so a big shout out and thank you to Fannie & Deep for entrusting me with being their wedding photographer and allowing me to capture the start of a new chapter in their lives. xA

GROOMSMEN HAIR/SHAVE: Salon Freyja BRIDE DRESS #1: Mani Jassal JEWELRY: Royal Dubai Jewellers FLOWERS: Atelier Carmel PLANNER & FOOD: Marc Andre Le Traiteur RENTALS & DECOR: Indien Elite Decors BRIDE DRESS#2:Lashkaraa DJ: Aura Productions Mtl PHOTOBOOTH:Dreamin’Booth ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHER: Suzanne Bateman VENUE: Le Belvedere du Vieux-Port Montreal

A Civil Ceremony in Classic Black & White - Part II - Fannie & Deep

It’s interesting to me as I work away on Fannie & Deep’s three day wedding - the contrast of going to something so rich in color at the Mehndi Ceremony (see that post here) to the second day of their wedding: the civil ceremony, only this time in classic black & white set in an industrial loft up in the Mile End of Montreal.

What I love here is the simplicity of the black and white against the white brick and studio white backgrounds of L’Eloi; the light filtering in through the windows created interesting shapes, leaving the emotions more vulnerable and raw without all the details to distract us.

I also thought it was kind of interesting how the space mirrored the loft space we used for their engagement shoot — something I only recognized when I was editing these photos.

We were graced with a beautiful set of days, without rain and stunning sunsets. For this sunset, Fannie and Deep had changed into their second outfit for the evening — more of the traditional Indian with beautiful pale blue, green and gold tones that glittered in the last light we had on the rooftop. Some of my favorite images from all the weddings I have shot are found in here.

Stay tuned for Day Three - we go right back to color and more color.

WEDDING DRESS Boutique 1861 DRESS II Lashkaraa VENUE Productions L’Eloi TUXEDO Herringbone & Sui SUITING Anita Dongre CATERING Gujarati Foods HAIR Elodie Bancel at O Salon HENNA Shaista Jalal FLOWERS Marie Vermette Fleuriste RINGS Ashok Jewelers ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHER Cody Langshaw