Intimate & Elegant Downtown Toronto Wedding | As Featured on Wedding Opera
In the past couple of years, I’ve met a lot of couples who love travelling as much as I do, if not more. I guess likeminded people attract each other :) The first time I met Amy & Henry, we sat and talked about travelling for a long time before we even discussed their wedding plans. In fact, they are currently on their honey-quarter right now as I write this. On the day of their wedding at the Spoke Club in downtown Toronto, it rained and rained. But all that rain couldn’t have stopped the smiles and the joy they had shared on that special day.
Thank you guys for inviting me to share in this journey with you and to capture it all!
This sweet winter city hall wedding is also seen on The Wedding Co.
Winter weddings in Toronto probably aren’t rare given our long winters in Canada, but Prash & Val’s was the first I had photographed, and I hope won’t be my last!
Val & Prash met in university in the same student club. They got to know each other very well before dating and have managed to make long distance work. For their wedding, they wanted a very intimate & low key day with just their immediate families – which was exactly what happened. A very intimate ceremony at city hall was followed by portraits around downtown Toronto in Osgoode Hall, Union Station and the Fairmont. Then they enjoyed a private meal at Reds restaurant. Val loves snow and even though the wedding was at the end of January, it had been pretty dry up until that point. But the weather gods were kind to us; as we were walked out of city hall, it started to snow! That was the perfect finishing touch to a lovely afternoon.
Featured on La Bride | A Romantic Greek Island Elopement | Skopelos, Greece
If you’ve watched Mamma Mia, the movie, then you might have wondered (or already know) where they filmed the gorgeous Greek islands scenes (let’s not discuss Pierce Brosnan’s singing…although personally I thought he was ok!).
And you guessed right, many of the scenes were filmed in Skopelos! When Jo contacted me about photographing her and Dan’s wedding in Skopelos, I was ecstatic! Skopelos is in the Sporades group of islands, about 3 hours away from the nearest mainland port of Volos by fast ferry. After the movie was released, mass tourism really hit the island. Luckily from what I’ve seen, that has died down a little. Of the four Greek islands I’ve visited this summer (Crete, Rhodes, Samothraki, and Skopelos), this was my favourite. For me, it has just the right balance between scenery, beaches, architecture and local culture.
Jo and Dan are from Australia, they were planning a big European adventure when the idea came to get married while overseas as well. They chose Greece because it’s somewhere new for them, exciting and full of romance (I couldn’t agree more). Jo and I had already emailed each other quite extensively and talked on the phone before, so when we finally met, I felt like I had known her for a long time. I met them the night before for dinner, and it was quite apparent how genuine they are and the special connection they share. On the wedding day, I joined them on the surreal, dreamlike Amarantos Rocks with their officiant, in addition to their lovely planner Daphne and myself as witnesses. Afterwards I was lucky to join them for dinner at Korali taverna as we watched the sun dip below the horizon.
It was truly one of the most intimate weddings I’ve experienced as a photographer and I couldn’t have asked for a more lovely couple to spend that day with. Thank you Jo & Dan, for having me capture your special day in stunning Skopelos and welcoming me so warmly.
A severe storm battered Skopelos a few weeks after we were there, many areas of the island were severely damaged, including the taverna where we had dinner. These photos will always remind me that there are very few things in life we can have forever, but your memory will always be yours.
It was Alex’s mom who had originally gotten in touch with me about photographing Alex & Tino’s Samothraki wedding in September. Samothraki, or as it is in Greek, Samothrace, is an island in the northeastern Aegean group of Greek islands. If you’ve been to the Louvre in Paris, you might remember the statue of the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Legend has it that the statue is from a temple on this island. As far as Greek islands go, Samothraki is not your typical island. It doesn’t have the houses with white-washed walls and blue domes of the Cyclades like Santorini, but it doesn’t have the crowds either. :) There is tourism there, but not mass tourism, so the island still retains its authentic charm. It definitely takes a bit of effort to get to, but it’s worth it.
Anyway, back to the wedding! Alex & Tino live in the United States, but Tino is half Greek and spent time in Samothraki growing up. It is one of his favourite places in the world. They decided to have their wedding at the lovely Archondissa Hotel, right by the sea just outside the village of Therma. The ceremony was right on the beach, at sunset with their friends & family from all around the world witnessing as they said their own vows. Then everyone had dinner & danced under the stars. It was just as they had imagined it – everyone enjoyed it.
Alex & Tino, thanks for letting me document your wedding day on the beautiful island of Samothraki! Here are some of my favourites from that day.
I’ve wanted to photograph a wedding in Guernsey ever since I read The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society and this article. So when I received an email from Helen last year with the subject “Wedding in Guernsey!” I was pretty stoked. After a few email exchanges, my visit to Guernsey was booked.
You might wonder just where is Guernsey? It’s one of the British Channel Islands, although they are closer to France geographically.
Now about Helen and Tom. Their first date involved a late night chat, an impromptu late night stroll on the beach and then watching the sunrise together. Couldn’t have been more perfect. They love to travel and spent a year travelling the world together.
The wedding day started with the boys having a (very cold) swim at the beach. So fun! Because you can only legally get married in a church in Guernsey, they found Ste Apolline Chapel that dates back to the 14th century, and got married with 15 of their nearest & dearest in attendance. Then a reception followed at Fairfield with a big marquee, lawn games, yummy food, music & dancing. We took their wedding portraits along the stunning southeastern coast, where the landscape inspired Renoir to create a series of paintings, and was also Victor Hugo’s favourite picnic spot.
It was truly a beautiful day with many memorable moments. But I think Tom’s speech will forever go down in history as one of the funniest Groom speeches (at least in my opinion). I was laughing so hard at some points that it was hard to take photos.
Thank you Helen & Tom, for inviting me to share in your beautiful day, for welcoming me so warmly, and for trusting me to tell your story!
In July I photographed a Venice honeymoon portrait session for Hieu and Alex. Hieu and Alex are from the U.S. (Georgia and San Fran). They were on a 3-week honeymoon in Europe and Venice, Italy was one of their stops.
I was in Europe for 3 weeks myself for a couple of weddings and Venice was my first stop. It had been 5 years since I last visited Venice and I was very much looking forward to my second visit. I think a lot of people who have been to Venice love it. There are also those who think it’s overrated. The complaints I often hear are: it’s too touristy; it’s not authentic; things cost too much. But I think most “touristy” places are touristy for reason. I don’t think those places are at fault just because everyone want to visit. Yes Venice can be crowded, yes it can feel less like an authentic city compared to other places, but there is more than a thousand years of history that took place in this city built on water. Every canal, every calle, every brick has a story, and I believe all those stories have left invisible marks on the city. You can’t see them, but you can feel them.
We woke up really early for this honeymoon session since July in Venice is quite hot and humid. So we decided to start just after sunrise. It was a more reasonable temperature and it was also before the crowds attacked the city :) We started in their hotel, then we walked over the Rialto bridge, wandered through some small lanes (calles) to Piazza San Marco and ended it with a gondola ride!
