If I had to use two words to describe Jo & Pete’s wedding day at De La Salle Heritage House, it would be “tremendous joy”. As you will see from these photos, besides love and family, joy was an ever present theme. When I first met Jo & Pete over 1.5 years ago for coffee, I knew that their day was going to be a wildly fun day and boy was I right.
Here’s a little note from Jo & Pete:
“Dear Janice, thank you for being such an important part of our wedding day! Your photographs are absolutely gorgeous and it was a joy to work with you. We are forever grateful to you for capturing the love, laughter and fun of our day so beautifully!”
Thank you guys for welcoming me so warmly, and for opening yourselves up and just being you. Here’s the story of their day.
Amanda was referred to me by my good photography pal Sara, whom she had gone to school with. When I first met Amanda and Graham, their strong connection was very obvious to me and they just exuded warmth. For their document love/engagement session, Amanda wanted to incorporate things/locations that are meaningful to them. So we picked Silver Snails for their love of comic books, Toronto Union station because they were in a long-distance relationship for a while, and High Park for being an iconic spot in our city and the beautiful fall colours!
The day of the session came and it was unusually cool for October, and even a few snowflakes fell from the sky. But the sun came out seemingly just for us and I had an incredible time laughing and photographing them. Thank you guys for such a fun session! Looking forward to being a part of their wedding this fall!
I first met Sigga when I was in Iceland in March, 2014. We’ve kept in touch since then, and when I was back in the country at the beginning of the month, I had the opportunity to do a family photography session for Sigga and her two adorable little ones, Bergur and Elisa. The morning was cold as we played on top of frozen seaweed by the ocean, but my heart was warm. This time of the year, the sun rises around 11:30am and sets again around 3:30pm. It feels strange how short the day is but when the sun is out, the light is amazing and it’s like it’s golden hour all the time. The light never gets too harsh.
Thank you Sigga for having me photograph you and your sweet little ones! I had a blast! Here are some favourites from our time together.
By the end of the session, little Elisa was quite fascinated with my camera, she snapped a few shots, including the below photo of her mom :) Not too bad I have to say!
In the middle of the busy summer wedding season, I boarded a plane for San Francisco, set to photograph a simple wedding at the San Francisco city hall (which is on my Photography Bucket List). However, just a few days before I left, the couple had decided to call off the wedding. I was really looking forward to shooting at the city hall and I had already booked my flight, so in the end, I decided to go and try to make the best out of the situation.
On the day the wedding was supposed to take place, I headed to city hall anyway. I figured that many couples get married here everyday, maybe one of them won’t have a photographer and I could offer my services. This sounds easy but at the same time, I felt very awkward about it. It felt way worse than doing cold calling when I first started in photography. In the end, after some hesitation, I told myself that the worst that can happen is they’d say “no”. The first couple I approached did just that. Oh well, their loss ;) Then I decided to head to the registration office where each couple has to go and waited around. Finally I approached another couple, explained my story and they said yes! Perhaps what I got out of the most from this trip wasn’t the photos themselves, but learning how to make the most out of perhaps what was not an ideal situation.
When Kayla contacted me at the end of September about her and Nate’s engagement photography session in Iceland, I was incredibly excited despite the fact that this would be my fourth time in the country. I always feel like a kid in a candy store coming here. When my flight landed, and I went through the familiar Keflavik airport, hopped on the flybus and got into the city, everything felt so familiar & warm to me in a way that even coming “home” to Canada does not make me feel. I joked to Mike that maybe I was Icelandic in my past life.
The way Kayla & Nate met is stuff for the movies – they are six years apart and Kayla was in a relationship when they first met, and Nate had just gone through a breakup. A few years later, a chance encounter and a facebook message led to their first date and the rest was history. The day of our session came, we met up before the sun came up as this time of the year, daylight hours are short and drove out into the countryside. We explored a few places along the south coast, including the famous Black Sand beach Reynisfjara, Dyrholaey peninsula and a couple of waterfalls. They were troopers and braved the strong wind and the chilly temperatures (they are from southern California so the weather was definitely a bit of a shock) and were up for anything – even going behind Seljalandsfoss with a super icy path and going up to the top of Skogafoss.
Thanks Kayla & Nate, for inviting me to Iceland to document your love! It was a pleasure and I’m so grateful for the opportunity. Here are some of my favourites from our little adventure.
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!
