Mélanie Driedger Photography

Hello from the west!  I’m writing this while sitting in a beautiful living room in Chilliwack, BC.  I’m just loving this beautiful HOT weather and looking forward to tomorrow’s wedding!  While I’m relaxing, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you a few photos from Tuesdays family shoot with the Bricknell family.

For those of you who don’t know, for the last few years my mornings have been busy with teaching French in a private school here in Guelph.  It was a very big challenge for me to plan lessons everyday and try to inspire kids to learn a language that could really help them out in the future (especially here in Canada).  For the most part my plan worked and I managed to influence and inspire a few students to take French a lot more seriously.  (And on a side note: I now have a new respect for teachers.  They really do give a lot of their time and effort to help these kids succeed in life!).  Anyway, this is when I met these two lovely “kids”.  Doug has grown up so much in the past few years, he’s definitely not a kid anymore!  Both Julia and he were some of my keenest students.  I know Julia was sad when I decided not to come back to teach this year to do photography full time.  But of course Julia I’ll be back to visit you kids at the school!

I was thrilled when Maria and Wayne invited me to their home to take photos of their lovely family.  Their beautiful backyard was a perfect place for some nice family portraits!

Wayne & Maria

Doug & Julia

love this!

Julia’s a riot… and you’ll notice those hands may be a little too large to be her own

One thing that always impressed me about Doug was how good he is with his sister!

Doug is a huge sports fan!  They even have a putting green in their yard!

Thanks again Bricknells!  You are such a special family!!

Melanie

“Our” little Carter is growing fast.  He’s 9 months now and as cute as ever!  You may remember him when he was just a few weeks old!  I love when we have the chance to journey with a family.  It’s always OUR privilege to be able to capture the growth of a life.  So thanks Aaron & Kariann… we really love and appreciate you three

Enjoy this short film of Carter.  Justin picked the most appropriate song for this blue-eyed boy – “Baby Blue” from the new Dave Matthews!!

Carter’s dad Aaron is going to love the following shot.  His only “requirement” was that we show off his baby blues

Carter’s first taste of a lemon.  He didn’t seem to mind it actually!

Beautiful light and a beautiful baby… what more can I ask for?

When Tam & Huy met up with Justin and I for their engagement shoot in London, they warned us that their wedding day may be a little (or a lot) chaotic. “There’s many parts to a Vietnamese wedding” is an understatement!  I’d say that the day was definitely beautiful chaos! With 3 different ceremonies, over 12 gift exchanges, 3 separate meals, 3 dress changes, and 300 guests… Tam & Huy’s wedding was nothing less than an amazing celebration!

Instead of doing a two part post, I’ve decided to make one long one (considering Tam leaves with Huy tomorrow on their honeymoon and she’s so anxious to see the photos!) So sit back and enjoy this unique wedding!

I arrived at Tam’s apartment at 7:30am.  When I walked in her sister was helping with makeup and she was already looking so stunning!

While at the grooms house, Justin captured some of these shots!

Huy on his iphone!

Ready and looking quite perfect!

The traditional Vietnamese wedding begins with the groom and his family walking over to the bride’s home for the first ceremony.  Family and friends gather in the lobby to exchange gifts.

Here’s a shot of the girls in the elevator, heading down to receive the gifts.

Huy and his family and friends walked over from his house in the rain!

As they walked in with their gifts, an amazing aroma filled the air… I found out later it was THIS PIG!!!

We all made our way up to Tam’s (SMALL) apartment.  At least 50 people were crammed in there for the 1st ceremony.

Here’s Tam walking out with her mom to meet Huy!

I love this shot, but unfortunately I can’t tell you why & what they’re eating because I couldn’t understand the language!!

After the 1st ceremony, we ate a little breakfast and they quickly got changed to head to Holy Name of Mary church for their 2nd ceremony!

Tam’s nephew is the cutest little guy!

Love Huy’s strong look here

We managed to take 10 minutes to snap a few formals

After another quick change, we headed to Huy’s house for the 3rd and final ceremony!

I wonder what the neighbours thought of this entourage of people walking back and forth down the street!

Then it was off to The Ciociaro Club in Windsor.  I was so impressed with this beautiful venue.

And the decorations were gorgeous as well. A big THANKS to Diane from Designs by Diane!

Tam had the bridesmaids dresses made in Vietnam… aren’t you loving all of these details!

Finally, it’s time to party!!  And it began with a BANG… this traditional dance was AMAZING!  (stay tuned for more of this in their short film)

Tam & Huy “CHEERS” to both of you and your marriage!  You are both such kind and generous people who deserve nothing but the best!!

For those of you who have the privilege of knowing Justin personally, you know that he is just one BIG kid!!  He still loves to waste all our quarters on gumball machines, eat chocolate for breakfast, embarrass me in public, and he would choose pancakes “with ears” over ones with blueberries any day.  Of course there are many other reasons why I love him and why he is loved by so many!  I wouldn’t be the only one to say that Justin is someone who is CONTAGIOUS and INSPIRING.

And today that inspiring man is 27!!

I thought it would be fitting to start his day off with Mickey Mouse pancakes… just to remind him that he’s NEVER too old to be young at heart

Happy Birthday Love!

Here’s a photo of yesterday’s bride – TAM! What an amazing and unique day… I can’t wait to share more