What a better way to start the year than with a beautiful winter wedding!  Justin and I headed up to Kettleby to photograph Victoria & Brett – a lovely couple!  We connected with these two through the gorgeous Renee (Brett’s soon-to-be sister in law) who I’ve known for several years now.  As Victoria shared the vision of her wedding, I was excited to use some of the christmasy decor in their shots!  But of course with very cold weather, my eyes eagerly searched for great light since we stayed indoors the entire day…

As I went through their photos today, I couldn’t help but smile at both Brett & Victoria’s beautiful smiles.  I know you’ll enjoy these as much as I did!

such a funny moment… something “borrowed”!!

Victoria’s niece being a very big help

While I was with the ladies, Justin was taking some great shots of Brett and his guys

One of my favourites!

love love love the sparkling lights behind them!!

Cheers to the two of you… beautiful people with great hearts!

Having talked to Joanne the day before, I could tell by her voice how excited she was to have some photos taken of her and Sye and of their family.  I’m  always so happy and honoured to be chosen to capture such special, intimate moments between a couple.

I hope you enjoy these memories!!

Oh my, I couldn’t get enough of their girls

Now for some mommy and daddy time

I love everything about this photo…

Definitely my favourite wall in Guelph!

These two are such lovely people!

Here’s to many years of happiness for you two and your family!

That’s it.  Really… it’s that easy.  If you want to be one of my wedding couples next summer, I’m sending you a little early Christmas gift by giving you 15% off (but only to the first 5 to email me).  Promotion deadline is December 1st. I have only a few select dates still available so contact me soon!

That’s pretty exciting, I’d say.   So if you were sitting on the fence deciding when or if to book… jump right off and send me an email!

And now….. for some photos.  I had the privilege of doing a very last minute wedding ceremony for a lovely couple this past weekend.  When Afzia from Style & Elegance Wedding and Event Coordination emailed me on Monday desperate for help… I was glad to be available.  I had never been part of a traditional muslim ceremony before, and needless to say I learned a lot about Qayum & CJ’s family and culture in just a few short hours.  Even after the ceremony was over, Qayum’s parents insisted that Justin & I stayed for some (very spicy) indian food After every bite, I was looked at for approval “out of 1-10, how would you say you liked it?” asked his father! HA!

Thanks Afzia for the oppurtunity!  Here’s a few of my favourites of the couple:

CJ was stunning in her pink dress!

the handsome groom – Qayum

Before the bride joins the groom at the front of the room, she sits at the back with some of the women.  Then the groom brings her up the aisle.

I still can’t believe these were taken in the basement of a house.  We managed to get a really dramatic look with the little light we had!

Congratulations again to you two and your new family!

You all know I’m a big fan of SHARP, COLOURFUL photos… and this wedding had a whole of that. The light, colours, landscape, and details made my job really fun that day!  I hope all the best for Ainsley & Matt and in their marriage!  Having spent the day with them and their family… there’s no doubt that they have the support from everyone around them and that’s a great way to start their journey together.

Here’s Ainsley & her sisters looking stunning!

Minutes before Matt gets to see his bride…

They decided to have a first look before the ceremony so we could get all of the photos we needed.  I love the photos from this series… LOVE!

“how do I look?”… Matt’s face says it all!!

this shot is SOOTC (straight out of the camera).  the colours that come out of my Mark III 1Ds is unreal!

my favourite

It’s official!

After the ceremony we took a few more shots with the gorgeous light and I couldn’t decide which I liked better… so I put them both

A few details I really loved from their wedding

The first dance always gets to me… weird maybe?  but I just love that moment… *sigh*

Another moment I loved between Ainsley & her dad

Justin’s shot of the Golf Club as we were leaving…

Much love to both of your on this new journey as husband & wife!!!!

Yesterday, I dropped by theWeddingRing’s new office / loft / cool place to take photos and picked up my copies.  Of course I am so thrilled to see my photos published that I needed to share them with you!

all of my photos from the Bride’s Ball were all over the magazine as well

There you have it.  A little of bit of GREAT news
I hope you have a fantastic and warm weekend!!

We’re also going to post some photos and a highlight video from Italy sooooooon!  So stay tuned for that fun stuff!!

But for today here’s Tam & Huy’s short film.  Enjoy!

This day couldn’t have come quicker for the two of them.  With so much hope in their future, for months they were wanting their future to be the present!!  Well now, the day has come and gone… and I’m hoping these photos will help you remember how special it was, how special you are… both individually and together!

Justin & I were so grateful as to how they intentionally made each of us kids feel so special on their day.  We were all involved and had our place.  I’d say I’m most impressed with my talented Justin who was busy officiating the wedding, being the son of the groom, and second-shooting.  I KNOW, he’s amazing right?!  Even in our “busy-ness”, we didn’t want to miss out on celebrating and ‘feeling’ the day so we tried real hard to put down the camera at times to just “be” with dad and Jeannine.

We’d love nothing more than for you to enjoy this slideshow of their wedding (with a few video segments fused into it).

I love this egg Jeannine got from the Ukraine.  She bought two… one I used in their engagement shoot and this beautiful one.

While Justin was hanging out with his dad at the house, I was with Jeannine at the salon.

This is Aubrey, my favourite brother-in-law… ok so he’s my only brother BUT he’s still my favourite!!

The next two shots of Justin’s are full of amazing emotion between a dad and his daughters.

So gorgeous and beaming with joy!

Minutes before the ceremony started… love it!

Let’s pause here for a funny story.

Let’s go back 5 years to when Justin and I got married.  Of course dad officiated our wedding, but when he pronounced us man and wife he said:  ”Mr & Mrs Justin and Melanie Boudreau” (Boudreau was my maiden name).  None of us noticed until someone mentioned it later and then of course we all had a big laugh about it (and we’ve never let Glenn forget it either)!

So when Glenn asked Justin to repay him the favour by officiating his wedding to Jeannine, I had my suspicions that Justin would do the same.  And of course, he did.

“Let me introduce you to Mr and Mrs Glenn and Jeannine Boyd, I mean Driedger”  So fun.

Me and my two lovely twin sisters *whistles*

Their guestbook

Here’s another great moment when Jeannine surprised Glenn with a ‘bouquet’ of wheat.

Only a few months ago Grandpa Driedger passed away, and of course Glenn was so disappointed to not have his dad with him on his special day.

His dad was a farmer and so Jeannine really wanted to have some wheat in some of the photos to remember him by.  Special.

What’s a wedding without your two best friends: Heidi and Gerald!

Hmmm this looks familiar

Jeannine’s niece was looking so fierce.  I loved her look!

LOVE these two moments with Glenn’s mom on the left and Jeannine’s sister on the right.

The Driedger family at their best!!

You can totally sense the love and joy from these two.  bliss.

Dad & Jeannine… much love to both of you!  Thanks for entrusting us in capturing all the special moments of your day.  It was nothing less than a joyful celebration for you and our family!

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!!

1. The ceremony was spoken only in French!  I laughed at the thought of Justin being with me for this wedding (he couldn’t make the trip this time) because he only understands a few words in French.

2. All of Pierre’s family wore a small sunflower pin to remember his brother.

3. Natasha’s brother Joel was a ‘bridesmaid’ and wore a pink tie, while Pierre’s sister Anik was a ‘groomsmen’ and wore a green dress!

4. The pink and green theme was tied in so nicely with the girls’ dresses, Natasha’s shoes, the groomsmens’ ties, the decor and even the priests’ biretta!!

5. Val Gagne is so small (only-five-streets-in-the-town-kind-of-small) that we could’ve walked from her house to the church and then to her neighbours yard in a few short minutes.  But don’t worry they still rode in limousine style!

6. I think my favourite part was when Natasha & Pierre walked out to Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida”.  Definitely still one of my favourite songs!

Here are a “few” of my favourites

A beautiful bride with beautiful style… and we can’t forget Pierre!!  He’s got some GREAT taste considering he bought the AMAZING necklace she’s wearing!

Check out these kids!!!! They’re so cute and hilarious!

HOT PINK BIRETTA! Definitely the coolest priest I’ve ever worked with!

love it!

Félicitations vous deux!!