Thank you so much for including me in your wonderful wedding celebration! Mazel Tov!

Venue: Beth Avraham Yoseph Synagogue

Cake: Sweet Noshings

Flowers: Lan from Heavenly Flowers

After dinner Chirs’ sister and friends performed a dance that she had choreographed. It was a beautiful dance that they had obviously put a lot of work into in. Part way through Chris jumped up and started dancing. I totally did not expect that! It was a surprise that they had planned for Seba but it was also news to me. Chris forgot to mention this small little detail Then all the groomsmen joined in. It was quite the production! I wish you a lifetime of happiness. Thank you for inviting me into your lives!

Church: Christ Church Deer Creek

Reception: Le Jardin

Make-up: gina_makeup@hotmail.com

Flowers: Karen from Eternity Floral Design

I first met Karen and Yunong two days before their wedding when I was invited for lunch at her parents’ house. I had returned home from India less than 24 hours before and was still trying to adjust back to reality.  They were all so warm and friendly it felt more like I was catching up with old friends than a first time meeting. I knew it was going to be a fantastically fun day, and boy it was! When Yunong and his best man, Puneet, arrived at Karen’s house the ladies in Karen’s family sure gave him the gears. Yunong was subjected to a whole slew of “Door Games”. I love this tradition in Chinese weddings. It is so much fun! Yunong was promptly handed a guitar and told to sing Karen a love song. Karen and her Dad were inside at the top of the stairs. Judging by the bright smile on her face I think she approved Then Yunong and Puneet had to dance the Macarena and answer a bunch of Karen related trivia. Finally Karen’s cousin, Maria, who was acting as the gate keeper, deemed Yunong worthy and let the boys in. The night was filled with all sorts of fun games. In this next one Karen had to correctly identify her groom while blindfolded. She did remarkably well and knew pretty much the moment she laid hands on him!

Thank you so much for having me along on your truly special wedding day. Next time I’m in Seattle I’ll be sure to let you know!

Karen’s reaction to the photos: “LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Thanks, Jennifer! You managed to capture the moments we didn’t want to miss!”

The auspicious date that was picked for the wedding was May 19th. May in Canada is a lovely time for a wedding but May is the hottest time of the year in Chennai. I don’t think I truly understood just how hot it would be. The books say 38 – 40 °C (100 – 104 °F) for May. This sounds hot but add some intense sunshine and 100% humidity and you get HAWT! I spent 2 and a half weeks traveling around Kerala and Tamil Nadu which were equally as hot with my friend Debra before the wedding (more on that in another post). Every day was sunny except for 5 minutes of rain one day. That was, until the day of the wedding when Cyclone Laila decided to swing into Chennai! When we came down to the lobby of our hotel at 1:30 am to meet Vishnuka’s dad it was pouring. In fact, pouring doesn’t begin to describe how hard it was raining. The wind and rain were so strong that the front doors to the hotel were being blown open and the only thing that was stopping the lobby from getting completely flooded was the doorman who was standing on the inside holding the doors shut with all his might. Yes, you did read the time correctly a few lines back. The ceremony started at 6 am so she started getting ready at 2 am. I could go on for hours about this wedding but I know you are here for the pictures. Vishnuka, you are stunning! There is something about the photo below that I absolutely love. This is the procession on the way to the temple. The sun was just beginning to rise and the rain was kind enough to back off for a few minutes. Part way through the ceremony Vishnuka changed into her red wedding sari. I love Ruban’s expression as he caught a first glimpse of his beautiful bride. Have a look at the rain in the background of this next picture. Thank you both so much for inviting me to be a part of your amazing wedding. Your love is so beautiful! xo

When Stephanie first contacted me to do these pictures she told me that she had wanted to do this for a long time. Even before her and Guillaume got married, almost 3 years ago now, she had wanted to do a fun shoot like this. I liked Stephanie from the first moment we spoke. She is so full of life and was so excited to do this shoot. Her enthusiasm was delightful. Here are a few of my faves from the day. Enjoy!

I love Jane’s bouquet and Peter has one of my favourite boutonnieres to date! Kudos to Joanna’s Florist! Thank you Jane and Peter for asking me to capture your lovely ceremony.

When I arrived Stephanie and her team from Blush Pretty were putting the final touches on Lawrie and her bridesmaids. These ladies had been working hard since the crack of dawn and did such a fantastic job.

Something old, something borrowed, and something blue! Lawrie wore her great grandmother’s turquoise broach on the liner of her dress. Isn’t it gorgeous? I love the look on their faces as they catch a glimpse of Lawrie for the first time.  …and as Lawrie and her parents see Julio. Lawrie is incredibly organized and also very thoughtful. This awesome combination lead to all sorts of personal touches at their wedding including gift bags for all the children with activity books and all sorts of other things to play with.

Here is Lawrie’s Godmother rockin’ the hula hoop! In order to get the couple to kiss the guests had to put on a hula hoop display.

Lawrie is an avid ringette player and here is her team. I imagine the ladies look a little different here than in most team pictures Thank you Lawrie and Julio from the bottom of my heart! You both are fabulous!

To see my post on this wedding click here.

I was really impressed with how open and willing Chenin was to share information on all aspects of her business. Fellow photogs, I really recommend this workshop. It was well worth the trek all the way from Toronto to SoCal. I would also like to mention that if you haven’t checked out weddingchicks.com make sure you do! Amy and Jocey are amazing, creative, talented ladies. So much wedding planning inspiration on their site.

The workshop was held at the Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club and was part classroom and part mock wedding. Angel Swanson of Events of Love & Spendor styled the event and everything looked absolutely amazing. You can’t even tell that there was monsoon rainfall 90% of the day!

The science geek in me went ape when I saw these gorgeous flower arrangements with test tubes and Erlenmeyer flasks. I have to admit I always secretly wanted to pinch a few of these from the lab for this very purpose but always felt guilty because they are really expensive. I absolutely love what The Treasured Petal did with the lab glass! Isn’t this dress STUNNING?! I have developed a new obsession thanks to my experience at the StyleLab. I am absolutely head over heels in love with Joan Shum….her dresses that is. She makes the most gorgeous corsets ever! And according to our lovely model Amanda, they are actually quite comfortable. Amanda, a talented photographer herself, and her hunky husband Mike were fantastic. Thank you! Vivian Tran and team from All Made Up did a brilliant job with Amanda’s hair and make-up.

When I first arrived at Ivonne’s house I was informed that Ivonne was out washing the car! Of all the places that a bride could be on the morning of her wedding, hair and make-up all done. Can you picture it? I bet she was the best looking lady the car wash has ever seen!

Ivonne has stunning eyes which were highlighted beautifully by her lovely fascinator. Ivonne was well prepared for the cold weather and snow with these gorgeous knee high ivory boots to match her incredible Sottero and Midgley gown.

Even the cat got dressed up for the occasion, albeit briefly. He managed to shed his cuffs and bow tie about 30 seconds after this picture was taken. After the evening was well underway we snuck out for a few romantic pictures on this beautiful grand piano.Thank you so much for having me along on your special day. I feel so lucky to have clients like you!