Julianna and Kris

Last weekend’s wedding came on the coattails of a trip to Edmonton to shoot a music video, so beleive me when I tell you that I was a bit tired.  Thankfully I was car pooling with my partner-in-crime from Frame of Mind Photography, Anthony.  Sean was also with us shooting candids as usual.  So we met at the studio bright and early and headed off to Kris’s house.

The guys were in great spirits and so easy to shoot.  Lots of family showed up which made for some great candid video along with some of the cool stuff that we set up.  Kris’s mom and Dad were right into it as well; Kris’s Dad having a pocket full of pictures from Kris’s youth, narrating a pseudo-slideshow to the camera as he flipped through some pics of his boy turned man, and Kris’s mom setting up the ribbon to be cut by her son as he walked through the doorway for the final time as a single man.  The bride’s house was a familiar sight to me as I shot Julianna’s sister Michelle’s wedding not even a year ago.  I was welcomed back by Julianna, her parents, siblings and some bridal party members.  As per form and fashion, Julianna looked amazing as did the front lawn that was absolutely covered with a whole spectrum’s worth of coloured rose pedals.

We moved through the church portion of the day relatively quickly and then we headed to the Don Valley Brick Works for pictures.  We’ve been known to pull of some really cool photo and video in the most unexpected venues.  This place was pretty industrial and had some really cool buildings.  After about an hour and a half we decided that we had all the footage that we needed and left for the reception hall.

I was pleased to see that we’d be working with Anthony from DJ Emporium again (amazing DJ and great guy).  Right away I knew that we were in for a smooth sailing night.  Julianna and Kris had a martini bar set up in the middle of the dance floor with an ice fountain in the center.  On the two ends of the dance floor were the Antipasto tables…good stuff.  As the night rolled smoothly along we saw the bride and groom dance with their parents and each other, we ran our Same Day Slide show, ate 5 courses of great food and wound it all up with a packed dance floor, great music and a midnight seafood table that tasted just as good as it looked.

Julianna and Kris, thanks for sharing this day with all of us!  Hope to see you guys again for your next family wedding!  Cheers.

Amy & Anthony

Today started off at 7:45am with the team meeting at the studio so that we could all head off to our first location of the day; Anthony’s house.  Now, we had worked with both Anthony and Amy, having done their engagement shoot in Unionville in the fall of 2008 so I knew they’d be great to be with for the day and easy to work with as well.

When we got there, Anthony was getting ready with the rest of the guys, so naturally we did our thing.  The grooms men and family were really easy to work with and seemed to be game for anything that we had in mind.  We were able to get a ton of awesome footage and pictures in the time that we were there, and it kind of set the pace for the rest of the day.  When we got to the hotel that Amy was at with the bridal party we didn’t want to waste any time, so we scouted the place out before going upstairs to see her.  In doing this we found some really unique shots that we wanted to do (and we did them), so we headed upstairs to begin.  The brides maids were getting ready with hair and makeup and Amy (who looked amazing), was ready for us to start our coverage of the day.

The church went as smoothly as every.  The groom was fitted with a wireless mic so that my video camera picked up all of the speaking, my HD spy cam was set up so that we could get a really cool perspective of the rings, vows, kiss etc, and of course I manned the main video camera. Frame of Mind ran the photo side of things and I also had Eric shooting 2nd camera with his Canon XHA1S.  Total coverage!!!

We went to U of T for the park photos, which started off with a friendly game of basket ball.  The bridal party vs. the guys that were playing when we got there.  Needless to say, the guys (bball players) were a bit better dressed for the game.  We continued through U of T for about 1.5 hrs and we shot a lot of great video and photo, then we headed back to the bus to go to the reception.

On the way to the reception the weather changed.  Actually, it was almost like we were in a tornado by the time we were in the thick of it, and I saw many felled hydro lines, fences were torn out of the ground and the rain was coming down with such force that it sounded like small stones hitting the car.  Oh well, we were done outside!

The reception was at Le Jardin.  As always, the hall was amazing.  Anthony and Amy had a large screen projector presentation of the engagement video that we shot, but we decided to do a same day slide show as a surprise to them.  We got it put together and boy were the bride and groom excited when it started playing.  They were able to show the guests that didn’t attend earlier what had happened.  It was very impactful.

At the end of the night we wished Amy and Anthony all the best and thanked them for allowing us to work with them for the day.  Have a great honeymoon!

Jackie and David •September 6, 2008

Jackie and David were a really cool couple to work with.  We did their engagement shoot at Sunnyside Park about a month or so before so we were pretty well acquainted.

We started at David’s place.  All of the guys were there and we were just in time to capture the details, the flowers getting put on, some toasts and some live entertainment.  In David and Jackie’s culture it is customary to have the bride serenaded the night before the wedding.  The musicians that did that the night before showed up at David’s house and played music for him as well.  As always, I just happened to have the right microphone for the job in my bag so not only did it look great, it sounded great too.

We arrived at Jackie’s location which is an amazing house in Etobicoke that had no shortage of places to shoot.  The architecture and detail of the house were great and the grounds were a whole other story altogether.

After trying to follow Jackie’s dad to the church in his Ferrari and loosing him on the highway, I turned to my GPS for directions.  No matter, I still got there on time to mic the groom, speak to the priest about what his rules are, scout my shooting spots and catch the bridal party, Groom and Bride all walk the isle.

We decided that after the luncheon at the house, we wouldn’t go to James Gardens to do “the Park thing”, we’d use Jackie’s parents house and grounds.  Great choice, the place (like I said), is amazing.  We also took the picture that was going to be used later on that night for the same-day thank you cards.

We ended off the day at the Bellagio.  We did a large screen projection presentation for the couple of their engagement walk and a photo montage.  They also got same-day thank you cards, each with a picture of the guest in a custom paper frame with the couples names, date and an inscription.  Guests love this, and we do it fast.  Guests were picking up their pictures before the first course was served.  Way to go Anthony!

Jackie and David, I know that you guys will be happy together and thanks for letting us share you day with you.

Congrats you two!

Annie and Oneil •August 16, 2008

So this is the Sunday of the weekend and the second wedding of the weekend for me.  What a great day for Annie and O’Neil to tie the knot!  It was really a pleasure to work with both of them as well as the bridal party.

We started the morning at Oneil’s place in Thornhill.  I was shooting with my trusty Sony FX-1 (as usual) and as per form, all of my standard gear.  I also brought along the Fig Rig to really get some interesting shots while at both pre-ceremony locations.  O’Neil and the guys were as cool as ice at the house and we shot some really nice footage of everyone getting ready, getting nervous and eventually getting into the limo.

Everything was just as smooth at Annie’s house.  Her dress was very elegant with a full lace up back (which took 3 girls to tie up).  We set up the jewelery that Annie was to wear, and Roger (the photographer) and I took pictures and video of it as well as the beautifully decorated house, the girls getting their hair done, family and guests arriving, Annie’s decent down the stairs and of course…the look in her parents eyes as their daughter got ready to get in her limo and go to the church.

Speaking of the church…WOW!  This church was huge!  The architecture, stone work, stained glass, and paintings were amazing.  The lighting from the skylights cast almost an angelic spotlight down on the couple which looked really nice for the video.  I was able to have a conversation with the minister that was officiating the ceremony as I usually do, and he told me where he didn’t want me to walk of shoot from.  I was pretty shocked when he told me that I could basically do what I want as far as shooting locations.  This meant that I could get whatever shots I wanted…and I did.  I don’t know if it was because it was warm in the church or out of sheer nerves, but thanks to my trusty wireless microphone attached to the grooms lapel, I could hear him whispering to his best man to daub the sweat from his forehead just before the vows and rings.  Don’t worry O’Neil, I’ll edit that part out.  Man! Do those mics pick up audio.

After the ceremony, we hit Edwards Gardens for some park photos and video.  Edwards Gardens (for those who have never been), is a really nice park with lots of different areas to shoot.  My favorite places there are the Well, the bridge and the staircase…and yes, I used them all.  The bridge shot was especially cool just because of the sheer size of the bridal party (15 in all).  For this shot I like to go quite a distance back and shoot some really wide shots, as well as some closer shots with some nice camera movements.  I also do this shot where the bride and groom kiss (they are in the center of the group), and the whole bridal party is looking at them, cheering.  By this time, all of the spectators are ohhing and ahhhing, so I tell them to join in with the cheering.  By the time the shot is done I’ve involved the whole bridal party and whomever else is standing around and wants to “give it up” for the couple.  We finished off with some very slow, picture-esq walking along a path that’s lined with flowers, trees and other really nice foliage.

My favorite part of the day…the reception.  We celebrated the last part of the day at the Venetian.  I really like this place.  John at the Venetian is amazing!  If ever there were a bride who needed someone to make sure that everyone sticks to the plan, then John is your guy.  We ran a Live-Eye system so that everyone could view the grand entrance of the couple, the dances, speeches, cake cutting and the engagement video on 4 large screen in the hall.

The decor was done very well, with center pieces containing water that was tinted to match the bridal party’s dresses.  The head table was spectacular and (as usual), I was equipped and ready to shoot all of the fine details right up to the grand shots of the hall.  After setting up my lights and audio we were ready for a great night.  Everything went very smoothly…the speeches were recorded with the cooperation of the DJ (he let me plug my wireless gear into his mixer), the dances were shot with the soft light from my soft boxes and not a moment of importance was missed.

Annie and Oneil, thanks so much for choosing us to do your wedding, thanks for letting us share this amazing day with you both.