A Persian-Canadian Wedding at Prestige Hotels and Resorts in Sooke, Victoria, CA: Amin + Golly
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A family-centric wedding with a combination of Western and Persian traditions in Sooke, Victoria, Canada.
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A Foggy Just Because Session in Cameron Lake, BC, Canada: Camilla + Ked
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We’ve known each other since high school without ever officially meeting. Life took us in different directions, although we both knew about each other from mutual friends. In university, we both took a Psychology of Sexuality course and truly met there.
Read MoreIt's Time for a Wedding Language Re-Dux: Say This Not That
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If you have spent even a limited amount of time in the wedding industry, you have likely picked up on the heteronormative language that is deeply ingrained in the day-to-day. This language is outdated, and hurtful to those in non-hetero relationships. It's time for the wedding industry to be inclusive of all couples in love. It's time for a wedding language re-dux.
Read MorePeople Are Not Props // How to Avoid Tokenism in Your Portfolio
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How to diversify portfolios is a topic that comes up frequently in photography groups on Facebook. It generally looks something like this: “I want to start photographing gay weddings but don’t have any gay clients… what do I do?” or “I need make my portfolio less white/straight… should I do a model call?” A few of those conversations have resulted in white people getting called out for tokenizing members of marginalized communities and, frequently, those who were called out responded with mild (or not so mild) outrage and wondered how to get away from their straight white client base if they can’t do model calls for LGBTQ2S+ folks or POC to expand their portfolios.
There is very limited information regarding tokenism as it pertains to fine arts generally and photography portfolio building specifically. This article is an attempt to compile the information I did find and present it in a way that is applicable to the photography industry. It might seem straightforward and obvious to some, but I think it is needed
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Real Couples // A Just Because Couples Session in Vancouver: Ace + Cicely-Belle
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I saw Kaidra's work on Facebook and it looked amazing! I know that she's photographed people of diverse backgrounds and identities before, so we felt super comfortable working with her. We were just about to move into a new place at the time so we wanted some photos we could decorate our home with. I had to do some convincing to get Ace involved—she's not as narcissistic as I am—but she definitely knows we look hot as a couple so she obliged. We love to get dressed up and have a good time so it was really incredible to have Kaidra document our love in that way.
Read MoreReal Couples // An Indian Wedding with Nods to Filipino Culture: Ronjay + Sonia
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We had a traditional Indian wedding. Growing up I always dreamed to have an Indian wedding, wearing the beautiful dresses and having beautiful ceremonies. I didn't realize what extent these traditions went to, which got frustrating at one point, but it was all worth it at the end! As the bride, my wedding time frame with all the ceremonies (Jagoo, Miyan and Henna night) consisted of four days in total, where some brides celebrate anywhere from four to seven days! I was happy with just four days.
Read MoreStyled Shoot // Same-sex Elopement in Montreal on a Boat
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We are very privileged to have our photo-shoot done by these wonderful collaborators! Everyone was enthusiastic and so lively. Every detail was on point. We laughed all through the photo-shoot and that is of great importance to us!
Read MoreWedding Inspiration // An Intimate Mexican-Canadian Art Gallery Wedding
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This wedding inspiration shoot in the heart of Toronto at Art Gallery of Ontario shows off the joy of this Mexican Canadian couple as they celebrate with an intimate wedding ceremony full of color and art.
Read MoreReal Couples // A Storybook Wedding: James + Gloria
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James and Gloria met in University in a Chinese class. They had their wedding in one of the most beautiful venues in Edmonton, the Hotel MacDonald. The ceremony room is so beautiful that it looks like a picture from a fairytale story book. It was a rainy day, but thank goodness the venue is so beautiful and we were able to take lots of formal photos indoor. The tea ceremony took place right after the ceremony in the Hotel MacDonald. Their wedding cake by Art of Cake was so gorgeous. James and Gloria were such a cute and down-to-earth couple and I feel so lucky to be part of their big day.
Read MoreReal Couples // Classic Downtown Edmonton Wedding: Crystal + Jimmy
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Crystal and Jimmy met in the gym. Jimmy approached Crystal to show her how to use a piece of equipment, and that's how it all started. Crystal and Jimmy even decided to do their engagement session in the gym where they met, as that's a special place to them.
Crystal is the most down-to-earth bride that I have ever worked with. She is easy going and relaxed. For instance, she prioritized comfortable shoes for her and her maid of honor to wear on the wedding day, as comfort is very important to her. Jimmy is East Indian, and Crystal adopted the tradition of getting henna hand painting for the wedding.
Read MoreWhimsical Crepe Paper Wedding Inspiration in Ontario
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When photographer Hannah Yoon approached me about collaborating on a styled shoot highlighting a model of color and a crepe paper flower crown designed by 622 Flowers, the obvious answer was YES! While chatting, we decided to build a shoot that would focus on handmade details and lots of DIYs. We drew inspiration from the bold colors of the flower crown with the goal of creating a mysterious and enchanting vibe.
Lastly, we wanted this shoot to inspire an audience who is often underserved in wedding blogs. People of color are often underrepresented online in the wedding industry, and this is exactly who we hope to reach!
Real Couples // A Traditional Canadian Wedding with Caribbean and African Flare: Julie + Kevin
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Julie and Kevin met in Edmonton during High School. Some like to call them High School sweethearts, although they didn't start their relationship until they entered University. It was important to them to host the wedding in their vibrant hometown, surrounded by their community, family and friends. Julie and Kevin’s vision was to have a traditional wedding (church ceremony, reception, dance party) that had a mix of cultural elements. With Julie's mother from Trinidad and father from Ghana, they were thrilled to include Caribbean dancers and African drummers as part of their celebration.
Read MoreReal Couples // Rooftop Cree Wedding: Onowa + Paul
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Their wedding was not just centered on Onowa and Paul's love for each other, but on their love of each other's family, friends, and community. Their wedding started with a Cree smudging ceremony and a beautiful musical performance, followed by promises made to each other, and an exchanging of rings. Onowa, Paul, and Onowa's youngest daughters then shared what they were each bringing to the marriage, which brought looks of tenderness as well as lots of laughter. Both Onowa and Paul wore items that reflected their cultures; Onowa wore a beaded hair piece with her veil, and Paul wore a traditional Maori necklace and tie with Maori designs.
Read MoreReal Couples // A Day in the Life of Lovers: Bonnie + Vince
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This session melts my heart for a few reasons. First of all, I had the opportunity to really get to know a friend from school and meet her boyfriend—something that wouldn’t have happened otherwise if we didn’t all share a passion for photography. At our initial meeting, they began to explain how different they both are but how great their relationship works. They both agreed that once I saw their apartment, everything would make sense. And it did.
Read MoreWedding Inspiration // Sharp Angles with a Geo Edge
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Forever Enchanting Wedding & Event Planning put this stylized wedding inspo shoot together just before Christmas through collaboration with some amazing talented vendors in Edmonton, Alberta. The style we were going for was bold and edgy with sharp angles and crisp lines. Some of our favorite details included the wedding gown because it showcased the geometric shapes, and we also loved the copper himmelis and the unique love showcased by the real life couple in our shoot.
Read MoreHow to Ditch the White Wedding Dress & Just Be You!
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I’ve been at 400 weddings in 15 years. I’m sure I’ve seen every kind of white dress you can possibly imagine, and frankly, I’m over it.
It’s 2016, people! You can stand out as a bright flower in a summer full of white-dress-black-suit friendweddings!
You can be memorable and amazing! You can be excited about being yourself!
You can express your gender identity! LGBTQIA+ couples don't have to try and fit into what their straight friends are doing, unless they want to.
You can put that weirdly large wedding dress budget to use in hiring a better photographer, getting engagement photos, having cocktails or better quality food, or going on your honeymoon!
Read MoreReal Couples // A Whovian-Inspired Wedding: Amy + Peter
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Peter and I met in teacher's college over a mutual love of Doctor Who and all things nerdy. Over the last seven years our relationship has taken us through all sorts of adventures including living and teaching in the far north of the James Bay area. We've come a long way through pregnancy loss, the birth of our son, and working in isolation 1500 km from family. Our wedding was the perfect way to celebrate our little family and what it means to be us. We couldn't think of a better way to do that than a Doctor Who-inspired wedding that showcased our personalities and artistic style as a couple. The day was an intimate gathering of close friends and family in a hidden historical gem in Toronto called the Arts and Letters Club. Here we celebrated our love of each other and the ridiculous nerdy obsessions that make us us and brought us together in the first place. We had a lot of fun sneaking references from the show into the event to create a wedding that was both elegant for those who didn’t catch the references, and entertaining for those who did.
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