Last summer, I received an early wedding photography inquiry for 2012 to see if I was still available. It was still very early in the booking season. Right after, I received a phone call from the same girl asking if I was available in a few weeks instead for their wedding. It was very short notice, but we managed to get Rita and Darren into the only available saturday left that month! They had very little time to plan and book their dream wedding, but they did not want to wait! They had a very intimate wedding (12 guests if I can remember correctly). It was very important for them to have stunning photos in all of their favourite locations in and around Vancouver. The requirements were: city, forest, ocean and mountains in the photos. We ended up going to multiple locations throughout the session in order to get their dream photos. In addition to all of the great photo locations they chose, Rita managed to book some of the hottest venues in Vancouver!

We met up with Rita at 6:30am (I even took a shot of the clock to prove it) at the Coquitlam Executive Plaza Hotel. We all enjoyed our morning coffees as the sun came up and Rita had her makeup started. Darren was not around at this point and was most likely sleeping still. We captured as Rita transformed into her look for the day and captured some amazing shots of her getting ready. Darren showed up and they had to YouTube how to properly attach a boutonniere on his suit. Once they were all ready, we set out on an adventure to capture the excited couple in all of Vancouvers finest qualities. We first stopped at the Athletes Village by Science World. This was where we got our city shots. Darren long boarded around in his wedding attire and Rita looked glowing. Next, we headed to the Cleveland Dam at the bottom of Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. They were originally inspired by my Cleveland Dam BC Wedding blog post for this location. Of course we had to get them in that tree and capture them in front of the mountains. The location had a slightly different look this time because it was middle of summer. Next up was the ocean photos! We headed all the way to Whytecliff Park in Horseshoe Bay for these, only to find a very busy park and nowhere to stop. We luckily had a backup location KMs away. After all the portraits were done, we all headed back to the hotel to freshen up. So to summarize; for the portrait shoot we went from Coquitlam to East Vancouver to the North shore, out to Horseshoe Bay and then back to the hotel! If you were wondering that was 99.5 km.

But we were just getting started. That was just for the first half of the day. Rita and Darren were not even officially married yet! It was time to meet up with the rest of the family and have the ceremony. They had short and sweet ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth Park Celebration Pavilion. We then let the family do their thing and and captured lots of candid moments. After some family photos, it was time for an unbelievable dinner at the Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver. They had rented a private room so they could spend some quality time with their guests. After the Shangri-La, we set out for a few final night photos. We went to Grandville Island for the final images of the night. We ended at 1am in the morning. I need their secret of how to look good for so long!

Ceremony: Queen Elizabeth Park Celebration Pavilion
Reception: Shangri-La Hotel
Makeup: Mandy L.
Hotel: Coquitlam Executive

I have to admit, I got a bit of inspiration from Rita and Darrens wedding for my 2012 branding (you will see if you inquire for wedding photography) with the high end, intimate feeling of the day with attention to detail. Their wedding album will have a simliar feel to the branding… But you will have to wait and see when it is done.

This beautiful wedding ceremony and reception was held at Heritage hall in Vancouver, British Columbia. The day involved traditional elements from both the bride’s and groom’s backgrounds, creating a very unique wedding. The day started off by dropping my second photographer Lauren off to photograph the guys to capture a lot of candid moments involving some beer drinking and laughs between best friends. I met up with Sajeeda for some getting ready photos at her downtown hotel room in the Hotel Vancouver. When combining both of our photos, it made for some hilarious time lapses of what the guys were doing while the girls were getting ready. The guys arrived at the Heritage Hall, and Jeremy anxiously waited for his future wife to arrive. Little did he know, she still wasn’t dressed. Arriving fashionably late, the bride made it to the ceremony looking gorgeous, all anxiety left the room, and the ceremony went on as planned. After the ceremony, we headed to Queen Elizabeth Park for some portraits. The couple had a great idea to jump into the Skytrain for some fun, candid photos. Afterwards, we headed back to Heritage Hall for a perfect reception.

I thought I would break up all the wedding posts with an engagement session. We are finally slowing down from the crazy wedding season, so keep checking the blog regularly because we will be updating it A LOT with new weddings and engagements!

We often get to photograph and hang out with good looking couples that are really cool and you can instantly get along with. Karla and Rick are one of those couples.

They live right downtown overlooking beautiful Sunset Beach and English Bay in Vancouver. They had a few places in mind to have their photos taken at, that were their popular hang out spots. We managed to catch an amazing sunset on Sunset Beach (name says it all) which, if you have never been to Vancouver, is downtown right beside False Creek. It’s a great spot… you can often catch me there as well in the middle of summer going for a dip or hanging out on the beach after a long day. The sun went down FAST so we headed to the Stanley Park lighthouse for some wicked night shots with the Lion’s Gate Bridge in the background. We finished up at the Vancouver Art Gallery, where a film crew JUST finished filming a movie, so we managed to sneak in there real quick for one of my favourite engagement photos of all time. No secret that I love shooting at night, as you can get really creative with the photos and lighting. It just sometimes makes it a bit more difficult to see through the camera in complete darkness.

We are super excited to photograph Karla and Rick’s wedding next year in Fort Langley!