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.

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!

Rebeka and Eddie had a autumn wedding at the Minter Gardens, and anyone living in the Vancouver area knows what that means…A chance of rain… and it poured! Of course, we always love taking on a challenge, so we still did most of the photos outside. Eddie and Rebecca are troopers when it comes to photos in cold, wet conditions. We stayed at Minter Gardens for the entire wedding, so not having to travel was a huge bonus. We had a few cool ideas for the portraits including the hide and go seek wedding party shots and the rain portraits. We utilized what Minter had to offer including the waterfall, white chapel (not real) and the amazing greenery. The couple had lots of creative details that we made sure to capture. Eddies mom handcrafted the wedding cake herself and it took her a few weeks to finish it!

And here is what Rebeka had to say about working with us!

“As with any wedding, bad weather is the ghost that haunts every bride-to-be in their sleep. About a week before the wedding I saw that it was supposed rain! Will’s natural talent for putting together a great shot in any condition was certainly noticed! It poured rain for half the day, and was cloudy and dark for the other part. Once we received our wedding pictures we were ecstatic! They made friends of ours wish it had rained on their wedding day. (Of course they would have needed Will as their photographer) It seems every special moment I missed while I was running around making sure things went as planned, he captured. My husband’s family from Nicaragua that couldn’t make it for the wedding were able to feel the emotions, and experience the wedding as if they were there. It is no an exaggeration to say these photos brought tears to many people’s eyes. We really couldn’t be happier!” -Rebeka

The above statement really makes us love our job even more. If you want to see more of this lovely couple check out their engagement photography

Want to have some fun??? Book a trash the dress session!

Be sure to check out Their engagement party blog post, We jumped the gun and blogged their wedding before their engagement session, so keep watching back for that update in the future.

They ended up getting a beautifully custom designed wedding album of their day. The album designs were fun, modern, but simplistic. The colours matched their wedding theme and told the story perfectly of their day. It also had the coolest image wrapped cover for a Wedding album!
Want to see more photos of these guys? Be sure to check out their engagement photos! Like the photos? make a comment or set up a meeting to talk about your wedding photography!