This past fall Beth and I travelled to the UK to shoot Joanna and Phil’s wedding in Shenfield, Essex. It’s hard to believe that a wedding could change your life but it certainly developed our passion to become London England wedding photographers!

This was my first trip to England and I loved everything about it:

• super friendly people
• great curry
• nice small towns like Shenfield and Billericay
• train travel
• the architecture
• the wonderful cosmopolitan-ness of London (most of the people we saw in the city were not Anglos)

Joanna and Phil were such gracious hosts to us and we really look forward to going back to visit them for longer!

England beside Canada on the bookshelf!  A match made in heaven.

Joanna’s Canadian moose.

Phil and his best mate Chris in the church yard.

The first recorded wedding in this church took place in 1536. I don’t have a lot of pictures of the inside during the ceremony because of a church policy but it was beautiful.

The wedding reception took place in this cool old orphanage dining hall called Poplar Hall.

First Dance:

It was a rainy day in pizza-ville…

It was, but it was still great day for Liza & Andrew’s wedding at the Gardiner Museum. I had a great time being a Toronto Wedding photographer for the day. When you shoot the wedding of two architects you spend the day around cool buildings. I was in heaven.

Letter-pressed and stamped invitations made by hand:

First stop Liza’s parents for getting ready pictures. Liza and the bridesmaids did their own flowers and the make up was done by Al Fortier from A List Beauty.

Second stop (after a little short moment of the small towners getting turned around in the big city…) Hart House at U of T – an amazing space to shoot!

And lastly the Gardiner ceramic museum for the ceremony and food.  The ceremony was held in (and catered by) the Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner Cafe. The food was brilliant!  The turtle tarts put me in chocolate heaven.

The ever beautiful Allison – her wedding was the first professional wedding I ever shot and some of those pictures are still on my business cards to this day. Allison and Ian are getting ready for baby #2!

Thanks to Liza and Andrew (and wee Maeve) for a wonderful wedding.

On the Labour Day long weekend this year we got to be Muskoka wedding photographers! Returning to one of our favourite places on earth, the children’s summer camp at Cairn, we were treated to an amazing wedding with Terri and Neil.

Terri and Neil met teaching English in Korea and they both have family from all over the world. They invited everyone up north for a Muskoka retreat on their wedding weekend.

Although the weather was a bit tricky (it was kind of cold and rainy) it cleared up at just the right time. With a nod to both of their families’ backgrounds they had Hindu, Presbyterian and Korean marriage ceremony’s.

Grab a coffee and get comfortable – here is Terri and Neil’s Weddings

Thank you so much to the other folks involved in putting together such a great Muskoka wedding:

• Music: Where It’s At Productions
• Make up: Stephanie Breslin
• Accommodation and “getting ready” space: Burton’s Bed and Breakfast

Beth and I travelled to Bright, Ontario to shoot Lisa and Paul’s wedding at their farm. It was a very funny day weather-wise – super hot plus rainy but it was awesome how friendly and welcoming everyone was to us.

I always feel honoured when I get chosen as someone’s wedding photographer but it’s a bit nicer when your client is a great photographer in her own right.

Thanks to Lisa and Paul and their families for such great day!

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Unrelated Side Note: Bright always reminds me of younger days: Our bus route to Innerkip Public School took us all the way out to Bright and Sarah Jane took figure skating lessons in Plattsville and I used to drive through Bright to pick her up on cold winter nights.

Wedding Budget

My friends at WeddingFavours.ca (you should see their Ingersoll show room!) have just posted a printable wedding budget worksheet on their blog.  Click here to download it for free.

It’s a great resource for budget planning – and making sure that you don’t forget anything.

How Much Should We Budget for Photography?

Clients often ask the “should” questions – and they are great questions.    The thing with weddings is…. (surprise!) they are expensive.  It is incredibly important that a bride and groom (or bride and bride, groom and groom) set a firm budget and stick to it.   Not only will this relieve some after-matrimony stress from looking at credit card bills but it will cut back on money arguments during your preparations.

Obviously, your total budget is a discussion for  the two of you.    The best I can offer is a look at what percent of your budget “should” go to photography. Within a tight budget it is often tempting to de-value photography.

Now my bias is pretty obvious, but I firmly believe that photography should be one of your most thoughtful considerations.   When you wake up the day after your wedding you will have three things by which to remember the day that you spent so much time preparing and getting absolutely perfect:

1. the one you wake beside
2. the ring on your finger, and…
3. the pictures

After your wedding day you won’t have the flowers or the meal but you will have your photos.

Should the pictures, therefore, be worth as much or more?

On hot day in August, we became, once again, Cambridge wedding photographers. We started out our day at Jennie’s friend Lisa’s for hair and make-up (their’s… not mine) and then to St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on the Hespeler side of town.

After family and bridal party photos outside of the church Jennie, Keenan, Beth and I drove to the Black Bridge north of the church. It was really great to have some quiet time before the reception for some beautiful wedding photos of just the two of them.

That night we had a beautiful dinner and _hilarious_ dance.

I hope you enjoy the photos!

Claddagh in watermelon!

The Murphy’s sang us a song of Ireland. Awesome.

If you have enjoyed these photos and would like to see some more please become a Fan on Facebook.

Great Wedding Vendors

I’d love to also thank some of folks who alos worked at this wedding.

There were some amazing flowers from Zehr’s in Cambridge and I really enjoyed Holly Hall from My Wedding Hair.

It is great being a Woodstock wedding photographer. This town is full of old parks with lots of trees (and the shade necessary for a mid-day shoot) and some brilliant old Victorian architecture.

I just saw Lisa’s picture from their honeymoon in Italy and that reminded me that I hadn’t yet posted these picture from their engagement session.

Enjoy!

Our good friend (and former summer camp nurse), Colleen, got married at the Idlewyld Inn on the first of May. It was really nice to get to meet Dave after hearing about him for so long!

It was a great spring day (not too hot) and everything was VERY green – a great backdrop for wedding photos.

What do you think? Let me know your favourite picture in the comments.

I must say, I really enjoyed the Idlewyld and the back courtyard was a great place for a small wedding. Thanks for having us over, Christine!

Meagan & Scott invited me out to Meagan’s family farm outside of Woodstock for fall engagement photo shoot.  It was a beautiful day and I always love a change to get back to a farm – such an important influence on my life.

Meagan’s dad is a long-time family friend (although I didn’t meet her until last year) so that added another really nice element to the shoot.   I hope you enjoy them!

If you have an idea for a non-traditional photoshoot for your wedding, engagement or family photo, please contact me.  That is the stuff that I LOVE to do.  Travis: 519.532.7366 travis@subtlevox.com. Enjoy the pictures!

I am so happy to finally put up some pictures of Alicia and Conor’s November wedding at the Queen’s Landing on Niagara-on-the-Lake.   As I said before Alicia is an old friend and canoe-tripping buddy of mine and it was amazing that we were able to be at her beautiful day.

If you look closely you’ll see some familiar faces in the shots!

Maybe the easiest way to see the pictures is through the video.

Vendors -  Some of the other folks involved in making this wedding so amazing:

Flower Design – Pauline Vanderkuip from My Bouquet Floral Design

Officiant – Rev. Derek Rymarchuk from Abba Ministries of Canada

On a personal note…

Thank you all for your patience – I am starting to feel much better these days.   Very happy to pick up a camera again!