Saturday August 20th was not the first time I photographed Sam and Brad.  I shot their engagement photos a few months back on a Sunday evening.  I learned a lot about them on THAT day but learned even more on their wedding day.  Sam came to Toronto from India to go to school and Brad’s the reason she stayed.  This of course means that a lot of her family made a long trip to be here for the wedding and Brad’s family had some long distance travellers too, including his 91 year old Grandmother!!!  Wow, that’s commitment to family.

With so many family members making the trip for the wedding and Sam and Brad having so many friends, this was easily the biggest wedding I have ever photographed.  The ceremony took place at St. Cyril Church in Mississauga, just down the street from Brad’s parents house, and the reception was at the Embassy Grand in Vaughan.  We stopped at a farm owned by the Peel District School Board in between for pictures and had a few sprinkles, but avoided anything you would actually call rain.

When we got to the Embassy Grand, I setup to take everyone’s photo as they came through the receiving line so Sam and Brad would have a photo with everyone as they came in and also to minimize people asking for photos with the couple throughout the course of the evening..  I thought it was a great idea and Brad’s sister Crystal grabbed the people’s personal cameras and stood beside me taking a photo with their own camera after I took my photo.  I thought that was smart, people always want a shot of their own they can show around the next day.  I think our little setup worked well and we got just about everyone.

The Hall itself was decorated nicely and the DJ and M.C. did an excellent job of keeping people dancing throughout the night, however, the dance of the evening belonged to Sam and Brad and their first dance.  They did an evolution of dance, dance and everyone, myself included, loved it.  The dance really set the tone for the night as the dance floor was never empty.  When the music finally stopped at the end of the night and the lights came up, there were still a ton of people there.  Clearly no-one wanted to go home, even if it was 2:00am by the time we all left.  On my drive home, even after 14 hours of shooting, I didn’t feel tired, all of the energy from the reception was keeping me going.  Hopefully you can see some of that energy in the photos below.

Congratulations Sam and Brad!

Enjoy!!!

www.DustinHallPhotography.ca

It was her birthday at midnight, so Sam and Brad got her in the middle of the dance floor and made sure everyone knew, she also got her very own cake.