I had been anticipating this wedding for a long time.  It was in 2014 that Kira and Michel booked me to shoot their wedding in 2017 (it sounds a lot longer if I say the years and not that it was late 2014 and early 2017).  Their original plans for their wedding may have changed, but their goal of a beautiful wedding did not.  In the end, they ended up having a small backyard wedding at Michel’s parents’ house in Hammonds Plains.  When I say small, I’m talking 19 people, and when I say backyard, I mean a nice sized one, with lakefront property.

The wedding ceremony was going to be held outdoors in mid February, in Canada, what could go wrong eh?  Well surprisingly, the opposite of expectations, we had, had some serious snowfall in the week before the wedding and then the temperatures jumped.  It was about 8 degrees and fortunately the snow was still deep and a nice clean white, but unfortunately there was too much snow on the lake to do a couple skating photos Kira had been hoping for, but we made up for it with other photos.

With the ceremony being at a house and with only 19 people, it was definitely an intimate affair.  Everyone was invited to bring their slippers and pashminas were on the backs of all the women’s chairs.  Kira had painstakingly worked on almost every detail of the wedding, from the invitations to the decor and it really paid off.  When I arrived, Kira and her bridesmaid Olivia (whose wedding I had shot a couple years ago) were getting their hair and makeup done so I started on detail photos to make sure all Kira’s hard work didn’t go unnoticed.  The getting ready process went quite well without any hiccups worth mentioning.  Before we knew it, it was time for the first look, which they did on the main staircase.  We then took the wedding party of 5 outside for some photos in the snow.  Even though it was well above zero, we kept Kira and Olivia inside until the guys were done.  We went right down by the water and forged a path through the snow where it hadn’t been snowblown (thanks to Michel’s dad for that one).

The trees and snow made for a wonderful backdrop which was perfect for the winter wedding.  We made sure to be back in the house with plenty of time for Michel and Kira to mingle with their guests before the ceremony.  Kira had one special surprise for the day for her mom, she had secretly invited her mom’s friend (despite insistence that there wasn’t enough seating for her).  When her mom’s friend arrived at the front door we got a great surprised reaction, it was awesome to see Kira let someone else have a moment on her and Michel’s big day.

The ceremony was beautiful and funny, and quite short to the pleasure of some of the guests.  We took a few more photos after the ceremony as the sun was going down and then it was time for dinner.  The dinner was arranged so that everyone was seated at one long table with Kira and Michel at the end.  There was certainly no issues with everyone hearing the speeches or when Michel’s brothers busted out the guitar and drum and played Jack Johnson’s “Better Together”.  After dinner everyone made their way upstairs and much to my surprise, people danced, something you don’t often see at small weddings, but sometimes the occasion just calls for it, and this definitely called for it.  All in all, Kira and Michel put together a beautiful day, one that will be remembered for a long time.  It was a pleasure to get to spend the day with 2 incredible people, and to feel like part of the family, thank you all for welcoming me in.  Here’s a little look at their day.

Enjoy!!!

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