ok…i don’t know if i’m allowed to say this, b/c i took it, but…this picture kind of makes me gasp.
(and what’s even MORE perfect is…while this sort of happened b/c of weather and time and this is the setting we had to work with, it could NOT be any better; ashlee’s reception theme/decor centered around b&w pictures of old hollywood stars.)
i’m sorry i’ve been a little awol. i’ve been gone. a lot.
last weekend i went up to the maritimes to photograph the amazing and wonderful sean & sarah. perhaps you remember amanda & matt? well, amanda’s maid of honor was sarah. i stayed in touch with her and her boyfriend zach through facebook (wooo, facebook!) zach works with sean…who happened to be engaged to a different sarah. zach sent me a message asking if i was available 10/10…and the rest is history.
i’ve got a LOT of favorites from this wedding. so, please bear with me. 
i started the day off with sean, and his brother/best man sandy.
i know. sandy SHOULD be a male model. i already told him so.
sean really wanted a picture of the two of them…in wellies, of course…down in this boggy marsh area. of course i said, “sure! let’s go for it!”
when you’re in the middle of rural nova scotia…you can walk up the middle of the road, and it’s no big deal.
then we headed back to the family farm (where the wedding was taking place) for one of my favorite parts of the day: the first time the groom sees his bride. when i was going through the images, i had to keep every single one from the series. i don’t know if i’ve ever seen a more emotional first look.
the moms and sarah’s sister and friends looked on. i don’t think any of them had dry eyes!
next up was bride & groom portrait time. my other favorite part of the day! (shut up. i have a lot of favorites.)
(yes, this does look beautiful and romantic…but it was also sort of practical. it POURED the day before the wedding and drizzled off and on the day of, so sean was protecting poor sarah’s dress. very gallant, no?)
we headed over to sarah’s family’s cottage…they lived in halifax, but the essence of their family resides at this cottage. her dad was there, so i made him turn around before he could look at her.
then sarah got carried around the yard for some more photo ops. in keeping with his forebears, sean scrapped the romantic threshhold carry and went for the village raiding method.
sarah doesn’t look like she minds much, does she?
sean works for the canadian version of REI…most of his friends are of the intrepid, wilderness-junkie types. there was a whole village of TENT-CAMPERS. in the muddy, wet, wet, wet fields. and yet, they look so happy! amazing.
k-ris and megan–you guys are my heroes.
the fam has a vintage, mint jag that was slotted for the getaway vehicle. and sarah looks totally fierce, right?
continuing in the transportation theme…i actually flagged sean down as he was whizzing around the property on this old scooter…photo op time!
sean’s dad showed up in military bagpiper regalia…which, of course, was AWESOME.
i thought this image of sean’s mom, carol, perfectly encapsulated the feel of the day. no one let the elements win. everything was still graceful and beautiful and elegant…but the boots were never far from reach.
i could, of course, keep going, but since i think there are already 30 something photos in this post, i’ll stop. it was an amazing day, and everyone made me feel so welcome and included. their families were simply amazing…no one let the rain or changed plans get them down. ugh. i’m leaving so much out…basically, i love canada & sean & sarah (& zach & sarah for the introduction!)
next up: my adventures with zach & sarah & baby stella around the maritimes. (yeah, i went to green gables.)
what to do when it’s noon, at the beach, and the sun is out?
options:
1) ignore it and take photos in full sun and embrace the skull look. pirates are very en vogue these days, right?
2) commandeer the blue wall of the beach “facilities” house. (i may or may not have asked a tired bicyclist if he’d mind if we moved his picnic table aside so i could use that wall as my canvas. thanks tired bicyclist!
sub question:
what to do when the groom and his 2 stand-up-men used to be in a band together and call each other names like tater, edge, and jefe?
options:
1) break out my stern, no-nonsense “you will listen to me, and we will create amazing photo-art” persona.
2) just GO WITH IT and have some FUN! (this decision was pretty well made for me when tater revealed that his front tooth prosthetic was removable.)
WARNING: there are a LOT of images in this post! enjoy.
WHO’S the big scary monsters? YOU ARE! that’s right…
i would like to point out that at this point…i was giving them NO direction. i like how edge (on the left) looks so prissy and satisfied with himself. like he’s expecting a gold star or O on his progress report.
sarah’s bouquet had a casualty…so jeff took the opportunity to do some self beautification.
actually, jeff, nasturtiums are the edible flower. i’m pretty sure lilies would taste…gross.
a brief lull wherein my gnashing teeth and pleas of, “for the MOTHERS, for the MOOOOTTHEERS!” were heard. i think this is the ONLY everyone’s smiling and no one’s doing anything wacky image i got of the whole group.
see?
this one might be my favourite…it feels like it should be in highlights for children…”figure out everything that is going on in this picture.” (also, those are my cute new crocs…not as comfortable as my other pair, but…admittedly, a little cuter.)
what started with this (i mean, c’mon…i had to do it, right?)
quickly devolved into this
and then this
and finally this
and you’d think that was as far as they could go. but you would be wrong.
the one on the end (edge) then decided they were the “manwitches”…i think maybe he’s harbouring fantasies of being viktor krum?
then we lost jeff.
it was all over. the end.
there are a LOT more amazingly fun images from this wedding, but since i’ve already posted about 42 thousand, i should probably quit. but if you want to see more, click here.
oh and also…i made sarah’s dress. and i am proud of that. i also made the bouquets; i am proud of that, too.
i’ve already designed my beloved raegan & joe’s wedding album…so i’m going to post those layouts in lieu of a more normal gwyn-style wedding post. this is quite possibly my most very favourite wedding album design EVER. thanks again to tammy for coming to shoot and contributing some of these incredible images!
we started off shooting the rehearsal dinner…she wanted complete coverage of the weekend in her album.
(there was an error in the layout rendering…they’re all supposed to be b&w…oops!)
these are all tammy’s.
(these are all tammy’s, too.)
(another good reason to hire a 2nd shooter…this moment from 2 perspectives!)
(i liked tammy’s shots of the kiss better than mine…check out that BLUUUUUUEEEE SKY!)
and last but not least…arguably my favourite spread…in the history of wedding album spreads.
