it rained on their engagement session. it rained on their wedding day. it didn’t matter.
nothing was going to stop s.i. times two from embracing the unpredictable, while celebrating love.
-justin
sandra 
sonny // let it rain, again
joy ride // katie gary’s wedding
the morning of the wedding is always full of many emotions. whether it’s stress, anxiety, nervousness or joy and happiness. often time, those emotions aren’t the ones the couple would like to feel and they aren’t sure how to calm down.
so how do you go from point A to point B?
well, everybody copes with it in their own way. some play games, some listen to music, while others dance or have some drinks.
the morning of katie and gary’s wedding, they got ready on two different levels of the same building, making just a tad more stressful. the guys seemed relaxed the entire morning. first some golfing, then a few beers at the bar. katie couldn’t find a place for herself the entire time // she probably changed her seat twenty times in the course of two hours. one of the times when i got back from shooting the guys, katie asked if the guys were having drinks at the bar. i had to say yes. she seemed so jealous. it wasn’t long after that katie found her own way to cope with her stress. her solution was in the form of a golf cart. when she got back, she was a different person.
it is small things like these that we really love capturing and building on. for somebody from the outside it can just seem like a ride on a golf cart. for katie, it was way more than that.
here are two sides of the day // the same day edit as well as amina’s favourite photos.
Konrad
friday on wednesday // wedding in ocho rios
i actually intended on posting a few photos from the wedding yesterday. but when it’s sunny, balmy, with neon yellow fishes swimming in the water next to you, it’s hard to get away from the beach. but with a few clouds in the sky this morning, i thought i’d take a break from the daily jamaican grind and put together some photos from leonard and serena’s wedding on wednesday.
it happened to be the sunniest day of the whole trip – and probably the hottest. naturally, the elevator broke the morning of. and for those of you who know how much gear we carry at a wedding, you know how big of a pain that was… but, the energy, the excitement, and the beauty of the surroundings made the day pretty spectacular (aside from a couple small complaints from patrick about having to run down four flights of stairs with a 60lb tripod and steadicam bag when the elevator broke).
serena was writing her note to leonard on the balcony the morning of. she started crying mid-paragraph, but ended with a bit of comic relief… [click image to enlarge]
leonard was a CFL football player. and when the bridal party showed us their moves, it was one of the most fun parts of the whole day! [click image to enlarge]
like i said, it was a really hot day. so after throwing the ball around, there was only one logical way to end the game….
the speeches were one of the most emotional times of the day. each was so heartfelt and full of history. [click image to enlarge]
the wait staff weren’t about to stand back and watch the guests have all the fun. they got right in there and celebrated to the fullest...
…and even shot some cinema for us. :)
see…. that’s what i love about patrick. we’re all tired after 14 hours of shooting, our feet are blistered, we’ve gone through way too many shirts, but he’s still out there having a blast sharing his art with the wait staff!
and the party went on. the next morning i ran into serena’s dad and asked how long everyone danced. he said the party ended at 4:00 am! why he was awake at 9:00 when saw him beats me!
so, it’s friday and we have a day and a half left here until we head back home (patrick and konrad haven’t been home in 2 weeks – they were in nyc shooting all last week – but we’ll tell you all about that later… but our travels don’t end there. we’re home for a few days until we take off to l.a. for jennie and howard’s wedding! then, we head off to san fran to speak at calumet on the 23rd! we’re really excited about that and have posted about our talk on blog.stillmotionexperience.com.
then…. we fly from san fran to seattle to visit with casey and danielle – we’ve been good friends for so long now but have never actually seen their home town! from there we drive to vancouver to visit amish and natisha, from where we fly back to toronto in time for the christmas rush. phew! i think we’ll need another vacation after all that, don’t you?
image courtesy google maps (with some tweaking by amina).
-amina
kristin anthony // cool beans
a post-wedding shoot 2 years in the making.
we kept it local. the studio parking lot, the nearest underpass, their house.
it also marks the final chapter in kristin + anthony’s epic 4 volume book set.
-justin
i also just completed the final design of their wedding books (chapters 2 and 3). here are a couple of my favourite book spreads,
lori marco // a day of laughter and airplanes
a few weeks before their wedding, we started brainstorming together with lori and marco for their photo session. as we stood in front of our studio watching planes land after their engagement session, it hit us. an airport. so, our mission began.
lori and marco had a very lively group. they were full of energy and to be honest, they were very industrious. you’ll notice that in their photos, all the guys have ties that are no longer than 8 inches. at first, i thought this was an attempt at being unique, hiding extra short ties under their vests, but in fact, they really just wanted to have big knots. so we got a little goofy with it…
LILY KEN // HOT PINK COTTON CANDY
my first blog post. lily and ken.
hot pink everything. right down to the cotton candy.
wonderful friends. one of which performed their ceremony.
countless laughs. including a mid vow announcement of an early morning pizza delivery and a very full lily.
a stunning location. where all the proceeds go to funding medical research.
an amazing couple. a pefect day.
-justin
aaron jess // a blindfolded first meeting a muskoka wedding
when patrick and i were planning our wedding, we knew we wanted to keep it small. we knew we wanted to have only the closest, most loving people around us and to have nothing but an amazing time. among our small group of guests were aaron and jess, close friends of ours who grew up in the same small town as patrick. actually, aaron and patrick have been friends their entire lives.
patrick and i did a first meeting before ceremony. justin suggested to us how wonderful it might be for patrick to walk up the mountain to meet me blindfolded, and to be able to do a shoot together without seeing each other, in part to prolong the anticipation, and to be able to have a very different and emotional experience.
this was probably the best part of the wedding for me. the anticipation, knowing that patrick was behind me, touching my shoulders, without us being able to see each other… it almost killed me! but once the blindfold came off and i turned around, it was the most amazing thing to finally see each other.
aaron was the person to walk blindfolded-patrick up the mountain.
and now, it was aaron and jess’ turn last weekend, and we thought we would pass the experience onto them. only this time, they never actually saw each other. they stayed blindfolded the entire time, except to open gifts from each other back to back. by the end, aaron knew the texture of jess’ dress, the feel of her veil, the tears on her face, but only put the fragments together when he finally saw her coming down the aisle.
here is their wedding from justin’s and my perspective.
-amina
amber jordan // priceless
today amber and jordan came in to see their photos for the first time. as we were going through the images, they stopped at almost every one to tell me something about it. “that’s our accountant.” “this couple got married right after us.” “oh, this is my maid of honour’s sister… can you see the resemblance?”
among other things, we talked about air ducts, lung capacity, education, and finally, we got hungry and talked about thank you cards over subs.
see, that’s what i love. we’re buddies now. it’s not just a “client, provider relationship”. it’s so much more. which is my favourite thing about what we do.
when amber first found us, she knew that she would have to stretch her budget to have us at her wedding. and she knew that it would take some effort to get jordan to consider it. the line she told me today was absolutely priceless: “amina, you guys are worth every ounce of begging”.
CHAOS CINDERELLA // AARON MELISSA // the photo version
so right now i’m in the process of editing aaron and melissa’s wedding. and while i was looking through the photos a few days ago, i was thinking about konrad and michael’s same day edit, as well as the main feature to come. it got me thinking how on one hand, their photo gallery will complement their final film, but also how different the perspectives are.
i wanted to post some of my favourite shots from the day, some that are reminiscent of their same day edit, and some which are completely different. i love that while we all think alike and contribute to each other’s art, we are also quite different.
-amina
alisha james // of peonies and fondant
ok. so i’m going to steal jessica’s column format…
the random // i love peonies. they’re such beautiful flowers. they look like cotton candy.
the random // danielle loves fondant icing. i think she’s obsessed.
the amazing // not only did alisha and james have peonies at their wedding AND a fondant wedding cake, but they had peonies MADE out of fondant! best thing ever…
alisha and james live in australia – at least for now. they planned their wedding from afar and came to canada only a week before the big day. because we had never worked together before, i insisted that we get together of an engagement session during that week so we could get to know each other better. so on the tuesday before the wedding, we went out.
and then the big day came. originally, we were supposed to start out at the hotel after the ladies’ hair was done. but they were running a bit behind schedule, so we joined them at the salon instead. boy am I glad we did! mirrors everywhere! so danielle and i decided to take advantage and make the morning all about reflections.
then came the ceremony. it’s not very often that we get to shoot without any cinematographers – it was just danielle and i. this meant that we didn’t have any restrictions – and the minister was extremely friendly as well which helped. now, you should know that pretty much every wedding that i shoot i am in the center aisle a lot. but for alisha and james, danielle and i made a pact not to shoot down the center AT ALL. it opened up soooo many opportunities.
[click image to enlarge]
the reception was fairly small, about 50 guests. it was relaxed and fun. and it gave us a chance to try some new things. i was fiddling around my with my flashes (many of you know that i loooove my off camera flash) and i discovered something new. i discovered a whole new technique for off camera flash that i didn’t even know i could do. so i did it…. and man was the lighting ever good!
oh, and on a side note, i love this shoe shot….
-amina
ps: stay tuned for alisha + jame’s ttd coming up in AUSTRALIA!
LOVE that bridge/umbrella shot, stunning!
Hey, it’s Sarnia! You rock Justin and love this post. I swore out of greatness at the water drop/splash photo. :)
Uowwwwww!!!!!!! Simple and Gloriousssss!!!! Simple et glorieuxxxxx!!!
Premium.
Beautiful images. I especially love the under the bridge one and the pop of the pink cheery umbrella :)