For this, the fifth and last session in Huxley’s Year in the Life, we returned to the beginning: the same tree where their maternity session was photographed, a year ago almost to the day. It’s So neat to look back over the the images taken over the course of a year…I can’t wait to design their album!

…Mike

I had the pleasure of meeting Isabelle and Jérôme two years ago at the wedding of Isabelle’s Sister Nathalie. At their wedding I took a great photo of Isabelle and Jérôme, and it’s still one of my favourites (can you tell why I nick­named her “Demi”? :

Fast forward to this weekend, and I had the great pleasure of photographing them as they cele­brate their marriage in old Quebec City. Their reception was held at the Auberge St-Antoine, an elegant hotel over­looking the St Lawrence river.

Their ceremony was held at the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, a church whose construction began in 1687. As soon as I walked into the church and saw the model ship hanging from the ceiling (you can see it in the third image below), I was hit with a flood of memories from way back when…when I was in grade 7, I took a school trip to Quebec City, and part of that trip was a walking tour of Old Quebec.

Then we played around in Old Quebec, despite the rain and very strong winds (Isabelle, you are a trooper!)

Then it was back to the Auberge St-Antoine. This hotel is actually made up of a series of historic buildings linked together, yet main­taining their inde­pendent person­al­ities. You’ll see the variety of rooms below.

A fabulous wedding for a fabulous couple!

…Mike

For today’s Tuesday Tip, let’s talk about the weather. Specifically, crappy weather.

Like most couples, Christine and I worried about the weather for our wedding. We did so even knowing what I’m about to tell you (we had great weather ftr).

Me and Christine! Photo courtesy of Susan Stripling. Thanks Susan!

As rational humans we know that weather can’t be controlled. We also know that worrying about it only adds to the stress of your wedding. Yet we worry. Weird right?

Over the years I have seen plenty of fore­casts for doom and gloom, even on the morning of the actual wedding day, and all we got was a cloudy day…sometimes even sunshine. After all, does “40% chance of rain” mean “40% of the area has a 100% chance of rain” or “100% of the area has a 40% chance of rain”? Hell if I know. Weather fore­casting is a black art at the best of times. And have you ever noticed that no matter how badly the forecast is screwed up, we keep going back to it? But I digress.

Even on days where it does rain, it rarely rains for the entire day. In fact, in the eight years I’ve been doing this, I’ve only had constant rain for an entire day once. Usually it looks like it’s about to rain for a while, then it rains, then it stops an hour or so later.

Ten minutes after this was taken, the sun was shining in a blue sky. From Kerri and Kurtis’s wedding

Now, I’m not saying that you should ignore a dire forecast.  Always have plans for crap weather, espe­cially if you are going for an outdoor wedding or if any critical part of your day depends on clear weather (a boat ride to the ceremony for example).

You’ll want a raincoat if you’re planning this. From Stef and Nick’s wedding

All I’m suggesting is that once you’ve made those plans, don’t sweat over it. Embrace the uncer­tainty. Ultimately you’ll be happier if you spend your time working on the things you have influence over.

From a photographer’s perspective, wet roads look cool in photos. See?

See how nice the sky looks? And how the streets reflect the lights? It basi­cally rained all day, but IMHO was worth it for this one panorama. From Cathy and Dave’s wedding

Cloudy looks cool, too, if it’s done right.

Clouds in IR…nothing tops the look. From Helen and Bihn’s wedding

As do umbrellas:

Rushing in to the Yangtse Restaurant. This is why I always carry two white umbrellas From Helen and Bihn’s wedding

Hiding under a golf umbrella. Meaghan came prepared From Meaghan and Pete’s wedding

Any photog­rapher that knows what s/he is doing will have a game plan for weather contin­gencies that involves more than just running to the Bank of Canada building. This expe­rience is part of what you are paying for when you hire a pro. So don’t sweat it. Unless it’s hot, in which case…enjoy the heat!

…Mike

Here is what Christiane has to say about the favourite image from her wedding:

“Even though we had to choose from around 500 amazing pictures, the ONE that we both instantly agreed on to be our favorite, the one that we think repre­sents our day the best and our rela­tionship in general (and also the one family and friends are still talking about !!) is the one where Yves and I are up on that tank in front of the Manège Militaire de Hull.

Not only is that where we first met 10 years ago, but the tree colors are amazing, repre­senting the beau­tiful day we had despite the rainy morning !! Fun and original … picture perfect

Thanks again, and the best for that new wedding season coming up !!”

I had a ton of fun with these two, espe­cially at the Manège Militaire…you may recall this photo taken on the barrel of the same tank:

These two were troopers (pardon the pun), so there were a lot of really strong images from their wedding. It was difficult to choose just one. However, my favourite is this one:

The reason is simple. Christiane and Yves love each other, and this photo shows that. True expres­sions can’t be faked, and the honest closeness and intimacy of this photo is why I am a photog­rapher. This was taken during their first dance together, and watching them it seemed as if the world just dropped away for them. It was beautiful.

I am a huge fan of the dramatic image, but at the end of the day it’s about two people in love, and creating an image that illus­trates that love is the most difficult, and most rewarding, part of what I do.

Thanks Christiane and Yves, it was fun going through your images again.

…Mike

More about the Favourite Image project

Today’s tip is a quickie, and is for the proper use of the words fiancée and fiancé. A fiancée is the correct word for a bride-to-be, while a future groom (also known as a bride­groom) is called a fiancé. Most spellcheckers get this wrong, by either missing the accent, or by trying to change it to “finance.” I’ll leave it to you to decide if this is apropos or ironic

…Mike