Tomorrow is going to be a great day! We’ll be photographing the wedding of Melissa & Dan… An awesome couple that we got the chance to get to know recently on a trip to their cottage. Their wedding is here in Toronto at stunning Casa Loma. It’s one of Toronto’s renowned tourist attraction and land mark sitting on a hilltop looking south toward the CN Tower.

From the first moment Mel & Dan walked through our studio door we really connected with them.. The more we chatted the more we realized a Summer get away to their cottage in Muskoka was going to be the ultimate solution to their engagement shoot location.

I absolutely love the feeling to this shot… and Charlotte LOVES Melissa’s amazing engagement ring!! Good job Dan!

We began the photo shoot with the two of them sitting on their dock and hanging out with the boat, looking forward to going for a spin later on! Don’t you just love these relaxed shots of them? They really make each other laugh all the time – You can tell they are best friends.

I love this next series of images Charlotte created of Mel with a daisy she found, and the two of them relaxing in the boat. Cute eh.

After a gentle warm up, we had a quick wardrobe change and decided to go for a walk… As we were heading out the driveway we spotted a virtual meadow of ground cover. Charlotte posed up our gorgeous couple and I proceeded to grab this high point of view. Such a cool shot though – I’d love to have a shot of my fiance and I like this!

Look at the stunning green eyes these guys have.. Looks so great with the green Muskokan landscape.

I love the lens flare in this shot… Hot! Hot! Hot!

Dan and Mel took us to this cool field with long wheaty grass sprinkled with purple flowers.. How buttery is the backgroud for these two romantics?

As we wandered up the trail back to the cottage we saw this amazing patch of light and couldn’t resist grabbing some gorgeous photos of them together.

As the afternoon went on, the four of us headed out on the boat and Dan got a chance to do some wake-boarding…

…Melissa had a turn taking a photo of us!

Cruising back to the cottage you could feel the love. I can’t wait for the wedding tomorrow guys!!! You both looked so happy at the rehearsal today so glad you had us come along!

Charlotte and I just arrived home for a wonderful day photographing the wedding of a young, vibrant, energetic couple – Sam & Albert. We ended off the day by presenting their Wedding Day Slide show – something we LOVE to do. It’s so much fun to take the images we’ve captured and be able to share them with the bride and groom and all their friends and family during desert!

The day flew by way too fast!! It was a relaxed day, beginning at Samantha’s house in Markham, where she and her two sisters Nikki and Amanda were all getting ready. Some of you may remember Amanda’s gorgeous vineyard wedding last year. As the girls finished their make up, they teased one another the way only sisters can!

We left the house to head to the ceremony with drops of rain appearing on the windsheild… but they soon cleared. After a playful, emotional ceremony at Capitol Event Theatre we headed over to York University for some light hearted wedding party photography, wrapping up the session with the bride and groom getting some well deserved alone time.

Without further ado I’m pleased to share this wedding photography slide show with you all!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Well here we are in the midst of another very fulfilling, albeit busy, wedding season. Charlotte and I photographed 8 weddings in July and August is very similar… Over the past few years we’ve both been amazed at how kind, generous, compassionate and in love the couples are who’ve been choosing us to photograph their weddings. It’s hard to convey what an honour we find it to be so involved in their day. Today I’m excited to share some highlights from a recent engagement session we photographed of just such a couple.

Alison & Jason are getting marred less than two weeks from today at Graydon Hall Manor – a favourite venue of ours. Chatting about their lives at the moment it’s nice to hear we’re not the only couple feeling a little swamped with all that goes into planning a wedding!

Jason and Alison are a relaxed, easy going pair. They live in the Liberty Village, so we decided to do the shoot right there in their local neighbourhood. We started and ended their shoot at The Brazen Head, a pub that I hadn’t actually been to yet, but I’m pleased to have been introduced to it!

Right from the beginning of the photo session I could tell we were going to have a lot of fun. We wandered through the shops and found some cool little areas for Jay & Alison to hang out – allowing them to slow down and soak in a few moments together.

Jason spotted a grass feature in front of a condo building and with some shuffling we got some very sexy, romantic images.

About an hour into the session we chatted about where to continue the session – The Ex, Centennial Park or elsewhere… and we quickly settled on The Harbourfront Centre & Music Gardens – both favourites of mine. As we were driving there we spotted this vibrant red wall and stopped for a couple of quick photos – and I’m so glad we did!

We arrived at the Music Gardens just in time for twilight… a favourite time for doing some sexier shots…. Check them out below.

A tall ship was cruising by, and we managed to snag this beautiful photo – just look at the connection between these guys!

As the shoot was wrapping up we decided to cruise by The Harbourfront Centre and we were all so glad we did… check out the beautiful lighting they have set up!

Alison & Jay – we can’t wait to photograph your wedding next weekend!!! You guys are the best.

Well here we are in the midst of another very fulfilling, albeit busy, wedding season. Charlotte and I photographed 8 weddings in July and August is very similar… Over the past few years we’ve both been amazed at how kind, generous, compassionate and in love the couples are who’ve been choosing us to photograph their weddings. It’s hard to convey what an honour we find it to be so involved in their day. Today I’m excited to share some highlights from a recent engagement session we photographed of just such a couple.

Alison & Jason are getting marred less than two weeks from today at Graydon Hall Manor – a favourite venue of ours. Chatting about their lives at the moment it’s nice to hear we’re not the only couple feeling a little swamped with all that goes into planning a wedding!

Jason and Alison are a relaxed, easy going pair. They live in the Liberty Village, so we decided to do the shoot right there in their local neighbourhood. We started and ended their shoot at The Brazen Head, a pub that I hadn’t actually been to yet, but I’m pleased to have been introduced to it!

Right from the beginning of the photo session I could tell we were going to have a lot of fun. We wandered through the shops and found some cool little areas for Jay & Alison to hang out – allowing them to slow down and soak in a few moments together.

Jason spotted a grass feature in front of a condo building and with some shuffling we got some very sexy, romantic images.

About an hour into the session we chatted about where to continue the session – The Ex, Centennial Park or elsewhere… and we quickly settled on The Harbourfront Centre & Music Gardens – both favourites of mine. As we were driving there we spotted this vibrant red wall and stopped for a couple of quick photos – and I’m so glad we did!

We arrived at the Music Gardens just in time for twilight… a favourite time for doing some sexier shots…. Check them out below.

A tall ship was cruising by, and we managed to snag this beautiful photo – just look at the connection between these guys!

As the shoot was wrapping up we decided to cruise by The Harbourfront Centre and we were all so glad we did… check out the beautiful lighting they have set up!

Alison & Jay – we can’t wait to photograph your wedding next weekend!!! You guys are the best.

While Dave’s off having a fun time shooting Alison and Jason’s engagement shoot today in Liberty Village. I’m here in my office working like a busy bee getting caught up on the office work. We’re happy we could get their session in just in time for their wedding this month at Graydon Hall, here in Toronto. With the unpredictable weather we’ve been having we’ve had to reschedule due to thunderstorms, but today was the perfect day for a fun city engagement session.

This post is from a few months back but I’d love to share it with you all. Dave and I are very passionate about working with local Toronto Charities and Camp Oochigeas is definitely one of our faves. Camp Oochigeas is a amazing camp for kids with cancer, where they can go to play and have fun with other kids and still continue to undergo their chemotherapy treatments. Camp Ooch also provides kids with 680 year round programs at no cost to the families. It’s such an important, life changing experience for the kids that’s why this charity is so close to our hearts!

We were so honoured to be asked this year to cover the gala and auction at The ROM, Royal Ontario Museum. The lavish gala raised over half a million dollars in one evening and had over 700 of Toronto’s most generous in attendance. The evening hosted a very special spokesperson, child actress and cancer survivor, Heidi Hayes. Heidi spoke about how Camp Ooch changed her life and helped her through the really tough times while she battled cancer. She also spoke about all of the great friends she made while along the way. You may recognize her from her hit movies History of Violence with Viggo Mortensen. There were a lot of tears, laughter love at the gala and we were so happy to be a part of it all. If you’d like to donate to Camp Ooch and help a local child’s  fight please do so here DONATE.

Thanks to our friend and amazing wedding planner Currie Ross for contacting us to help support Camp Ooch.

Yesterday we took a little road trip with our mini dachshunds Greta & Fritz. In the GTA, one of our favourite spots is Bluffers Park for some summer fun. It’s like a little slice of heaven on a hot day… The water is crystal clear, warm and there’s shady spots like the one we grabbed to chill out.

We thought we’d play with a very basic little digital camera we had shaking around. We made a family movie inspired by the Super 8 video’s my Opa used to make when he was a cinematographer.

It was a lot of fun! Let us know what you think

Music: “Brand New Day” by Joshua Radin.

We’ve been shooting so much this summer we’ve hardly had time to blog but we have so many weddings we want to post we’re hustling to get some up for you all to see! It was even my little sister Tricia’s wedding yesterday that took place at The Royal York Hotel and The Berkeley Church. I was the Maid of Honour and so took the night off, we had such a great time. Today Dave is shooting a wedding at The Royal Canadian Yacht Club while I got the day off.  Last month Dave and I had the pleasure to photograph a beautiful wedding at Archeo in Toronto’s Historical Distillery District. The couple had their beautiful, intimate Jewish wedding ceremony in the Thompson Landry Gallery and it was an incredible location. The stunning art pieces on the wall were beautifully lit adding vibrant colour to their day. We were referred to Lauren and Adam through Adam’s sister Nara. We volunteer for her charity Imagine a Cure for Leukemia every year it’s a great cause we we really believe in supporting local Toronto charities. Adam and Lauren loved the idea of a wedding slide show and we wanted to share it with you all! Enjoy!

Dave and I are in the peak of wedding season at the moment and are very excited for all of the incredible weddings we have yet to blog and that are coming up! We have Jasmine and Dave’s luxurious wedding this weekend at the Royal York with The Caketress and Cynthia Martyn! We’re very excited to be working along side these two amazing vendors and many more the day of. If you’ve been by our studio Lori AKA The Caketress did our opulent, 4 tier wedding cake dusted in 24 carat gold that we have on display. She’s a cake design genius!

With not only the Dave and Charlotte side of things our sister company Rainbow Eleven has been keeping us really busy also. With all of this work it got us daydreaming about vacation time Our last true vacation (ie, not work related) was to exotic St. Lucia a few months back. It was so nice to be together in a tropical paradise, surrounded by nature and beauty. Dave and I love getting outdoors and exploring. St. Lucia is definitely a gorgeous spot on the globe and it’s such a feast for the senses!

Here is a sideshow with some of our favorite memories of St. Lucia… And many more images below!

While we were vacationing, we took part in many excursions to really get out there and experience it all. My favourites had to be the Dolphin/Whale watching and the Rain Forest Trek.  The dolphin and pilot whales were so thrilling to watch. It’s so nice that we can observe them in their natural habitat. They dolphins loved surfing and playing in the waves our boat created in an otherwise calm sea. They had so much fun playing ‘chicken’ with our boat and racing around in front of it. One of the guests along for the excursion asked “Do you ever feed the dolphins fish to get them to come by the boat?” The guide just laughed and said “Why would they want to eat our old frozen fish when they have a sea of fresh fish out there!”

One thing that’s really, very important to us ethical treatment of animals. We don’t agree with attending parks or aquariums with captive dolphins. Not only does it harm and kill thousands of dolphins each year, it is no life for the dolphins in the parks that should be swimming free in nature. Please do not go to parks where you can ride, feed or touch captive dolphins!! If you’d like more information on how to help the dolphins please watch the documentary “The Cove” and visit this site, takepart.com/thecove.

The Rain Forest Trek was a lot of work hiking the trails to get to the hidden water fall, but so much fun. The ancient, majestic trees and refreshing waterfalls made us feel like we were in complete paradise for the day. It so nice to be surrounded by the sounds of the rain forest. What a beautiful piece of the world St. Lucia is. If we weren’t getting married in Perth Australia, we’d definitely think of St. Lucia as a spot for our destination wedding! It’s so romantic, no wonder they filmed the last season of the Bachelor there

Because St. Lucia is riddled with winding roads and it was a lengthy ride to the airport, we thought it would be a lot of fun to arrive in style and took the scenic route by helicopter Since both my Grandfather and Dad are both helicopter pilots, I’ve been on my fair share of helicopter rides but the view in St. Lucia was the most mind blowing adventure by far!  Boy, did I wish I had my camera with me when the pilot took me over the top of the breathtaking Piton’s!! Dave, sadly,  got more of the direct route but still manged to snap one or two aerial shots.

If there is one place I’d highly recommend for a romantic vacation, St. Lucia would have to be it! I hope we’ll be able to go back and visit again soon! Remember everyone, it’s a great spot for a destination wedding… hint, hint!

So, we’re a bit behind on the blogging. We even have a couple of more destination weddings and destination engagement’s we’ve been dying to post, we promise we’ll get around to it very soon! We usually get those up right away but we’ve been shooting almost daily since the warm weather has hit. It’s been so nice to spend so much time with our amazing couples at this very special time in their lives, we’re having so much fun! We really wanted to share with you this gorgeous couple’s engagement session from the spring. We had the pleasure of photographing their engagement portraits in and around their beautiful Ancaster home. Meet Karen and John!

Look at all the fun these two have together. John loves to ham it up for the camera and make Karen laugh. No wonder Karen’s head over heels for him!

Aren’t they such a cute couple!! We were so excited to do their engagement session in the Ancaster area, it was a bit of fun to get outside the Toronto city limits and do a session somewhere exciting and new!

We loved the fact that even though we were booked for their wedding date, they wanted to do their engagement session with us. It really means a lot to us when our clients love us that much that they at least book us for their engagement shoot

Check out this shot, super cute!

Thanks Karen and John for choosing us to photograph your special connection with each other. We would have loved to have been there for your special day. Congratulations on your new life together!!

Dave and I absolutely love this couple! They are so kind and accommodating, we really just loved being with them for their big day in gorgeous Ocho Rios Jamaica. Meet Lasha and Darren, an adorable couple from the GTA that decided to have a dream wedding on the beach surrounded by the natural beauty of the Caribbean.

This is the third wedding we’ve had the privilege to photograph at the RIU Ocho Rios so we really know our way around the place by now It was really nice coming back and being a part of such a happy time for Lasha and Darren. The day was full of  emotion and happiness. You can see how elated Lasha was on such a special day. Everyone was so excited about the wedding ahead.

We could not have asked for better light that day. Everything had a gorgeous soft airy feel. So perfect for a wedding in paradise.

Darren was all smiles when he saw his Lasha for the first time. They have so much love for one another, we love being there to document the true emotion in peoples lives.

Ocho Rios is such a little piece of paradise. I love the soft aquas and blues, the Caribbean Sea has to be the most amazing backdrop for a wedding ceremony. The air was filled with the sound of lapping waves, everything was so breezy and so romantic.

We love the sweet moments, fun and laughter that happen candidly during the wedding ceremonies we shoot. It shows the true personality of the people we photograph.

This ha to be the sweetest flower girl in the world, what a little cutie

After a great ceremony, the guests wished the couple well, and we took them out for a stroll together on the beach.

The girls couldn’t help but play around have a good time when they we’re left on their own for a bit They all have such a hilarious sense of humour!

As we were walking back to the hotel, we grabbed a few stunning shots of Lasha, isn’t she just the most beautiful bride ever??

Darren’s not too bad himself eh, looking pretty dapper on the big day… These guys just love being together and they are  naturally such a effortless, perfect match!

As the sun started to go down, the evening beach reception began. We loved all of the beautiful little details and the event designer did an amazing job giving the outdoor beach wedding a romantic and private feel.

Thanks so much to Lasha and Darren for having us along to be a part of your wedding day, we really loved being there with you all and had the time of our lives down in gorgeous Ocho Rios with you all. Congrats to you both and peace, love and happiness in the future