Maybe it’s because we are dog lovers, but we think it’s extra special when we meet a couple who’s head over heels in love with their four legged family member. Rhonda and Adam have a little pup named Monster who almost stole the show in the morning, but I’m happy to say that Rhonda has her sights set on someone even more special… Adam!

We are lucky that it’s our second wedding in the same month that took place at the beautiful and modern Espace Reunion. The lighting and atmosphere there really added to the mood! The bride and groom get a beautiful “blank Canvas” at Espace, and are able to really add some of their own style, which is exactly what Rhonda and Adam did. It obvious to us really early in the day that Rhonda and Adam have some seriously funny and loving family members so you can imagine the speeches said during dinner were some of the touching, wittiest and funniest we’ve heard in a long time! Especially Adam’s brother who just knocked it out of the park.

We wish Rhonda and Adam an awesome life together and we thank you and your families for having us there to capture every moment. Here is a slideshow as well as our favourite photos from the day!

In the summer we had the pleasure of taking Tara and Jon (or as they call each other Pot and lid, because Tara is the Lid to Jon’s Pot!!! Adorableness overload!), for a pre-wedding photo shoot out on a farm here in Montreal. It was a fabulous time for the four of us to get to know each other and take some casual photos for them. Essentially it was a teaser for us for what was to come, and we couldn’t wait to spend time with them on the big day! Every time we got together with them it’s hard not to notice how much Jon cares for Tara and vice versa. Tara and Jon are a one of a kind couple; extremely determined to make their wedding exactly as they imagined, not only for themselves but for all their family and guests. Seeing as this was our first Jewish wedding, we had our work cut out for us!

Magda and I were super excited to finally get to experience a full on Jewish wedding after hearing about how wonderful these ceremonies are. From the traditions to the customs and dances, we loved taking photos of every moment! The wedding took place at Montreal’s Jewish Synagogue Chevra Kadisha where we witnessed Tara and Jon become a couple under the Chuppah. It was very obvious that Tara and Jon’s families are incredibly close and caring. We routinely had tears in our eyes as we listened to all the beautiful wishes and stories everyone shared at the wedding, including the wonderful things the Rabbi had to say throughout the day.

On to the party.

Helmed by the amazing Showmen Band, the reception was a a collection of touching speeches, music, dancing and lots of people being raised into the air on chairs! We can safely say that Tara and Jon created an incredible experience for everyone on their wedding day…including us. So on that note, we would like to thank you for trusting us with our vision to capture every special moment on this once in a lifetime day. We had an absolute blast and if your parents are a testament to a lifetime of happiness…then you have nothing to worry about.

Here is a collection of our favourite photos from the day. And of course please don’t forget to click on the slideshow link below to see a ton more! 

In the morning, I (Bartek) got to spend time with the guys at one of the groomsmen’s really cozy apartment near the Atwater Market. As they prepared for the big day and listened to good music, I snapped away at every moment I could. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy a delicious mushroom pizza from a local place! Of course, Magda too got to spend a relaxing morning with Christina and the girls before heading to the church downtown.

The ceremony at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church was really touching. Christina and Matthieu exchanged some really deep and beautiful words with each other.

As mother nature has it, it turned out to be one of those rainy days. Having a wedding this time of year is beautiful, but it can be risky as the weather is incredibly unpredictable! However, as we drove to the rainy day photography location (the Westmount Greenhouse Conservatory), it started to clear up beautifully! We had to share the space with a few other wedding photographers doing their thing too! Regardless, we still decided to shoot inside the historic building since the light was so soft and warm that we just couldn’t ignore it.

The wedding reception was held on the top floor of the Vieux-Port Steakhouse in the Old Port of Montreal. If you have never been and are in the mood for a seriously great steak, we highly recommend it. Having never shot a wedding there before we were welcomed by a cozy atmosphere accompanied by great food and a great party. With some really hilarious games, a swing dance lesson and our photo booth, the night was off to an incredibly fun start.

Christina and Matthieu, thank you for trusting us with our vision for your day and we hope you love your photos as much as we do. Your faith and the things you and your families said to each other are a clear sign that you will live happily ever after.

When the morning started off with Jagermeister on the rocks and Mimosa’s, we knew the day was going to be fun. Having been married in the same church, it was really special for Magda and I to photograph a wedding there. St. Hyacinth church is Ottawa’s only Polish church and it’s design follows the traditional folk Polish architecture featuring beautiful wooden sculptures which you can find especially in cities close to the mountains like Zakopane! After the ceremony we drove all the way up to the Gatineau hills to take photos at the Mackenzie King Estate. It was our first time taking photos there and we loved the variety!

The wedding reception was held at the chic Restaurant Eighteen in the Byward Market. We find it very difficult to make a restaurant your own to fit your wedding, but Lidia and Sandro and the staff at the restaurant really made it happen! The mood lighting, the cozy atmosphere and the top shelf food and drinks came together like the best ingredients in an award winning dish. Not to mention the beautiful stationary made by Wishtree Invitations and Stationary Inc.!

The genuine love between Lidia and Sandro can only be translated into years and years of a beautiful marriage. Thank you so much for having us a part of your special time in your lives! Enjoy the slideshow and our favourite moments from the day.

You see, Brenda and her family are Vietnamese. Mike is Polish and is in the Canadian Army Reserves. So naturally we have a really cool mix of photos in today’s wedding blog post!

When people say it’s a small world when they run into people, I can confirm that it really is. Although our line of work heavily relies on word of mouth, it really is amazing when we run into people we know such as during Brenda and Mike’s wedding. The wedding being in Ottawa and half Polish meant that we saw a lot of familiar faces which always makes it really fun while working throughout the day!

Onto the wedding details.

We have shot a few Vietnamese weddings and we always look forward to doing more! All ethnic weddings add a little something different to the wedding day. In the morning, at the bride’s house, there is always a traditional tea ceremony which is actually the spiritual wedding! It’s really touching to see the father of the bride warmly invite all the family and guests with open arms into his home and pay homage to all the ancestors. Not to mention the vibrant colors that are worn and decorate the home too.

The ceremony took place at the Army Officer’s Mess on Elgin Street in Ottawa which was followed by the really fun party, to which Brenda and Mike added our photo booth…and boy did they make the right decision! As soon as we saw the rubber unicorn mask, we know it was going to be a good night. We were so thankful that the weather cleared up for at least a half hour, so we had time to take some bright and happy photos near the Ottawa canal with Brenda and Mike in the natural light! But we couldn’t have done it without their obvious connection with each other.

Brenda and Mike, we sincerely wish you a fantastic life together and many happy memories. Thank you for inviting us to capture your special day and seeing you so in love makes us want to do this job even more than we already do. We hope you enjoy these favourite moments of ours from your day…  And then scroll back up and click play on the slideshow just below.

I have known Martin for quite some time. Even though we have parted our separate ways since high school, I still have fond memories of messing around in Mrs. Chiarelli’s algebra class, hitting up Broadway’s Bar and Grill for breakfast (mmm, the homefries…) before heading back to St. Pius X and most importantly playing together on stage in our high school band together.

Naturally, we couldn’t wait to Meaghan and Martin’s wedding to come. Not having met Meaghan before we were quite anxious to get to know her, but knowing how kind and down to earth Martin is we had no doubt that she would be very similar. We were right! Meaghan is one of the sweetest girls we have recently met and she and Martin did everything they could so that we would have the best possible experience working with them.

She and Martin planned a very farm/barn themed wedding which they fittingly had at the Cumberland Heritage Museum east of Ottawa. The location was just perfect. A huge piece of land complete with heritage museum homes fitted with original decor, farm animals, fields, tractors and more. Meaghan compiled a beautiful collection of inspiration on her pinterest page and came up with her very own gorgeous look to their wedding! Baby’s breath bouquets, a handmade photo booth backdrop, beautiful billy balls decorating every table under a wooden outdoor reception area.

If the wedding is anything like their future life has to offer then they have nothing but joy, love and lots of family memories to look forward to. Thank you two from the bottom of our hearts for taking us along to photograph your wedding day! We leave you with our favourite photos from the day and of course don’t forget to check out hundreds more in the slideshow below.  Oh and Meaghan, thank you for my cup, i drink out of it every day since the wedding. ( Magda)

xoxo,
Bartek & Magda

update: a few months later, Style Me Pretty Canada did a beautiful feature of Meaghan and Martin’s wedding! You can find it by clicking here.

If there was one way I could describe Roxane and Alexis, I would say they’re both just simply sweet, nice and pleasant people. Since Alexis is in the Canadian Forces, he donned his uniform and the wedding was held at the historic Old Officer’s Mess in Fort Saint-Jean  near Montreal. The amount of love and happiness from their friends and family was overwhelming when it came time for the speeches and the party literally exploded once the delicious food was finished.

Like I said at the beginning, we love seeing familiar faces at new weddings we shoot and that is intensified by the new friends we make. Roxane and Alexis, we wish you so much love and happiness and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking us along for this journey.

We first met the young couple over skype a while back and we fell in love with their personalities and energy…we clicked right away in so many different ways. We got right into planning their pre-wedding engagement session and since their wedding had a theme, we wanted to do the same thing for those photos too. For those of you who haven’t seen them yet, please click here to view Katie and Dan’s ridiculously adorable vintage e-session!

It was an incredibly beautiful day. It was hot, but luckily not July-hot yet! Katie and Dan spent so much time researching the era and trying to get as many little details as possible into the wedding. From custom made cufflinks, the time appropriate hair do’s, the Old Fashioned drink being served at the bar that Don Draper would sip,  and the candy bar that only had candies that were actually there during the 50′s! What better place to have the wedding reception than at Le Cordon Bleu Bistro @ Signatures Restaurant in Ottawa? The old fashioned building was a perfect fit for their intimate wedding and the coordinator Jennifer and her staff were more than willing to do everything they could to make the day perfect.

We cannot emphasize how fantastic Katie and Dan’s wedding made us feel. They have such a genuine and innocent love for each other that it’s inspiring! Add to that families that are to die for and you can imagine the fun everyone could have had at the wedding.

Thank you both for some memories that will last a lifetime for us and we hope you enjoy your images as much as we enjoyed taking them with you! A life of happiness is all we want for you two. Here are our favourite frames from the day and don’t forget to view the slideshow in the link right below here!

They chose to have their reception at the Plaza Antique which was lit and decorated beautifully and fit them perfectly. Our friend Azar from Principal Planner is one of Devon’s best friends and it was really cool to see her in the bridal party rather than running around behind the scenes for once. But she still couldn’t help herself and a large part of the reception looking the way it did was due to her talent.

Did I mention it was ridiculously cold? Because it was. And 30km/h winds to add! I have no idea how they did it but it doesn’t show and we were so proud of everybody for toughing it out. Magda and I wore gloves and winter jackets while the girls did amazing in their dresses…and I think it was totally worth it.

After meeting their families and getting to know them better, I have a feeling these two will have a fantastic life together. We wish you guys all the best and we thank you for having us there to capture your day! I leave you with a few of our favourite images from the day and don’t forget to view the slideshow for a ton more photos as well as some wedding photo booth action!

- CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW - 

- CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW - 

Her and Clint were planning a late evening cocktail dinatoire reception which they decided to host at one of Montreal’s most prominent art galleries in the Old Port, the Galerie Saint-Dizier on St. Paul street. This being November, the sun sets quite early so Magda and I started getting excited for the opportunity to do a night time photo shoot which we don’t normally do for weddings!

We got a hint of Marie-France and Clint’s originality when they wanted us to come up with an engagement photo session that fit in their theme of beige earthy tones and branches. We got to work right away and on a cooler spring day of this year we took them to some woods so if you missed it last time, click here to see the photos! The theme was continued at their wedding where wedding planner extraordinaire Azar, from Principal Planner, transformed an art gallery into their dreamed up vision. They even had an artist painting on a huge canvas live during the reception and each guest was able to be incorporated into the work of art! Complete with a steel drum band, a horse drawn carriage ride at night and with our photobooth the night was beautiful and something they will remember for the rest of their lives. Oh, and that cake and pushup pops? Those were made by one of Marie-France’s bridesmaids! (don’t tell anyone but I think I had two…)

Marie-France and Clint, we honestly cannot thank you enough for bringing us into your lives to capture this day for you. From the moment we met we admired your dedication to this wedding and we see that this same kind of dedication is also put into your relationship! We got to enjoy your company and learn a little about your touching family memories, saw Clint hold back tears when he received his amazing gift from Marie-France and witness Marie-France’s delicious obsession with Diet Coke! We wish you a fantastic life and we hope you fall in love with your wedding once again after seeing our favourite shots below…

Click play below for the slideshow!