West Coast Woodland Styled Session

We are soooooo very excited to share our first styled session on the blog today! It’s been hard to keep these images under wraps but we are so happy that Real Weddings choose to feature them on one of their online posts. Before we flood you with all the photos from the session here is a little more about how our session came to be!

In the fall of 2016 we started planning a stylized session that would incorporate some of our favourite vendors and highlight the beauty of the West Cost. We started with the word “woodland” to start drawing inspiration from and we knew that we wanted the session to have a spring feeling to it.  We immediately knew who we wanted to model for us: Jami at Adventure Awaits and her amazing husband. They were the perfect couple to bring our vision to life! And who better to glamify her but Rae from Makeup by Rae. Rae has such an amazing ability to highlight natural beauty, which is exactly what we wanted. Having photographed several weddings at the Fraser River Lodge, we knew it was the perfect backdrop for our session. 

Working with Kristina at Buds and Blooms Floral Shoppe, we wanted to make the florals one of the main features of the shoot. We focused on the natural greenery with pops of white and cream. We then met up with Nicole at Past Pieces to go through her massive inventory of antique furniture. We selected some key pieces that, coupled with the flowers, would be the foundation to our session. Next it was on to picking out the dress. We headed over to Everything but the Groom and worked with Heidi to find the perfect dress. We wanted something new and modern, but which still had a very soft elegant look. The “Marilyn” dress by Morilee was perfect! The last pieces to pull together were the cake and the stationery. Crystal at Reddy Made Cakes provided us with a beautiful 3-tiered white cake that we could then decorate with the same florals that we would be using with everything else. And Eva from Love of Creating made my own wedding invitations, so I knew she was the perfect person to do up the stationery for us.

Finally, we had all our pieces together and it was time to head out to the Fraser River Lodge. With the forecast calling for rain that week, we were not sure we’d even be able to get outside for any photos. But we knew if we had the most beautiful set-up that we’d be ok. Luckily for us, the rain held off ‘til the end of the day and we were able to get a mix of both indoor and outdoor photos.

The photos turned out exactly the way we wanted them to, and we could not be happier with them!

A big shout out to all the fabulous vendors that we worked with to put this all together!

Photography: Amazing Day Photography

Venue: Fraser River Lodge

Florals: Buds & Bloom Floral Shoppe  

Hair and Makeup: Makeup by Rae

Cake: Reddy Make Cakes

Furniture Rental & Place Settings: Past Pieces

Stationary: Love of Creating Design Co.

Session Styling: Amazing Day Photography, Buds and Bloom Floral Shoppe, and Leanne Madeline

Dress: Everything But The Groom

Dress Designer: “Marilyn” by Morilee

Model: Jami (and her husband) from Adventure Awaits

Danielle and Andrew - Clayburn Village Schoolhouse Wedding

Danielle and Andrew have to be the sweetest people ever! It was nice to see all their wedding details come together that we had hear so much about at their engagement photos at the Othello Tunnels.  We were so excited to be part of their October wedding at the Clayburn Village Schoolhouse in Abbotsford.

We started the day by meeting up with both the boys and the girls at the Best Western in Abbotsford. I always love when the bride and groom get ready at the same location as I can jump back and forth capturing both. One of the photos that Danielle really wanted at the hotel was a picture of her and Andrew (in the same photo) but so they couldn’t see each other. Well the hotel had this amazing staircase in the lobby that gave us a cool spot to do just that photo.

Weddings are always emotional and at the moment that Danielle’s Dad saw her for the first, we knew we’d be in for a few tears. Both Danielle and her Dad broke down in to tears and it was such a beautiful moment.

We then headed out to Clayburn Village Church for the ceremony. This was my first time in this church and it was so adorable and beautiful. As they said their vows and promised their lives to each other in front of their family and friends, there were lots of laughs and a few more happy tears. One of the funniest moments had to come when the officiant asked “Danielle would you like to marry your best friend?” and her response was “Sherwood” (which is Andrew’s last name). The whole room erupted into laughter!

The weatherman had been calling for rain all day, but so far so good… but our luck only lasted till the end of the ceremony. As soon as we started the bridals and group photos the skies opened up. Well everyone was such troopers, getting a little rain on them as we quickly moved through their photos. We then snuck the bride and groom away to a different location for photos of just them. It was pouring rain, but they never let it get them down!

Then it was time to PARTY! So much love filled the Schoolhouse. We loved hearing all the touching stories throughout the speeches. Then it was time for both the father of the bride and groom to so their speeches. Both had the room in tears, including myself. The bond between father and daughter can be one of the strongest. You could tell in the father-daughter dance how close Danielle and her dad were and just how strong that bond is.

With the first dances done, it was time for the bouquet and garter toss. I always love when people go all out to catch the bouquet or garter! Then it was time to dance!

Such an amazing wedding with the most amazing couple! Congratulations Danielle and Andrew, we were so happy to be part of your wedding day!

Venue: Clayburn Village Schoolhouse

Brides & Bridesmaid Dresses: David’s Bridal

Flowers: Betty McEwan

Catering and Décor: Signature Catering

Bartending: Rochelle Thornley

DJ: Walin Dalen Entertainment

Makeup: Jessica Aldair

Hair: Melissa Auline & Jamie Ditchfield

Tuxedos: Moores

Shae and Trevor - Fraser River Lodge Wedding

Back in September I was able to second shoot for Oh Love Photography for Shae and Trevor’s big day. I don’t often get the opportunity to second shoot but I absolutely love it when I do. Second shooting allow me to spend more time capturing the day from a different perspective and try out new techniques.

The backdrop to their wedding was the ever amazing Fraser River Lodge. When we first arrived I got to go and hang out with the guys as they shot some pool. The girls were getting ready in the bridal suite with the ever fabulous Rae taking care of their hair and makeup.

It was soon time for the boys to get dressed so that we could get Trevor out to the spot where they were going to have their first look. At most weddings my time is spent with the bride all the way up to the moment when they see their groom for the first time. So for me it was a lot of fun to spend the 15 minutes with Trevor as we waited for his beautiful bride to arrive. We talked about how they met and how they purposed and I could see how anxious and excited he was getting waiting for Shae to arrive.

I love first looks as it gives the couple that moment just to themselves to see each other for the first time. Shae looked absolutley stunning in her dress from Everything But The Groom. We spent some time with just Shae and Trevor before the rest of their bridal party joined us for some photos before the ceremony. Then it was time to head back to the lodge to get ready for them to join the family and friends and say their vows to one another. The ceremony was beautiful and full of so much love.

After a few family photos it was time to party the night away. At the reception instead of clinking glasses for them to kiss they had people meow like cats. Shae and Trevor have a love for cats, Trevor even wearing cat socks on their wedding day, so it seemed a fitting way to get them to kiss. I have to admit hearing a random “meow” come over the microphone during dinner made me burst out loud more than once. Just before they started to dance the night away they did the bouquet and garter toss and I absolutely love the images from the bouquet toss!

Such an amazing day with an amazing group of people and I was go glad that I could be part of their big day!

Danielle and Andrew - Othello Tunnels Engagement Session

When I first met Danielle and Andrew over a year and a half ago, I knew that wanted to be part of their wedding day. The more I learned about their wedding and their plans for their engagement session I grew even more excited to tell their love story. They really wanted to do their engagement session at the Othello Tunnels and I couldn’t be more excited! So we planned a date in May for their engagement session, but found out just a few weeks before that the location we were going to shoot at was closed for another month. So we picked a new date in July, certain it would be a beautiful day. We even decided to meet really early in the morning to avoid the heat of the summer weekends. And when the day arrived it rained, but they were totally game for still doing the session.

So we hiked into the tunnels and got some amazing shots inside them and around the surrounding cliffs nearby. The tunnels were part of the Kettle Valley Railway lines and are a big part of British Columbia’s railroad history. If you are ever out in Hope, I encourage you to take an hour or two to go and explore the area!

After walking around the tunnels we headed over to Lake of the Woods on the other side of Hope, which is another spot I’ve always wanted to do photos. Both Danielle and Andrew were rock stars in front of the camera and so natural with each other.

This past weekend we got the chance to continue to tell the love story of Danielle and Andrew, and we can’t wait to share some photos of their big day with you soon.