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

Alanna and Terry - Fraser River Lodge Wedding

I have known Alanna since I was just a few years old. Her and her sister Kari grew up just a few doors up the street from me and we went to the same before/after school care. So, when Alanna messaged me about her wedding I was beyond excited!

We started out the day driving out to the always amazing Fraser River Lodge. I feel like I’ve said this a lot this summer, but throughout the week it was calling for torrential rain on their wedding day. I was happy and excited when we got to the lodge because all we had to battle was crazy wind. I’ll take wind over rain any day!

Just as we were getting set up Alanna’s flowers were being delivered and they were beyond stunning! I loved the rich colours and the loose style bouquet, so perfect! As the girls got ready it was so amazing to catch up with Alanna, Kari and their mom.

Alanna and Terry were doing a first look as the rest of the bridal party got ready. I love these moments where it’s just them and having that first interaction with each other on their wedding day. We got a chance to do some photos with all the girls and then some bridal portraits. I love how Alanna had a floor length veil, with the wind it looked incredible!

Then it was time for the ceremony. I loved watching Alanna walk in with her dad, so proud of his little girl. The ceremony was officiated by a good friend, someone that knew them before they were “Alanna and Terry”. It made their ceremony so personal having their good friend marry them.

After some family photos, it was time for a few group photos before talking off to do more photos of Alanna and Terry. I love how trusting and willing that they were when I asked them to go walking all over the place, all in the name for a great photo.

Alanna and Terry had a beautiful set up for their reception and the food was amazing. I loved the head table in the center of the room. It was go great to hear the stories from their family and friends throughout the speeches. I chuckled when in the slideshow a photo with Alanna, Kari, and I appeared on the screen. The night wrapped up with everyone grooving to the live band.

Congratulations Alanna and Terry, I couldn’t be happier for you <3

Venue: Fraser River Lodge

Band: March Hare Band

Flowers: Wild Rabbit Flowers

Cake: Sweet Thea Cakes

Hair and Makeup Artist: Celina Seib

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!