Grace & Toni || Cafe De L'Horloge Wedding

This wedding was featured on Junebug Weddings.

Grace & Toni met at a faith-based campus group at McGill. Grace says they connected

over the fact that we could talk for ages which we discovered while dissecting a book we had both read. We bonded also over being international students with surprisingly similar family backgrounds, in spite of having been brought up in Nigeria and Qatar. I noticed  how kind Toni was, how comfortable he was in himself, and his sense of humor and love for games;

Toni said “and I loved how compassionate Grace was (and still is), her wit, and incredible sense of style”

When I started talking to Grace & Toni, they had been planning a wedding for some time, and were struggling to find a venue that could accommodate a celebration uniting both of their large families that would be traveling from overseas.

What follows is what we all now know this year: the upheaval of the pandemic, the uncertainty built into planning anything, and then taking a chance and planning it anyway. As Grace told me,

Having to plan during the pandemic gave us the time and space to discern what mattered to us on our wedding day. It was fun (in the midst of the disappointment and stress) to be creative and  brainstorm within the restrictions and see plans take shape. It’s been hard having to miss some of the family traditions we had planned in both Nigeria and India this year. Thankfully our family has been virtually involved in the planning process, but, we have missed their physical presence and support here, and especially on the wedding day, we will miss Toni’s parents and other precious friends and family being with us in person. 

I can not stress enough just how swiftly Salar Events & Design switched gears in light of going into orange alert the week of their wedding (change of venue, disinviting more guests, adding a hotel to get ready in, pivoting and giving away decor etc.) and found a new accommodating space thanks to Yasmine at Cafe de L’Horloge in Rigaud. The vendor teams really pulled together to make this day happen so please make a note of them below! I must also give a shout out to the videographer, Plea, for pulling off technical wizardry in connecting Grace & Toni to their families attending from overseas via streaming services.

It was a beautiful day at the end of September — one of those days that did it’s best to feel like summer — and, well, I’ll let the photos do the rest of the storytelling :)

PLANNER Salar Events & Design DRESS Oui je le voeux SUIT Maison Leporem STATIONARY Deux Amoureux RINGS Ecksand RENTALS Casa D’Eramo FLORALS Efflorescence VIDEO Authentik Weddings CAKE Bayard Gateaux

Jade & Adrian || Rainy Day Montreal Wedding

Couples planning a wedding in 2020 have had to navigate so many unknowns and each wedding I have photographed has had it’s share of rules and last minute changes.

Jade & Adrian’s wedding was no different with last minute venue changes for the ceremony and reception to accommodate the ever-changing rules here in Montreal. Add all day torrential rain into the mix and we found ourselves making even more last minute changes.

All this to say: none of this dampened Jade & Adrian’s spirits. A couple united in their religion, music, art, and dance. They met at the People’s Church of Montreal and so while the original plan of getting married up in the Laurentians (loosely guided around Adrian’s affinity for all things Lord of The Rings) they moved their handmade details back into their church and continued to be guided by their love of “people, community and having fun” .

Their reception was held at La Maison Verte, a restaurant with a very friendly staff and an ambience that made everyone feel cozy as the rain fell outside. Cue a surprise gift of a Mariachi band that might have moved this photographer to tears and a dance routine showcasing Jade’s background in dance… that had a surprise lift from the Best Man that was nothing short of uplifting, uproarious and hilarious.

It turns out the perfect antidote to this year has been moments like these and celebrating with our communities (when we can). A big congratulations to Jade & Adrian, I have my fingers crossed for them both that they’ll make their someday honeymoon plans to visit Japan happen soon.

Dress Mon Cheri Bridal Cake Cupcakes et Cie Florals The bride - Jade & Sprout

Gabrielle & Louis-Philippe || Malbaie Wedding || Les Amoureux

This wedding was featured in Mariage Quebec & Wedding Bells Magazine and was recently voted as one of 2020’s Most Inspiring Micro-Weddings.

If you have not visited the Charlevoix region in Quebec, you are missing out on one of the most beautiful areas of Canada. Reminiscent of the ocean coastlines, it’s hard to wrap your head around the idea that you are not staring out at the ocean. Getting invited to be a part of Gabrielle & Louis-Philippe’s wedding in La Malbaie is one of the wedding’s of my very water-centered Canadian Wedding Bucket List.

Gabrielle & Louis-Philippe fell in love after joining the same Ultimate Frisbee team. In their own words:

Gabrielle est tombée complètement sous le charme de la personnalité joyeuse, drôle, rassembleur de LP. … LP est tombé amour de Gabrielle par son sourire, sa présence… il voulait toujours être près d’elle. (Elle riait toujours à ses blagues.) 

What struck me about these two from the first of our phone calls (before the pandemic was on the vicinity) was just how much they laughed, how open they were, and how solid they seemed in their vision of their lives together. Over the course of the year, in getting to “know them” through their instagram stories, it was clear to me that their love is founded in nature. As it turns out, LP is a geologist, and so I made it a point to include these aspects in building their wedding day story.

As they said:

Dès le début de notre relation, notre entourage nous a surnommés “Les amoureux”…. Nous sommes des amoureux qui aiment le plein air, se coller, la tranquillité, l’égalité et qui croyons aux gens.  Nous adorons voyager, ensemble, tout est toujours très simple.

And then, the pandemic happened. What was impressive to me was how quickly they pivoted, cancelling their 120+ person wedding, finding a new venue and crossing their fingers they could invite a handful of people. We discussed their new plans over zoom and it was clear that they had made peace with the wedding they thought they had wanted.

Le plus étrange est d’avoir planifié un mariage depuis mai 2019, de tout laisser tomber et de réussir en organiser un nouveau en 2 mois et demi et que tout fonctionne quand même. 

I overheard someone say during the reception that the St.Lawrence resembled a mirror, a tranquil backdrop to such a romantic day filled with joy, tears, & Moon River while celebrating Les amoureux.

Just a little post script: one of the photographs in this series has already been featured on Mariage Quebec and that same photograph got handpicked by Rangefinder Magazine as Photo of the Day (a magazine that features many of my own personal favorite wedding photographers & home to 30 Rising Stars)

VENDORS

Dress Maison Ariane Carle Suiting Le Mercier Venue Terrasses Cap A L’Aigle (Maree de Base) Cake Pain d’exclamation