Kristina & Liam || Wedding Postponement Session

As mentioned in my first post about these sessions - I came up with Wedding Postponement Sessions for my clients because we needed a few silver linings.

I thought that by visually marking the occasion of original wedding dates we’re acknowledging and celebrating the tough decisions that couples are making together. In my own personal experience, these types of moments in life are what create stronger bonds, give greater depth to our connections, and lead us to appreciate the joy and gratitude that arises.

Kristina & Liam were originally getting married this coming November of this year. Because we did a winter engagement session, I thought we could take advantage of my recent time in Ottawa (for a wedding) and the summer weather (given that they’re wedding is postponed to next November). We landed on Mont St-Marie, where Liam has a family cottage that they can escape to.

The pandemic, they told me, has not been easy for them. Adapting to work-at-home and isolation was already proving difficult, when Kristina’s grandfather went into the hospital unexpectedly. Sadly,

We weren't able to visit or speak to him until his final days, and on May 3 he passed. This was especially difficult for both of us - as he was the person that raised me, and who was going to walk me down the aisle, and who I had hoped to have my father-daughter dance with. After dealing with such a large loss already, the idea of having a wedding when the grief was still so fresh, and in needing to adjust our expectations for our perfect day (we don't think we'd be allowed to have any where near our guest count, for example), it didn't feel right to move forward with our date.

Postponing for them meant also delaying a celebration of the challenges they had gone through together. The good news is that these two adore each other and if anything, strengthened their love for each other.

Kristina says of Liam:

He's always so positive, about everything (a glass half-full kind of guy).

And when I asked Liam for one of the things he loved about Kristina, he laughed and said:

Everything

Instead of a celebrating with a wedding this year, Liam took to making a fire with a few firestarter cubes (because hasn’t this year been challenging enough??). There is such a marked difference in the summer heat wave when you drive up to the Gatineau Hills, a fire is welcome! I got to know these two even better over a lot of laughter and getting creative in creating photographs that acknowledge the time they had in the summer of the 2020 pandemic.

Kassandra & Anthony || Wedding Postponement Session

I came up with Wedding Postponement Sessions because of my desire to tell stories; in my experience challenges test us in all facets of our lives. The last six months have done that for all of us in so many different ways.

I thought that by marking the occasion of original wedding dates we’re acknowledging and celebrating the tough decisions that were made together. It’s these types of moments in life that create stronger bonds, give greater depth to our connections, and lead us to appreciate the joy and gratitude that arises.

Kassandra & Anthony were originally getting married August 9th of this year. They said that the toughest part about making their decision was “having to wait another year before celebrating with (their) loved ones... and being married!!” A positive? “A close friend was added to the bridal party!”

(He) is so gentle, kind and patient. We’ve known each other since we were teenagers and I loved watching him grow into the most kind and thoughtful man. He always does silly dances to make me laugh when I am sad - oh and he’s the cutest with our dogs!

One of their favorite things to do together is exploring the city and finding new cafes. They have annual dates where they try a new café on the bride’s birthday. And for Valentine’s Day they celebrate at the same restaurant Les Deux Gamins on Prince-Arthur.

She is always a source of positivity and kindness, and she can make me laugh without trying. Also makes very good muffins.

To celebrate their original wedding date, we set up a picnic at Centennial Hall Park in Beaconsfield and delighted in meeting in real life and marking this very historical year with a few special frames.

Carbide Willson Ruins Engagement Session in one photo

There are time when life aligns me with people who feel meant to be in my life. Everything from the initial inquiry, first phone call, contract negotiations and actual photo session planning has a thread of magic that sews it’s way through the entire experience.

This couple found me on the tenth page of Wedding Wire (because I don’t pay for my listing) and we soon discovered a variety of crazy connections between us.

When we planned the engagement shoot — after sending a few suggestions that had a nice interplay between architecture and nature - the couple sent back the suggestion of the Carbide Willson Ruins.

Well.

My heart skipped a beat for a few reasons: I went to day camp for my entire childhood that spent the first half of the day at a Ski Lodge and then the other half of the day at Meech Lake. We would OFTEN hike to these ruins except because I was a kid at the time, didn’t realize there was a name attached to them.

So needless to say I was all in.

We had a wonderful hike getting to know each other, revisiting my own childhood memories, and experiencing the wet grounds of this Spring together.

I have many beautiful photos from this experience, however for the sake of their desire for privacy I am leaving you with one we have agreed is just too beautiful to keep under wraps. The sun.. for a very brief moment chose to find it’s way through the windows of these ruins and we were so lucky to be there for it.

Magic. Really looking forward to shooting their wedding later this summer xo