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.

Mer Bleue Winter Engagement

One of the first things I noticed when I met Kristina and Liam was just how contagious their laughter is and how much they make each other laugh. This was a delightful engagement session where we finally got to meet and explore their story a little more just a couple days after Valentine’s Day and with a stroke of luck, missed out on the deep freeze normal to February. The other fun “news” of the weekend was their recent addition to their new home, Yogi Bear, who was immediately full of puppy greetings, love bites, and snuggles.

As a story-teller, I want to create a story of images that are meaningful to the couple. Liam’s passion is in woodworking, so incorporating some of his pieces (ever so subtly) into some of the photographs, along with their custom made engagement ring felt significant to me. Also, Kristina had shared that one of her favorite colors was pink, so I picked up some of my favorite ribbon made locally here in Montreal at Maison Note and gifted it to her to use in some way for her wedding.

We headed to the Mer Bleue Bog, the significance being that this was where Liam had proposed to Kristina (and funnily enough, I got to see that happen over IG because they had hired me for their wedding before they were officially engaged. I mean… these two make me laaaaaugh, they’re so fun and up for fun.)

So here you go, a winter engagement session in Ottawa at the Mer Bleue Bog. Really looking forward to photographing their wedding this November!