Vivian & John - Beautiful Wedding at the Toronto Botanical Gardens

Vivian & John are such a pleasure to be around as a couple. There's a playfulness to their relationship that just makes them so fun to spend time with - we got a sense of this when we first met, and then really noticed it during their engagement shoot in the spring, where there was lots of laughing (and fluttering of eyelashes!). So of course I was really looking forward to their wedding at the beautiful Toronto Botanical Gardens. And then I saw the weather report. It didn't only call for rain, it said there was a "100% chance" of rain from about 6am to 4pm, at which time it eased of to a 90% chance of rain for the next few hours. And not just any rain, this was "soaking wet from walking 10 steps from the house to the car" downpour. As a photographer, it's not so much the actual rain I worry about, but the affect it will likely have on the stress levels of the bride and groom - which of course leads to stressed-out looking pictures.. but when we showed up at John's house, his grin was ear-to-ear. Vivian's house, same thing. These two were just so happy to be getting married to each other that they couldn't have cared less about the weather, and I loved that :)

 To start the day off, John and his groomsmen had to bring gifts and pass some very creative tests to gain entry to the bride's home, while Vivian waited patiently upstairs..

 The trials included passing a piece of seaweed down the whole line of groomsmen using only their mouths, as well as suffering through waxing strips!

 Tests passed, Bride and Groom united, now it was time for the Chinese Tea Ceremony - I love the richness of colours and patterns in this part of the day :)

I also love how wedding days bring out all the family and cultural traditions that have been passed down through generations.. (I always learn something new - on this day I learned that it was bad luck for the groom to reverse, so with the best man driving they did a lot of circles trying to find parking spots they wouldn't need to back into or out of!)

After the tea ceremonies, Vivian & John changed into their western wedding attire for the next part.. 

Still raining, but our bridal party was up for it! We headed to a fantastic park down the road from Vivian's house. The teal in the bridesmaid's dresses with the fresh green grass is one of my new favourite colour combinations!

I was glad to find out that Vivian & John's bridal party also had a great sense of humour and everyone was really fun to shoot :) Right about now (in spite of the weather report) you can see that the sun is just starting to peak out..

 Even though it had stopped raining for the moment, the decision was to have the ceremony inside just in case.. of all the "back-up" indoor ceremony sites I've ever seen, this one was probably the loveliest - I especially fell in love with the ceiling light sculptures! Aren't they magical?

Every wedding should have bubbles! 

{forecast: 90% chance of rain. On this day I learned to remember about the 10% chance of unexpected perfect weather :) }

 I love locations like this where at every turn it's beautiful :)

This might sound repetitive, but I've seen more than a few banquet halls - The Premier was a stunner. The evening was full of entertainment (from the choreographed catering staff to some outrages contests thought up by the bridal party). Later on, Vivian & John changed back into their Chinese outfits and made the rounds to toast each one of the guest tables.

 This (below) is the best dancing to "Single Ladies" I've seen since Justin Timberlake ;)

Vivian & John - wow. What a full and amazing day you two had. We sincerely hope that the rest of your lives together are just that as well: full and amazing :) Thank you so much for having us with you to capture all these special moments on your wedding day!

xo
Jessica + Norman