Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 9)

Part 9 - Galway to Sligo, by way of Knock and Westport


{If right now you're thinking: "Part 9?! Where the heck is the rest of the story?", don't panic! Here's where we started, and here's where Part 8 left off in case that's all you've missed..}

After leaving Galway, our first stop was Knock. If you've never been there, Knock is to Ireland sort of what Lourdes is to France. I wanted to go because I'm fascinated by how cultures celebrate and practice their religions and beliefs - one of the best pieces of television I ever saw was a British show called "Around the World in 80 Faiths" which I highly recommend if you ever have a chance to see it. I have loved all the various Virgin representations I've seen in places like Mexico, France, and even a few days before this in Cork, and have actually sort of collected her from various countries to decorate the walls of our house, although I'm not Catholic.

But somehow Knock didn't feel "spiritual" to me, it actually felt kind of weird. I don't mean to offend anybody of course, and I'm sure there are lots of people who would say it's not spiritual to me because those aren't my beliefs, but of all the religious sites and churches and cathedrals I've been to in my life, only the one in Seville compares to Knock in the way it unsettled me (in the case of Seville, I couldn't quite get over how someone at some point had spent about a jillion dollars on 5-foot tall gold statues adorning one wall about 10 statues wide and stacked 6 or 7 high..). Knock seemed like a really big parking lot surrounding a few small buildings with a couple of plaques and statues, and then a street full of very touristy shops selling plastic containers (to fill up with Holy Water), clocks with Jesus on the cross, beads for every Saint known to man, and a million other things. I have to admit to bringing home a small card showing Saint Lucy - who is the patron Saint of our street, and so seemed fitting.

Anyways, I'm still glad we went to see Knock. It was an interesting contrast from Brigid's Garden (which had much more Celtic origins), especially since we visited the two very different locations within two days.

Back on the road, we continued north along the western part of Ireland until we came to Westport. Norman had said ahead of time that it was a picturesque town, and it lived up to all expectations :) After a quick scouting trip through the very hilly core of the town, we found a place to park the car and a place to change (that's right, we didn't actually drive around wearing these clothes all day!)

Sitting in my sunporch on this very sunny Saturday, I am reminded not at all of the weather we had when we were in Ireland ;) As my lovely husband pointed out to me - you can't expect a place to have 50 shades of green without a lot of rain.. The upside to a country that sees more cloud than clear sky is that the light is great for shooting almost all the time - as long as you can miss the rain! We picked a few of our favourite locations in Westport and managed to get some pretty great images before the rain started :)

 If my house could be made from these gorgeous blue-grey and pale rust-coloured stones, that would be perfect! (who do I talk to about that..?)

 I love colour - as you may have noticed ;)  - and I especially love it when great colour combinations come together. The town of Westport will always hold a special place in my heart, for the simple reason that it seemed to me as though the people there had been kind enough to paint some of their buildings in the perfect colours to go with what we were wearing :)

Just after these last shots were taken, it started to pour rain - we didn't even have time to change back into our "normal" clothes before scurrying back to the car and continuing our trip to our final destination - Sligo. The best part about that is that when we tried to check in to our hostel by the beach in Sligo, the man there took one look at our fancy attire and upgraded us (at no extra charge!) to the classier B&B owned by the same people nextdoor :)

After settling in to our room (which I LOVED and will show you why in the next part..) we went for a quick walk to the beach and then to the pub :) To scout it out for our photos the next day, of course ;)

Sligo is so beautiful - I can't wait to show you the pictures we took in the pub, and on our much longer walk down the beach the next day... stay tuned!!

xo
Jessica + Norman

p.s. as much as we'd love to shoot every wedding in Westport, we're actually very happy to shoot weddings pretty much wherever they happen! Email us now for more information if you're looking for a team of passionate wedding photographers (and lovers of life!)

Dress: Cabaret Vintage
Headband: Oh Dina!
Photography: Jessica Lin Photography

Andrea + Dave's Beautifully Detailed Wedding at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse

While I was preparing the images for Andrea + Dave's blog post I was trying to think why it was that I loved their wedding so much.. was it all the thoughtfully designed details? Or that they had used two of my favourite colours for all those details? Or was it the long list of talented and generous friends who made those details happen, and made the day incredibly personal? Or, maybe it was that Dave proposed to Andrea while they were staying in Nice, France, at the exact same hostel where I met my lovely husband Norman a few years back (how's that for a coincidence??)? Maybe all of the above? The fact remains: I loved Andrea + Dave's wedding, and I know they did too :) Here are some of my favourite images from their fantastic day..

Dave is a graphic designer (here's his website), and did all the designs for the invitations and labels (coming later..) The great argyle theme was carried throughout the day :)

 Andrea is a jewellery designer (check out Apa Design here), and made not only their wedding rings but also the jewellery for the bridesmaids (below, left) and argyle cuff links for the Groom! Also, her taste in shoes is amazing :)

Andrea's make-up was done by her friend Sonia, and all the girls' hair was done by Jamie (above) who's boyfriend also happens to be Josh, the Best Man. 

Dave's sister Heather sewed a tiny silver disk reading A+D into Andrea's dress, and one into Dave's jacket.

 The Beautiful Bride, ready to go :)

Andrea with her Mom, and with her sister "Best MoH Ever!" Daniella..

 And the Handsome Groom, also ready :)

 The wedding took place at the lovely Enoch Turner Schoolhouse in downtown Toronto - what a fabulous venue inside and out!

Bridesmaid Kirsten did a beautiful job making the girls' bouquets, and also made the centerpieces (coming up later..)

 Dave + Andrea wrote their own vows, and they were awesome. Yes, I cried. And for the record, so did Norman ;)

 I love this shot of "The Guys" (and Tara) gushing over Dave's new ring!

 More argyle! I loved Andrea's shoes, which were a vintage find :) I also adored her birdcage veil by the lovely and talented Nicole of Oh Dina!

 Definitely the most original invitations I've ever seen - I especially loved the thermometer where guests could fill in their "excitement level" when they RSVPed!

 Each table was named after a place that Andrea + Dave have travelled to together - and if that's not great enough, check out the amazing postcard table markers designed by Groomswoman Tara Phillips (below). And here are some of those labels I was telling you about, which Dave's Mom did the assembly for. She was also the one who planted all the pretty little herbs in the pots :)

 We made a fantastic guest book using images from Andrea + Dave's engagement photo session. The card box was made by Best Man Josh out of purple heart and chewy maple wood, which sounds as cool as it looks!

 The speeches were great, and included telling the story of how the car with all the girls' dresses got towed the night before the wedding, a showing of one of Dave's earliest portfolios, and Andrea's Dad thanking the "village" that helped the whole day come together :)

 This is one of my favourite things about weddings - how it brings out the romance in all the couples in the room :) These two (below, right) were Jenn and Connor Green - Andrea + Dave's lovely pre-wedding personal trainers..

I also loved that nearly every guest in the room joined in for the Bride's dance with her Dad, and the dance floor filled up again during the Groom's dance with his Mom :)

 Many friends and even the happy couple themselves contributed to all the goodness on the late-night baking table - yum! Dave's sister (and Bridesmaid) Heather made the feature dessert, which was a chocolate coffee mousse (yes, it was so good that I ate mine before it occurred to me to photograph it!)

 After all the excitement of such a great day, I snuck Andrea + Dave back outside for a few last shots :)

Even more than all the very good reasons way up at the top about why I loved this wedding, I think the main reason was that this was one truly amazing couple to photograph. Andrea + Dave - you two were so natural, so happy, so grateful, and so in LOVE that you were an absolute joy to be with and photograph on your wedding day :) We are truly honoured to have been a part of it, and wish you many years full of the kind of love and smiles that we saw so much of on your wedding day!

xo Jessica + Norman

{We absolutely *love* to photograph alternative and non-traditional weddings :) If you've got one in your future, please get in touch!}

Bride's gown: Jealous Bridesmaids
Officiant: Helen Sweet of The Brides Project did a lovely ceremony
Flowers + bouquets: Kirsten Rohloff Neiman, Sweet Splendor
Flowers from: Bloor & Kennedy Flower Shop (Bloor-West Village)
Caterer: Herrera's (dinner was amazing!)
Cake: Bunner's Bakeshop
Photography: Jessica + Norman, Jessica Lin Photography

Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 7)

As we were busy getting ready for The Original Wedding Soiree bridal show tomorrow, I was thinking what better way to get prepared for talking to excited engaged couples than to think back to our own wedding last spring, and the adventure honeymoon road trip that followed.. {For you late-comers: we decided to take the wedding dress and all the camera gear with us to do our own wedding photos as we drove around Ireland! Here's Part 1 - The Proposal, Part 2 - The Wardrobe, Part 3 - The Adventure Begins, Part 4 - The Ceremony, Part 5 - The Awesome Place We Went for Lunch After the Ceremony, Part 6 - Dublin - The Honeymoon Begins}

So - after kissing Dublin goodbye, we were on our way..

Part 7 - Cork to Killarney


In Cork we stayed above the Bru Bar Pub, which happened to be hosting a very lively stag party when we arrived at about 7pm. Once we fought our way through the crowd and up the stairs we were amazed to find how quiet our room was. After making a quick dinner of chicken penne and a salad, we went for a lovely walk out in the rain through downtown Cork. After all the driving, it was nice to get out and stretch our legs.. but of course it wasn't long until we found ourselves seated once again - this time in the greatest little pub I've ever been in. There was nothing special about it, which was part of what made it so awesome. Just a place full of old tables and chairs where friends had gathered for a drink and a laugh. We sat at the very back wall and enjoyed the fact that we were there, in that weird way where you anticipate something for so long that you can barely believe it once you are finally doing it :)

The next morning, Norman wrote our initials in the condensation on the window in our room (which later became part of our wall art canvas)..

After breakfast, we went for another walk around the town - this time with daylight and no rain - it is exactly as lovely as you imagine :)

This is the best road sign I have seen in my whole life!

Down by the river there were these huge inflatable, tire-covered fenders (bumpers for big ships)

Our next stop was Clonakilty beach, which had these amazing rocks (actually, pretty much the whole of Ireland has amazing rocks - Norman still can't believe I need so many pictures of them ;)

Our rings, hanging out with some barnacles..

Here's the thing about beaches in Ireland - they are empty. Stunningly beautiful, and empty. (Also a bit cold and windy, but perfect for walking along..)

We drove down to Mizen head, which I think must be the windiest place in the world. There was only one other person there when we got to the end - a Croatian guy who was touring around Ireland on his motorcycle - we spoke to him for a while about the great things we had all been seeing, and then wished each other happy journeys and were back on our way to Killarney..

Killarney, if you ever get the chance to go, has one of the most magical national parks ever invented by nature :) We found a place to pull the car over for some wedding pictures near this picturesque bridge - the tricky part was that it was so windy that the clouds were flying by and the light kept changing from the time I would click the shutter (on timer) to the time it actually took the picture! Norman took a few shots of me with the most beautiful light in the world, and then we set up the tripod to do one together..

It started to pour rain not long after this shot, so we were back in the car and on our way to the next adventure!

Stayed tuned for our visit to the stunning "Ladies View" lookout.. {click here!}

xo Jessica + Norman

{Getting married? We don't only shoot our own wedding in Ireland - we would love to photograph yours too... wherever it is! Email us now to set up a consultation :)  }

Photography: Jessica Lin Photography

Dress: Cabaret Vintage

Headband: Oh Dina!

Bracelet: Response Clothing

Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 4)

(my apologies to my sister and anyone else who was impatiently waiting so long for this next post, but we have been really busy the last few weeks with what those of us in the business call "work" haha..)

Missed the beginning? Here's where it all started: Part 1 - The Proposal, Part 2 - The Wardrobe, Part 3 - The Adventure Begins

And now...

Part 4 - The Ceremony


May 5th, 2011 - the day we got married :)
We woke up at 6am. This (as any of you who know me probably already know) would be painful enough for me in Toronto. But in Belfast, two days after arriving, 6am still felt a lot like 1am. So if we look a bit tired, that's why ;)

Luckily for me, Elaine is a professional make-up consultant and had very kindly offered to do my hair and make-up the morning of the wedding. Unluckily for her, that meant she was also up at 6am.. (nobody was awake enough at this point to operate a camera, so there are no pictures of the getting ready  chaos!) Joe & Elaine organized a lovely and simple breakfast of croissants and OJ which I ate mainly because I had bullied my sister into eating on her wedding day back in February so I thought I'd better follow my own advice!

Ready at last, we piled into the car and headed to Belfast City Center, picking up Norman's best friend Ian (and our photographer for the day) on our way. We parked close to the City Hall at Norman's cousin Keith's place of business, and Keith was good enough to give the five of us a lift to the front gates of City Hall (after teasing me about trying to get into the driver's seat - I was half awake and still not adjusted yet to the fact that they drive on the opposite side of the road haha..)

The funny thing is, even after almost 10 years of shooting other people's weddings, I still had the nervous butterfly stomach heading to our own.. I sort of loved that :)

Speaking of shooting other people's weddings, I would like to take a moment to appreciate what Ian did for us. I've shot photographers' weddings before, and it's about 5 times the pressure of shooting anyone else's. And Ian, although he has been photographing for many years, does not normally photograph weddings. So I know what a huge favour we were asking of him by handing him the camera for our special day, and I think he did such a fantastic job :)

Anyways, here we are: the incredibly impressive Belfast City Hall..

Norman and Joe waiting in the Wedding Chamber - I must say, they look pretty relaxed about the whole thing.. (at this point, I was down the hall with Elaine in the ladies room getting into my dress. Even though Norman had already seen me in the dress when we first found it at Cabaret, the girly part of me didn't want him to see me in it on this day until I was walking down the aisle)

I'm so glad Ian got a shot of this fantastic map they had out in the hall - the "Chart of Betrothal Bay" shows such important landmarks as "Introduction Cliffs" and "Big Brother Isle" on the "Male Route to Churchdoor".. they also have a spot marked "Kissmequick" ;)

Ready!

from here on in, the next bit was a bit of a blur...

Elaine helping me put on my grandmother's pearls... When she gave them to me just before we left, my mom told me that my grandfather had brought these back for my grandmother from Paris when he came home after the war. I loved the idea of bringing them back across the same ocean over half a century later to wear for my wedding day :) (I also love that my sister wore them on her wedding day too!)

I walked down the aisle to Blue Rodeo's "Lost Together". My first choice had been Journey, but Norman urged me to reconsider (haha) - in the end, this song was perfect :)

My cheeks hurt from smiling :) especially when I saw Norman wipe a tear from his eye.. 

first kiss :) with many more to follow..

How can you not dance to Billy Joel on your wedding day??

My awesome veil and fascinator are courtesy of Oh Dina! in Toronto (thanks Nicole!)

The four of us, plus Norman's cousin Cathy who surprised us by coming to the ceremony (Norman's mummy and Cathy's mummy were in the hospital at the same time to give birth to the two of them, so they are practically twins ;)  )

We went back to the stunning lobby to take some photos - we were the only wedding that day so we didn't have to worry about rushing, which was so nice..

I think this last image is my favourite :)

On Cathy's recommendation, we then went to the most fantastic restaurant I've ever seen - which I will show you in the next post! I promise it won't take as long as this one did ;)

xoxo Jessica & Norman

Photography: Ian Ritchie (a HUGE thank you to Ian!)

Dress: Cabaret Vintage, Toronto

Veil & Fascinator: Oh Dina!, Toronto

Shoes: Response Clothing, Toronto