Newborn Cameron - One Week Old

I first met Sarah & Mike (and their cats Chewy and Roy) in 2007, when they were planning their wedding and asked me to be their photographer. From their engagement shoot at High Park, to their beautiful lake-side wedding, to the experience of creating an album of their favourite images, they have been a lovely couple to work with. Norman & I also photographed Sarah's sister Janine and her husband Jon's wedding a few months ago, so by now we sort of feel like part of the family. We were actually at their place for dinner (along with Janine & Jon) the night before Baby Cameron arrived in the world, so when we came to photograph him a week later we felt as if we knew him already :)

And now - without further ado - we would like to introduce you to... Baby Cameron!

Sarah is a super-talented knitter, and she knit this beautiful pennant piece to hang above her Little Man's crib (love the colour combinations!) as well as the matching blanket to go in the crib

Mike - a very proud Papa :)

Cameron kept a close (tiny) eye on us most of the time we were there...

One of the perks of being a knitter is that you know other knitters, and they make you awesome baby things like this little elf hat made by Sarah's friend Jana...not only did she knit the hat, she actually dyed and spun the yarn herself!

The challenge with Baby Cameron is that he didn't seem too happy to be put down anywhere - the best part about that is that we ended up getting loads of really sweet images of him being held close by Mommy and Daddy :)

Even though Cameron is only a week old, we were both touched by how comfortable and natural both Sarah & Mike were with their Little Guy :)

This blanket below was made by a group of Sarah's friends who started a tradition when the first one of them had a baby about a year ago - each friend makes a square, and it's called the "Auntie Blanket" because it was made by all the baby's "Aunties" - I love cozy handmade traditions and I think this is one of the best ones I've ever heard of :)

This blanket (below), along with most of the sweaters below, were made by Sarah's awesome knitting friends from the Knit Café on Queen West. 

(Sarah told us that Cameron has his Daddy's toes..)

What we found when we peeked in Cameron's closet.. he'll be a cosy baby this winter!

Auntie Janine, finishing off the re-covering of the Hollands' family bassinet - both Sarah & Janine, along with a few cousins, slept in this as babies. Now it's Cameron's turn..

Love this smile :)

Getting sleepy...

We were sure that Mommy, Daddy and Baby all must have slept well after such an exciting afternoon! It was such an honour to be a part of this very special week in their lives, and we look forward to watching their family grow :) 

(P.S. We apologize to Sarah's parents, the proud new Grandparents of Baby Cameron, for hogging the Little Guy while they were visiting - hopefully the pictures make up for it!)

xo Jessica + Norman

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Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 3)

Just joining us? Check out what you've missed so far: Part 1 - The Proposal, Part 2 - The Wardrobe


Part 3 - The Adventure Begins

After quite a hectic month of planning our wedding and the family party that would follow, we finally had our bags packed and were ready to get going!

I like to leave my in-flight reading somewhat up to chance, so I always wait and pick out a book once I get to the airport... after trying on all the vintage dresses at Cabaret, this book about the lives lived by vintage clothing seemed totally perfect! (The main story of the book was not bad, but the stories told by the dresses were fantastic and made it worth the read)

We spent 7 hours in Gatwick airport waiting for our flight to Belfast from London, so you will notice there are no pictures here of us after our arrival in Northern Ireland ;) Our first stop after picking up the rental car was to go to Tesco (the best grocery store in the world, greatly missed by British ex-pats) and then we headed straight to Norman's sister and brother-in-law's place. Elaine and Joe had been kind enough to offer us a home base for our time in Northern Ireland, and we couldn't have felt more welcome in their beautiful home in Greyabbey :)

We got there around 9 o'clock at night, so it wasn't until the next morning that I took these pictures..

One of the best things about having a dog (which we don't, but Joe & Elaine do - his name is Yogi) is that they need to go for walks. We really enjoyed joining Elaine taking Yogi down this lovely route to the shoreline.. I think since Norman had been gone from the country for almost a year and a half, he was really noticing all the rock walls and ivy that the locals tend to take for granted - so beautiful :)

My lovely husband (-to-be, at this point) frequently claims to not be "romantically inclined", but as you can see he scratched our initials and the date into this rock wall the day before our wedding (followed by a kiss "X") Aww... 

Elaine took this one of us (and Yogi in the background) outside one of the shops in their village. You may notice we are wearing many layers more than when we left Toronto two days earlier - Northern Ireland in May is not exactly warm (but is of course still lovely!)

Believe it or not, on our way walking back home through the village we passed a little fruit and flower shop. The little old man who ran the shop was out front, and came to say hello to us (as strangers tend to do in Northern Ireland - it's really lovely) and Elaine told him that we were visiting from Canada and would be getting married the next day. After congratulating us and telling us a story about his wife (to whom he had been married for many years) he starting singing - in the middle of the street - "Love is in the Air". It was totally magical. As we passed the village sweet shop, the owner also came to greet us. When she found out we were to be married the next day, she rushed back into her shop and filled a bag with chocolate hearts covered in silver foil with the words "Just Married" on the front, for which she refused payment. We were both really touched and felt like we were floating around in a little bubble of good wishes and happy thoughts, which was incredibly nice when we were so far from home :) For those of you who've never been to Northern Ireland (and especially if the word "Belfast" brings to mind only stories of terrorism and bombings), I have to say that it's full of the warmest and friendliest people I've ever met anywhere :) and I'm very happy to have such a good excuse to go back to visit often!

Now - time to get down to wedding business! I had brought a portable steamer before leaving, which did a great job. I have to say that considering how many hours she spent folded in half and squished into my suitcase, my wedding dress was in fantastic shape - just needed a bit of a touch-up with the steamer (Elaine also took this picture..)

I really love my dress, and it and Elaine & Joe's house seemed to be made for each other..

My mom and sister had found this purse for me years ago at a place called Vintage Bride in Mirvish Village in Toronto - it's made of ostrich feathers. I added the ribbon handles and trim and the little purple flower with leaves just to give it a bit of colour.. 

Since none of my family was going to be joining us for the Irish end of our celebrations, it was really nice to have a little bit of them with me :)

 I always tell my brides that weddings bring amazing surprises and generosity from those around you, but even I was amazed and a bit overwhelmed by the kindness of Norman's cousin Joanne - she made beautiful bouquets for both Elaine and I to carry during our ceremony at city hall. I had never even met her until we picked up the bouquets from her the day before the wedding, so it was incredibly special and really made me feel welcomed into the family even more :)

Having had only one day to settle in (and try to get adjusted to the time difference!) and finalize everything, we still managed to take a quick trip into the city center to scout out City Hall. Back in April when Norman had booked our date with them, they had sent us a brochure about other locations owned by the city council where you could also get married - including Belfast Castle. 

Now ladies, especially those of you who live in countries without castles on every street corner, you will understand that it was an effort of great restraint for me upon hearing this news to be casual about asking how my lovely groom would feel about maybe getting married at the Castle instead of at City Hall. To his credit, even though he had already planned everything for City Hall, he did very calmly agree to call them and see if the Castle was available. Which it wasn't. The point is, I was fighting back the urge to feel like my fairytale wedding could possibly have been slightly more perfect...until I saw Belfast City Hall. It's a stunner. It's actually way more beautiful than the Castle is, since the Castle on the inside looks a lot more like a conference centre than a castle.

Here's a little sneak peak of the domed ceiling above the lobby..

..so you can just imagine what the rest looks like! (Actually, you won't have to imagine for long, because the next part of our story will be The Ceremony :) Stay tuned...)

xoxo Jessica & Norman

Photography: Jessica Lin, except where noted

Dress: Cabaret Vintage, Toronto

Jane & Luis - Classy Retro Wedding at the Gladstone Hotel

The theme: a "Mad Men"-era feel
The location: The Gladstone Hotel in the super-cool West Queen West neighbourhood of Toronto
The couple: Jane & Luis, who we had already fallen in love with while doing their engagement photos a couple of months ago

We started the day off by meeting Jane & Luis near the Gladstone to enjoy the fabulous classic car that event planner Kristina Chau had found for them..

(We all loved this - apparently the rear window being able to go down is very rare..they only did it for two years on this model)

Classy start to the day or what?

Next, we headed inside (by now we were all in need of some air conditioning!)...

Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 2)

Missed Part 1? Check it out here

Part 2 - The Wardrobe

We both really loved this pale pink lacy number, but it would have needed a bit of altering (on a tight schedule!). Even though I hadn't planned on something super "bridal" I completely fell in love with The Bijou as soon as I tried her on :) And then once I found out I could sit down and still breath, it was decided - this was the dress for me!

I really can't say enough good things about our experience at Cabaret - the dresses are fantastic, the shop has a really amazing feel to it, and Tao and Elizabeth were awesome! 

The next stop for me was shoes. A few doors down from Cabaret, there's a great shop called Response. They always have really nice window displays, and I'd been in a few times. This time, I was at the absolute end of my faith in Queen West as a great place to buy shoes - I'd been in at least a dozen places and still hadn't found something that was pretty and comfortable enough to not kill myself walking in them. And then suddenly, there they were.

Not too high, not too plain - I loved them! I wore them around the shop for about 20 minutes while I was talking to Andrea (who was immensely helpful and very sweet) and couldn't believe how comfy they were :) Andrea suggested a soft gold polish for my toe nails to add a bit of fancy (I ended up going with Gosh #554 Gold) which was perfect.

While we were talking, I notice this fantastic five-strand bracelet that seemed destined to be paired with these shoes..and so my hunt for the perfect shoes and accessories was almost over :)

The last thing I wanted to have to complete the look was something beautiful to go in my hair. I had very fortunately met Nicole from Oh Dina! at the latest One of a Kind show in Toronto. I loved her stuff, and we had stayed in touch. She very generously offered to lend us a few pieces to go along for the adventure, so we headed out to her great studio in the west end to make the hard decision of which ones were my favourites (and which wouldn't get killed in a suitcase for a few weeks!). We ended up going with a lovely little birdcage veil, as well as a few colourful and feathery hair fascinators. The one that actually ended up being my favourite in the end though was this amazing feathery headband..

but more of that later ;)

Now, in case you're getting worried that poor Norman wasn't also having a blast choosing his outfit(s) - fear not. He already had his jeans picked out (no, I'm not kidding!) and a few trips to Value Village and to Exile in Kensington Market found him a pair of perfect shirts. One blue with french cuffs for the "Irishy" part, and a beautiful gold ruffled tuxedo shirt for the Spanish part. 

How awesome is this shirt?? Just wait until you see it on!

He planned to bring a couple of his Dad's ties, which I thought was a really nice touch. The one on the left has millions of tiny elephants with their trunks in the air, which I remember being told as a little kid was supposed to be good luck for some reason (yes, I love good luck wedding superstitions!)

I got Norman the tie in the middle because he loves blue and I loved the pattern and I wanted to get him something that wouldn't take up too much room in the suitcase ;)

This was the first pair of Canadian shoes that Norman bought, after being forced to jettison all his pairs of dress shoes at the airport in Belfast when he was moving here (too much weight in the luggage)..it somehow seemed perfect to me that he would be taking this pair back across the ocean to get married in :)

Our biggest challenge in all of this would turn out to be figuring out how to fit it all (including my wedding dress, shoes, tripod, light stand and umbrella, plus everything else we would need for the 4 week trip) into two suitcases, and how to make all of my camera gear fit into what they consider carry-on luggage. It was tight, and a bit stressful at times, but it all got there in the end..

Stay tuned for Part 3, where we will actually be leaving for our destination wedding adventure!

xox Jessica + Norman

Photography: Jessica + Norman, Jessica Lin Photography

Dress: Cabaret Vintage, Toronto
Shoes and Bracelet: Response Clothing, Toronto
Feather Headband: Oh Dina!

Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 1)

Part 1 - The Proposal:

This particular adventure started (for me, anyways) one sunny day at the beginning of April. Norman came to meet me after I got my hair cut on College street, seeming almost suspiciously cheerful and smiley. He asked me if I would like to go for a drink nearby (also suspicious - we are big fans of drinks in our own backyard or on our front steps..not so much for the "going out for a drink" type of thing). We decided on Kalendar because it looked nice and neither of us had been there before. It was lovely. The drinks were lovely (Norman's was a super-yummy vanilla and vodka cocktail called "cassis me you fool", mine was an awesome orange and lime juice with vodka and grenadine called "the garnet"..mmmm..).

After we were settled into our cozy corner window seat, sipping away at our lovely cocktails, Norman finally got around to what was on his mind. He said many lovely things, but the one that stood out and made my cheeks hurt from smiling was that he wanted me to be his wife :) and had made arrangements with Belfast City Hall for us to get married on May 5th. We had been planning our trip back to Northern Ireland to visit Norman's family and travel around for the past 5 months, and as it turns out Norman had also been secretly making wedding plans for almost as long. Even though I know that I would have been completely happy with Norman even if we never got married, it really made my heart sing to hear him ask that particular question :)

So - twinkly-eyed details aside - it didn't take me long to notice that we had one month less a day to plan everything for our destination wedding and the family party that would follow. Early on, we decided it would be a great idea if we (being photographers of other people's weddings) were to do our own wedding pictures. This solved the problem of trying to find someone to trust in such a short amount of time and from such a distance, plus it seemed like a really fun project to do together. We had already planned to spend 8 days driving around Ireland, plus a week in Spain, and Norman suggested (yes - for the record - it was HIS idea!) that we could just bring the wedding dress and camera gear with us everywhere we went and do our wedding photos in all kinds of fantastic locations. This was maybe the craziest idea I'd ever heard of, and I loved it immediately :)

First thing's first though, I needed to find a dress. We headed to Cabaret Vintage on Queen because it's one of my favourite places in the city and I finally had a really great reason to get a really great dress. I had originally intended to get something vintage, but then I found out that Cabaret's Tao and Elizabeth have started designing their own line of vintage-inspired and totally glamourous wedding gowns..

Which dress would you choose..? Check out Part 2 (coming on Monday) to see the lucky dress that got to tour Ireland and Spain!

xox Jessica + Norman