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

Caroline & Graham's Graffiti Maternity Session

This is without a doubt the most colourful maternity shoot we've done yet! When Caroline mentioned that she and her husband Graham were planning on doing a graffiti walking tour of downtown Toronto I immediately thought it would be a fantastic backdrop for their upcoming maternity portrait session :)

I absolutely adore the vibrance and character of Kensington Market, and as you can see we had lots of fun checking out the graffiti and feeling the love while documenting this "expectant" stage in Caroline & Graham's life...

These two were so great - lots of laughing and kissing :) We are so looking forward to meeting the newest member of the family in a few weeks at their newborn session!

xo
Jessica + Norman

{Are you expecting your own bundle of joy in the near future? Email us now - we'd love to talk to you about maternity and newborn portraits, and we've just introduced a fantastic "Baby's First Year" package!}

Vivian + John - Amazing Spring Engagement Shoot

Last weekend we met up with Vivian and John to do their engagement portraits - not only did I love how much they smiled at each other, but they were also a really fun couple and loved to joke around together :) Here are some of my favourites from the images I'll be using to create their custom guest book..

We went to High Park, where the blossoms were fantastic! There were about a million other people there enjoying the beautiful weather on Sunday, but to look at these two you'd think they were the only ones in the world :)

Vivian + John - we had such a great time, and are so looking forward to photographing your wedding in the fall.. if your families are half as fun as you guys, it'll be a blast!

xo
Jessica + Norman

{if you are recently engaged and looking for an awesome photographer to capture your love - email us now - we'd love to chat!}

Aynslie & Mike - Fairy Tale Wedding at the Liberty Grand

Listening to Aynslie talk about her upcoming wedding day, I realized that she and I were a lot alike - we both have a glowy romantic princessy feeling about love and weddings :) From the choice of venue to the amazing colours, I knew this would be a wedding I would love!

We started the day off by visiting both the "Girls" and "Guys" camps as they were getting ready in the morning...

This is one of the most beautiful bouquets I've ever seen..

I've seen a few wedding rings in my day, but none that look like Mike's! (it's made of tungsten..)

This church was not only stunning, but happens to be the church where Aynslie's grandparents got married many years ago - how awesome is that?!

Aynslie had specifically asked me ahead of time if we could use this amazing central staircase for photos of the bridal party - what a great idea! I especially love this shot of her ascending the stairs :)

After the ceremony, we headed down to the CNE grounds for some great photo locations.. Aynslie & Mike couldn't have timed their wedding better with all those blossoms!

Yep - still at the CNE! There's this fantastic secret cabin (one of the first structures built in Toronto!) with a garden that feels like you're in the country all of a sudden :)

The Liberty Grand - a stunning venue! Totally romantic-fairy-tale-style :)

I love how weddings bring out the starry-eyed romantic looks between friends and family members who are guests! Jon & Janine (below, in colour) are coming up on the first anniversary of their wedding :)

Mike & Aynslie - you two had a perfectly magical day :) Thank you for inviting us to capture your fairy-tale wedding day and we wish you an equally magical Happily Ever After!

xo

Jessica + Norman

{If you have a magical day in your future, email us now - we'd love to meet with you to discuss how we can capture it perfectly for you!

Kelly & Eddie - An Irish/Canadian Love Story :)

When I first read Kelly's email explaining that she was a Canadian living in Dublin, planning to come back to Canada to marry her Irishman Eddie at Toronto City Hall - I couldn't help feeling like they were our twins in reverse. When I found out their wedding date was the day before our first anniversary of when we got married at Belfast City Hall, it seemed somehow like the stars had alligned.
Perhaps it was this connection, or perhaps it was the lovely accents, but when we met a couple of days before their wedding to scout our locations I immediately felt like I'd known Kelly & Eddie for years. And much like ours, their wedding day was perfect :)
We started off at the "Skates & Snacks" building in Nathan Phillips Square, which is a much newer and prettier version of this building than the one that used to be there (thankfully!)

I love this moment of nervous anticipation right before they see each other for the "first" time..

And then I love how they both glowed once they finally saw each other :)

Into City Hall for the main event :)

Kelly's friend Lindsey brought surprise bubbles - perfect!

Now for our tour of Toronto: starting with the CN Tower..

Over to the Art Gallery of Ontario..

and of course a lovely Toronto streetcar!

The reception was held at Bodega on Baldwin.. when we got there Kelly & Eddie's guests were enjoying cocktails on the amazing patio..

Kelly's Man of Honour Scott made the cake - I love that!

I also loved Kelly's secret little shamrock :) (And her shoes! And her dress!)

Kelly & Eddie - you two were amazing :) Your families were lovely, and I hope all the overseas visitors enjoyed their stay in our fair city. May this perfect day remain in your hearts for many years to come :) And we will definitely go for a pint in September!

Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your magical day!

xo

Jessica + Norman

{by the way, we don't only photograph weddings of Irish/Canadian couples - email us now with your details and we'd love to set up a time to chat about your upcoming wedding!}

Recalculating...

So - the big news is that after 7 years of saying "someday",  I just moved into a new studio space :) The story behind the big news goes like this..

Lately, with the help of the awesome Selina Maitreya as a coach and guide, I have been taking some time to look at the big picture of my business and life and really being conscious about considering where I would like to go with both. Selina has been a consultant to photographers for something like 30 years, and I've been doing her program (The Photographers Path) for a number of months now. The point of it - which sounds deceptively simple - is to figure out or remember what it is you truly love to shoot, and then build your business on a much narrower niche than you probably have in the past so that you are shooting what you love. Since you're lucky enough to love what you do, you'll be passionate in your execution of the work and it will show in your fantastic portfolio and very happy clients. There's a certain amount of faith involved - a bit of an "if you build it, they will come" kind of mentality - but it's been one of the most amazing processes I've ever been through.

I believe in Fate. I met my husband in the South of France a few years ago when our separate vacations to Nice overlapped by a few days - if that's not Fate, I don't know what is. It gives you this dizzy auto-pilot sort of feeling, when you're just doing what you're doing even though it may seem totally crazy to those around you - because you "know" it's what you're meant to be doing. Well, my friends, this was similar.

Back in March there was a show called The Artist Project down at the CNE in Toronto. A couple of months before that, a fabulously talented artist named Tanya Kirouac hired me to photograph her new work for the show. I don't know if you've ever been at a small-scale commercial photo shoot, but it's really just the two or three of you working very closely together all day - and you talk. Tanya and I talked about Art. And we talked about her show coming up, which she very kindly gave me a ticket to. Seeds had been planted in my imagination, although I'm not sure I realized it yet.

About a week before the show I got an email from my lovely friend Carolyn. We hadn't seen each other in quite a while, and in her email she mentioned that she wanted to get back into painting and making art again - even though that might sound "crazy" - and I thought it would be perfect if we went to check out this show together. We went with the intention of spending a couple of hours, and before we knew it 6 hours had flown by. It was awesome. We had such a great time, and I felt like I was floating on a cloud of inspiration over the following days and weeks :) Those unknown seeds were starting to sprout...

The only problem was this: being an "artist" was REALLY far from my current business model (haha) and something I hadn't even really dared to dream about since high school. I struggled (and I think so did Norman) with trying to imagine such a huge shift in what I use my photography for.

A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting with another amazing artist to discuss cataloguing her portfolio. Christine Kim told me a quick story about the point when she realized she wanted to be doing her art full-time. She said "you know when you go off-course and the GPS lady says "recalculating"? That's what it felt like. I spent about a week recalculating." This was exactly it. I needed some time to get my head around how this would fit into my life. In marketing terms, it's "repositioning". No matter what you call it, it's the most terrifying and exhilarating point my business has ever been at.

One of the other artists I spoke to at the show was a photographer/painter named Suzanne Ernst, whom we had met at the One of a Kind show a few months earlier. I was talking to her about the experience of doing shows, and she told me that applications for the Queen West Art Crawl in September were due at the end of the month. "Just apply" was what she said, and something in the simplicity of how she said it made it seem easy. So I did. Haven't heard back yet, so we'll see what happens.. {*update!* I've been accepted into the show, so now I'm in a state of blissful urgency getting ready for it!}

All this is sort of to explain what I've been going through in my head over the past months. And also to explain why I'm a photographer who just moved into a studio space that isn't really a shooting space. It's  a making space. I plan to be making beautiful pieces there, though I don't quite know what they'll look like yet!

When I look back at goals that I've set personally and for my business over the past few years, TRAVEL is the biggest consistent. I thought (and still think) "isn't it great that I have a job that allows me time to travel?" Now I'm starting to think - what if all the amazing experiences and things that I love about travelling could be made into works of art that would be a "real world" version of what it feels like inside my heart to be in these places and see these things?? I think it just might be awesome :)

Will I still be shooting commercial work? YES - only now I've really narrowed down who I want to work with. The people who have always been my favourite commercial clients: the Makers. Fashion designers. Jewellers. Ceramic artists. Glass artists. Painters. Multi-media artists. Interior designers. I love working with the awesome clients I currently have (here are some of them), and I love meeting and chatting with potential new clients.

Will I still be shooting weddings and babies? YES - I love LOVE. I love the emotions, the moments, and the beautiful details of these amazing parts of people's lives. I love building these relationships until I'm practically part of the family. I love designing gorgeous albums for my couples. I'm really looking forward to doing more of the awesome custom collages we just started offering.

Sheep, Northern Ireland

So what's going to change? Those thousands (and I'm not exaggerating!) of images I have stored on various hard drives in folders called "personal", all my travel images and other stuff that I shoot for pure joy, will finally see the light of day :) Norman has been gently pushing for two years now for me to print up and show my pictures of Northern Ireland, and I also have some beautiful images from Mexico, Paris, the south of France, Amsterdam, and Spain. This fall we are going to Japan, which is a trip I've been dreaming about for over a decade (!) and I can't wait to see the images that come from it :)

Palais-Royale, Paris (Man Sitting)

Also, I'll be the happiest me I can be :) Right now I've got that feeling of knowing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, and it's this awesome glowy giddy feeling..

Yellow Wall, Mexico

Thanks so much to everyone mentioned for all the guidance, inspiration, and chats. Thanks to Erin Tracy, Jenny Greco, Melanie LeBlanc, Dawn Pearcey especially for YEARS worth of "figuring it all out" conversations during shoots and over tea :) Thanks always to my Mommies, who have shown by example that there are no impossible dreams :) And the biggest thanks to my Lovely Husband, Norman, for supporting what he doesn't always agree with, and for trying so hard to understand the way I see the world. It means everything to me :)

Locks, South of France

I'll keep you posted on my progress ;)

xo
Jessica

{p.s. - do me a huge favour and please scroll back up to the top of this page and click on the "love it" heart at the top right - thanks so much! And if you don't already, follow us on facebook and twitter!}