Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
14 May 2011
I'm getting married today!!!
It's 7 am and I'm the only one awake and I am just so excited for the day to start! Now, to write my speech...
14 April 2011
one month
Can you believe it? As of today, there's only one month left until our wedding. How did we get here so quickly? I suppose it happened day by day, with each one seeming shorter than the one before it. By the time we are finished working, working out, running errands, cooking, and crossing things off our wedding to-do list, it's almost invariably past midnight.
It always feels like we're not doing enough. No matter how hard we try, there are always photos to edit, people to call, papers to mark, or pages to write. Every day seems to have so much unfinished, and the days flow into each other, punctuated only briefly by sleep.
So I wanted to write today to mark this place in time. I want to give us a reference point, a small piece of something to hold on to when we try to remind ourselves what this time felt like.
It feels like it always does, but with more blissful highs and much tenser lows. We argue and we apologize. I jump up and down with excitement over ideas and you smile in spite of yourself as you calmly try to explain why I can't hang 140 photos of our guests from ribbons. When we argue, we do so knowing deep down that these things that seem so critical now are so insignificant in comparison to what really matters about a wedding day.
I show you endless photos and videos of other peoples' love stories on wedding blogs, because I am so in love with love, in all its expressions and permutations.
You don't care about other peoples' wedding photos; you're just in love with me (yay).
Oh, and with the Montreal Canadiens. I get mad and yell that you love hockey more than me. You don't try very hard to deny this. It is, after all, the first day of playoffs. But like I said, I love love, and I will begrugdingly admit that this extends to your affection for the Habs. Why else would I wake up at 6 am on a weekend to take photos of you playing on your beloved team's ice?
The closer we get to putting our rings on and making this 6+ year love affair officially official, the sharper everything comes into focus. It's like I'm suddenly looking at our relationship under a magnifying glass, rushing to talk about things and develop this nomenclature for everything. Like I need to be totally, completely aware of everything about us and what it means now vs then vs going forward. I must drive you crazy. I drive myself crazy.
The truth is I know nothing will become irrevocably locked-in once we say our vows. The moment that you start looking at marriage as the end of something is the moment that a ring becomes akin to a shackle.
You aren't a girl, so you might not remember this, but Claire's used to sell these awesome Best Friend Forever (BFF) heart necklaces. You would buy them with a friend, split them in half, and each friend would wear half a broken heart around her neck. That's kind of emo, looking back, but they were so cool! I halved many of them with many great friends over the years, and I was always happy knowing I had BFFs.
Anyways, I think of our wedding rings as high class bff heart necklaces. Starting next month, I will wear my wedding ring knowing that my very best friend always wears its complement. Forever.
Like anything real, love changes with each passing day. It's evolving alongside us, and in between us. It is even more exciting now than it was when you were courting me by making me mix CDs.
Yeah, we feel buried under a huge pile of tasks and ideas right now, but we're digging our way to the surface together and soon it will all be so worth it.
It always feels like we're not doing enough. No matter how hard we try, there are always photos to edit, people to call, papers to mark, or pages to write. Every day seems to have so much unfinished, and the days flow into each other, punctuated only briefly by sleep.
So I wanted to write today to mark this place in time. I want to give us a reference point, a small piece of something to hold on to when we try to remind ourselves what this time felt like.
It feels like it always does, but with more blissful highs and much tenser lows. We argue and we apologize. I jump up and down with excitement over ideas and you smile in spite of yourself as you calmly try to explain why I can't hang 140 photos of our guests from ribbons. When we argue, we do so knowing deep down that these things that seem so critical now are so insignificant in comparison to what really matters about a wedding day.
I show you endless photos and videos of other peoples' love stories on wedding blogs, because I am so in love with love, in all its expressions and permutations.
You don't care about other peoples' wedding photos; you're just in love with me (yay).
Oh, and with the Montreal Canadiens. I get mad and yell that you love hockey more than me. You don't try very hard to deny this. It is, after all, the first day of playoffs. But like I said, I love love, and I will begrugdingly admit that this extends to your affection for the Habs. Why else would I wake up at 6 am on a weekend to take photos of you playing on your beloved team's ice?
The closer we get to putting our rings on and making this 6+ year love affair officially official, the sharper everything comes into focus. It's like I'm suddenly looking at our relationship under a magnifying glass, rushing to talk about things and develop this nomenclature for everything. Like I need to be totally, completely aware of everything about us and what it means now vs then vs going forward. I must drive you crazy. I drive myself crazy.
The truth is I know nothing will become irrevocably locked-in once we say our vows. The moment that you start looking at marriage as the end of something is the moment that a ring becomes akin to a shackle.
You aren't a girl, so you might not remember this, but Claire's used to sell these awesome Best Friend Forever (BFF) heart necklaces. You would buy them with a friend, split them in half, and each friend would wear half a broken heart around her neck. That's kind of emo, looking back, but they were so cool! I halved many of them with many great friends over the years, and I was always happy knowing I had BFFs.
Anyways, I think of our wedding rings as high class bff heart necklaces. Starting next month, I will wear my wedding ring knowing that my very best friend always wears its complement. Forever.
Like anything real, love changes with each passing day. It's evolving alongside us, and in between us. It is even more exciting now than it was when you were courting me by making me mix CDs.
Yeah, we feel buried under a huge pile of tasks and ideas right now, but we're digging our way to the surface together and soon it will all be so worth it.
12 April 2011
old montreal engagement | ria + don
"I'm the crazy-scrambly-late one and he's the shirts-folded-up-and-laid-out-the-night-before one," Ria joked she as she explained how she and her fiancé, Don, prepared for their engagement photo session.
"I guess that can be said of our relationship in general, though."
It's this balance the scattered and calculated, the silly and the serious that create such a lovely harmony between these two. Her effervescence is met by his quiet charisma, and when she feels she's acting the goofiest, that's when he's smiling the widest.
Ria and Don met at the University of Alberta, where they were both studying at the time.
"He was much older than me, but no, he wasn't my TA if that's what you're wondering," Ria joked.
It was in fact their shared passion for science that brought them to the same lab, where they met. Don't you love stories of people finding love while doing what they love? That's the best way, I think.
They're both still doing what they're truly passionate about; Ria's doing her PhD in Biology in Montreal and spending summers doing field research in Uganda, and Don is a postdoctoral medical researcher in Boston.
So now they're not only becoming experts in their fields, but also in cross-border travel. The roads, train tracks and air space between their two cities are becoming very familiar as they traverse towards each other as often as possible.
Ria and Don, thank you for inviting me to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon with you. I had an absolute blast taking your photos and witnessing your adorable antics in Old Montreal.
"I guess that can be said of our relationship in general, though."
It's this balance the scattered and calculated, the silly and the serious that create such a lovely harmony between these two. Her effervescence is met by his quiet charisma, and when she feels she's acting the goofiest, that's when he's smiling the widest.
Ria and Don met at the University of Alberta, where they were both studying at the time.
"He was much older than me, but no, he wasn't my TA if that's what you're wondering," Ria joked.
It was in fact their shared passion for science that brought them to the same lab, where they met. Don't you love stories of people finding love while doing what they love? That's the best way, I think.
They're both still doing what they're truly passionate about; Ria's doing her PhD in Biology in Montreal and spending summers doing field research in Uganda, and Don is a postdoctoral medical researcher in Boston.
So now they're not only becoming experts in their fields, but also in cross-border travel. The roads, train tracks and air space between their two cities are becoming very familiar as they traverse towards each other as often as possible.
Ria and Don, thank you for inviting me to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon with you. I had an absolute blast taking your photos and witnessing your adorable antics in Old Montreal.
20 March 2011
burlington wedding | jonina + jeremy
Her beautiful red hair gleams as she adjusts a bobby pin to put the finishing touches on her updo. Her hair and makeup complete, she looks around to see who else in her wedding party still needs help getting ready. Within minutes, she is applying her sister's makeup, and touching up her mom's. She then decides a headband might add to her hairstyle, so she sits down at her grandmother's sewing machine, pulls out some black lace, and whips one up.
Appearing completely calm throughout all these last-minute preparations, she casually holds her hands over her rounded stomach. On this day, her wedding day, Jonina is blissful not only because she's about to marry the man she loves - she's also expecting their child.
At the Atrium Conference Centre, Jeremy is hanging out with his groomsmen, waiting for his bride. As he walks into the room where the ceremony will take place, someone asks him if he is nervous. He grins widely and simply says, "No way. I just want to do this!"
This charming man with the mischievous smile has captured Jonina's heart. Her beauty, grace, warmth, and generosity have captured his. In fact, it is immediately clear that she has stolen the hearts of Jeremy's entire group of family and friends. The amount of love in the room for the bride and groom, as individuals, and as a couple, is palpable.
Throughout the ceremony and speeches at the reception, love, family, and embracing the unexpected yet lovely gifts of fate were recurring themes. Jonina and Jeremy knew the first night they met that their connection was powerful. When he proposed after six months, Jonina knew beyond a doubt that "yes" was the only answer. When they found out they were expecting, they knew there must have been a reason they'd finished most of their wedding planning early. Things were, it seemed, meant to happen this way.
Jonina and Jeremy, I was so honoured to photograph your beautiful wedding and to be a part of your wonderful day. I find it so cool that when we did your engagement photos back in August, Jonina was just about to discover she was pregnant! I know you two will be truly happy together, and that your baby will have wonderful, loving parents. Congratulations and enjoy every moment of the big events to come!
Jonina's elegant dress, which was ready just in the nick of time, one week before the wedding, and her gorgeous citrine engagement ring.
Jonina is a seriously talented makeup artist. She did all the hair and makeup for Kaitlin and Pat's wedding that I photographed in 2009, and, as I mentioned before, she did a lot of the hair and makeup for her own wedding party.
Oh, you know, just making a lace headband an hour before my wedding, no big deal!
Lauren, Jonina's sister and maid of honour, made the beautiful wedding cakes. The girls snacked on the leftover icing as they got ready.
The antique lock Jeremy gave Jonina as her wedding gift.
To see more photos from Jonina and Jeremy's wedding, visit my Flickr page
Appearing completely calm throughout all these last-minute preparations, she casually holds her hands over her rounded stomach. On this day, her wedding day, Jonina is blissful not only because she's about to marry the man she loves - she's also expecting their child.
At the Atrium Conference Centre, Jeremy is hanging out with his groomsmen, waiting for his bride. As he walks into the room where the ceremony will take place, someone asks him if he is nervous. He grins widely and simply says, "No way. I just want to do this!"
This charming man with the mischievous smile has captured Jonina's heart. Her beauty, grace, warmth, and generosity have captured his. In fact, it is immediately clear that she has stolen the hearts of Jeremy's entire group of family and friends. The amount of love in the room for the bride and groom, as individuals, and as a couple, is palpable.
Throughout the ceremony and speeches at the reception, love, family, and embracing the unexpected yet lovely gifts of fate were recurring themes. Jonina and Jeremy knew the first night they met that their connection was powerful. When he proposed after six months, Jonina knew beyond a doubt that "yes" was the only answer. When they found out they were expecting, they knew there must have been a reason they'd finished most of their wedding planning early. Things were, it seemed, meant to happen this way.
Jonina and Jeremy, I was so honoured to photograph your beautiful wedding and to be a part of your wonderful day. I find it so cool that when we did your engagement photos back in August, Jonina was just about to discover she was pregnant! I know you two will be truly happy together, and that your baby will have wonderful, loving parents. Congratulations and enjoy every moment of the big events to come!
Jonina's elegant dress, which was ready just in the nick of time, one week before the wedding, and her gorgeous citrine engagement ring.
Jonina is a seriously talented makeup artist. She did all the hair and makeup for Kaitlin and Pat's wedding that I photographed in 2009, and, as I mentioned before, she did a lot of the hair and makeup for her own wedding party.
Oh, you know, just making a lace headband an hour before my wedding, no big deal!
Lauren, Jonina's sister and maid of honour, made the beautiful wedding cakes. The girls snacked on the leftover icing as they got ready.
The antique lock Jeremy gave Jonina as her wedding gift.
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