our wedding | part I

I'm so happy to be able to share these photos, and a few moments from our wedding day, with you! All of the photos were taken by our wonderful photographers, Lisa Mark and her husband, Justin. They did such a wonderful job capturing our day and we couldn't be more thrilled with the photos. Thanks, Lisa and Justin!


The day started off with an early morning, getting ready with all the bridesmaids and my mom in our hotel rooms. I had originally planned to get just one dress, the one on the left, by Betsey Johnson. My mom and I found it one day when she was visiting me in Montreal. We were just browsing and stumbled upon it. I tried it on for fun, and quickly realized it was the dress.

A few months later, while shopping with my friend Jennie in our favourite vintage store, I found the dress on the right. It was my size, in mint condition, and a great price. It only took Jennie 10 minutes to talk me into purchasing it as a dancing dress. She later would talk me into buying my dream shoes, on the left. The sparkly Toms were a last-minute purchase I made upon realizing I'd probably need some proper dancing shoes.

After we all returned from the salon, we set to doing our makeup. I did my own because I just had to. Applying makeup before a big event is pretty much ritualistic to me, and doing so allowed me to do several trials by myself in order to get it just right. I learned so much about bridal makeup throughout the process, and I plan to do a tutorial for brides-to-be in the near future.


My veil was made by Jennifer Laoun-Rubenstein, a talented montreal artist. She hand sewed dozens of brightly coloured crystals onto the French netting that I'd purchased at Sussman's in Toronto.

Here's my mom, helping me get ready!

My beautiful bouquet was made by Allison Westlake of Coriander Girl.

I wore my great great great grandmother's necklace (my something old, borrowed and blue), which was made of filigreed gold, pearls and sapphires. The rose gold watch matches my rings and was my wedding gift from Brian.

Can you see the nervousness in my eyes here? Or was it a Kit Kat craving? Thank god my mom was there to tell me to relax!

Meanwhile, Brian was waiting for me to arrive at the Berkeley Church, our wedding venue.  We opted to do a first look, where we would see each other before the ceremony. This was the best decision. Ever. Seeing each other before everything happened grounded us and also gave us a few precious moments alone in the midst of a crazy day. It also allows time for more photography, which was obviously important to us! I would recommend this to everyone!

Okay, now it's time for the ceremony. My cousin Elise, our ring bearer, walked down the aisle en pointe!

Our friend Amy sang "'Til There was You" from The Music Man while we all walked down the aisle.

Our friend Mark sang "At Last" by Etta James during the ceremony.

Then Brian messed up his vows just a wee bit. But then he put on his game face.

We're married!

Brian's parents (above); my parents (below)

How awesome does our wedding party look?


















That's it for now! Stay tuned for photos from the reception.

wedding day

We just got our wedding photos from our amazing wedding photographer, Lisa Mark, this week. I'll be sharing some favourites on here and will tell you the story of how our big day started all classy like this:

... and gradually became a wild party like this:

Photos and stories to come!

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First photos by me. Dancing photo by Brian (I think.)

jasmine star workshop

There are certain moments in life that are pivotal. Decisive and quick, they choose you more often than you choose them, and they leave you changed dramatically, for better or for worse.

Much more powerful and exciting than pivotal moments, in my opinion, are transformative processes. These are the ones to which you opt in and actively participate. You're choosing to make a change, and for some lucky reason, you discover amazing things and people to help you on your way.

About a year and a half ago, I stumbled upon Orange County-based wedding photographer Jasmine Star's blog. After reading a few posts, I found myself captivated not only by her stunning photography, but also by her sparkling, relatable personality that shines through in her writing.

Jasmine is incredibly giving to fellow photographers. She shares her expertise and new ideas through her regular blog in the form of reflection posts, FAQs and videos. I learn so much from her on a regular basis, and was so excited to watch both her Wedding Photography and Building your Wedding Photography Business workshops (available for download) on CreativeLive. Via the magic of the interwebs, Jasmine has become the unofficial mentor of countless aspiring photographers all over the world.

Jasmine's photographic style and approach to her business have inspired me deeply and completely transformed the way I approach photography. She leads by example and I choose, on an ongoing basis, to follow.

When I found out that she would be offering one of her Workshops this spring, and that it happened to serendipitously fall during our honeymoon, when we'd already be in California, I think I got heart palpitations. When I found out I got into the course, I looked at Brian while hyperventilating and he just smiled and said, "do what you have to do." This involved shuffling our existing honeymoon road trip schedule and changing our flights around in order to be able to attend. It was so worth it.

Jasmine wrote about the Workshop and shared her photos from the day on her blog, and--after finally settling back in after our honeymoon-- I've gotten my act together to share my own photos.

We were lucky to have Stacy and Joe Kokes, a husband and wife photography team, as our models for the shoot. Emily from Ferndales Bridal provided the styling and clothing, Vivian Tran of All Made Up took wonderful care of Stacy's makeup, and Heavenly Blooms provided the exquisite bouquet.

It was so cool to meet and shoot alongside 19 other photographers from all over North America. You guys are awesome!


The shoot took place in a beautiful park in Irvine, California in the super bright, afternoon sun. Jasmine wanted to challenge us and with conditions that bright, she was successful! She began by choosing the location, getting Stacy and Joe set up, and then advising us on camera settings.



And just like that, we got started. All 20 of us stood in a tightly packed group, snapping photos like crazed, very happy paparazzi. Everyone was incredibly conscientious, making sure each other photographer had enough room to get his or her shots.

How gorgeous are Stacy and Joe? They were incredibly sweet and very obviously in love.

At the end of the workshop, JD—Jasmine's amazing husband and business partner—snapped this photo of her and me. Jasmine and JD, thank you for a simply wonderful day. You two have such a wonderful effect on everyone who meets you — we are all changed for the better.