Nicki and Pat were actually married earlier in the week at their Greek Orthodox church in Seattle– initially the plan was to have the religious ceremony there and then come back to Canada for the legal, civil cermony which more people would be able to attend, but they found out last minute that their priest wouldn’t marry them unless it was the full legal deal! That meant a flurry of unexpected paper work, but it worked out and both weddings went ahead. Nicki was glad to get an extra day’s wear out of her dress. She wore a beautiful necklace and earrings of clear and green Swarovski crystals made by her bridesmaid Grace from her mother’s jewelry wholesale business www.sunwellaccessories.com. Grace also made crystal jewelry for all of the other bridesmaids to wear, as a gift from Nicki. (I am trying to be more informative on how people put things together when it works out so nicely!) After the girls were ready the guys showed up at Nicki’s parents place in a bus! Yes, a wedding bus. Nicki’s dad actually owns a bus company, and although she wasn’t initially convinced by the wedding bus charter, it served beautifully! It had kind of a field trip feel, especially since we headed first to UBC. We had talked about shooting at least some of the portraits at locations which were in some way significant to them. We shot some, for example, outside their condo building–their first home together. I even got to meet and photograph the dog who pees in the elevator ( ;
The other location was UBC because that has been something of a second home for both of them in recent years, (as it has been mine! ) Their bridal party was brilliant. I think we all enjoyed ourselves making those pictures. The whole group really worked it– from Zoolander to Darwin. Yes, we did the evolution of man, as you can see.
The ceremony was held on the covered walkway at Van Deusen Gardens. Pat’s parents were coming in from Lions Bay and held up by a bad accident on the highway, but it gave me a chance to shoot all of the guests conveniently lined up along the aisle, visiting with one another. The reception was held but a few feet away in the Shaughnessey Restaurant–the windows of which are half draped in leaves creating a beautiful effect when the late afternoon sun shines through. After dinner and the speeches there was a slideshow which I would have *loved* to have seen, but I was too busy photographing the reactions, as you can see below. After that I got to see traditional Greek dancing! It was fabulous! Nicki and Pat have a friend who is trained in this kind of dance and instructed them and their bridal party before the wedding. It was kind of like Jewish dancing in that it was circular– but more dangerous (for the photographer) in that the circle would snake in and form again… all of the dancing was accompanied by the music of a very cool live band.
