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I have been excited about Genevieve and Jamie’s wedding ever since they booked with me early last spring– partly because I love the top of Grouse Mountain (although you’d never know it by my grind time these days) and because of Genevieve’s love of things green. I knew it would be beautiful. I dreamt up all sorts of verdant photo schemes involving mountain meadows and trees. Alas, July 21st of this year was rainy in Vancouver and pretty much storming up on the mountain. Below you can see Genevieve and her uncle getting off the tram and running into the venue. The light was pretty difficult all day– as you can see the ceremony was very backlit with natural light coming from the window and very orange tungsten light (and not too much of it!) hitting them from the other side, but the overall effect is nice. After the ceremony the rain was still coming down sideways, so outside for family photos was not even an option. I’ve never done family photos inside before, but it worked out just fine after rearranging some furniture. All of the portraits of the couple were done on that covered walkway between the gondola station and the lodge! Check out the wind and mist! Genevieve and Jamie braved the elements for a quick session before the reception (which was all the more cozy I think because of the weather) and then later in the evening I took them out again into the darkness and artificial light… some of which was green! The best I could do for green, anyway. In retrospect I’m glad that we couldn’t do the usual mountain meadow thing– we would never have made these misty, windy, dark images which represent the other side of being on top of a mountain. As mountaineers of some distinction, Genevieve and Jamie weren’t too fazed by the weather!

I first photographed May and Dobes on July 28th 2006, at Marina and Jonathan’s wedding. I didn’t know who they were– just some handsome guests who looked pretty in love, so I enjoyed shooting them whenever I got the chance. It turns out they had just begun dating. This spring they got in contact with me to talk about their wedding, which is when we found out that we live only two blocks apart. We’re neighbours! This was the first time I have ever walked to a wedding. I just headed out that morning to start shooting and caught limo rides to and fro with them. May and Dobes are an interesting couple: for one thing, May admitted to me on the way to the ceremony that she didn’t really like flowers, yet she had chosen to get married in the rose garden atop Burnaby Mountain. They initially met online and arranged to meet up at a course together. We stopped at the same spot on West Hastings where they met, and they kind of re-enacted the scene for me– May initially pegged someone else for Dobes. May had also dressed down for the occasion in her most unflattering sweats, figuring it was best to discourage any possible romantic interest at that point. I’ve included a couple of the meeting series below, with May rather better dressed. Soon after their initial meeting they discovered that they owned and played the exact same French horn. How many people play French horn these days in the first place? After shooting at the building where they met, we travelled back to their condo where we found ourselves locked out for a short while. We then had the chance to take some portraits only two doors down in the charming English Bay Inn where they were to spend the night. I have been admiring this place from the outside all the years I’ve lived in the West End and was so pleased to get a glimpse of the inside. Check it out! It was the perfect backdrop for some rather smouldering portraits… Congratulations May and Dobes, and thanks for the invite to your lovely dinner. It was so nice to get a chance to meet with your family and friends.  Thanks also to the wonderful bride’s maid Jana Hanova who got some great pictures of me at work.  I’ll be posting them at the end of the season.  Oh, and here’s a little piece of information for Dobes’ mother: the first kiss was at 12:34 pm according to my camera’s clock ( ;