I thought I would wrap up the year with a review of my favourite photos. I think this year, I’ll just do two posts: portraits and weddings.  I didn’t shoot a lot of non-wedding portraits this year, because most of my wedding clients were from out of town and couldn’t do engagements, but I did have some pretty awesome portrait sessions of all different types: engagements, trash the dress, boudoir, families, babies, models, and just having fun trying out new techniques. These are some of my favourites from 2011.

Emily and Joshua came from Toronto to Emily’s hometown of Victoria to get married at the art gallery. The gallery is such an elegant place for a wedding, which was nicely complimented by the beautiful decor that Emily’s mother’s friend Deanne Young put together. We did some location scouting earlier in the week, which gave me a chance to meet Emily and Josh in person for the first time, but things ended up going a little differently than planned on the wedding day due to lots of rain. They had a first look at the Inn at Laurel Point and we took some photos on their suite’s balcony (the room was ridiculously gorgeous, by the way) and outside the hotel with umbrellas. As we headed downtown, the weather started to clear up a bit, but the wet ground still wasn’t ideal for pre-wedding photos. We made the best of it and they didn’t complain once. Thanks so much to my assistant Jon Faulknor for making the day run much smoother, and as a last minute fill in for a sick photographer.

Both of their families were really friendly and easy-going, making the task of getting family portraits done a snap. Emily’s grandfather played the bagpipes during the ceremony and her mother made jam favours for all of the guests. This wedding was very personal and emotional and I adore the range of expressions in the photos. The one of Emily’s father giving her away is one of my favourite photos of the year. After the first dance and parent dances, it seemed like every guest hit the dance floor – and they hit it hard. I’m sure the after-party at their hotel was a fantastic time.

Venue: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Decor: Deanne Young
Caterer: Truffles
Hair: Laura at Ginger Group
Cake: Pure Vanilla
Officiant: Don Gunn
Dress: Luz Boutique
Tuxedo: Moores

Anne braved the cool fall weather with me for a trash the dress session at Fort Rodd Hill this past Sunday. I love the great variety of shots we got, with tons of interesting backgrounds and varying lighting. I’d never shot there before, but I’ll definitely be going back. I don’t think we even managed to explore half of it. Thanks to Edward Lai for helping out and keeping us company.