July 15, 2011 was beautiful. I mean it really was, not only was this union beautiful, and refreshing, and awesome, but the weather was also gorgeous. We were forecast for rain, and the wedding was to be held at Minter Gardens in Chilliwack, which meant we were close to the mountains which often means this location is wetter than the rest of the lower mainland. We prepped ourselves mentally for rain. I also packed my umbrellas. When I woke up, it wasn’t raining. I was so excited, but held my breath on my way out to Chilliwack. As I got closer, I started to breathe. The weather was gorgeous! There was a bit of cloud cover, but wow, the sun was actually shining through! And as a photographer, I LOVE a bit of cloud cover!

So I met up with the wedding party AFTER the ceremony. I’ve never had a wedding day quite like this, but Arianna actually has an amazing sister who has the ability to take wicked photos, and relied on her for the ceremony photos. So Kristy took care of the getting ready and ceremony photos, and I took over at the portrait time, and a little bit of reception. It was a shorter day for me, which worked well because honestly, I was 37 weeks pregnant at the time! I had my amazing second shooter with me, Alyssa, to help me out. She got some absolutely wicked shots and was my right hand lady. I couldn’t have done it without her!

I met the wedding party at Minter for some family formals, then we went to a couple fun locations in the Chilliwack/Harrison area that Kristy had chosen. She did an awesome job at that, she made it so easy for me. As the wedding party walked towards me, I was amazed at how good they all looked. Wow. This was a BEAUTIFUL party, bright pinks and oranges as the colours, the bridesmaids wearing some beautiful dresses, and the bride in a vintage inspired gown from my favorite bridal salon, Ivory Bridal. Arianna was the picture of perfection, with long loose curls of blonde and a gorgeous birdcage hairpiece.

After some portraits around the area, we headed back to Minter Gardens for the reception, and I had time to get lots of detail shots of the reception room fully decorated (by decorator Cinderella Chair), and then get the beginning of the reception with the formal introduction of the bride and groom, and the wedding party. Just after dinner started I was off, making sure to first get a ton of candids of guests before leaving. It was a beautiful wedding, I kind of wanted to stick around! But my feet were killing me and I had reached my limit, I had a long drive home.

So I know Arianna and Graham have been waiting to see previews of the shots that Alyssa and I got, so here you go!

 


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