Lovely Homemade Wedding | Calgary Wedding Photographer

All of the people who made it possible:

Ceremony and Reception – Goose Hummock Golf Course, Gibbons Alberta
Band – Martin Kerr, http://www.martinkerrmusic.com/
Dress – Holly Stalder, http://www.etsy.com/shop/hollystalder
Jewellery – My Lavaliere, http://www.etsy.com/shop/mylavaliere?ref=seller_info
Make up – Stephanie Maniaci, http://www.bellamiamakeup.ca/
Hair – Exalte Salon in Edmonton, AB
Kilt rental – Scottish imports, http://anythingscottish.com/
Flowers – the bride..with help from her mom & friends (and inspiration via @marthastewart & @andreahanki!)
Sound guy – Rob Saramaga… http://www.nuancesound.com/

And the amazing Red Leaf Studios who photographed their ACTUAL engagement(see the images here: http://www.redleafblog.com/red-leaf-studios-journal/2009/9/6/shaun-stephanie-engaged.html) the images were used throughout the event in many creative and wonderful ways.

Where to begin?

A couple of years ago now, I was incredibly blessed to have attended a workshop with Jesh de Rox in Edmonton. While there I met a lovely boy named Shaun. We became friends. We partied in Las Vegas during WPPI with his ‘new’ girlfriend, Stephanie, last year. And, then, last September, my friend, Alicia Price, and I, got the loveliest letter from them asking us to consider photographing their wedding. At the time, both of us had only really photographed a handful of weddings as second shooters(meaning–assisting a primary shooter). It was flattering and overwhelming for sure. Thank goodness another whole year passed to let me get a few more weddings under my belt before handling the massive responsibility of shooting one for two photographers with 30 or so photographers in the audience. Not to mention the fact that I hold them both so dearly to my heart that I wanted to do their love justice.

Being photographers, the day was organized around the light. Unfortunately, smoke from nearby fires put a giant damper on the light, but no one let that get them downThey also wanted to give us lots of time for images, so arranged to have a ‘day after’ portrait session the following day(blog post to follow later this week). Being a portrait photographer at heart, the actual portraits are my favorite part of the day and give me a couple of extra hours to shoot two people beautifully suited up and I will take you up on it any dayThese images today are from the actual day. The day that was filled with joy and love and laughter. Lots and lots of laughter. And music. Shaun(along with one bridesmaid and one groomsman) writes the music blog Bolster Your Holster. He is an avid music lover with incredible taste and was happy to have the wonderful, Martin Kerr, there to entertain. It was a down to earth wedding of two people so obviously well suited to each other and so obviously happy to be celebrating their love surrounded by people who believed in them. This is the most important ingredient of creating beautiful images.

Here are a sampling of my images: 
I couldn’t decide color or black and white? So I shared both…they had a reveal before the ceremony to make more time for images. These two images below are from the reveal. We told Shaun to just stand there and wait to feel her presence to turn around. We were trying to be all romantic and moody…well, he never did turn around. So, she played with him a little…one of my favorite moments from the day.

A true Scotsman. Just saying…

These people just wanted to DANCE…they had the need deep in their bones and so they did…even without music.
Stephanie does the cutest wrinkle thing when she is TRULY smiling…I love it. A lot. She did it that day. A lot.
Off to Goose Hummock for the ceremony and reception. I love how excited Shaun looks in this image.

There were these amazing chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with sea salt(seriously–they were so awesome) in mason jars on every table. And, donuts shaped like men instead of a cake. And, pizza at midnight. Yummy day… I’m tearing up just at the thought of writing about this picture below. This moment was one of the most emotional moments I have had the pleasure of witnessing. Shaun’s mom passed away suddenly earlier this year. I noted that there wasn’t a lot of fuss about her not being there…they didn’t have to do anything as her presence was literally palpable. And, then, towards the end of the night, the band played Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ in her honor(it was her favorite song). Everyone filled the dance floor and danced in large group hugs. It was overwhelmingly beautiful to witness.
And, this lady, she wins the contest for most amazing dancer…
Okay, these two might have given her a run for her money…hahahaha(that’s Alicia Price on the right in case you didn’t know)

Never have I felt more welcomed. It was such an honor and joy to do this for you guys. I can’t wait to watch your relationship grow. I love you both(you, too, Gord). Thank you so much for trusting me to document this day for you.

~Dana

ETA: Alicia has posted her images here: http://aliciaprice.com/blog/ I think Shaun and Steph were so smart to hire two people with such different artistic styles so that they would get such a wonderful colleciton of images. I love seeing images that we took that are the same yet different and noticing how they are differentThat is the best part about shooting with someone whom you admire…just sayingtrue story