Remembrance Day, November 11, 2011, will always have a  special place in Lorraine and Nathan’s hearts. It was their wedding day!

I first met Lorraine and Nathan early in the summer of 2010 when I did their engagement photos at the family cottage and diving rock on Lake Shebeshkong, a short distance from my Georgian Bay/Parry Sound studio. Some of the couple’s favorite images from that session ended up in a custom designed guest sign in book I did for their wedding day.

Fast forward 1+ years and we were gathered in Hamilton for Lorraine and Nathan’s wedding.  Lorraine and the gals in the wedding party got ready at Lorraine’s folks place on Hamilton’s “Mountain”, about a 40 minute drive from my Cambridge studio.   You can never be sure what weather you will get in mid November and as it turned out the day was cold, with scattered showers mixed with snow flurries and the occasional glimpse of the sun.  I worked with the girls a bit and then caught up with the guys who were getting ready about a 10 min. drive away.   Soon I was back with the girls as they were putting on the finishing touches.  One of my favorite images from that part of our session was one we took in the front hall, just before we headed out the door.  Lorraine with her two pet ferrets.

As we were doing most of the wedding party and couple images before the ceremony we did a “first look” session at a nearby park at a spot we had picked out a few weeks earlier when we had done a walk about of the key sites.  We followed that with some shots of Lorraine and Nathan with the parents and the wedding party.  Lorraine had outfitted the wedding party with red umbrellas, to help ward off the rain and snow so we used them and the park playground equipment for some of the images.

Then were were off to the Royal Botanical Gardens, in nearby Burlington.  I had photographed a wedding at RBC earlier in the year and was familiar with many of the indoor and outdoor backgrounds it offered.  As well, we had scouted out several spots when we had done a walkabout a few weeks earlier.  We quickly discovered a lot had had changed in those few weeks, most significantly the leaves were nearly all down and the remaining fall flowers were finished.  Not to be deterred we started off in the Mediterranean Gardens and the warm, indoor location proved to be a great spot with lots of exotic plants and color.  Then we headed outdoors and did a bit of a hike, cherry picking some of the spots on the grounds that offered some interesting backdrops.  We made good use of the long tall grass and wooden walkway through the forest.

The ceremony and reception was at the Olympia Banquet Centre on the east side of Hamilton and it too proved to be a great location.  A nicely decorated ceremony area with gentle, low level lighting and a huge. well appointed, main reception hall brought everything nicely together.

Nathan’s Grandfather put a special touch on the day.  He had served in World War II and was proudly wearing a striking array of medals. Very fitting for his grandson’s Remembrance Day wedding!

Near 10 in the evening as I was getting ready to leave and the dancing was going strong I was impressed to see Nathan’s grandfather  dancing up a storm.

The last shot I took that evening was of Lorraine and her maid of honor, Alyssa, just outside the entrance to the reception hall.  They were with their mothers, who just happen to be twins.  Suddenly Lorraine and Alyssa, looked over at each other, grinned, nodded, and then swept their mothers off their feet!