As the end of each December draws near I
like to take a little time and reflect on the year. I spend as much time as
possible learning and continually endeavour to grow and improve as an artist and photographer. I adore reading international blogs, and scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest for inspiration. Here are links to a few of the gems that move me...
Jose Villa,
Elizabeth Messina and
Jen Huang, - These photographers all make me swoon! The dreamy California light, the softness of film - just magical and my favourite stops for inspiration.
Burnetts Boards - This is a relatively new wedding blog that has wonderful ideas, but the best part is their mood boards.
Paperless Post - I am a huge tree hugger, but also adore beautiful stationery - so they are the perfect marriage of the two...
I always strive to capture authentic images – the joy, tears,
laughter, but most of all love. So in this post, I thought I’d gather together
a few of my favourite wedding images from 2015 and share a few morsels that each couple carefully chose to make their weddings special.
A heartfelt thank you to all of you for inviting me to capture your beautiful weddings!
Kristina & Chris 13 June 2015
"Our wedding was everything we dreamed of and more, and this really was thanks to my incredible parents who were so generous in every aspect to make our fairytale wedding come to life. This would not have been complete without the 100-plus family members and best friends that traveled to Bermuda to join us, and of course, the most talented, professional and fun wedding planner: Nikki Begg, owner of Bermuda Bride. Nikki was truly amazing, and every time I needed anything, she was right there. She took my vision and love of details and brought everything to life. "
The Unfinished Church in St George's was constructed when St Peters had been badly damaged by a storm and thought to be beyond repair. However, the necessary repairs were eventually made and so construction of this second church stopped. As a result, we have this incredible roofless structure that has become one of my favourite places to shoot.
Nikki and her team at Petals
worked tirelessly with Kristina to create a truly gorgeous reception. Everything was lovely, carefully thought through, lovingly placed and all tied together to become the most beautiful reception I have ever photographed!
"A day after our wedding, Amanda suggested doing another shoot because she had less than five minutes alone with Chris and I because we were dying to get to the cocktail reception to see our guests. When Amanda suggested a day after shoot to capture moments without red teary eyes, sweaty clothes, and a big rush to get to the cocktail reception, at first we both didn’t love the idea of getting all done up again. We thought about it and realized we should take advantage of still being on the island and having our newlywed glows, so we did it. It was honestly the best choice we made about the whole wedding! I highly suggest it to all brides. Getting to put on my dress again, and be in the Unfinished Church with my husband, without anyone around, was completely romantic and spiritual. We were not stressed about time, and we just enjoyed each other and the shoot. Amanda makes it so easy to feel comfortable in front of the camera, and her talent is something that words really cannot describe. When she emailed us a few pictures after the shoot, I wrote back using profanity because I was so blown away. While in the church, Chris said a quiet prayer for our marriage and life together, and we were able to relive and really take in the beauty of the surroundings in which we said our vows and became husband and wife."
Ceremony - Unfinished Church • Reception - Coral Beach Club • Event Planning - Bermuda Bride • Flowers - Petals • Shoes - Manolo Blahnik • Dress - Mira Zwillinger • Rings - Kwiat and Joe Millman • Stationery - Sloane Designs
Kate and Paul 4 July 2015
"I am just so happy that the ceremony location worked out. Finding out last minute that Barr's Park had been double booked was stressful, but the City was wonderful in arranging Par-la-Ville Park, and it was gorgeous. The ceremony was so special to us in so many ways. Given that we had already had our civil ceremony in Boston, we asked our dear friend, Leatrice to officiate. Being walked down the aisle by my nephews, meeting Paul at the front, and being surrounded by our friends and family was as wonderful and as magical as everyone says it will be. It has become a cliche for good reason, and I honestly don't remember being that happy ever before in my life."
Ceremony - Par-la-Ville Park • Reception - Royal Bermuda Yacht Club • Flowers - Petals • Stationery - Table swag - Rifle Paper Co • Photo Locations - Fairmont Southampton, Horseshoe Bay and Hamilton
Lars and Shilpa 3 October 2015
"We didn't really have a wedding planner so I took on most of the research and planning, which, of course, I couldn't have done without the help of my mom. We also got a lot of help from Calvina Guishard at Tucker's Point and Yolanda Furbert for our marriage license paperwork.
Hurricane Joaquin decided to pay a visit during our wedding which ruined our plans of a beach wedding. Calvina and the staff at Rosewood were so helpful in creatively coming up with a back up plan. We were so lucky to keep our ceremony outdoors but dinner had to be moved indoors. At the end of it all, it didn't matter whether it was outside or inside. Everyone had a wonderful time.
Our save the date was created by Tamara Brooks from Prints of Beauty who we found on Etsy. She created this beautiful water color of the map of Bermuda with a little pink heart by Tucker's Point.
Lars and I love a very classic clean look, so when we created our invitations, we decided to get a very simple letter pressed card with sage green accents. We worked with Smudge Ink in Boston who also helped us create our ceremony programs and reception menus.
When selecting vendors from Bermuda, it was very easy to determine who we wanted to work with. After researching through Pinterest, we knew that Petals was the perfect florist for our wedding. Their work is so classically beautiful. We used Pinterest for inspiration since we didn't really have a clear picture of what kind of flowers we wanted, but we knew we wanted to go for whites and sage greens. They did a great job.
Music and Food were the two most important things for our wedding. We wanted our friends and family to really enjoy themselves and good food and music will almost always guarantee a good time. Chef Gerry Adams from Rosewood helped us create an exceptional menu consisting of Indian, Norwegian and American food. The fantastic music was provided by The Kennel Boys.
I wanted to do something silly and fun for our place cards and since Lars and I love dogs, we decided to incorporate that. We purchased 85 plastic toy dogs, a tiny bow saw and gold spray paint. After a few hours of sawing and spraying, we had our place card holders. It was fun for us to do this together and have something unique and specific to us. It also made our friends and family have a good laugh."
Ceremony and Reception - Tucker's Point • Flowers - Petals • Stationery - Prints of Beauty (Save the Date) Smudge Ink (wedding) • Rehearsal Dinner - 1609 at HamiltonPrincess and Beach Club
Sawyer and Piers 15 August 2015
Piers and Sawyer were best friends and have been together for seven years. Their friends and family have seen their relationship grow and become ever stronger and were thrilled to see them at the altar together. It was hot, unbearably hot, but they did not seem bothered as they exchanged their marriage vows, rings and sealed their promises with a kiss. Thank you both for a lovely afternoon, you are absolutely adorable together and it was a pleasure to be a part of your summer wedding.
Ceremony - Unfinished Church • Reception - Coral Beach Club • Event Planning - Bermuda Event Solutions • Flowers - Suzan Sickling • Dress - Reem Acra • Shoes - Boyles • Rings - David Edge (Bride) and David Rose (Groom) • Earrings - Alexandra Mosher • Save the Dates - Makr App on IPad
Jillian and Mitch 2 May 2015
I arrived at Jillian's suite at Tucker's Point and was greeted by the sounds of joy. She was surrounded by her girl friends and they all raised a glass of bubbly to toast to love. Jillian and Mitch had arranged a first look, and time for the two of them to be alone together for a bit before all the festivities began. Jillian stood on the terrace and waited for her dashing groom to arrive. And when he did, they both lit up and absolutely beamed!
Thank you both for a fabulous afternoon. I think it was the windiest wedding ever, but it was perfect to inspire your veil to dance!
Ceremony and Reception - Mid Ocean Club • Pre-wedding location - Rosewood Tuckers Point • Flowers - Flowers by Gimi • Dress - Vera Wang • Shoes - Christian Louboutin • Stationery - Bell'Invito
Amy and Mike 29 May 2015
They met through friends and had a very Canadian first date - a hockey game on New Year's Eve. Two and a half years later Mike proposed.
Their wedding was beautiful and intimate and a truly family affair; her cousin and maid of honour, Jordan is multi-talented and did Amy's makeup, her aunt Hilary did her hair, and her Uncle Gordy was one of the officiants. Mike's niece and nephew were the flower girl and ringbearer and Amy walked down the aisle with both her mother and father.
The morning was nerve wracking, as they were not sure if the wedding was going to be held at The Unfinished Church or not. Sadly, they could not have the reception outside at her aunt and uncle's house as planned, but they quickly accepted the windy weather and were so grateful that Fourways were able to accommodate them. At the end of the day they felt like they were really able to slow down and enjoy the ceremony and reception together and not get caught up in the details.
Ceremony - Unfinished Church • Reception - Fourways • Dress - Inbal Dror • Shoes - Stuart Weitzman • Fragrance - Zen by Shisedo • Event Planning - Bermuda Event Solutions • Flowers - Flowers by Gimi • Transportation - Bermudaful Moments Vintage Car
Natalie and Gene 25 July 2015
There have been many rainy mornings this year where I begged Mother Nature to do her magic and clear the skies in time for that afternoon's wedding. And sure enough, by the time the bride walked down the aisle the sun was shining. This time however, she let me down... or did she?
It rained, and rained, and rained... I drove to Natalie's mother's house in the rain, walked carefully up the slippery steps, took a deep breath and prepared myself for Plan B. Inside, there was laughter and giddy little girls everywhere, all over the moon to be a part of this wonderful wedding. The day was challenging for me as I struggled with space, the heat, time and lack of light. But it forced me to be creative. I knew I would not be able to create the soft, sunny, dreamy images I love, so I chose to embrace the dramatic light and contrast.
I have known Natalie for most of my life, she is strong, and beautiful and I am so happy that she has found Gene and that they have both found true love. They make each other so happy and when they are together they can not stop smiling. So nothing could possibly have ruined their perfect day. And as it turns out I love these photographs, and I think they are as beautiful as any I have created on sunny days. So I am grateful to Mother Nature for pushing me to capture Natalie and Gene's special wedding in a special way. I wish you both eternal happiness!!!
Ceremony - St Anne's Church • Reception - Coral Beach Club • Flowers - Suzan Sickling • Event Planning - Jane West • Musicians - Heather Nova and Mishka Frith and Working Title
Michelle and John 6 June 2015
"Our wedding planner, Nikki, couldn’t have been more wonderful—we wanted to bring her home with us. She helped with all details and helped to pin down our vision for our wedding day better than we could have dreamed of! Nikki and Petals also provided the flowers, and can I say GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!
In today’s internet world, we were able to create our own invitations (from the comfort of our home, with our shoes off and a glass of wine) using Weddingdivas.com. We were also able to add our own twists.
The cake was provided by the Pastry chefs at Rosewood Tuckers point. We stalked Pintrest for ideas and the hotel was able to duplicate a cake using the photos we sent.
My husband re-created a smaller version of a ring he had given me when we were dating. The ring is marquise shaped and rather than the traditional mounting of this shape he turned the diamond sideways (in the shape of my “upside down eyes”. A local Jeweler in Pinehurst, NC took John's vision (and my other ring) and created my one of a kind setting. I LOVE IT!! John's ring was purchased in my home town of Albuquerque, New Mexico by a local jeweler named Mati. It is a polished gold that is buffed to be matte finish.
What we loved best about our time in Bermuda was that we were surrounded by our family and friends. We have five teenagers between us and it was wonderful to have us all in the same place at the same time for the amazing occasion. Our friends humbled us with their presence and it couldn’t of been any more wonderful a day than it was!!
THANKS again Amanda. We love our pictures!! They captured for us the happiness of the day. If I could hug you every time we look at our pictures, we certainly would.
