jessy + barry | a lakehouse cottage wedding

I am so excited to finally be able to share a 2020 wedding (a few more to come too!). As most know and most have experienced, 2020 hasn’t been the best year. With a global pandemic happening, many people are going through the unthinkable and having a wedding is the last thing on some couples minds but like my boy Harry Potter said “Maybe that’s the best reason to have it. Because of everything that’s going on”. Couldn’t agree more Harry.

Cue Jessy and Barry, who were forced to change their plans multiple times. From a large wedding at an Ottawa wedding venue, to a medium sized wedding at her parents Crow Lake cottage to a small, intimate and romantic wedding at the Tichborn area cottage of only 20 people.

The day welcomed them with very unpredictable weather but one of the best things about an intimate guest list is you can change on the fly and go with the flow. When a storm rolled in over the lake, we all decided to just wait it out. No rush for the ceremony as that gave everyone extra time to get ready, feed the babies (Jessy and Barry have two beautiful twin girls as you will see) and take some extra downtime and make sure everything was ready. When it came time for the ceremony, there was a little rainbow and the clouds parted with the dreamiest light. From there, the day continued to be dreamy and I need to mention, these two have the kindest families and friends who treated me like family from the moment I got there. When I got in my car at the end of the day, my face hurt from smiling so much and I had puffy eyes from crying because their day was that perfect and you could feel the love every single second everywhere.

Jessy and Barry, THANK YOU! I am so so happy I got to be the person to document your day. It was one of my favorite days I have ever been a part of and you two are truly meant to be together (and you make beautiful babies taboot! :) )

Love you guys and thanks for checking this wedding out everyone!

-Megan

ron & tiff | a stunning brooklands farm Muskoka wedding

Ron and I have known each other for quite some time now and when I met Tiffany, and they got engaged, I was secretly hoping they were going to ask me. I am so happy they did.  This is one of those wedding's where I want to show every single image because holy moly was it ever a perfect day. 

About 6 years ago I photographed another friends wedding at Brooklands Farm and still to this day, even though I was still figuring out photography, one of their images is still one of my favorites I have ever taken. Brooklands Farm has everything you could possibly want for a setting for your wedding: a waterfall, large ponds with docks, so many beautiful trees, a beautiful barn and the best tree tunnel driveway. I wish I could capture weddings on their driveway all day long haha.

R + T's day was filled with so much candid laughter, emotion and laughs. From the tearful first look with Tiff's mom, to the groomsmen surprising Tiff with Halloween costumes, to the best best man speech I have ever heard, the day was perfect. 

R + T, THANK YOU! I am so happy I not only got to be there but to capture your love was an honour. Enjoy reliving the day through my favorites xo

leslie + mack: planning a wedding through hard times

Back in January Leslie reached out to me about capturing their backyard wedding and I was super excited. I had never met Mack or Leslie, but we came from the same town and siblings knew each other etc. so I knew this would not only be a fun wedding, but that they were my kind of people. 

L + M started the planning process before reaching out to me and had been searching for the perfect venue. Everything they looked at, wasn't what they wanted, then Mack's Dad came to the rescue. 

"We wanted to get married on the Sweet property because we love it there! Mack grew up there and his dad built that house so it was pretty special to get married there. We were looking around at different venues for a while (always saying the Sweet house was the dream), and we weren't finding anything we liked when one day Mack's dad offered to have the wedding there, which was kind of perfect!"

Planning a backyard wedding is not for everyone and can really test your organizational and planning skills, but L + M knocked it out of the park!

"Our advice for planning a backyard wedding is to be prepared for details! A lot of planning goes into a backyard wedding and once we got some of the big things out of the way (tent, caterer, bathrooms) we thought it would be smooth sailing from there, but a lot of last minute things we didn't think of came up in the weeks before the wedding. We had a lot of great help from our friends and family though, which is something we recommend, call in those favours! Haha"

L + M and I had exchanged a few emails leading up to the wedding day in regards to the day of schedule and shot list, but not much beyond that. When I arrived on the day of, Leslie informed me of something they had been going through, something I never expected to hear. 

Three months before the wedding, Mack was diagnosed with Leukemia. L + M had been tossed a curve ball and their lives instantly changed. 

"Mack had to be hospitalized for 30 days in a hospital in London, which is about three hours away from where we live, since there were no beds available closer to home. At first we didn't know if the wedding would still happen, and in a way it seemed like the last thing on our minds. All of our focus just shifted to getting Mack through this. The doctors told us that Mack might not be feeling the greatest, but that the wedding would be something for us to look forward to once he got out of the hospital. Which was true, it was nice having something to look forward to and visualize together. Since we were pretty far from home I did quite a bit of wedding planning from my hotel room in London, I even sent out my invites from there"

You never know what life has in store for you and to those of you who are planning a wedding, and may being going through something similar, Leslie has some advice for you.

"To anybody going through something similar...stay positive. It's unfortunate that it takes something like this to put things in perspective, but it really does. Your wedding is your day to have fun and celebrate and not worry! It's really hard not to, but don't sweat the small stuff! The small things that don't turn out or that were overlooked don't matter at the end of the day. It's not exactly ideal to plan a wedding while going through something difficult in life, but it can and does work out. And, as for Mack, he's been busy kicking cancers ass and is doing great"

I am so incredibly honoured to of been able to work with Leslie and Mack and to of captured such true emotion and candid love. We laughed together, cried together and these two will forever inspire me to push through anything life throws my way.

 

Flowers: Tottenham Foodland 

Leslie's engagement ring is by Heidi Gibson, wedding band Bluboho in Toronto.

Mack's ring: Madani, Richmond Hill

Dress: Sash and Bustle in Toronto, by Theia Couture. 

Caterer: Little Red Catering co., Newmarket

Bartenders: A Great Mix, Barrie

Bridesmaids dresses: Dessy, from best for bride in Barrie.