jess + dan | backyard wedding in Selwyn Township

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. 

andrea + shane | a relaxed, fun cottage resort wedding at Bark Leadership Centre in Haliburton

Andrea and Shane were recommended to me by one of their friends who has been a guest and bridesmaid at several weddings I have shot (thanks Robyn!!). When we initially met for a coffee, it was love at first sight (photographer and couple sort of love) and I knew we were a great fit. They had booked Bark Lake Leadership Centre, which for the most part is a kids camp, but you can also book for weddings too. When they described their wedding, they used the words "fun, relaxed and personal" which are the three words I would want for my wedding too, it doesn't get much better then that. 

"When we looked for our venue, we wanted a place that would hold all of our friends and family together for a weekend. We saw our wedding as an opportunity to bring everyone we loved together and spend quality time with them, instead of being rushed through an evening. Bark Lake gave us the opportunity to have an outdoor wedding with our favourite activities, while having the added bonus of being an absolutely stunning place to get married. We loved having everyone stay over and having brunch with everyone the next morning- we felt surrounded by love the whole time. The staff at Bark Lake were also very flexible and open to our ideas when we met with them, and were happy to support our visions, like finding room for an amazing twelve piece band to help us dance the night away, and having the groomsmen paddle in in a voyageur canoe
 

Obviously a venue like this isn't for everyone and it can take a lot of blood sweat and tears to make it perfect and personal, but Andrea and Shane did it, with flying colours. 

"I don't think we realized when we booked our venue that getting married in an less traditional location would require extra work and coordination, as we live in Toronto and we tried to get vendors that were local to the area.  We ended up doing a lot more DIY work than we originally thought we'd have to, and our biggest stress was trying to figure out how much alcohol to bring in to the woods. But we were lucky to have a supportive family, and a venue that was so open to talking with us (maybe a million times!!) to figure things out. In the end, it was totally worth it, because we really got to design every aspect of the entire weekend, and we truly felt like the wedding was a perfect reflection of who we are as a couple. We also had to be a bit flexible with the weather which was stressful on the day; we received multiple tornado warnings and weather alerts. We were so lucky that our dream came true and we got married under the trees... but we hid from a massive storm for the rest of the night!!  If you're doing something similar, make sure you have a solid rain plan in place!"

As a photographer I continue to try and grow and improve but more importantly, find those couples who make their day about them and aren't afraid to throw tradition to the curb and have fun with their wedding and make it unique and relaxed. When I find those couples, the connection is much stronger as I find those couples are my kind of people and whom I would want to be friends with and surround myself by. These two were positive, fun, candid, so deep in love and overall, a fun amazing couple who I can't wait to hang out with and hopefully work together again in the future.

Love you guys! 

xo - Megan 

Wedding Planner - Lucy Myers Events

Videographer - Kathryn Fudurich

Florals - Tanya List Designs

Band - Kim and Company

First Dance Musicians - Mike and Cassandra

Dress - Ferre Sposa

Tux - Sur Mesur

Custom Rings - Ron Pollock imports 

lindsay + kyle | a backyard wedding in alliston

First off, I am so honoured to have been chosen by l + k to capture their day. After them being together for 9.5 years, and myself knowing them for all of that time, I again, am so thankful I was the one to capture their love!

When you think of a diy wedding, you think of cute crafts, some homemade decor etc. but this was SO much more then a DIY wedding, it was the perfect wedding. So much love,  sweat and tears went into every moment and every detail of the day. From the bouquets made by the girls (other then lindsays bouquet, which was made by Karen at Schakel Greenhouses), to her dad making the bar, to an uncle making the cafe lighting outside the tent to the mothers growing the lavender themselves that you see through all the arrangements, so incredible.

L + K, I hope I captured your day perfectly and I can't wait for you guys to see ALL the pics 

xo Megan