There’s a recent article on the Digital Photography School about the different blog services and applications out there, and we are excited to be included in the article written by photographer and blogger extraordinaire, Natalie Norton. It has a lot of info for photographers choosing what service they would like to use for their blog. Read on!

For everyone who reads the Globe and Mail, Pacific Rim magazine was distributed in all the newspapers on May 7th and they used one of my photos from Taiwan in the magazine. I love that they published one of my favorite photos from the Matsu Pilgrimage (link to my totally old-school photos). It makes me homesick for Taiwan though! Mark and I might have to do a reunion visit sometime in the next couple of years.

Mark does a great job of getting coverage we need from all sorts of angles, including from a tree well. Good job Mark, and as Nelson from the Simpsons so kindly puts it, “ha ha” : )

Love ya!

Is this any indication of how perfect Sandra and Scott’s wedding day was?

I’ll start by stating the obvious- this was not your typical wedding! Mark and I arrived at the gorgeous Callaghan Backcountry Lodge via a 45-minute snowmobile drive (lazy!!!!!), while most guests skied the scenic 12.5 km from the base to the lodge. How’s that for transportation? No limos here!

Sandra was rockin’ the blue curlers!!! Sandra and her mom were so resourceful- since they couldn’t transport a hair stylist all the way up the mountain, they actually took a lesson from their hair stylist instead. Her mom did an awesome job! And the dress… it was so amazing and perfect for Sandra! Wait ’til you see the sun hit the lace later on below. The girls’ getting ready room had a perfect view of the ceremony site, so there was a lot of peeking outside going on.

Krystil was the only female bridesmaid for Sandra. Cool!!

And this was when Scott first realized that we are stalking documenting him, and not just Sandra, as they get ready

I think this is the nicest aisle I’ve ever seen someone walk down. It was so beautiful- snow makes for one giant reflector! Scott just got his first glimpse of beautiful Sandra in her dress as she approaches. Awwwwww!

As I walked behind to take this shot, I remembered the snow that day was the type of snow where you’re standing on it and you think everything is fine, and then in a split second you sink down to your knees in the snow. I did not want that to happen in the middle of the quiet ceremony- it would be as bad as a ringing cell phone! The area where I was standing was not as packed down as where everyone else was standing, but luckily nothing happened and I crept back to to groomed area, relieved, right after taking this shot.

Scott and Sandra, you guys had a perfect wedding kiss- 10/10! Bravo!

Niiiiiice recessional!

The red exterior of the lodge fit in perfectly with the surroundings, and was a great way to change up the scenery. I almost forgot to mention just how outdoorsy Scott and Sandra are, except I guess it’s pretty obvious, given their chosen location in the backcountry for a wedding! So of course it didn’t take long before Scott decided to climb up the balcony

And then soon after, on go the skis for a little action!

Asking people to ski downhill towards you while looking through a telephoto lens=scary!

The scenery was not too shabby

Later on was bouquet tossing time. Sandra threw it off one of the balconies, and the bouquet exploded Exploding bouquets rock in photos!

The cake…was…amazing… How they transported this up a bumpy one hour ride to the lodge, I’ll never know. But I still find myself pondering this question from time to time.

Everything about the cake was perfect for Sandra and Scott- the mountain, the skis, the trees, the dress, everything! So looking at it, I figured it was just for decoration. But no! It was more than just an edible cake- it was an awesome edible cake just as beautiful on the inside as on the outside! If you are cake shopping, check out Shaya’s Sweet Creations.

With all the outdoors-related conversations we overheard on the wedding day about MEC, VOC, climbing, skiing, backcountry, etc… we were motivated to take this shot of the rings:

During the reception, I learned more about how amazing Sandra and Scott are- not only as a couple (they have been together for a decade)- but as human beings as well. I soon picked up on the incredible amount of respect that their friends and family have for them.

Cheers to the both of you- We are so glad you chose us to document your day, thank you! You are an inspiration!

Today we went to Richmond for their “Doors Open Richmond” event- where various landmarks, studios, and places of worship each operate an open house. I was so excited because I knew it would be a chance to check out some temples that I have always wanted to see. When Mark and I were in Asia and India, we always walked into mosques and temples because, well, we were tourists and we wanted to see what was happenin’ inside. Here in Vancouver, it doesn’t feel the same to just pull up to a temple and stroll on in to take a look around. Today was our chance, and I was not disappointed!

We went to the Minoru Chapel, the International Buddhist Society Temple, the Lingyen Mountain Temple, the Richmond Jami’a Mosque, and the Nanaksar Gursikh Temple. Each of these places had guides available. Just spending a few hours going to these places has been so informative- I feel like I’ve read three books in one afternoon! The Minoru Chapel is in a nice park setting, and is a really cute place to get married. The International Buddhist Society Temple made us feel like we were back in asia again. The temple felt nice and secluded, but was still a pretty happenin’ place with its devotees. The Lingyen Mountain Temple has a ‘mother temple’ near the town we used to live in in Taiwan, so that had a lot of familiarities as well. The Richmond Jami’a Mosque was awesome because the guide gave us a lot of practical information about Islam- we learned more at this one than all the mosques we went to in Malaysia because there was no language barrier. And the Nanaksar Gursikh Temple was the highlight of the day because we haven’t been in many Sikh temples (except the amazing Golden Temple in India). An excellent lunch was provided at the Nanaksar Gursikh Temple, as well as a tour and talk. It’s worth the visit just to check out the colourful exterior of the building.

The Doors Open Richmond event is still happening tomorrow, be there or be square!!!!

A beautiful lunch wedding at the Brock House with Annie and Pablo. Their wedding day priority was all about spending time with their friends and family, so we decided to take some photos of them before the ceremony so that they would have more time to visit during the lunch.

We had 12 minutes for photo taking time.. 12 very cold minutes for Annie and I’m not sure if she’s going to forgive me for it, but here’s my compensation to her, some photolicious sweetness:

So we talked frozen-Annie into taking off the shawl for a few photos, but Pablo was such a gentleman and didn’t want to see his soon-to-be wife to suffering any longer… awwww!

I can see the thought-bubbles around the photo below:

Annie: OMG I’m so cold I can’t feel my legs!

Me: Come on wind… pick up… just a little stronger now… … … wait for it … Sweeeeeeeeeet!

And that was the end of our 12 minute shooting spree before the Chinese tea ceremony commenced:

Outside again for another quick photograph- So exciting with a red dress. When we saw this wall we knew it was going to have a purpose! Thank you white wall!

And back into the western wedding dress for the ceremony.

Just married! wahoo! Pablo’s parents (visiting from Argentina) look so cute blowing bubbles for the newly married couple:

I love this moment they had alone (with me stalking them) just before they entered into the reception area. And Pablo’s cute little niece was so much fun to photograph too : )

See the group of innocent-yet hopeful- looking girls in the first frame, and then see what becomes of them when the bouquet comes their way

And the reaction when the bouquet-stealing truth is revealed on our camera’s LCD ; )

Mmmmm, happy cake-cutting watchers. Yummy cake was by April Cakes.

She just didn’t stop smiling all day! Made our job pretty easy

But there was one beautifully tender moment not to be forgotten…

Since everyone else was just too cold to go outside, the bouquet and I took a short stroll to enjoy the brisk westcoast air and scenery:

Strawberries anyone? I want that big one in the middle…

I almost forgot to add one cool thing- Annie and I are both “Code Girls”- we have comp-sci degrees from UBC, and graduated around the same time, we were probably even in the same class as each other at some point- we didn’t find out about this until she sent me the link to her wedding site and I saw all the info. I even recognized some people at the wedding, including my favorite comp-sci professor, Patrice.

Congrats to you both!

I wasn’t going to do this… Nope. I was going to do taxes and clean the house today… But instead I decided to check out Animoto’s latest indie songs in their music lounge. And while there, I thought, hey… why not upload a few photos from Laura and Kevin’s wedding and see what the robots come up with this time.

I love the robots- they did a good job except I’m not sure why they softened the last few images of the slideshow (fade-out perhaps?).

Last Sunday I met with Miki and Eiji at the Burrard Skytrain station for their cherry blossom tree engagement session. I loved shooting in sakura

After taking some photos at Burrard, it unexpectedly started pouring rain (as of this point I have given up on the weather in Vancouver). All plans were changed and we ended up shooting under cover, but it ended up being a good thing:

My favorite shot of the day:

Miki, Eiji, thanks for the opportunity to get to know you better before your wedding day. It’s going to be awesome!

St. Andrew’s-Wesley Church and the UBC Golf Club were the locations of choice for Laura and Kevin’s wedding.

Preps were started off by a straight razor hot shave at Farzad’s Barbershop for Kevin, and makeup by Margaret Lai for Laura.

The guys went green and traveled by foot for their shave, for lunch, and then for chill time at their hotel across the street from the church.

This was a second generation wedding at St.Andrews-Wesley church for Laura’s family, as her parents were also married there. It’s a sweet church, with a grand interior and exterior.

Following the church’s guidelines, we kept our distance during the worship (this was taken from the lobby) but Gary, the minister, was still very kind and easy going about our presence and allowed us a nice amount of photographic freedom.

So…. we walked in to the church for the ceremony, and at that time the ground was dry and there was some overcast in the sky. We walked out after the 45 minute ceremony to about an inch of snow and pretty torrential conditions with wind and downpour! We headed over to the library for some guerrilla indoor photos And after taking the hint from security, we moved outdoors as well for some uber-chilly shots.

Then over to the UBC Golf Club, where the tea ceremony was held.

And then the reception. It was a fun night that went by almost too quickly! Laura’s friend Anna (below) was a rockin’ MC who kept everyone entertained all evening.

A reaction to something really funny that was said in Cantonese (I won’t repeat it here) and Cliff preparing for his speech.

Speaking of entertainment, meet the gentleman of the evening:

The first dance:

The bridesmaids, Mel and Winnie, had some serious moves on the dance floor! DJ service by Dj lil Ivan.

Laura’s rings: (flowers by Budget Blooms)

Magic! I am still holding a grudge against Mother Nature for the stunt she pulled with the weather during Laura and Kevin’s ceremony, but as the night went on, the snow became a little more manageable and we took this photo without even making them stand in the snow (thanks to the warm covered area outside the golf club).

Congrats to you both, it was a joy to be part of your day!.

One of the best decisions we made for our wedding last summer was to hire a professional dancer to choreograph a song just for us. That sounds totally hard core… perhaps you’re imagining us ripping up the dance floor with some sweet moves Dirty Dancing style… the truth is we just plain did not know how to dance. Not even a smidgen. Mark is one of those lucky people who can do well at most things he pursues, but dancing was not one of them! We needed to do something because I wasn’t about to sway side to side for 4 minutes in front of 160 people, so we hired Candy to help us. In just three sessions (four hours total), she had us going strong with some simple but effective moves designed around our chosen song (All You Need is Love- we had a Beatles theme for music at our wedding), and we actually had fun learning it. She was so incredibly patient with Mark- it was quite a challenge for him to learn how to dance.

I’m not saying we rocked the dance floor, but I can say it was definitely one of the highlights of the wedding. Guests loved it- some cried. They didn’t see it coming as everyone knew we sucked at dancing

Check out the website: Candy Can Dance (she is based out of Richmond) and good luck!