The Road Not Taken {A little review of 2014}

I wish I knew how to write it all out, how to say everything I want to say, but I felt like I needed a bit of distance between myself and the last year before I even began to think about it.

You see, it was a year of personal loss and professional gain and in a way I feel like that’s always how it goes.  When one thing in your life is going well, something else suffers. 2014 was by far the best year for the biz with getting to shoot so many amazing weddings in so many gorgeous places both near and far, being asked to speak at the Canada Photo Convention, and getting named as one of Rangefinder’s Rising Stars of 2014, but we had a lot of loss in the family. My grandfather passing away being the biggest and it left a deep sorrow that I wasn’t sure quite how to process. I can deal with most any kind of physical pain without skipping a beat (for those that don’t know me so well, I broke a toe in the first hour of shooting a wedding and kept on going right through the other 11 hours), and yet this pain was different.

This last year has had me reliving some of my family moments, through the photos and little notes written on the backs of them. I remember my very teeny grandma telling my brother and I that she was “average height” for her generation and the two of us, who towered over her, laughing. We found some photos fairly recently of my grandma and her group of friends and sure enough, she was the same height as everyone else!

There are few things that I regret, but not taking more photos of my family is by far the biggest. I have so many photos of my family from when I was little, but in the hubbub of life, you forget to take photos of your family as they are now. Sometimes I feel like the builder with a half-finished house. My resolution for 2015, if you can call it that, is to take more photos of my own family, as it grows and changes. To document our lives as I get to document the lives of others.

I’m so very thankful that this job means that I get to do just that, document other people’s lives and tell their stories, viewing some of my family story has made me appreciate it even more. Most, if not all of my favourite images of last year were of family and friends enjoying a moment at their weddings. Candid little morsels of time. I look through the photos and they remind me of the joy, love, nervousness, and care that is this life.

I feel like I’ve written much too much, but my goodness, it felt good to write it. Before sharing some of my favourite photos from the last year, I wanted to share with you a poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. In the last year, I’ve questioned my path a lot, but this one, right here is where I’m supposed to be.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~ Robert Frost

TeePee // The Grounds of Alexandria Wedding

Oh me, oh my! Theresa & Pete (affectionately called TeePee by their friends and family) had one cracker of a wedding, and honestly, I knew it was going to be a lot of fun and a lot of craziness right from the get-go.

You see, I met Theresa & Pete in 2011. Vy, Theresa’s sister was getting married, so we set up a time to meet and I met not only Vy & Matt, but also Theresa, Pete, and Matt’s sister, Alexis. It was intense in the best way possible! I loved that they were so close and involved in each other’s lives. They cared not just about the photos, but also how everyone got along.

Theresa & Pete’s wedding was planned in much the same way as that very first meeting, making sure that everyone got along and enjoyed themselves, their wedding wasn’t just a celebration of their love, but also of how much they loved their families and friends. Of course with a little bit of quirk thrown in… I mean, how awesome are the TEE PEE balloons?! And bowling the morning of the wedding? I feel like this is a new trend that needs to be started! It was just awesome how excited everyone got for bowling and also just how relaxed Pete was!

I’m not the only one who thinks this wedding is crazy adorable, it was recently featured on one of my favourite blogs, Nouba, you can check it out here.

Theresa’s dress: Carla Zampatti
Theresa’s shoes: Mimco
Bridesmaids dresses: Carla Zampatti
Pete’s suit: Brent Wilson suit, Saba shirt
Pete’s shoes: Aquila
Rings: Cerrone (Theresa), Raffini (Pete)
Accessories: Tiffany & Co. earrings, The Tie Bar ties
Hair: Murphy Gozzard Hair Community
Makeup: Liquid Illusion
Ceremony/reception venue: The Grounds of Alexandria, Sydney
Celebrant: Kirsten Carter Custom Celebrations
Flowers: Florals by Silva
Entertainment: The Baker Boys Band
Stationery/invitations: DIY, printed by Digital Press
Transport: bride’s father’s BMW

Vy + Matt // Cafe Morso Pyrmont Wedding

I feel like there’s so much I could write about Vy & Matt’s wedding day, but I honestly don’t know where to start. They are just truly two of the nicest, warmest people I’ve had the fortune of meeting and their wedding day reflected just that. It really struck me how close they all were and that so very much comes through in the planning of their wedding day. Everything was about them and their families, with Vy’s sister Theresa even utilising her design wizardry to create some pretty special graphics for the day (including an amazing canvas of their love story). I dare you to look at these photos and not just smile, because their day was just filled with such warmth, love, a lot of crazy dancing and a heck of a lot of laughter.

Vy & Matt thank you so much for searching through 25 pages of google to find me and letting me be a part of your day, and big thank you to my sister-from-another-mister Brit for being a second pair of eyes.