Natascha & Mike's Wedding

Saturday September 12th, I got to shoot my cousin Natascha and her husband Mike's wedding. Natascha's younger brother Che came to me and said "Natascha's getting married! You have to be the photographer." How could I say no, I couldn't imagine anything more meaningful then capturing the most important day in two peoples lives, but more importantly my cousins important day.

Ready to go with my Tim Horton's coffee in hand, and my camera in the other, I couldn't be more prepared. Soon after arriving my flash craped out on me, and my cousins best friend Lex came to my rescue. We drove off and got to the nearest camera place. I bought two external flashes in my panic. The real truth is that things like this happen, and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. My external flash didn't owe me a thing! It had a really good life and I used it to its full potential, we had a lot of good shoots together. Well the new one got to see some pretty amazing things.

Natascha and Mike got married at The Wedding Chapel. It was a beautiful ceremony, everyone was so relaxed. It was so fun to see the whole wedding party walk down to the bridge, right by the chapel for photos. My amazing assistant and boyfriend Mike Stark came along with me. He really got the full insight about how a wedding is captured, but it turned out that he taught me a thing or two instead. There was a cute little river right by the bridge, with out hesitation Mike hiked up his pants first and took off his socks and shoes, eager to get in the water unafraid to take the photos of the whole party on the bridge. At this point I was still undecided and a little afraid about what might be lurking under the water. When the girls saw this especially my cousin Natascha, she wanted to get right in there too. She was so willing to walk in the water for photos that she made all the girls hike up their dresses, and kick off their shoes, including me. One by one they all made their way in, doing their best not to fall in from laughing. One little ring bearer came to their rescue, to make sure that no one fell on the way back out. The guys had a real kick at watching the girls, in hopes I think, of watching one of them fall. Praying that it wouldn't be me, I made my way out carefully. Thank you girls! All of you were true troupers. Thank you Mike for not hesitating before going in the water without fear! If you know it's right and it's going to look amazing, you just do it.

The reception was a blast, it was held at the Portuguese Club. We got there early before anybody else, to snap a couple more photos right in front of the old boat that's been there for years. I took Natascha and her best friend Lex to snap a couple photos of them together, we ran around finding new places to shoot by the playground, on the bench, and some pile of wood that was just laying there, anything creative. They have been friends since they were both very little, so I think it really took them back. Not much has changed other then the number of their age. Everyone that works at the club is so friendly and inviting and they really do put on a great show. The servers came out with sparklers and fiesta hats, they danced around and celebrated Natascha and Mike's special day. What a beautiful couple, the two of you really do compliment each other well! Mike is so charming, warm hearted, hilarious and clearly patient with all the picture taking that was happening. I also think it's hilarious that we both have Mike's. I can't wait to spend more time with the both of you in the future it truly was a fantastic day!

Tiff @ tiff...

Tuesday September 8th I was working my part-time job at Fab Accessories, with Deb, my boss and good friend. Later that day she got a call from Rosie, who works with Ice Rock - a celebrity jewellery line. Deb turned to me and said "What are you doing Thursday night? DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING PLANED!?" I started thinking "Omg this is going to be good." Deb continued "Do you want to come to T.O. for the film fest?" "It's the Ice Rock VIP party and celebrities are coming but Rosie wasn't allowed to tell me who they are!". I was so excited I started yelling "ARE YOU KIDDING ME OF COURSE I WANT TO GO!!!" If you don't know me I get pre-excited very easily and won't sleep at night because I'm just too excited. I'm so in!

Deb called Shannon and Amy, her two daughters who are also my two good friends, to tell them about the exciting news. They were so excited I could hear them over the phone when Deb was talking with them. Especially Shannon, because she's a pre-excitable like me. I was jumping around the store having an extremely hard time helping customers I couldn't think about anything else. What am I going to wear? It was like Deb could read my mind. "You know Tiffany you can go and buy that dress you have been eyeing up for about 3 months now at JBU." This dress was amazing and so perfect but they didn't have it in my size any more because I had to think so much about about buying it. Just wasn't meant to be, but that's OK I had a fun time walking around looking for another one. I ended up finding a pink one which was kind of a shock, the color really did grow on me. I just kept thinking about the opportunity to shoot some celebs and how amazing that would be, but there's nothing like hanging out with the girls and Carl, my bosses husband who is like a father to me. This family is definitely another family of mine. I'm really privileged to have so many people in my life that I can call family and mentors in life.

Deb drove all of us girls down and we met up with Carl at the The Hyatt Hotel. They only booked a room for two, so we followed Carl's clear instructions to sneak in. It worked perfectly! We had dinner, got our dresses on, and we were ready to go to the party. The venue had a wonderful roof top patio, really nice seating, and an amazing view of the C.N. Tower. We mingled and met new friends, sat, laughed, and drank.

Alexander Ovechkin showed up and I got to sit with him and the girls. He's a very shy, serious kind of a guy, but he showed a smile when I gave him a little body check. Was I crazy for doing this, I thought to my self this guy shoves tuff men against boards all the time, but much harder! Did I have a death wish or something. I'm so glad that he thought I was funny and just smiled. DJ Michael Canitrot showed up to and he's so down to earth and talks to everyone he sees. Both guys truly love what they do and are extremely passionate. We missed Megan Fox. Although she did make a 5 min appearance for pics down stairs, but I totally missed that shot. That's just fine because I was having a blast with my friends and enjoying the now!