Photography Blog

I photographed Zev’s brother Ian when he was 12 days old and Zev was only 8 days old in these photos!

Zev’s Dad runs the Midtown Music School, so knowing that I bought this tie a few days in advance of our session.

Katrina and Gavin had a very international wedding. They came from Ireland and their guests came from all over, including of course, Ireland, Montreal and Belgium.

Katrina got ready at her parents place in Oakville, then headed to St. Andrew’s church for the ceremony.   The reception took place at The Waterside Inn, which is in Port Credit.

We were very lucky as the weather forecast called for rain all day, but we managed to get the portraits during the non-rainy periods of the day, which meant that we got that special light you can only get after a rainfall.

Katrina’s mom reacts to Katrina in her wedding dress.

Katrina and her parents in their sitting room. The Belgian paintings have been in the family for generations.

Entering the Bentley.

I love how Katrina and Gavin are smiling at each other, just as the bridesmaids are smiling at them.

Very happily married!

Hug from Katrina’s mom.

Family portrait with Gavin’s parents and sister (all of whom live in Ireland), Katrina’s parents and sister and Katrina’s grandparents (who live in Belgium).

Happy on the harbour (just after the rain)!

The wedding party.

Having fun with Gavin’s tie, by bringing him in for a kiss.

I love how the guests were so excited to see Katrina and Gavin enter The Waterside Inn and be introduced as a married couple.

The Maid(s) of Honour’s speech was a big hit.

Enjoying being married.

These little girls loved running around on the dance floor.

Heartfelt speech.

Interview with Katrina and Gavin:

Favourite photo:  It’ll be really hard to pick a favourite one, they’re all really awesome!

Where are you going on your honeymoon? Sandals – St. Lucia, La Toc !

What are you most looking forward to as a couple? Getting a house & starting a family!

Congrats, again Katrina and Gavin! I hope you are enjoying life back in Ireland.

Cake: Amadeus Fine Cakes

Church name: St. Andrew’s Catholic Church

Make-up artist: Sephora

Wedding Dress: Saratina

Bentley:  Total Eclipse Limousine

I met with Erica for the first time the day before she moved to Calgary.   She really wanted an engagement session, but she wasn’t sure if she would be back in Toronto much between our meeting and her wedding date.  It worked out very well, since my husband and I were planning to be out west just a few weeks after that meeting!   I was thrilled that we would be able to do their engagement photos surrounded by the Rockies and the yellow larch trees that appear there in the fall.

We did their session in Sunshine Meadows.  Sunshine was listed as a highly recommended hike, suitable for  children, so we figured it would be the perfect spot since we also had to carry about 40 pounds of camera gear.  Erica and Kyle checked it out a couple of weeks earlier and were very pleasantly surprised by the nice weather this time, as it was very cold and foggy the first time they went there.

We took the bus up with the first part of the mountain with them until we arrived at the official start of the 8KM hike.  I admit, I was huffing and puffing at first and very embarrassed by what I thought was my lack of fitness, but later realized was the change in altitude.  It was really awesome getting to know Kyle and Erica on our hike and through the session.

As  you can tell from the photos, they have a lot of fun together!  I am looking forward to their Toronto wedding next August!

I had the pleasure of meeting Katrina in December, but did not get to meet Gavin until a few days before their wedding as they both lived (and are still living) in Ireland!  Gavin, fortunately turned out to be awesome, (no surprise, since he was marrying Katrina) and they were both excited about their upcoming wedding and of course, totally in love, so it was easy to get them smiling and interacting with each other.

We went to Amos Waites Park in Etobicoke, for this session, which has proven to be one of my favourite places for photos as it has a nice walkway, gorgeous setting and fewer people milling about than most nice Toronto parks.

Their favourite photo from the session is the first one on the left (below).  That’s the one they had blown up for their wedding (which will appear on this blog very soon).  We printed it with just 3 days until the wedding date and we got it to the wedding on time!

Katrina insisted on climbing this tree.  Unfortunately, when she got up there we realized there was no room for Gavin, so he carried her down.

Congrats to Sarah Faulkner, who placed in the Getting Ready category of the ISPWP’s most recent contest with this image from Jenn and Derek’s wedding:

You can check out that image as well as the other award winning ones from that contest here:

https://www.ispwp.com/contests/ispwp-wedding-photography-contest-gallery-summer-2012-getting-ready

While you are on the site, you may also want to check out one of the weddings we recently had published on it!

https://www.ispwp.com/real-wedding-maplewood-hall-ancaster-ontario-toronto-wedding-photographer-danielle-rabbat.html

You may remember Jenn and Derek from their engagement session and/or our about us video.  In other words, I have been excited about this wedding for a long time!!!

We had the pleasure of photographing Jenn’s big sister Stephanie’s wedding in 2010, so we were excited to see them again too.  It’s always extra special to photograph people we have worked with before.

Here’s Derek getting ready at King Valley Golf Club, with a little help from one of his groomsmen.

The bridal gown hanging in the window at Jenn’s parents house in Aurora.

Tell me about the moment you first saw your bride/groom:

Jenn:  I wanted to run down the aisle just to get to Derek, knowing how lucky I was to be marrying my best friend.

Derek:  I felt so much happiness knowing everything I wanted since I met her was coming true.

Some of our favourite photos are the one kissing against the brick wall, the one where we are kissing after being introduced and the background is faded… I also really liked the group ones with the umbrellas, honestly there were so many we loved!!

Derek sewed these awesome NKOTB pants for his mom.

What was your favourite wedding day memory?

Dancing on the dance floor ( and walking down the aisle).

Derek is a police officer, so Jenn surprised him with a large order of donuts.

What are you most looking forward to as a couple?

Spending time together and making everyday memories, and of course having a family one day!
Were you at Jenn and Derek’s wedding? What’s your favourite memory?

Cupcakes:  Treat Yourself Cakes and Catering
Minister: Reverend Andy from the Aurora United Church
Wedding Co-ordinator: Cynthia McNally
Make-up artist: Becoming Hair Studio
Wedding Dress: Elmwood Brides Aurora

Congrats again, Jenn and Derek and thanks so much for having us be a part of your special day!

Elspeth and Angelo had a perfect warm and sunny day for their wedding. Their wedding took place at St. Jude’s church and Harbour Banquet Centre in Oakville.

1.  What’s your favourite wedding day memory?
For me, it was a toss up between seeing ang and the moments of the ceremony and taking the pics after the wedding in the docks. For Ang it was seeing me walk down the aisle after his best man told him not to look until I was really close.

Walking down the aisle laughing.

I saw him before I got in the church while I was just outside the old car that drove us to the church. The minister said I was behind a tree, but I moved just as the best man took Ang into the church. I was so upset that I thought he saw me, but thankfully he didn’t. He didn’t see me until I was most of the way down the aisle, and his thoughts were just that I was beautiful.

We went to Greece – and it was fantastic!

finishing the many projects on our house and finally starting our life together

Congratulations again, Elspeth and Angelo!

Were you a guest at this wedding? What was your favourite moment?

The past few months have been extremely busy in the new studio!  Did you know Rabbat Photography now has a studio?

I recently photographed West Coast Swing instructor and dancer extraordinaire, Shelley Saxena.  If you would like to learn how to dance you can contact her at:

[email protected]

Her website should be up soon!

I have a love of dancing myself, so dance photography is a natural extension.

Here are some of our favourites from the session:

Have you always wanted to do a family portrait but never got around to it?

In “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin she says “I’ve never forgotten an older friends observation: “One of my regrets about my children’s childhood is that I didn’t have more professional photographs taken.”

She then continues, “I arranged to have pictures taken of our children and I was thrilled with the results. These photographs were far better than any snapshot I could take, and I bought several for us and for the grandparents too. Remembering happy times gives a big boost to happiness, and looking at photographs of happy times helps make those memories more vivid. The money I spent on the photographs will strengthen family bonds, enhance happy memories, and capture fleeting moments of childhood. That’s a pretty good return on the happiness investment.”

Now is the time, since our High Park Family Portrait Special is back! Last time we did a Father’s Day special only, so it was just dad and the kids (or in some cases mom and the kids), but this one is for the whole family.

Here is the info!