Photography Blog

You probably remember Tom and Julia from their engagement photos. Now they are happily married!
They had an absolutely perfect day at St. George’s Golf and Country Club.

Wedding gown in the window of the ‘ladies only’ room.

Julia admires her ring as she awaits her first glance with Tom.

Thoughts the first moment they saw each other:

Julia: “What a handsome man I’m about to marry!”
Tom: “Wow.”

Julia admiring Tom before the ceremony and before she surprises him.

Julia surprised Tom with a driver training track day at BMW!

Julia’s dad walks her down the aisle.

Julia’s favourite wedding day memory: standing in front of the officiant with Tom, getting married.

Tom: Walking into the dining room full of guests, being greeted by applause.

This was one of my favourite group photos…I like the enthusiasm on Tom’s aunt’s face.

Julia said this was one of the nicest photos of her parents she has seen.

Bridesmaid Robin and her boyfriend, Dan get a little action.

Groomsman Otto and his girlfriend Renee do the same.

Tom and Julia enjoyed the speeches.

The last time Tom will have the upper hand, according to Tom’s best man, Ashvin.

First dance! They did a lovely choreographed blues number (which you can see a bit of in the video below).

This couple had been married the longest of all the guests, so they won the bouquet.

This is Tom’s favourite photo.  That’s the best man hollering in the background.

11 and 13 day old babies yawning simultaneously. I guess what they say is right-yawns ARE contagious! The baby on the right belongs to Ashvin.

Julia enjoys a dance with the groomsmen!  This is her favourite photo:

Croatia, Berlin, Paris, London (we have tickets to 3 Olympics events)
and Manchester, where we’ll have a party for UK friends and family who
couldn’t make it to Canada for the wedding.

What are you most looking forward to as a couple?

Congrats again, Tom and Julia and thanks again for having me there!

Vendors:

Toronto Wedding Co-ordinator| Monique Gaudet | St. George’s Golf and Country Club

Toronto Wedding Officiant| Sarah Bunnett-Gibson| Weddings from the Heart

Toronto Make-up Artist|Clarissa Pupo | Industry Hairdressing

Toronto Florist| Barry | Garrett Florist

Toronto DJ| Tim Pocius |Maximum Music

Toronto and Niagara Wedding Dance Choreography | Mandi Gould | Bees’ Knees Dance

Toronto Bridesmaids’ Mecklaces| Lindsay Squire | Dalziel Designs

Toronto rings| Einhardt Weidel|IDS Jewellery Design

Toronto invitations| Oakville Paper Boutique

Toronto baker| The Sweet Gallery

I have known Julia for quite awhile through lindy hop swing dancing, so I was thrilled when she finally met a man she was very enthused about.

They went on their first date at a Second Cup downtown and it was obviously not their last.

Tom and Julia live close to Yorkdale Mall, so they suggested we do their engagement photos there. At first, I was a bit skeptical since it was my first time doing engagement photos in a mall (besides BCE place, of course), but I was amazed by the nice light that streamed through the windows in the morning and I was thrilled with the variety of locations and ‘looks’ we could get in one place.

Thanks for introducing me to a new location, Tom and Julia!

I’m really looking forward to photographing your wedding at St. George’s Golf Club on May 6th.

Congratulations again on your engagement!

After viewing the photos of Emily, many of my friends suggested I do my own cake smash, since my birthday is the day after hers.

My daughter is one year old as of today!

I decided to do a cake smash session with her. In a cake smash session, the photographer places a cake in front of the baby and lets the baby go at the cake, however they may please.

Emily was surprisingly delicate and did not actually smash the cake, which means we can still eat it as most of it was not touched!

If you are interested in doing a cake smash session with your baby, please contact us at least one month before his or her birthday.

I recently photographed this adorable line of non-traditional organic baby clothing and products for Wee Urban.  Check out their super cool and comfortable designs for your own baby or toddler or for shower gifts.  Wee Urban is also based in Etobicoke and their clothing is all hand made in Canada!

This shoot also marked baby Emily’s modeling debut.

We let the little ones play as I took pictures.

Recently, we started offering reception guest books.  Instead of the traditional guest book, where guests simply sign in and leave a message, each page of these books has at least one photo of the couple from their engagement session and all but one page has a prompt (the blank page is for those who know what they want to say!).  This way, the lucky marrieds receive meaningful messages from every guest and not just “Congratulations,” over and over again.  I recommend reading what the guests wrote and reminiscing every anniversary! Couples can also find out how much advice they have taken and perhaps revisit some of the old and forgotten ideas in later years.

Note: The first and last pages are the cover and back page, which is why they are half the size of the other pages.  The other spreads are really all 2 pages each, as they fold in the middle.

We are now offering baby albums with thick pages that parents can read over and over to their young ones without worrying about the little ones bending the pages!  My little ones loving nothing more than reading about themselves.

Anita and Craig put their maternity and newborn sessions into one beautiful album.

Here it is!

Please note: The logo is not on the actual pages of their album (I just put it on for the blog).  The black lines around the edges of each photo are also not in the actual album (that’s just to separate the photos from the white backgrounds of the blog).

Here is the cover.

Note how thick the pages are. These books are like baby board books.

Note how the design goes across the page.

I hope the children are enjoying their new bedtime story!

Elspeth and Angelo are getting married next May at St. Jude’s Church and Harbour Banquet Centre, in Oakville, so they decided to contrast the spring lake views they will have on their wedding day with a fall downtown Toronto engagement session.

I asked them to choose somewhere special for their session and they said the flat iron building.  I didn’t realize how special it was to them until we got there and they told me they went on one of their first dates (and many more) at The Flat Iron Pub!

We also did some photos outside of The St. Lawrence Market, inside BCE place (which happens to be where Angelo works), and at The Docks.  If you have not seen the cityscape from The Docks, I recommend you do so! Thank you, Elspeth and Angelo for introducing me to this great view.

Happy couples like them constantly remind me of why I chose to be a wedding photographer. It’s pure joy to spend time with people exuding such positive energy!

Congrats again on your engagement! I’m really looking forward to your wedding!

Until recently, many people made the assumption that when they chose a wedding photographer; they were choosing a (singular) wedding photographer.  Now, however, many companies are offering more than one photographer, leaving many couples wondering if one photographer is enough or if they need two.

First things first: look at your photographer’s portfolio.  Ask to see a complete wedding they shot by themselves. Do you like their images? Do you feel they captured the story of the day?  If so, assuming your wedding is a similar size, one photographer is probably enough for you.

Are you and your fiance(e) getting ready in the same place or different places?  One of the advantages of having two photographers is that if you are at two different locations, one of the photographers can go to the location where the bride is and the other can go to the location where the groom is.  If you are getting ready in the same location or very close to each other, often one photographer will be able to cover both scenes if enough time is allotted.

How many guests are you having at your wedding?  If you are having a large wedding (over 150) you will probably want to consider having more than one photographer, so you can get lots of candid images of your guests as well as photos of yourselves.  That being said, if you are on a budget, it is always better to have one good photographer than two bad ones, no matter how many guests you are having!

If you are having a wedding of under 80 guests, one photographer is probably enough as your guests would notice that additional photographer a little more and may shy away from the camera.  For weddings with between 80-150 guests, you could go either way.

The above photo shows the families of the bride and groom, not including many of their other guests.  They had two photographers.

Another advantage of having two photographers is that they will be able to capture different angles and different expressions. For instance, when photographing a ceremony with only one photographer, I can capture the walk down the aisle from both the front and the back, but I can only capture the arrival to the groom from the back, not the front.  If I have a second photographer, however, one of us can capture the bride’s arrival from the front (to see her expression), while the other can capture the hug from the back (to see dad and the groom’s expression).

Most couples will allow an hour or two for family/bridal party and formal portraits of the two of them.   At this time, guests often go inside the venue to enjoy appetizers and cocktails.  If you have two photographers, one of them will be able to capture the family portraits while the other one takes candid images of the guests and the table settings and decorations (though this can still be achieved if time is allotted with one photographer).

During the reception, two photographers especially come in handy if you would like photos of each table, so one photographer can capture half the tables and the other can capture the other half more quickly, to allow more time for candid images.  Two photographers also comes in handy for the garter belt toss, bridal bouquet toss and first dance where they can capture different angles and different expressions on different people.   Sometimes you can hire two photographers until the start of the reception and then have only one photographer for the rest of the evening.

Most importantly, if you are going to have two photographers, ask your main photographer how they find their second photographers.  Some companies will have one very experienced main photographer and a newcomer acting as the second photographer.  At Rabbat Photography, we all photograph weddings both as primary and second shooters, so you are getting two photographers who are qualified to photograph a wedding on their own.

Are you still trying to figure out what is right for you and your wedding?

To summarize:

1. How big is your wedding? If under 80 one photographer is generally enough, if over 150 it would be wise to think about having two photographers.  However, if you are on a budget, keep in mind that it is always better to have one good photographer than two bad ones.

2. What are the most important photos to you? If you want the photographer to mainly capture images of you and the bridal party, one photographer is probably enough.  If you want your photographer to capture images of the bridal party as well as lots of candids of the guests, you will get a lot more of the latter with two photographers.  You will, however, still get many candids with only one photographer (just not AS many!).

3. Where are you getting ready?  If you are getting ready in different locations and would like images of both of you getting ready, one person can only be in one location at a time, two can be in two different places.

4. Is one angle enough for you?  Oftentimes, one angle can be enough to tell the story.  Is that what you want or would you prefer two different angles?

5. How is your day structured? If you allowed lots of time between different events, one photographer could likely do a fine job capturing the different parts of the day.  If, on the other hand time is tight, two photographers will best make sure that all aspects of your wedding day are beautifully captured.