Winter Wedding

Last Saturday I was up in Edmonton to shoot a wedding. I agreed to this wedding a long time ago.. cold weather and snow was the last thing on my mind when I did! The three hour drive up was terrifying as I counted 8 cars in the ditch and drove over 100kms through fog so thick I could barely see anyone on the road. I arrived at the church on time though, and got ready for the big event.

St. Joseph's Basilica is famous in Alberta as being host to Wayne Gretzky's "Royal Wedding" to Janet Jones. It's a great venue, but has horrible lighting. I had gels on my flashes, but I couldn't get the light right and ended up shooting most of the wedding with a 1.4 50mm lens so that I could shoot wide open and let the camera do auto white balance. Without that lens it would have been a white person and a yellow background. Ugly.

After the wedding, the formals began. We did a few inside the church as it was cold outdoors, so we used the venue as much as we could. I set up two lights both bouncing into umbrellas at the same power to cover the whole family. Everyone was great for the shoot. I had an aunt behind me jumping up and down to make the kids smile and keep their attention, and after a smooth in and out of parents, siblings and family, we moved the bridal party to another location.

We used the Alberta Legislature Building for a few formals. I think this shot was just before the girls wore the jackets, and the boys wore the scarves. The strange thing was the girls looked great in the jackets, and the guys pulled the scarves off so well I started to think I should buy one for myself.

We also used a park nearby as dusk took hold. This was fun for me, as I got to turn ambient light a bit blue and shoot them with a cold flash which really suited their white clothes. These photos came out nicely and gave it a real winter feeling. If you ever want to take some pretty photos.. go to Edmonton in the winter and shoot to your heart's content. To my complete surprise, it's a beautiful city. I think previously I had only been to Edmonton to see concerts, or visit the mall.

The reception was another situation where the light was flickering around and I couldn't gel the flash to the correct balance so I ended up shooting it with a higher ISO and a wide open 1.4 lens. I loved the photo of her being surrounded by her friends and smiling as other people look on. Catherine is a beautiful bride and I hope she won't mind me including a photo of her with tears in her eyes as her dad sings the lyrics to a song that they share. A very pretty wedding. Congratulations.