This Tuesday is kinda special…it’s my birthday! We just got back from a short trip to New York City. The City is such an inspirational place and our visits there are always a magical adventure, especially at Christmas time. This time we visited the American Museum of Natural History, which was absolutely amazing! We had some world famous New York City pizza at Grimaldi’s under the Brooklyn Bridge, delish! And to top it all off we saw Ryan Adams live in concert at the famous Carnegie Hall.

We were only home for one day before we were off to Toronto to see Ryan again at The Winter Garden theater in Toronto…yes we are that into him. I’ve got to say though, sitting in the Winter Garden theatre was like being transported into the living breathing forest from A Mid Summer Nights Dream. The lower ceilings are draped with silk foliage with small colourful glass lanterns running throughout. The vaulted dome over the stage is painted with beautiful murals that mimic a view, through trees, into the nights sky…there is even a faux moon! But wait, it get’s better. Turns out that The Winter Garden Theater, being one of many theaters in the building, was accidentally sealed off some time around the 1940s. An electrician doing some renovations stumbled upon the theatre, looking exactly as I described it, decades later complete with one light bulb still burning. I love that story…oh! and the show was ridiculously wonderful. Thank you Ryan!

To top it all off, we were featured in Kingston Life Weddings. This is an annual magazine that highlights local wedding culture and also has some great ideas for all you brides to be out there. Be sure to pick up a copy, and keep an eye out for Winding Violets while you peruse : ) Today we have a lovely engagement session, that was shot just outside of Downtown Kingston. We absolutely loved Charlsie’s little dress and how about Andrew’s taste in jewlery? Now that’s a pretty ring…wowzers! Congratulations you two, we hope you enjoy.

Bon Appétit,

The Violets

FIN

We have some amazing news to share: our work is featured on Style Me Pretty NYC this morning! For those who don’t know, Style Me Pretty is the créme de la créme of all the wedding blogs in the world period. Being featured by them is a huge compliment and we are absolutely thrilled to accept it : ) We are incredibly humbled by the kind things they had to say about us and the work.

This was my first shoot ever in NYC. I love the results and the experience was amazing. New York City, as I am sure most of you know, is our absolute favorite place in the world…we even talked to an immigration lawyer about how we could re-locate there. We haven’t given up on that dream and I feel this shoot just affirms the fact that New York City is where we belong. Kristin & Matt thank you both for being such good sports, you’re beautiful muah! Click on the “As Seen on Style Me Pretty” Badge to see the post.

FIN

We hope summer is treating you very well. If you live in Kingston, or in the surrounding area, you’ll have witnessed some truly bizarre weather…beautiful afternoons and evenings interrupted by torrential down pours, the likes of which I haven’t seen since my time living in Jamaica. Luckily wedding days have been spared a visit from these semi-tropical blasts. At the same time, there is something truly romantic about the sky opening up in such a dramatic way…don’t you think? It’s nice to get caught in the rain every now and then.

In other news, Catherine and Matt were so much fun to shoot: multiple locations and outfits! They did such a great job with their wardrobe, finding suitable outfits for the contexts we had discussed. We visited Huff Estates, The Grange Winery, the lavender fields & Sandbanks, four absolutely lovely settings. I’d have a hard time picking my favorite combination…let me know what you think. Now Catherine and Matt are off to Europe for the next four months, lucky them! Congratulations you two, we are really looking forward to photographing your wedding day.

Bon Appétit,

The Violets

FIN

After a lovely week of rest in NYC, we are feeling fresh, inspired, and just bursting with new ideas to try out. New York is by far my favorite place to be; spending an entire day in Washington Square Park, an evening in the East Village, & letting the night wash over you a top of a midtown high rise looking out over The City, is heaven to me. Needless to say, we had a magnificent trip.

Normally when we travel we leave the gear at home; however, I was introduced to Kristin and Matt at the last wedding I shot (thank you Laura Meggs!) and they happened to live in New York right near Central Park, so we arranged a shoot. Not only are Kristin & Matt a beautiful couple who know how to dress, but they are smart, sophisticated, & have great senses of humour to boot. Spending the evening with them was an absolute pleasure. I think what I loved most about these two is their desire to have life their way: they live by their own rules. For those of you who know me & have worked with me, I’m a big fan of trespassing…whatever it takes to get a great photograph, I’ll do it. I met my match with these two, they actually climbed out on a ledge a top The High Line for a photograph…amazing!

What is The High Line you ask? Well, Chelsea doesn’t have a proper green space, so the city thought it would be a great idea to renovate the old elevated train line that runs through Chelsea into a boardwalk/park. Next time you’re in NYC make sure to visit The High Line for yourselves, it’s quite beautiful.

A big thank you goes out to our most favourite of all brides maids: Laura Meggs. Thank you for introducing me to Kristin and Matt, truly inspired idea : ) Also, a big shout out to Kristin & Matt. We had a great time with you two and look forward to our next trip down, thank you both for being so much fun and looking so beautiful!

Bon Appétit,

The Violets

FIN

My–oh–my, have I had a splendid week! Amidst all the hustle & bustle of the season, I was able to take a couple of personal days to rejuvenate my soul and enjoy some sunshine…without my camera in hand : ) My good friend Sam is the chef at Windmills and treated me and some close friends to a tasting of the new menu, absolutely heavenly! Make sure you don’t miss out. An evening ferry ride to Wolfe Island was oh–so–beautiful, as was watching the sun go down on Kingston from across the lake: click on this sentence to check our tumblr page for some Instagoodness. And last but not least, I was also able to get half way through the final Harry Potter Book: The Deathly Hollows! For those of you who don’t know, I started plodding through the series at the beginning of May. I want to have them all read by the time the last movie is released…almost there!

The bliss just keeps on coming, as this weekend we are photographing Kelly’s & Andrew’s beautiful garden wedding at her family’s home on the St. Lawrence River. I had the pleasure of meeting both Kelly & Andrew for the first time, as they live  near Wimbledon (England), last night. I’m sure you can imagine, they are quite busy; planning a wedding from England can’t be easy. However, we were able to steal them away for an hour last night to do some quick pre-wedding photos of the them. Kelly & Andrew have great smiles and personalities to match, they are so easy to be around. Can’t wait to work with them on Saturday. Here are some appetizers from last night’s shoot, can’t wait to share the entrée with you: it’s going to be beautiful!

Bon Appétit,

The Violets

FIN

Boy, have we been lucky this year! Not only have we been enjoying the company of some really excellent & beautiful couples, but the weather has coopporated very nicely every Saturday. Yesterday, for example, I had the pleasure of spending the day with a truly awesome, inspiring, & interesting couple who really put a lot in their wedding day (great details you two). They had been calling for rain on this one Saturday for a week straight, without relenting, and not a drop folks…not a drop. In fact, the sun even peeked out on us : )

We are really looking forward to what this weekend has in store for us. Angela & Dave are getting hitched out in the country on a lovely golf course…let’s pray for some more sun! But for now, we hope you enjoy this peek at their engagement photos. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Bon Appétit,

The Violets

FIN

The 2011 wedding season is in full swing. We are off to the Pinestone Resort, nestled in the woods of Northern Ontario this weekend. We are very excited about shooting there, it is going to be so gorgeous! Look forward to seeing you Lindsay and Shane. We also have our first wedding of the season to share with you, that should be coming along in a couple of weeks – you’re going to love it, beautiful couple!

Claire and Neil came all the way down from Ottawa for this shoot, bless their hearts : ) Travelling aside, what I love most about Claire and Neil is their fashion sense. These two looked great for their engagement photos. They navigated the line between casual and formal very well, and chose colours that complimented each other’s outfits, without being too matchy match. Neils choice of a collared gingham button down with a standard navy tie worked beautifully with his v-neck sweater. Without the v-neck the gingham may have appeared too “busy” or distracting, but his choice to expose just the collar and tie knot was a great decision and really added something dynamic to his outfit. Claire looked so pretty and casual in her 3/4 cut trench, a very nice touch. Coupled with some slim fitting dark jeans and cute flats, she looked feminine, elegant, and modern. That stunning ring doesn’t hurt either, woowzers!  Claire & Neil you were a pleasure to photograph.

Bon Appétit,

The Violets

FIN

You’ve heard of Storm Chasers well during this shoot we were Storm Racers. Thankfully we’ve finally been enjoying some beautiful sunshine in our part of the world as of late;  however, a few weeks ago our days were filled with nothing but rain. In fact, this entire shoot was done with an enormous storm on our heals – it was like we had turned that Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, movie Twister on its head. It’s not all bad though, it was pretty fun racing through Prince Edward County trying to gauge which way the front was heading and then doing the exact opposite. Breanne & Fraser were a barrel of laughs, and are just so fun to spend time with in general; they made for the perfect Storm Racers. So what exactly is a Storm Racer you ask? Well it’s a group of people so intent of creating beautiful engagement photographs that they charge headlong into the countryside, despite the many thunderstorm warnings, riding the crest of the storm until they are satisfied they’ve captured what they need….oh, and then they go out for Pizza Hut. Without further ado, here are Breanne and Fraser’s engagement photographs.

Bon Appétit,

The Violets

FIN

Long time no see. Now that the sun is starting to show it’s face again and it’s warming up, you can expect to see lots of new stuff on the blog: a handful of engagement sessions, a boudoir shoot or two, and in a few weeks our first wedding of the season…what a goregoeous bride, can’t wait to share it with you!  P.S. I posted a iPhone pic of the bride and groom portrait location to our brand new Tumblr page if you want a peek – Click Here “Dreamy Country Lane”

Without further ado, here are a few of our faves from Mandy & Colin’s session. We took a nice stroll around Downtown Kingston, so pretty with all the magnolia tress in bloom, and ended up in Sydenham Ward. I absolutely love shooting in that neighbourhood. One of the residents was even nice enought to lend us the use of her front steps, which was very sweet of her, and what a beautiful home. At one point we found ourselves being slalomed around in the middle of Earl Street, and found out that not all teenage skaters are angry and angst ridden: “excuse us” and  even a non-ironic “how romantic!” were exclaimed as they wizzed through us. We had a great time Mandy and Colin, congratulaions on your engagement.

– The Violets

FIN

Bon Appétit,

The Violets

ONE

TWO

THREE | FOUR

FIVE

SIX | SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN | ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN | FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN | EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

FIN