HEATHER WILKINSON | Photographer

I.Loved.This.Wedding.

The simplicity and sincerity of every second of my time with them was my favourite part.  Every single person that was there, and every little detail and thing that happened was all intentionally with great significance and because it meant something very personal to them… never because of tradition or expectation.  The thoughtfulness and personal touches throughout just kept on blowing my mind and warming my heart.  For instance, they had an awesome book theme because of their love for books.  Simon, happy to have the excuse to go book shopping, hand selected a book for each and every guest… and then they wrote a personalized message inside the cover for everyone.  Who does that?!?!  Simon and Airlie do.  Another thing I had never experienced before was that they invited everyone to their cottage prior to the ceremony to meet each other and then they all walked together, Simon & Airlie leading the way, out to the garden for their emotional ceremony which was written and co-officiated by her brother.  With Simon being from BC and Airlie being from PEI, they used Pacific and Atlantic sand in creative ways as well.  They had a local PEI jewellery artist make their wedding bands using both white gold and rose gold, each being textured by their own coastal sands.  Again, who does that?!?!  Simon and Airlie do.

I met these two only that day, and spent only 5 short hours with them, but I can honestly say that I wish that they didn’t live so far away because I want to hang out again :)  Their love for each other and the people they surround themselves with, their sincerity in all that they do, and their radiant happiness is beyond infectious, and I love how that came through in their images.  Here is a small look into their evening…

It was a beautiful day along the Miramichi River for Matthew & Jillian’s backyard wedding.  Growing up just across the river from each other and yet not knowing one another, one fateful day they laid eyes on each other at the local Wal-Mart and their love was born :)  They designed their wedding day to allow for lots of time with their special guests and even arranged a relaxing boat ride up the river with their wedding party for a unique grand arrival at The Rodd for their reception.  Everyone and every detail was so lovely and I was happy to have been a part of it all!

I’ve been quite fortunate to have travelled much of Canada from coast to coast, loving pretty much all of it.  But Newfoundland was still on my list of must-go places.  When Megan contacted me about coming over to photograph her wedding, I was all over it.  Naturally, we made an extended stay of it, with both Teshia and myself taking our husbands, “The Daves” along.  It was the first time there for all of us, and I think we all felt the same… in love with it.  Over our days there, we spent our time driving around looking for little coffee shops and bakeries and a variety of seafood, looking for any remaining icebergs, and climbing to the highest peaks to enjoy the incredible scenery…. scenery which reminded all of us so much of our trip to Ireland the previous year.  Our journey to Newfoundland started Friday evening with us boarding the smallest plane we had ever been on…. a full flight where we were 4 of the 11 on board passengers…. including the pilots.  We eventually arrived to our little rental home in charming Twillingate around 5:30am on Saturday and climbed into our beds to try to catch an hour or two of sleep before needing to be up to go start our coverage of the day.  It was a foggy, wet day… which, for whatever reason, just kind of suited my vision of what things should be like in Newfoundland.  We found some breakfast overlooking the harbour, which we were happy to discover that these ocean views seemed to be the norm almost anywhere you went.  We started our coverage at Brent & Megan’s house with the girls and were floored by their adorable ocean front home with spectacular panoramic views.  Everyone was calm and happy and we settled right in.  Their plans of being married outside at a nearby farm were unfortunately ruined by the recent wet weather, but they took it in stride and moved things to indoor venues in town.  A very emotional Brent watched Megan come down the aisle and they were married at the Salvation Army Church.  Brent & Megan and their entire (large!) wedding party were such troopers walking through wet grass in the rain out onto rocky points to satisfy my creative wishes :)  Megan, a photographer herself, allowed lots of time for us to roam around and make these beautiful portraits of them… and I loved it.  Here is a little overview of their wedding day….