The wedding of Hilary and James, better know as “Spike”, was one of my very favorite weddings ever. Not because it was so beautiful, or because it was in the beautiful City of Ottawa, but because I first met Spike when he contacted me to photograph his proposal to Hilary and because of that, I got to know the two of them so much better and I got to be a part of it as it all came full circle.
When James contacted me about the porposal, he didn’t want it photographed the usual way wherein after Hilary said yes, he didn’t want her to know she had ever been photographed so that he could give the images for her birthday. We set it up so that my husband was shooting from a different angle on a tripod as if he was photographing the gorgeous sunset. I was photographing a friend as though we were there doing a photoshoot. When they arrived, Hilary apologized for intruding as they walked out onto the dock. At the perfect moment, with the sun setting, James got down on one knee and obviously she said yes. Hilary didn’t have any idea she had been photographed the entire time.
Soon after, I met up with the two of them downtown Kingston and wandered the streets to photograph them for their engagement session. It too was the perfect afternoon. They looked fabulous and we enjoyed each other’s company chatting.
Then despite their original plans to be married in Kingston, they chose to be married at the United Church in North Gower where Hilary’s family attended when she was a young girl, then held the reception at the Police Association which was a beautiful venue for all the fun to be had. And there was definitely fun to be had with this bridal party. What I loved most about this wedding is that when these two met at the end of the isle and stood before family and friends, they immediately connected with each other so lovingly and dearly throughout the entire ceremony by holding hands, and standing with their arms wrapped around one another. You could see they were truly so happy and thrilled to be saying their vows.
Enjoy the sneak peek.
