A Beautiful Afternoon Affair at the Rosemount Inn, Kingston | Danielle & Zach Elopement
What do you want to remember about your wedding day?
Danielle & Zach: “That we had a really good day. That we didn’t need other people around. Like, we didn’t need a big wedding. That it was very us.”
Danielle and Zach’s was a beautiful elopement right in the heart of downtown Kingston.
It was during the last post-winter restrictions in 2021, so we moved the date a couple of times. Luckily, the venue (the elegant Rosemount Inn in Kingston) staff were super accommodating.
And Danielle and Zach themselves were the most wonderful, friendly, and easy-going couple. They had to deal with a lot, because of the shifting rules… but they didn’t bat an eyelid, and ended up having a simply fantastic sunny day in June for their wedding, instead of the originally scheduled date in mid-May.
The bonus was that there was so much colour & greenery.
Now let’s get to the photos!
The Rosemount Inn, Kingston, is a stunning newly renovated space that is perfect for elopements all year-round.
The Rosemount Inn is a gorgeous space both outside and inside.
Outside, there are lush gardens and picturesque trees, where we took some photos after the ceremony (stay tuned for those below!).
And inside, it’s a mixture of vintage and modern in feel.
It feels bold, with vibrant deep colours on the walls and door trim, and big textured details, like the central dry flower arrangement that greets you as soon as you walk in.
Getting Ready At the Rosemount Inn Suite
Danielle and Zach got ready in two different suites at the Rosemount Inn. For me, it’s easy to run back and forth between two suites at the same venue, so in those cases, it’s not necessary to have a second photographer on site. Easy for everyone!
Here are a few of the gorgeous details from Danielle’s room.
Danielle’s purple bouquet was made entirely of book pages from her favourite novel (which I had forgotten, but deduced from the bits and pieces I could make out on the photos + Google is: “North and South”, by Elizabeth Gaskell).
Getting ready photographs are always different for every single couple. Sometimes people choose to have their wedding party in the room. If there is no wedding party, they sometimes have their close friend or family member. Sometimes all of those!
Often there is music. Sometimes there’s a playlist; other times, songs are chosen spontaneously.
Danielle chooses he perfect music to get ready to.
And here’s a little mish-mash of black-and-white photos capturing some epic moments during getting ready.
There’s a few things I’m particularly looking to capture during getting ready.
Of course, I want to capture the big things… getting the dress on and shoes, etc.
But I like to capture these in my own way.
Finding unique moments of the getting ready makes for photographs that are uniquely meaningful to each couple, rather than replicas of everyone else’s getting ready photos.
Danielle makes a face as she gets into her dress.
Danielle’s mom and friends had so many laughs while they all got ready. It was definitely helpful that the ceremony would be just downstairs.
There was very little rushing around, because of that.
I’m almost done showing you the getting ready photos, but I wanted to leave off with a few that are my favourites from this portion of the elopement.
The light, the elegant pearl necklace, and Danielle’s hair - plus that face she makes in the last photo! This series of photographs was taken directly from their gallery. They are four back-to-back photos that I just love. (pssst. Right after that in the gallery is a photograph of a spider on the curtains. But I won’t show it to you here… unless you want to see it, in which case leave me a comment telling me you’re dying to see a little tiny jumping spider photo and I’ll post it, haha).
Ceremony @ Rosemount Inn Parlour
The absolutely spectacular dress Danielle wore was lovingly made by a Russian dress-maker Ksenia, and you can find her on Etsy here. I love this show-stopper photograph of Danielle climbing the stairs down to the Parlour, where the ceremony was about to begin.
Danielle descends the stairs to her ceremony at the Rosemount Inn Parlour.
The ceremony was, because of the restrictions, tiny.
In fact, the rules were so strict at the time, that the only people allowed in the room were the couple, me, the officiant (Andy Visser of All Seasons Ceremonies, Kingston), and two witnesses: Danielle’s mom, and Zach’s friend.
Danielle and Zach listen to the officiant during their wedding ceremony at Rosemount Inn Parlour.
The other few guests had to remain outside the room until the ceremony was finished.
The couple made the absolute most of the situation.
The ceremony was not too long, and it was just a really peaceful way to enter into marriage.
Toasting the couple with bubbly at the bridal suite
After the ceremony, we all went upstairs for a glass of bubbly and a few laughs in the couple’s spacious suite.
We got some fun shots here, but honestly, there are a lot of them, so I can’t share them all here (or this blog would never load.)
Their bridal suite had this giant window providing lots of spilling light for the photos.
Danielle and Zach enjoy a moment together before heading outside for group photos in the garden.
Group and family photos in the garden
It was a lovely warm day in June. The sun shone and birds chirped - quite idyllic, really.
We spent some time in a picturesque garden under the shade of their lovely pruned trees, because we wanted to get a few group shots.
We always take time to capture all the group and family shots that are important. The only difference is that we at Quirky Love don’t believe these need to take ages.
There’s no need to tire people out with posing and orchestrating group photos. So we make them quick and fun instead!
See? Everyone is having lots of fun!
The Couple's Portraits
I have couples who actually don’t want any photographs that are of just the two of them, in any kind of posed situation.
That’s perfectly okay!
Other couples do like to take a few minutes for just the two of them. Again, this is not a painful part of the day, because we don’t make it so!
It’s meant to be a fun time, almost like a time to unwind from the nerves that had been building up before the ceremony.
Danielle and Zach pause to kiss on the lawn of the Rosemount Inn Gardens.
Finally we made it to the grad club which was a special venue to Zach, during his university days at Queen’s. (I believe it’s because he used to live right next door when he was a student!)
Danielle and Zach pose on the stairs of the Grad Club, Queen’s University. This spot had special meaning to the groom.
When I think of couples making the best of their wedding during a pandemic (I don’t like to call it a pandemic-wedding… it has a weird ring to it :P), I think of Danielle and Zach.
If you’re considering an intimate elopement - whether because you’re tired of waiting, or because you’ve always wanted to have a smaller wedding for just you and your closest friends, consider the Rosemount Inn, in downtown Kingston, as the spot.
And now, for those brave souls like Denise, who wrote me, here’s the spider photo :P
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I mentioned in this blog that there was a tiny spider on the drapes of the room where Danielle got ready, and I thought it was so perfect. So here it is. It was tiny. please don’t be afraid of it. Spiders need to exist, too.
And did you know that in some cultures, spiders are thought to bring good luck?
itsy bitsy spider