Private Beach Wedding on Wolfe Island | Ellen and Tim Celebrate On Her Family Property
My last wedding in the month of August 2021 was Ellen and Tim’s wedding on Wolfe Island, across the St. Lawrence from Kingston.
My fantastic second shooter, Joanna Semrau, accompanied me for this all-outdoor wedding, so that we wouldn’t miss anything important. Because it was going to be a big one!
Ellen and Tim had an outdoor ceremony under a massive tree in Ellen’s parents’ backyard, right along the water. That waterfront was not only scenic, but truly a serene spot, perfect for gathering a group of family and friends to celebrate. It provided an amazing backdrop for the ceremony, and later for couple’s photos.
Serene shores of Wolfe Island, with the beautiful glow of summer light.
Ellen and Tim are both incredibly sweet people, and they are loved and adored by SO many, reflected in the large wedding party they had.
With big wedding parties, it’s important to arrive with enough time during the getting ready portion of the wedding, so that you can capture not just the folks getting married but everyone else in their midst.
Bridesmaids, groomsmen, bridesbros, groomsgals, dudes-of-honour, MOHs, you name it. There are countless magic moments that take place on a “typical” morning of the wedding.
There are dresses to sort out, drinks and snacks to dish out, hair to be coiffed.
Ellen looked absolutely STUNNING. Her mother helped her into her dress, which gave rise to a series of images that is one of my favourite from this wedding gallery. I edited these photographs in black and white, so that we can enjoy the emotion of the moment, without getting distracted by the incandescent hues of the indoor lighting.
After she had her dress on, Ellen had a first look with Dad.
This image is one of my favourites!
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
But seriously, these photos are so full of emotion. There’s something about this one below that just keeps me looking and looking.
After that, Ellen went out into the main room for her first look with her bridal party.
As you can see, everyone was flabbergasted at how beautiful Ellen looked.
Over at the boy’s cottage, things were ramping up too.
Everyone was getting their suits on, and getting ready to head over to the ceremony.
I love that Joanna took a second to grab a photo of the groom’s party sitting in the truck, right before heading to the ceremony.
Did I mention how beautiful the property was? And the sandy beach? When I arrived, I made sure to take some photos of the property, but I didn’t stop taking photos of the gorgeous details all throughout the day.
The ceremony under the big tree was so picturesque.
Joanna and I made sure to cover every angle.
I framed the ceremony photographs in a way that I could show the couple’s parents, and their reactions.
This image of Ellen’s parents looking up at Ellen and Tim during the ceremony is another of my top ten!
So much emotion!
And of course I wanted to make sure that we had images of not only the couple, but their wedding parties, standing in front of the wedding guests.
Once the ceremony was over, Ellen and Tim walked up the aisle together, hand in hand, to start their married life together.
Oh, and right before everyone dispersed, we took a couple of big group shots of the whole crowd. Those were really fun (and I promise, they only took about a minute to do!)
I couldn’t have done it without the help of wedding planner Chantal (from CC Weddings and Events) who was there to hand deliver me a ladder, so that I could stand TALL, and get that group shot from above.
Big group shots like this are SO MUCH FUN. They’re fun to take, and they’re also really a lot of fun to revisit, because someone always pulls a funny face.
Anyway, if you’re having a wedding of any size, I would argue that getting that group shot is one of the things you can’t miss! (and you know me - I’m not too big into shot lists…)
There was a funny incident with confetti which occurred right about here.
One of the guests called Ellen over and proceeded to dump an entire bag of confetti on her head. It was with good intentions! But it made for quite a mess 😜😜
Tim, guests, and Chantal (the planner) spent a good few minutes helping Ellen remove the confetti from her hair so that we could do a few quick group photos.
There’s a field nearby, which was full of pink clover and other summer wildflowers. The colour of the clover was very close to the pinks of the bridal party dresses, so I took some of the photos from low down in the grass. This way, I could put some of the clover in the foreground, to continue the theme of pinks… I really liked the way it turned out. What do you think?
The bridesmaids dresses matched the pink of the clover in the summer fields at Ellen and Tim’s Wedding.
Then we headed to that stunning beach again, just around sunset. We took sunset photos of the couple there, and they looked glorious and sun-kissed. We took both colour and black & white photos of the couple walking the beach, but I actually preferred the black & white photographs. Because the beach was expansive, the sunset gave everything a yellow-orange glow, and I wanted to make sure that didn’t detract from the FEELS.
Then it was time for the reception!
It was all under a big white tent, beautifully decorated.
Check out these gorgeous florals that Aimé Hogan (of Prairie Roots Floral Studio) created!
The couple and their guests made a grand entrance, and then everyone sat down for dinner. At this time, there were a few speeches.
When Ellen’s dad took the mic, there were some tears. We got a photograph of the bridesmaids all wiping their eyes at the same time. A rare moment (blurry, but still nice! Ellen and Tim kept this image for their wedding album).
Dinner was delicious - supplied by Tulips and Maple catering team. I’ve worked with Tulips and Maple many times in the past, and I always know that I’m going to get fed WELL :)
Afterwards - dancing!
Firstly, Ellen and Tim did their first dance.
It was in front of the tent, outside. It was dark already by this point, so I used a few of my lights to light up the couple and the guests in the background.
Then, Ellen and Tim had their dances with Mom & Dad. This was a quick dance number, and very soon after that, all the guests joined in the dancing on the lawn.
Soon after, we moved inside for the dance party, where DJ Charly kept the crowd moving for hours!
Wedding dance party shots are my absolute favourites to take.
People are so relaxed (and sometimes drunk) by this point, so dancing along and snapping photographs is always a breeze.
Oh, and of course, Ellen and Tim took a minute to cut their beautiful gold-leaf cake! The cake was made with love by Warrior Cakes - if you don’t follow them on Insta, you really should!
All in all, people truly enjoyed this awesome day. We had the perfect weather for a wedding (not too hot, and not too cold!), the most stunning setting, and a crowd of wonderful folks gathered to celebrate an incredible couple.
So yeah. The wedding was enjoyed tremendously by all the people. Myself included ❤️
(Mad props to Chantal of CC Weddings and Events for helping plan and pull off this flawless wedding!)
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