Garry + Minette Engaged!

When Minette first contacted us, we were already booked up for August 2008 and we were not planning on accepting any more commissions for that month. But even on the phone, her personality just won me over and we just had to try and meet with her and Garry at least. And aren't we glad we did! When they came in for a consultation, we've been laughing like long-time friends within the first 5 minutes. Any subsequent contacts with them have always been full of belly-aching laughter and their engagement session was no different.

We did sober up enough to produce these images of these two who obviously are just in love with each other...

This image just clearly shows Minette's personality...

Time for some serious and moody poses...

Models for a day...

*heart* full of love...

Time for the beach!

Garry and Minette, we had a fabulous time with you. We're looking forward to the wedding which I'm sure we'll be in stitches all throughout. See you soon!

Louis + Jennifer Engaged!

I remember when I was a kid I wanted to be a stewardess... yes, I know the politically correct term is flight attendant but back then I knew them as stewardess. We had a neighbor who was one and I thought she looked so beautiful and sophisticated. Haha! Little did I know that I did not have the height or probably the grace to be one. And so I ended up being an IT geek and a photographer. My job may not be as glamourous now but I love the challenge and the creative outlet.

As a wedding photographer Rico and I have had the recent pleasure of developing a cool relationship with our clients who are both flight attendants for Cathay Pacific, Louis and Jennifer. Right when we found out that they are flight attendants, there was no other place for us to do their engagement session but at the airport.

We started out on an open field near the YVR to get this cool shot.

Then a couple of our usual stuff...

Then it was off to the airport for these...

And just when the sun was setting, we couldn't resist the sweet light hitting a low wall at the Vancouver Airport parkade.

Louis and Jennifer, you are one sweet couple. We had great fun doing this shoot with you. We hope the Hongkong reception will be a blast. I know the Vancouver wedding will be! See you soon!

Chris + Laura-Jane Engaged!

Laura-Jane and Chris have come home. And what better way to reacquaint themselves with this awesome city but through an early morning stroll through Granville Island. We decided to do it in the morning to avoid the busy afternoon crowd, especially now that the sun has finally found it's way to Vancouver skies. Even at early morning, Laura-Jane and Chris were surprised with the hustle and bustle of the area. So, we decided to find awesome secluded spots to focus more about these two.

We can't believe how we always find new spots on Granville Island.

Chris could make Laura-Jane laugh out loud in an instant.

But it was obvious how much he adores her.

Spot coloring??? Not quite... just more vintage-y feel...

Back to our regular scheduled colored programming...

Later on, we tried to do some shots inside the Public Market. I love how this looked like there was a spotlight just on them.

Swingin' ending to a lovely morning...

Chris and Laura-Jane, it's great to have you back in Vancouver. Here's to your celebration in September!

Geordie + Cassie Engaged!

For their engagement session, Cassie and Geordie really wanted something summer-y or spring-y at the least. First, we kept our eye out for the cherry blossoms in early Spring. But our schedules could not match a dry and sunny day and the wet days that we had scheduled weren't exactly the look that Cassie and Geordie were going for. Then real life such as work, visits to the dentist and whatnot happened. Meanwhile, people on the streets are still wearing their winter coats in June. Really, did we wake up and miss spring? Finally, we scheduled a Friday in the middle of June to just do it. And whaddyaknow? It turned out to be a glorious day! Let's see what we got from session.

Wait... is that a twinkle in Geordie's eye? There can only be one special person that causes that!

These two are so sweet! It wasn't difficult to try and capture the love we're to celebrate in August.

My favorite. It just speaks volume on how happy these two are together and how much Geordie adores Cassie.

It turned out an awesome blue-skied day amidst the grey, cold days of Vancouver. Has anybody seen Summer?????

We finally brought Gizmo into the session. I wanted her to growl to catch her toothless "grin" but she wouldn't. Then when she noticed how Geordie and Cassie were so into each other, she started getting restless and wanted to break them up. Apparently, she gets jealous of Geordie. Haha!

I love how Cassie's scarf brings out the "electric blue" in her eyes.

Something different to end the session.

Thanks for spending the afternoon with us Cassie and Geordie. We're glad to reintroduce "Yaletown" to you, guys. We're looking forward to the wedding in August.

Andrew + Bonnie Engaged!

We had an evening shoot with Andrew and Bonnie last Saturday. Bonnie works for the city and just had a tour of the newly re-opened seawall in front of the Olympic Village that's still under construction. While we were taking photographs, Bonnie would give us spiels of the Village's sustainability plans and the green choices they've made in rebuilding the seawall. We were quite impressed! Having a day job at a carbon neutral company, I get more and more aware of our lifestyle choices and how it affects our environment.

On the breakwater at Vancouver's Olympic Village.

on the boardwalk at the Millenium Water seawall.

Hanging out on an idle tractor which parked near the Vancouver Police Department. A Police cruiser passed by while we were shooting here. We kept an eye on him to see if he'd stop us. The policeman did slow down but with a big smile on his face as if to say... aahhh, love!

Lounging on someone's "living room"...

An old mill on 1st Ave...

Surrounded by building construction all around.

When we started the shoot, we could see these cranes from a distance on the other side of the water. Bonnie pointed it out to us and said, "Aren't they beautiful?" So, Rico thought it fitting that we use it to frame our dear couple.

Hanging out in front of John Fluevog store where Bonnie got her wedding shoes. Funky! Can't wait to shoot some images of those.

Andrew and Bonnie are big fans of Cirque du Soleil and have seen all of their productions that they've brought to Vancouver. And that's the Cirque's unmistakeable blue and yellow Grand Chapiteau that was just put up in the past week for this year's production, Corteo, starting in June 12. You bet that Andrew and Bonnie will be there to see it and I'll be there to see the show with my mum.

Thanks for the great time, Andrew and Bonnie. We also particularly enjoyed the private tour of the seawall and it's green sustainability plans. We'll see you again in two weeks!

Stephen+Pam Engaged!

When we were booked to do the Tan and Lee wedding in July, we only had the pleasure of meeting our bride-to-be, Pam. We finally met Stephen that glorious morning of the engagement session. It was obvious how 8 years just builds a solid, quiet love that Pam and Stephen share. Such is the love that we can look forward to capturing in 4 weeks time. Here are a few of our favorites from the day.

Love this doorway.

Double the sweet love...

...love even in the slightest touch

some lens play...

lovely shot to end a lovely morning.

Stephen and Pam, it was great spending the morning with you. Hope the wedding day would turn out as beautiful as this day. Nevertheless, your love will definitely shine through!

Qumars+Yasmin Engaged!

We're fortunate to get an opportunity to meet inspirational individuals from diverse backgrounds in our couples. Yasmin and Qumars are as inspirational as they get. From the moment we met them, they've been very open with us and we feel so honoured when Yasmin shared a little bit about their immigrant backgrounds, an experience Rico and I know all too well.

While every other Vancouverite's story of immigration may be similar, our circumstances before coming to Canada do not come close to Qumar's experience coming from Afghanistan with his family. His family has weathered political instability and personal adversities and despite such trying times in Kabul, they remained true to their values - compassion, integrity and respect for freedom.

Starting a newfound life in Canada while supporting his family was no easy feat, either. Being only 15, Qumars has had to work hard to build a life that they can be proud of and enjoy and never to be taken for granted. To quote Yasmin, "I have seen many people who have lost themselves going through phases in life that have not been ideal, but Qumars hasn't. He's got great will and determination and that's why I look up to him." And it's true! There's a quiet strength about him that only one who's gone through so much in such a short span of time can exude.

Knowing how great individuals they are, we were really looking forward to this session. We started out with a few shots in their new place.

Then it was time to head outdoors for some shots around their neighborhood.

Check out our hot couple. Yasmin has a degree in microbiology from McGill and works for the government by day, but she does makeup artistry on the side to satiate her artistic inclinations. Check out her website for more info.

Then we ventured a couple of blocks south for some urban shots. Can you believe that the rest of the shots below were taken while staying in big parkade the whole time?

Havin' a wee bit o' fun.

How hot is Qumars? And what about the gams on Yasmin? It doesn't hurt to have good shoes as well.

Some vintage action goin...

Just a little bit of lovin from our wonderful couple.

Yasmin and Qumars are both smart, hip and real. You just want to be around them and you know that they're the type of people who will be your great friends for life. We're sure the wedding would really be emotionally charged and we can't wait to capture that.

Dennis + Cristina Engaged!

I can't believe we're still getting snow in Spring... in Vancouver! I seriously hope this cold snap is the last we hear from old man winter. We were unsure about how the day was gonna go but Cristina and I decided to go ahead and schedule the engagement session that Saturday. As it turned out, it wasn't as cold as we thought it was going to be. While the sun surely warmed up the afternoon, Dennis and Cristina's personalities made the 3 hours out in the cold really enjoyable! They are just two of the most genuine people Rico and I have ever known. Here's how it all went down...

Dennis and Cristina have taken some time out of their busy schedules working on their residencies in radiology and pediatrics to spend some time on the wedding plans. Pushing through with the session that Saturday despite the snowfall overnight rewarded us with nice blue skies.

Not the best example of spring blossom (in fact, Rico hates these dandelions!) but I still like this image.

While we were setting up a shot for another image (we're saving that for their guestbook), Cristina was just chillin' against the cool blue wall. I asked her to "chill" again and got Dennis to pose with her (you're a monkey... you're a tiger...)

Cristina mentioned that she grew up around water and that the beach suits their personalities a lot so we hurried over to Spanish Banks to catch the last rays of the sun.

A classic engagement-beach-with-downtown-vancouver-in-the-background shot.

It was great having the beach all to ourselves.

It was really evident how much these two are in love with each other.

While taking some last-minute portraits in the warm sun, I asked Dennis and Cristina if they're excited about the wedding. "Very", was the reply. Dennis wanted the photo to show the excitement and this was the best he could come up with:

Then he realized that I caught that on memory card (can't say "film" now, can I?). Haha!

This last shot really summarizes how the afternoon went - fun, warm and full of love.

Dennis and Cristina, we had so much fun with you guys. Thank you for being so open with us and allowing us to capture the love that bonds you together. We're lucky to know you and we're sure we'll have a ball documenting your wedding - we can't wait!

Colin + Amor Engaged!

Although the day started out with dark gray skies, the sun finally broke through that Monday afternoon when we had a great pleasure of spending a couple of hours with the gorgeous couple Colin and Amor and their little baby Quincy, a super active chocolate lab. He was quite preoccupied with the other cute dogs he, I think, fancies. He wouldn't sit still for a couple of seconds for a photo op! Rico's gears had to take a back seat as he ended up distracting Quincy with a couple of treats to keep his attention long enough for us to get some shots.

All in all, it was a really fun afternoon. Hope you enjoy the images as much as we enjoyed taking them!

The cherry blossoms are everywhere in Vancouver!

I thought this was a little funny... thanks for the heads up!

Love these vents! Great cool backdrop for our hot couple.

Ending the day in the warm glow of the sun.

We had an awesome time with you and Quincy. We will surely miss Quincy at the wedding but we're looking forward to it!

Ryan+Vanessa Engaged!

For Ryan and Vanessa's engagement photos, they've chosen to do it closer to home... their home. We spent a couple of hours circling the block around their usual stomping grounds on SoMa or South Main. And finally, we got some awesome, awesome sun!

Here are our favorites from the session...

Ryan and Vanessa, under a tree...

Then we hit one of their fave spots along Main Street, Habit Lounge. We did ask permission this time. We visited Nigel Pike, one of The Habit Lounge's owners, in their other resto, The Cascade Room, who willingly allowed us to have our fun with our cameras.

I love the warm glow of the late afternoon sun...

Ryan and Vanessa, it was a great afternoon with you guys. We hope to get to know South Main a little bit more. You gotta send us a list of your recommendations of spots to hit and places to shop at on South Main. Can't wait to cover your beach wedding in June!

Aaron + Cristina Engaged!

When Cristina and I were planning on a locations for her and Aaron's engagement photos, she first suggested the Traboulay Trail in Port Coquitlam. In addition, I asked her if there were any old warehouses in the area that we can use for some variety in the shots and she immediately thought of the Riverview Hospital. I often see the hospital on the way to Port Coquitlam but I didn't know that it has some interesting abandoned buildings within. So, that's where we decided to go.

Come Saturday, we got there half an hour early to scope the place out. It was marvelous! The abandoned asylums were as eerie as they get. You could almost feel a figure looking through the broken windows, just watching you. Unfortunately, we also noticed from signs that photography requires preauthorization. So, we just tried to do a quick inconspicuous shoot.

While we tried to avoid getting caught, one thing was obvious, these two are craaaa-zeeee (pardon the pun) in love with each other. Here are some of our picks from the session.

I love the following three images. Cristina mentioned in the shoot that she doesn't like her photos taken. I can't, for the life of me, imagine why. She is so gorgeous!

When we were packing up, somebody did approached us to ask what we were doing with our cameras. We were freaked that they were going to take our gears or our memory cards. In the end, we got off with a warning. It's a shame since we would love to come back and shoot more around the place.

Aaron and Cristina, we're looking forward to your wedding in May.

Alex + Maria Engaged!

When I first talked to Maria over the phone, I could hear her smile on the other end. She was so upbeat and I got excited just scheduling our first meeting. It felt like I was talking to an old friend. True enough, when she walked into our studio for a consult, the first thing that I noticed was her BIG smile - with dimples to boot! Alex, on the other hand, was quiet but was so sweet. Despite his big strong looks, he reminded me of a huggable teddy bear!

This engagement session almost got re-scheduled because Maria was just recovering from the really bad flu bug that's been going around for months and months. When we did meet for the shoot, she was her usual cheery self - no signs at all of the bug that's been ailing her for days.

We walked around Tinseltown for a couple of hours and here are some shots from the session. We're reserving a lot more of our favorites for their guestbook but here's a quick glimpse.

Some alone time in a not-so-discreet place.

I wonder who's going to be the BOSS after May 10?

Just look at the twinkle in her eye!!!

Cool and collected Alex.

A perfect ending to a great afternoon.

Alex and Maria, thanks for the fun afternoon. We'll see you guys soon!

Duncan + Alicia Engaged!

The season is upon us... the wedding season that is. And we're excited to be there for our fabulous couples of 2008. What a great way to start our season with an awesome couple in Duncan and Alicia.

We got to White Rock half an hour early to check the lighting and plan out the session. The day was the Vancouver grey that we know oh so well so there was pretty much even lighting everywhere. At 3pm, we met Duncan and Alicia in front of I Do Bridal Salon. They got right into it.

It was a little too cold for my liking. Rico and I had our gloves on the entire time but these two just had to snuggle up to each other.

We had low tide that day and we thought we'd do a different take of the beach with these two.

Y'all know how we just love us some graffiti color.

As you can tell, we're a little into vintage post-processing with this session.

These two are such sweethearts. While we were all numb from the cold at the end of our session, our hearts are much warmer from knowing Duncan and Alicia. We're excited to start the year with your wedding in a few weeks!

- gracci

Dave + Laura: Life is a Highway

We try our best to incorporate something unique about our clients into our images that tells us who they are. When we met Dave and Laura for their initial consult they rode up to our place on their Goldwing. Right away, we knew we had to have the bike on their engagement photos at least.

Scheduling the e-shoot was a challenge for us and Dave, Laura and the bike. Dry weekends are pretty much spent on their bikes riding up and down BC and Washington State. I tell ya, these guys are really living it up. We finally found the time to do them pics which worked out great coz we were able to try out new lighting techniques.

Let's start off with a cool pose with their bike...

On the move...

Their engagement rings against their Goldwing

The biker dude and the biker chick

On the bike again

Last shot of the series

We don't know if the bike will make an appearance on Dave and Laura's wedding but we hope they're happy with these images of their ride.

Dave + Laura Engaged!

While our very first wedding season has ended with our last wedding in August, we still have a couple of weddings to cover this year, last, but certainly not the least, of which is Dave and Laura's winter wedding at the Galbraith in December.

Dave and Laura are a couple so full of life. From the very first e-mail exchange, I couldn't help but feel Laura's excitement for everything and Dave, well, he's one very cool dude. So when we met them for their e-shoot, we knew we'll be in for a dose of fun, excitement and laughter.

Although there were major bursts of laughter that afternoon, we thought we'd show you our favorite cool and serious shots first.

Dave wouldn't let us go without a shot with Mr. Statue. =)

Laura led us to this small sanctuary with the afternoon sun casting a warm glow.

Even though BC is not well known for its fall colours, these two led us to where the colours are...

There's so much more to these two than meets the eye. Watch our blog for more about how these two are living the life!

Jeff + Camy Engaged!

For Jeff and Camy, school was never out. There are 5, yes, count 'em, 5 bachelor's degree between them, all from no less than Simon Fraser University. Now that they're done (well, almost... Camy has one more course to finish this coming school year), they're taking up a new life course towards wedded bliss. Now, if only Camy can convince Jeff to adopt her Shih Tzus...

Got this shot BEFORE I even gave them any directions for posing... very natural...
The bling shot... The ring that was in Jeff's possession for over a year before he popped the question - he said he wanted to take Camy by surprise so had to wait a while to throw Camy off from the big reveal...
Love brick walls...
A little texture for ya....
Jeff's been reading Dostoyevsky's since I've known him and he's mentioned this book a year and a half ago... I didn't know it takes that long to read it... hmmmm.... Another bling shot... as Camy casually tells Jeff, "now your bling will be all over the internet!"
Just in time to catch the last rays of the sun...
Dramatic lighting to end the day...
Can't believe we have to wait a year to shoot your wedding! Rico and I are looking forward to it. Don't forget to keep us up-to-date with the planning!

-gracci

Dwight + Louisa Engaged

I can't believe it's been 5 months since Dwight and Louisa booked us for their wedding in November. Back then, the days were dreary and cold and the main event will be in late fall when days will be short and the skies gray. So for this e-shoot, we made sure that we scheduled it in the summer.

Before Granville Island woke up with its usual weekend flurry of activities, we walked Dwight and Louisa through the area starting from the Emily Carr Institute of Arts and Design.
I love Louisa's expression on this shot... hot!

A shot on a grand staircase outside Emily Carr.
Can you hear me now? Good!
Louisa's mom was really on the phone on this shot.
I was wearing really comfortable shoes and my feet needed rest at the end of our session while Louisa was wearing 4-inch heels (at least!) and she looked like she could walk on them forever.
Of course, we had to take a photo with the art deco bridge Burrard bridge.
Playing with post processing to produce an artistic print.
Trying to be kids again?
Dwight continued getting cozy but this time with another lady in black.
Thanks for spending a great morning with us and thanks for the coffee! We can't wait to shoot your winter wedding. We hope it won't be too cold to shoot outside!

- gracci

e-shoot: Ernesto + Rosalie

Ernesto and Rosalie is not your typical bride and groom-to-be. Rosalie, busy with work, is not at all stressed by the upcoming wedding and Ernesto, who is finishing school to later teach highschool, is the one taking care of every minute detail. So far, we haven't seen traces of a groomzilla and we're crossing our fingers! Haha!

With their busy work, school and wedding planning schedules, we did find a fine afternoon to spend time downtown to take fun shots that showcase their love.Container vans and dumpsters won't stop us... Love the texture of these floor boards.
We thought we'd let the sun highlight our couple. And of course, what is downtown Vancouver without the water?
Then we thought we'd add some pop to our background. We were getting in the moment shooting this when a police car pulled up in front of us. The cops were definitely looking at us through their windshield I swear they were going to book us for indecent exposures.Turns out they were more interested in a dark sidestreet to our left. We didn't even bother finding out what's in there, we thought we'd just get out of the way. We were ready to wrap up the day anyway so we stuck to safe shots from that time on...
We had fun shooting, you guys! Maybe next time, we'll be able to take you up on your offer to join you for lunch or dinner! Anyway, we hope the planning goes smoothly between now and the big day. Can't wait to be a part of it.

e-shoot: Dan + Janine

Something would always get in the way of us meeting Dan and Janine for their wedding on the most popular date of the year, 07-07-07. Our first meeting was rescheduled in favor of my labor pains - haha! Last May, our supposed e-shoot got cancelled at the last minute due to threat of rain. We couldn't make our schedules work and to make matters worse, Dan and Janine were out of town for 12 days in June. When we finally set a new date for the e-shoot 2 weeks before the wedding, I couldn't believe waking up to torrential rain (by Vancouver standards). Luckily, things got drier by noon and we set off to meet with this gorgeous couple.

I tell ya, good things come to those who wait. We were so happy with the shots that we couldn't narrow down our choices to blog.

We started the shoot after a short meeting at Renaissance Coffee house at SFU. We were surprised to find a band playing live music to the patrons. They were too loud for us to meet inside but they served as great background to our couple.
Then we were off to Burnaby Mountain where Dan proposed to Janine on Christmas Eve 2005. When we got there, I just told them to move around and dance. They were saving their best moves for the reception but we still caught some good shots of them dancing. The shot below was our favorite.

We then went to find THE "Tree" where Dan popped the question.

This picture just shows you how in tune these two are with each other.

We then asked Dan to get to know them Totem Poles a little better.

We just love the movement of Janine's hair in the wind. This was when the thunder storm forecasted for the afternoon was on our heels.

Running away from the rain, we headed east to Rocky Point Park where Dan and Janine would go rollerblading round Burrard Bay up to Port Moody.
Dan couldn't wait to show us his rollerblading tricks...

In the end, we couldn't really get away from the ominous clouds the finally caught up to us - but not before we use it as amazing background for this shot. This was during that brief moment that the sun managed to shine through and backlit our lovely couple.

Looking back at the pictures to pick out what to post here, I couldn't help but feel giddy to see how in love these two are with each other. Here's to you, Dan and Janine! We'll see you again in 2 weeks!

e-shoot: Gene + Tina

Steveston Pier
English Bay
May 26, 2007

Gene and Tina were both so easy to work with. Too bad we didn't have enough time to shoot more. Nevertheless, the afternoon turned up some nice gems showcasing this outstanding couple - funny and very down-to-earth who just can't wait to celebrate their love this July. Theirs will be the first outdoor wedding we'll cover and we can't wait.

Here's more of what the afternoon turned up with a few of our favorites below.