Ann Marie + Marco | Bothell, WA to Whistler, BC

We see every wedding outside Vancouver lower mainland as a "destination wedding" or at least an "out of town" wedding. We were thrilled to learn that we were going to shoot Ann Marie and Marco's wedding at Whistler. This super fun, cheerful, and kind couple are from Seattle, Washington; so this gorgeous Whistler wedding was actually a real destination wedding for them. They invited their families and friends to join them at one of their favourite places - Whistler, BC - in celebration of the special occasion. This was more than just a wedding day, it was a journey together. There are only so few chances in our lives where most of our loved ones could be at one place, at the same time, celebrating for something so loving and so remarkable. Well, Ann Marie & Marco's wedding was one!

The initial consultation with Ann Marie & Marco was one of a kind. We usually meet our out-of-town couples via Skype chats; but no, that was not the case with them. They drove up to Vancouver, and we couldn't tell you how excited and honored we felt. During the meeting, Marco mentioned about his idea of having a camera on him filming him going through the reception buffet! We began to brainstorm, expand the idea, and threw in more ideas and all the possibilities of what we can achieve with the GoPro we have. It sort of became a unique "GoPro" wedding video, and we don't normally use GoPro at weddings because it is not for every couple. Then we noticed Marco had his eyes wide opened but he was quiet, and we thought, well perhaps we weren't hitting that sweet spot of interest and might not get to work with this amazing couple after all. Then Ann Marie probably noticed our moment, she smiled and said, "he's excited, I can tell by that look on his face that he is pumped with all that GoPro ideas." That was it! That was the moment we felt, "this is it! we MUST work with them!"

Seriously, who lets their videographer mount a GoPro on the knife of which they used for cake cutting? How awesome is that?

This is one of the most anticipated weddings of the year. This was also our first wedding to shoot in Whistler as a team and most of us had never been to The Peak, especially in the summer time! It was so gorgeous up there, all that snow capped mountains, 360 degree of breathtaking views, and bright blue skies. Every great things requires great efforts. And you could probably tell that it wasn't easy to hike up there at all, not easy in Ann Marie's dazzling white wedding gown, not in Marco and his groomsmen's hot looking suits, and most definitely not with a ton of video (and photo) gear with us on a hot day. It was one of the most challenging and tiring wedding portrait shoots we had to do. But it was worth it. So worth it for the view and most importantly for this amazing couple and their fun bridal party. If you read all these and still haven't seen the video, do that now, and please tell us you love it! Enjoy =)

Shout out to the awesome vendors we love and had fun working with - Karen from Tallevi Studios and Christina from Red Carpet Ready by Christina!

Wedding vendors that made it possible!

Julia + Victor | West Coast Wilderness Lodge

We had the privilege to visit Egmont in BC, just an hour away from Sunshine Coast, and witness Julia and Victor's beautiful wedding at West Coast Wilderness Lodge. Julia booked us over the phone so we never got to meet her in person until the wedding. Everything turned out to be great, we had sunshine, no rain. Half of the guests were flown in by float planes. Luckily we managed to capture their arrival, we wished that we could try out the float plane too, guess next time! On the same night, Julia and Victor has organized a nice campfire for the guests just by the water. Roy, the best man, brought chocolate and marshmallow ready to make some smores! We enjoyed the night shooting stars, eating marshmallow, and hang out by the campfire. It really made me want to go camping again.

The ceremony was beautiful, just a little chilly I have to say. Julia and Victor were so thoughtful and prepared nice warm blankets (all in purple!) rolled up as gifts for the guests to wear at the ceremony. Those nice little favors really showed how much they care for their families and friends. The day went by really quickly, luckily the venue is gorgeous to shoot everywhere, we didn't have to go far for photo shoot. We managed to have it done within 30 minutes. How much more would we ask? We enjoyed staying over at the venue, having everything in 1 minute walking distance. Best.thing.ever! 



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Harman + Sonia | Destination Wedding | Edmonton, Alberta

This is the wedding that everyone on the Modern Romance team has been waiting for since last year. Raj, Sonia's brother, contacted us after he found us from the list of winners on the BC Wedding Awards website. When he called us, he asked if we do destination weddings and coincidentally, we were shooting one in Hawaii at the time. "Yes, in fact, we're shooting one this week!" That was our first phone conversation and it is also one of a few bookings that we got through phone calls. 

We got even more excited after we found out the wedding is going to be our BIGGEST wedding ever. Raj told us that there are going to be about 1000 guests at the banquet. Oh my! We doubt we will ever get to shoot another one with 1000 guests. Overwhelming and amazing. The more we find out about the wedding and all the details that Raj was planning for his lovely sister Sonia, the more excited we were. We were told they are planning to have sky lanterns, fire dancers, elephant instead of the traditional horse that a groom usually rides, fireworks, and more (which you will see some of those in the SDE)! Later we found that the only elephant in Edmonton has been sick so they had to give up on the idea of "hiring" that elephant. Hope it gets well soon.

The day has finally come, we were all pumped up and ready to go. We rented a mini van, literally STUFFED the van with all our gear and personal belongings. Raj booked everything our video team could offer - live feed, our 18' crane (that we normally don't bring), video booth (too bad we didn't have our Slow-Mo Booth at the time) 4-cameraman coverage, and same-day-edit!  We spent 3 hours to assemble + disassemble our crane, pack the mini van, go through newly labelled gear, and tie our crane to the roof. Our scheduled departure was at 11:00 PM and we couldn't leave until 2:00 AM. The 12-hour drive was not so much fun. Neck-ache was one of our nemeses, not to mention numb legs and butts.

 

 

One of the many highlights of the wedding was to see Malkit Singh's live performance on stage at Sonia's Sangeet party. It was a huge surprise that Sonia and Raj planned for everyone, especially their parents. Everyone.. EVERYONE was so hyped up when Malkit Singh showed up on stage singing. We were so amazed that the family flew them from Europe. Amazing! Another surprise was the entrance of Sonia and Harman riding an ATV! Harman brings the fun everywhere he goes - the beautiful fireworks at his uncle's farm, all the dancing and diving into the crowds on the dance floor were definitely entertaining!

There so much we can talk about this wedding. We will just let the SDE show for itself. Enjoy!

Amazing vendors from all over the world:

Videographer from Vancouver - Modern Romance Productions
Photography from Edmonton - Buffy Goodman Photography
Live Performance flown in from Europe: Malkit Singh
Decorator from Calgary - Fusion Bollywood
DJ from Toronto - Kamal Rehal DJ KSR
Floral Jewellery - FaBLOOMosity
Floral Design - Wild Orchid Flowershop
Bridal Stylist - Sunita Sumaru Make-up Artist
Other Make-up Arists - Beyoutiful Faces
Henna - Henna Art
Performances:
 - Firefly Theatre and Circus
 - AdventureBus
 - Bhanga Team