Millbrook Cathedral
If has been a surprisingly long time since I’ve photographed an Irish Celtic Wedding Ceremony. Partially due to Covid lockdowns and partially out of sheer coincidence. Miranda & Jeff’s wedding at Millbrook Cathedral was the perfect opportunity to revisit this lovely tradition. In my opinion, this venue is a hidden gem and it is located just 60 minutes east of Toronto. The cathedral itself fuses romance and minimalism through its high ceilings, natural light, and old world charm. Combine that with the floral colour palette, venue, and dress… the vision came to life from there. The result is raw, poetic, and so romantic.
Ceremony
Before I ran my own business, I used to travel the world as a cruise ship photographer doing destination weddings around the world. So learning about all the worldly traditions when it comes to weddings is honestly my favorite part of the job. In this ceremony, each colored ribbon represents a different factor important in marriage. The couple decides which factors are important to them. And the officiant binds the couple’s hands together using the respective ribbons.
What the Ribbons Mean
- Red – will, love, strength, fertility, courage, health, vigour, passionÂ
- Orange – encouragement, adaptability, stimulation, attraction, plenty, kindness
- Yellow – attraction, charm, confidence, balance, harmony
- Green – fertility, luck, prosperity, nurturing, beauty, health, love
- Dark Blue –for a safe journey, longevity & strengthÂ
- Light Blue – tranquillity, understanding, patience, health
- Purple – healing, health, strength, power, progress
- Black – strength, empowerment, wisdom/vision, success, pure love
- White – spiritual purity, truth, peace, serenity and devotion
- Gray – balance, neutrality
- Pink – love, unity, honor, truth, romance, happiness
- Brown – for healing, skills & talent, nurturing, home & hearth, the earth
- Silver – for creativity, inspiration & vision, and protection
- Gold – unity, longevity, prosperity, strength
Reception
From there we did the full assortment of family photos outside Millbrook Cathedral’s main steps, and a few portraits of just the couple with their wedding rings and celtic not. In the meantime, the came chapel space of their ceremony was transformed into their new repletion space. A first dance and a few speeches later, these two were well ready to party. But my favourite was the sparkler photo after dark. I don’t normally enjoy these due to the sheer stress of organizing it. But their wedding planners took the grunt of that labour. Meaning I could focus on capturing this amazing moment in font of this beautiful venue.
