York Mills Gallery
It’s been a very long time since I’ve gotten to photograph a wedding at York Mills Gallery. Last time I vastly under prepared. See as stunning as this venue is, it’s beauty comes from its dark moody vibe. Which for a wedding photographer starting out and not having a lot of experience in dark venues, this would be considered a very difficult space to work with. However its been 10 years, and I happily embrace dark venues. I’ve been anticipating this wedding for months. So here’s to Sharon & Talon’s wedding at the York Mills Gallery.
Morning Prep
Now this was a wedding that had a very large complicating family, a very large bridal party, and couple who didn’t want to see each other until the ceremony. Not usually a problem. But there are some venues that can’t accommodate a longer cocktail hour. Especially when they’re hosting multiple weddings on-site. So in order to get all the key photos captured, I maximized as many family and bridal party combinations as I could before the ceremony happens. That way, the only ones I had to do afterwards were the ones of the bride and groom together. This allowed us to not only maximize lighting, but also speeds up the portrait session after the ceremony so the couple could enjoy some of their cocktail hour with their guests.
Ceremony / Reception
The civil ceremony at the York Mills Gallery was quaintly arranged with a floral archway as the main alter. The bride’s brother walked her down the aisle and the couple exchanged their own vows. After the ceremony was completed, we had a 20min window to do the bridal party and couple portraits before rain shifted everything inside.
As expected, the reception room was dark. The space was only lit by some twinkling lights on the ceiling and candles on the table. It provided for great ambience and elegance. But for the memories, I did have to incorporate my own lighting as well. Despite the difficulty with darkness, it was still a stunning and perfectly organized event. The day ran smoothly, the photo booth was packed, and ended in one heck of a party.
The second shooter for this wedding was Michelle Paquot.
