North of 55 Fine Art Photography Blog

Craig & Mandy’s scenic outdoor wedding in Stonewall, Manitoba

Jan Ketonen — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:30:11 +0000

Hello again! I’m back – well, truth be told, I was never really *gone* but I did take a pretty lengthy hiatus from blogging over the winter. After a nice rest away from almost all of my online haunts, I am back and ready to take on the 2012 wedding season! With that in mind, I still have a few 2011 weddings and e-sessions to share with you in the coming weeks.

The wedding I’m featuring today took place last August, in Stonewall, Manitoba. Mandy and Craig chose beautiful Quarry Park for their outdoor ceremony. The weather was perfect for an outdoor ceremony with a thin, high cloud layer in the sky that filtered out just a bit of the bright sunshine, and a light breeze to keep everyone from getting overheated. In other words, it was perfect photo weather. I started my day at the bride and groom’s hometown of Warren, Manitoba which is where everyone was getting ready. Mandy chose a great pair of ruby red high heels to wear under her dress- I love it when brides wear brightly coloured shoes!Before a short drive to Stonewall, each side of the bridal party took a turn meeting me at the local park in Warren for some pre-ceremony group photos.This bridal party was up for anything, so we took a few fun shots too.
Quarry Park is an amazing location for an outdoor wedding. With many lush, green trees, beautiful tall grasses, a pond and lots of room for guests it had all of the elements required be the ideal setting for Craig and Mandy to exchange vows.

After the ceremony, our first stop was at the local bar, to have a quick, cold drink before heading out for more photos. Of course we multi-tasked and I took a few quick photos there too. Mandy had scouted out some really great locations in the area for me, including a fabulous old, red barn, a field of sunflowers and some straw bales.When Mandy first suggested straw bales for photos, I was already aware that they are quite large, but I was very pleasantly surprised at the huge stack she had in mind. I would have been quite happy if everyone wanted to stay firmly on the ground for some shots, however, when it became apparent that there would be an ascent to the top by several brave bridal party members, I was more than happy to capture what unfolded.
After working up quite an appetite from our photo excursion, we made our way back to town, just in time for dinner. It was a great reception, held at the Stonewall Legion, with many entertaining toasts and speeches and followed up by a night of dancing.Mandy and Craig, it was so fun to work with you, your family and friends, and I wish you a lifetime of happiness!

Until next time,

Get in touch!

Email: janet@northof55fineartphotography.com / Portfolio: www.northof55fineartphotography.com

Office: 1 (204) 480-1837

Facebook: www.facebook.com/northof55photography / Twitter: northof55photo

Troy & Shanleigh’s wedding celebration in the “Hub of the North” {Thompson, Manitoba wedding photography}

Jan Ketonen — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:38:13 +0000

At the end of July 2011, I hopped on a plane to travel to Thompson, Manitoba to photograph Troy & Shanleigh’s big day. For several years I lived in Thompson and it’s always nice to head back there for a visit, especially when the visit means I get to take photographs of great people! (and yes, I still do travel to Thompson for weddings, if you were wondering!)

I started the day by photographing the girls getting their hair and make up done.

It’s always a treat to see what the flower girls and ring bearers get up to at weddings. One of the flower girls gave me a lot of laughs while she was in the hairdresser’s chair.

After hair and makeup it was time for Shanleigh to return to her parent’s home and slip into her beautiful gown.

Shanleigh’s mom Sue is a talented artist and I’d had the pleasure of photographing some of her work in the past, so it could be submitted to juried art shows. Not surprisingly, Sue put her talent to use in designing Shanleigh’s sassy and fun wedding shoes, as well as the necklace Shanleigh wore.

The ceremony was held at Riverlodge Place, which is a beautiful new venue in Thompson. With exposed wooden beams, high ceilings and large windows it was the perfect, romantic setting for Troy and Shanleigh to say their vows.It had rained (or rather poured) on and off during the day but we found a quick, rain free window of opportunity to take some photos outside. I usually ask if the bride and groom have any special photo requests and Troy requested a fun shot of himself and all groomsmen being squished by his beautiful bride’s shoe. Luckily for me, Shanleigh spent many years as an ice dancer and in the absence of a bench or something sturdy to hold onto, she was able to easily balance on one foot, gown and all, with no problems in order for me to get the shot.In addition to many of the photos I’ve posted, some of the bride’s favourite images of the day include being carried over the wet grass by her sister and husband so that she didn’t sink in and wreck her shoes (wow!), her beautiful dress before she put it on, as well as a few quiet looks between the newlyweds.
Every detail of the wedding was stunning, from the delightful cake to the personalized candy buffet.
Everyone enjoyed a great meal and we heard some wonderful, heartfelt speeches and toasts.After dinner, it was time for dancing. Troy decided to make the garter toss experience fun for everyone. Donning a wig and glasses, he surprised his bride as he rocked out like Garth in the movie “Wayne’s World” to the tune of “Foxy Lady”. Awesome!

Thanks for being so amazing you two! I wish you all the best for the future!

Until next time,

Get in touch!

Email: janet@northof55fineartphotography.com / Portfolio: www.northof55fineartphotography.com

Office: 1 (204) 480-1837

Facebook: www.facebook.com/northof55photography / Twitter: northof55photo

Stan & Sande’s RCMP wedding in Winnipeg {or, a Mountie always gets her man}

Jan Ketonen — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:08:02 +0000

Sande and Stan were married in early July in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was a wonderful day filled with lots of fun, love and happiness.

This gorgeous bride is also a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Sande wore a traditional white wedding gown and I though that it made for a striking contrast alongside photos of her wearing her RCMP dress uniform.

Many times things go wrong leading up to the wedding day, and we often think that a late limousine or the wrong type of flowers are going to “ruin” a wedding. Sometimes it helps to hear a story that brings such trivial things into perspective. Just five days before her wedding, Sande was flying out of the community where she was working, to the city for her wedding; a routine trip that she’d taken many times. However this trip was to be the exact opposite of routine: on takeoff, the plane Sande was traveling on somehow failed to get airborne, exited the runway and crashed.

While this wedding was already destined to be a wonderful celebration, realizing how different things could have was certainly on everyone’s mind, and there was no shortage of love and happiness being outpoured for this couple. And nothing- not even a plane crash- was going to keep this Mountie from getting her man!

After the ceremony we headed out for some photos around Winnipeg, including the beautiful St. Boniface Cathedral.Sande’s favourite image is of a candid moment I captured during the formal photos. Sande’s nephew was eating some Skittles, so Sande asked him to share. I’m not sure if I asked him how they were, or how exactly the thumbs up transpired, but this photo captured the essence of how he much he was enjoying the day!

Stan’s groomsmen and Sande’s bridesmaids were all a lot of fun. There was no shortage of funny moments to photograph.

Sande and Stan, you are such great people. I’m so glad to have met you both and I wish you all the happiness in the world!

Until next time,

Get in touch!

Email: janet@northof55fineartphotography.com / Portfolio: www.northof55fineartphotography.com

Office: 1 (204) 480-1837

Facebook: www.facebook.com/northof55photography / Twitter: northof55photo

Time flies

Jan Ketonen — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 03:33:39 +0000

The actress Lily Tomlin is credited with saying, “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” That is the most fitting description I can think of to describe the stresses involved in keeping up with all sorts of social media, as well as being available for my clients and having any sort of life this summer! Sure, you can work yourself to death to keep on top of everything extra, but where does it really get you in the end, other than stressed out and not enjoying life?

By the time that July rolled around, I decided that it was in both mine and my client’s best interests to bow out of the unspoken social media “race” to get each wedding blogged as soon as possible. After each wedding (well, most of them!) I put up a few teaser photos and left the rest for later. It was a lot less stressful and a more enjoyable summer as a result. After all, since one aims to create beautiful images to last a lifetime, if their fans don’t end up viewing a gorgeous summer wedding until the snow falls, those images should be just as powerful than if they were posted before the couple was back from their honeymoon. Incidentally I certainly don’t meant to imply any criticism on those who do devote the time to keeping their blogs very up to date! We all have different ways of doing things and this is just a brief explanation of what was and wasn’t working for me and the changes that ensued!

Now that wedding “season” has ended and I’m working on album designs and planning for next year, what better time is there to reflect back on the summer of 2011′s beautiful weddings? With all my summer weddings finalized, I have no excuses not to blog these days, so “soon” has become “now” and you can expect to see more of my recent work in this space soon!

I’ll leave you with a preview image of a beautiful July wedding that is going to be next up on the blog!
.

Until next time,

Get in touch!

Email: janet@northof55fineartphotography.com / Portfolio: www.northof55fineartphotography.com

Office: 1 (204) 480-1837

Facebook: www.facebook.com/northof55photography / Twitter: northof55photo

Just Married: Greg & Kelly {sneak preview}

Jan Ketonen — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:04:27 +0000

Greg and Kelly had perfect weather for their rooftop wedding at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Here are a few sneak previews of their day…

Such a great day! I’ll try to be back soon with some catch-up entries from earlier this summer.

Until next time,

Get in touch!

Email: janet@northof55fineartphotography.com / Portfolio: www.northof55fineartphotography.com

Office: 1 (204) 480-1837

Facebook: www.facebook.com/northof55photography / Twitter: northof55photo

Just Married: Craig & Mandy {sneak preview}

Jan Ketonen — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 03:59:36 +0000

This past Saturday I had a great day photographing Craig & Mandy’s wedding in Stonewall, Manitoba. Thanks to a very adventurous bridal party I came away with some unique formal photos and I’m happy to report that no one got injured in the process. :) Enjoy the sneak previews!

I know I’m behind on blogging and I will catch up as soon as I get my huge to-do (or is it “to edit”?) list tamed!

Until next time,

Get in touch!

Email: janet@northof55fineartphotography.com / Portfolio: www.northof55fineartphotography.com

Office: 1 (204) 480-1837

Facebook: www.facebook.com/northof55photography / Twitter: northof55photo

Just Married: Troy & Shanleigh {sneak preview}

Jan Ketonen — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:14:42 +0000

This past Saturday I was in Thompson, Manitoba to photograph Troy and Shanleigh’s big day. Here are a few sneak previews…

Until next time,

Get in touch!

Email: janet@northof55fineartphotography.com / Portfolio: www.northof55fineartphotography.com

Office: 1 (204) 480-1837

Facebook: www.facebook.com/northof55photography / Twitter: northof55photo

Cory & Roxie’s FortWhyte Alive wedding in Winnipeg: Part Two

Jan Ketonen — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:00:09 +0000

{If you arrived via a search engine and missed Part One you may click here to view it in a new window.}

Welcome back to the blog and to Part Two of Cory and Roxie’s FortWhyte Alive wedding! You will soon see why it was too much to post all at once. FortWhyte is an ideal venue for Winnipeggers seeking an outdoor wedding. It never ceases to amaze me how such an natural, lush, green place can be within the confines of the city. I love it there!

A bride walking down the aisle is always a wedding highlight, and Roxie’s entrance was no exception. The look on her face when her Dad gave her away was such an emotionally charged moment- it’s one of my favourite images of the entire day.

There was no shortage of adoring glances between Roxie and Cory during the ceremony- capturing moments like this is what makes me really love what I do!

There was also no shortage of loving, happy reactions from Roxie and Cory’s family and friends as they exchanged their vows. After the rings were exchanged, it was time for the time capsule to be sealed. Cory and Roxie had prepared the time capsule containing a bottle of wine, and a letter to each other explaining why they fell in love. The marriage commissioner explained the reasoning behind those specific items as follows: in case of tough times during the marriage, the couple is supposed to open the box, drink some wine, and then go read those letters in a quiet place to help remember why they got married in the first place; to help them reconnect. And should the need to open the box not arise, then the time capsule is going to be opened on their 25th wedding anniversary, with a beautifully aged wine ready for a celebratory toast. Such a brilliant idea! Of course no wedding is complete without a kiss!After the ceremony, it was time to head inside to another beautifully decorated space for dinner and dancing! Emma of Events by Emma outdid herself with all the gorgeous details! Speaking of details, Roxie’s shoes deserve a mention, as do her beautiful flowers and the rings.

The reception and speeches brought many smiles and laughs from all.

And finally the first dance – and what an awesome first dance it was! Before the dance began, Cory mentioned to me that even if I got a bunch of good stuff at the beginning to keep on shooting. Now I normally keep alert and shoot throughout the entire dance anyway (first dances are one of my favourite wedding moments to photograph!), however, I had no idea just how much foreshadowing he’d revealed with his remarks.

The dance started off normally enough, with a romantic slow song…

Then after a minute or two the music stopped.

Just as everyone in attendance said a collective, “What the heck?”, the music started again and Cory and Roxie broke into a new dance sequence to medley of songs, from “Thriller” to “The Twist” to “Cotton Eyed Joe”. Roxie later admitted that it was very tough to keep their extra choreography a secret and that it was the one thing both she and Cory had been super excited about leading up to the wedding! It was a great surprise and well worth the effort to keep it under wraps!

It was a pleasure to photograph Roxie and Cory and I wish them all the best for the future!

Until next time,

Get in touch!

Email: janet@northof55fineartphotography.com / Portfolio: www.northof55fineartphotography.com

Office: 1 (204) 480-1837

Facebook: www.facebook.com/northof55photography / Twitter: northof55photo

Cory & Roxie’s FortWhyte Alive wedding in Winnipeg: Part One

Jan Ketonen — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 02:22:39 +0000

Cory and Roxie were married on a beautiful June day at FortWhyte Alive in Winnipeg. As avid runners, Roxie and Cory had attended the half marathon hosted at FortWhyte in the past. In addition to being a gorgeous setting for a wedding, this location held special meaning to them and was the perfect place for them to join their lives together forever.

We started off with a “first look”, and as for the reaction to seeing his beautiful bride for the first time that day, Cory’s face it all…

After the first look, we hopped onto some Bison buggies, and headed out for some photos around FortWhyte.
In addition to shooting at FortWhyte, we also went to Manitoba Hydro Place, a new but increasingly popular location for photos. Not only is the architecture stunning, it’s also cool, bright and away from the elements, which makes it a perfect photo location for weddings!

Two of Roxie’s bridesmaids were just as eager to be taking photos than being in them, so I made sure to ask if anyone had a special pose request before the formal photos were wrapped up, since it’s hard to photograph and be photographed at the same time! They requested a rather playful take on the group shots, which was fun to capture.

Once we wrapped up the formal photos of the day it was time to head back to FortWhyte for the main event! Events by Emma had been commissioned to do the decorating, and her finishing touches-both indoors and out- were gorgeous. In fact there were so many nice details and beautiful moments, that I will sign off for now and be back soon with Part Two, featuring the ceremony and reception.

Until next time,

Get in touch!

Email: janet@northof55fineartphotography.com / Portfolio: www.northof55fineartphotography.com

Office: 1 (204) 480-1837

Facebook: www.facebook.com/northof55photography / Twitter: northof55photo

Brad & Jessica’s Millenium Centre wedding in Winnipeg

Jan Ketonen — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:03:58 +0000

My first wedding of 2011 was with Brad and Jessica and what a lovely wedding it was! I had been looking forward to photographing them since their fall engagement session; they are such nice, easygoing people and I knew I’d have a great day working with them.

The day began with a first look and hugs all around. It set the tone for a truly joyous day.Jessica was a stunning bride! There were vibrant green apple touches everywhere.Even the little worms in the park were green and matched the colour scheme of the day.

This bridal party was a fun and easy going group to photograph. Their laid back attitude made my job super easy!The Millenium Centre is a beautiful, grand venue for a wedding. Not only was Jessica becoming a wife, she was officially becoming a stepmom to Lucas. Brad and Jessica made sure that Lucas was included in their day as much as possible. As you can see, this young man made sure the finishing touches during sand ceremony were perfect.
The couple sealed their vows first with a kiss on Lucas’s cheek and then with each other.

It was a pleasure to work with Brad and Jessica and I wish them all the best for a wonderful future!

Until next time,

Get in touch!

Email: janet@northof55fineartphotography.com / Portfolio: www.northof55fineartphotography.com

Office: 1 (204) 480-1837

Facebook: www.facebook.com/northof55photography / Twitter: northof55photo