May « 2009 « Tales from the Aisle – The Shandro Photo Wedding Photographers Blog

Archive for May, 2009

Popping the Question – A beautiful engagement story

May 31, 2009

We got to experience something incredible tonight, and we can’t go to bed without sharing it with all of you.

Romantic lakeshore setting? Check. Friend with a video camera? Check. Photographers? Check. Accapella group? Check. Beautiful engagement ring? Check. Everything Nitin needed for a surprise proposal. Nitin and Sameera were taking a casual stroll in Hawrelak Park…

…and stopped to enjoy an acapella group (Epsilon), who was randomly singing by the water’s edge. A husband and wife were playing nearby with their son, and taking photos of him (that would be us)…

…when Nitin jumped in the middle of the group, sang the last two verses of ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’, and proposed!

Sameera had no idea what was coming, and of course said yes.

Her ring is absolutely stunning.

Congratulations Nitin and Sameera! Nitin, thank you so much for including us in your plans, it was a really cool plan, and went off without a hitch. We can’t wait for your wedding next year!

Tags: Edmonton, edmonton wedding photographers, engagement ring, Hawrelak Park photos, Proposal photos
Posted in Engagements, Indian | 35 Comments »

Rob & Lindsay – Wedding Photography – Northern Bear Golf Course

May 28, 2009

Rob and Lindsay got married! Yay! I introduced Rob and Lindsay a few years ago with the help of Lindsay’s friend Jasmine. On their special day I got to take their photos, and Jasmine did her make-up.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that I cried like a little girl during their ceremony?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rob lose his cool (except sometimes during volleyball games), but he was so moved by hearing his cousin play the violin at his wedding rehearsal that he nearly cried. I’ve never seen him like that. That simple show of emotion really shows how much he wanted to marry Lindsay the next day, and how much he loves her. Seeing my good friend like that made me cry, because I was so happy for him.

So here’s me at the ceremony, wiping away the tears that I let flow so freely. I continued during the reception, as he gave a speech to his mom.

On to happier things! Our little guy Andrew was a ring bearer-in-training. He’s not quite walking yet, so he got carried in by one of the groomsmen.

Lindsay looked radiant as her proud dad walked her down the aisle of Strathearn United Church.

OK, one last photo of Andrew just because I can. Isn’t he cute! Lindsay picked out suits with dinosaur vests and bowties for the ring-bearers. So cool.

True love.

Two bridal party shots I love.

These two are so into each other. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other! It makes our job easy.

The reception was at the Northern Bear Golf Course. Great food, and a really beautiful atmosphere.

We stole Rob and Lindsay away from the reception as the sun was setting on their beautiful day, the light was amazing, and we got some cool shots. I have to commend Rob and Lindsay on how romantic they were for these photos (there were about 30 people watching the photo shoot from the clubhouse balcony!)

Oh, the fabulous shoes! I love how the light is playing with her heel in this one. Amazing Coach shoes in teal and green, you’ll have to look at our Facebook page for a better view (coming soon).

Congratulations Rob and Lindsay, we hope you are enjoying Disneyland, and we can’t wait to see you when you get back!

Tags: edmonton wedding, Edmonton wedding photographer, golf course photos, golf course wedding, northern bear golf course, sunset photos
Posted in Weddings | 11 Comments »

Rob & Lindsay – Wedding Photography Preview

May 26, 2009

I know you’re all waiting for photos from Rob and Lindsay’s wedding, and we can’t wait to post them! We’re working really hard to get them up, but we had to share one amazing image with you. More to come!

Edmonton wedding photographer, Edmonton wedding photography, Edmonton wedding

Tags: Edmonton wedding photographer, Edmonton wedding photography, edmonton wedding photos, golf course wedding photos, northern bear golf course
Posted in Weddings | 1 Comment »

Gurjeet and Renu – Wedding Photography Part 3

May 25, 2009

Last post for Gurjeet and Renu’s wedding!

Day 6 – Ceremony and Dolli

The ceremony day was the longest of the wedding. The brides of East Indian weddings have the most amazing stamina – Renu was up earlier in the morning than I care to think about! Here they are both preparing for the day.

The ceremony was at the Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Mill Woods.

We had a chance for a few portraits after the ceremony, the first time that Gurjeet and Renu had been alone together all day.

The most emotional part of the wedding is the dolli, where Renu leaves her family home. First Gurjeet had to bargain with her sister and friends to let her go! Michael was in on the action.

It’s a crazy tradition, I’ll let the photo speak for itself. Needless to say, my camera ended up covered in shaving cream and silly string, and Michael smelled like garlic powder for the rest of the wedding.

Renu kept her composure surprisingly well during the dolli, and her family was sad to see her go.

Day 7 – Reception

More awesome portraits with new outfits for the reception. Gurjeet and Renu are so stylish! They stood out so well against the grey, rainy day.

We ducked into Hundred Bar and Kitchen, where the manager Dean was kind enough to let us take some photos in his beautiful restaurant. We look forward to going back and trying something off the menu!

The reception was at the new Mirage banquet hall in south Edmonton. It was a great party with good friends. We even got a chance to put down the cameras and dance! Renu’s girlfriends were especially fun and taught me some new moves.

My awesome outfit was courtesy of Gurjeet’s mom Amrit (I even got to wear a bindi!)

Congratulations Gurjeet and Renu! And congratulations also to their moms, for putting together an incredible wedding for their children.

Tags: Edmonton wedding photographer, edmonton wedding photographers, Indian wedding photography edmonton, Indian wedding photos, Sikh wedding
Posted in Indian, Weddings | 4 Comments »

Alaina – Maternity Photography

May 24, 2009

This session is so special to me – my incredibly beautiful sister-in-law is going to have a baby! She and her huband Brock came over for an amazing photo shoot in our studio. I’ve seen a few bellies, and I think that Alaina’s might just be the most perfect one I’ve seen. These two look like models, and I think that baby is going to be darn good looking.

I’ve been wanting to do this shot for a while now.

See what I mean? Models.

My personal favourite from the shoot, fashion-style maternity.

OK, I was wrong. THIS is my favourite photo from the shoot. Along with a couple more of Brock that I’m not allowed to show on the Internet .

See what I mean about the perfect belly? This photo is pure sweetness.

Within the month we should have a new neice or nephew! Yay! Thank you two for being so easy to work with. More photos coming soon on our Facebook page.

Tags: Edmonton maternity photographer, Edmonton photographer, maternity photography, maternity photos, prenatal
Posted in Maternity, Portraits, Shandro Kids | 3 Comments »

Gurjeet and Renu – Wedding Photography Part 2

May 24, 2009

Day 3 – Ladies Sangeet

For this wedding, both sides had a ladies sangeet – any reason to party is a good one! Lots of great dancing with the jaggo and good beats on the dohl.

Day 4 – Mendhi

Renu’s mendhi was incredible.

Day 5 – Maiya/Churda

The maiya ceremony involves using a turmeric paste to help the bride and groom have beautiful, healthy skin before the ceremony. Neither one of them wanted the turmeric on their face, but they both got it anyway…

Renu’s male relatives adorned her with her wedding bracelets and kaliras. It was an emotional ceremony for Renu.

More to come tomorrow – ceremony and reception!!

Tags: Indian wedding photography edmonton, Indian wedding photos, Shandro Photo, Sikh wedding
Posted in Indian, Weddings | No Comments »

Ben Chrisman Workshop – Inspiration

May 22, 2009

For the past 3 days, we’ve had around 20 photographers in our house! We were pleased to host Ben Chrisman, an incredible photographer from San Francisco for our first annual workshop. (The workshop series still needs a name, we’re working on that. If you have any suggestions, leave a comment!).

The idea behind the workshop was to bring a great speaker to us, rather than having the environmental impact and cost of having 15 studios fly out for a workshop. We are happy to say that we only generated one bag of recycling and one bag of garbage at the workshop, which I think is pretty cool.

We got a bonus, Ben brought along his girlfriend Erin, who shoots along with him. We learned so much from Ben and Erin, and I think you’re going to see a change in our photography this year. We’re really excited for all of our upcoming weddings to put what we learned into practice!

Here’s Ben teaching us about composition. For instance, he probably would like me to square up this picture and not have a line cutting through the top of his head.

Ben brought special surprise guests Dave and Quin from DQ Studios in Calgary to teach us about their workflow, and QuiKeys (which we purchased and are very excited to try out when it arrives).

Our living room was the perfect venue for this small workshop. Ben in particular seemed to find it very comfortable .

We had a great opportunity to shoot with Ben. We took models/our clients Stephanie and David to the University to learn how Ben scouts locations and what he looks for when he shoots.

Ben leading a gaggle of photographers looking for good light, location, etc.

Here are a few of my shots:

And these are Michael’s.

There were quite a few photographers shooting at the same time. We literally had to crawl all over each other to get these shots.

A big thank you to Ben, Erin, and all of the participants for making the workshop such a success!

PS: Our wonderful friends at Finao sponsored a part of the workshop – Ben chose Andrea from Pink Sugar for having great photos, and she will receive a Finao album. Thanks guys!

Tags: Ben Chrisman workshop, Edmonton photography workshop, edmonton wedding photographers
Posted in News, Workshop | 4 Comments »

Gurjeet & Renu – Wedding Photography – Part 1

May 20, 2009

We love taking wedding photos at East Indian weddings. The Sikh community in Edmonton is very close-knit, and we love the ceremonies and culture of Sikh weddings. Every wedding is unique and draws on different traditions. We’ll be breaking up Gurjeet and Renu’s wedding into a couple of posts…it was 7 days long! We took over 10,000 photos in that time, which I think that’s a record for us. This was one amazing wedding; we went off the clock a few times just to party and hang out with the wedding guests, Renu & Gurjeet. We had so much fun! We want to especially thank Renu & Gurjeet’s moms, who did an incredible job arranging the wedding, welcomed us into their homes, fed us well, and made our job so easy.

Day 1 – Ladies Sangeet

The Sangeet is a ceremony where the women get together, dance, and sing folk songs. While our knowledge of the Punjabi language isn’t that great, we still got the meaning of a few of the songs, and let me tell you – some of them are pretty funny!

Day 2 – Chunnie Ceremony

The chunnie ceremony involves the groom’s family presenting the bride with gifts, and preparing her for marrying into their family. The chunnie is the scarf presented to the bride. This ceremony fell on Mother’s Day, and Gurjeet received a resounding ‘awwww…’ from all of the women present by bringing Renu’s mom a bouquet of flowers.

Tags: Indian wedding photography edmonton, Indian wedding photos, Sikh wedding, Workshop
Posted in Indian, Weddings | 3 Comments »

Indian Wedding Photography – Sneak Peek

May 18, 2009

Was Gurjeet and Renu’s the best wedding of the year? I don’t know, but everyone else is going to have to work pretty hard if they want to beat this.

These were the most amazing performances we have ever seen at a wedding, hands-down.

Much more Indian goodness coming to the blog soon. Our Ben Chrisman workshop is this week! We are so happy to be hosting 15 studios and the amazing Ben Chrisman (plus special guest). Much more on that later as well.

Tags: Ben Chrisman, Indian wedding photography edmonton, Indian wedding photos, Sikh wedding, Workshop
Posted in Indian, News, Weddings | 1 Comment »

Dawn & Dan – Maternity Photography – University of Alberta

May 12, 2009

I’m tempted to say that today was one of my favourite shoots ever. The light was delicious and soft and perfect. Dawn and Dan are so connected and so carefree, which made the shoot a breeze. We spent an hour exploring some cool spots at the University of Alberta campus, and celebrating Dawn’s beautiful belly.

Let’s get into some pictures. Yummy.