Distillery District Winter Wedding

Last week I wrote about the beautiful engagement shoot my former bride Kim had last Fall so I figured it only right to share with you some of her gorgeous wedding pics from her Winter Wedding in Distillery District this past December!

Distillery District is always a popular destination for Toronto brides as it's one of the few places in the city that captures a sort of old world feel w/ it's cobblestone paths and brick buildings while still being very centrally located in the city!

Christmas time can be an especially fun time in Distillery District as it's also when they host their very popular Christmas Market.  This can be good and bad of course for weddings.  It can make for some very crowded and difficult picture moments but I have to hand it to Caitlin Free she did an amazing job with that!  In fact to see more pictures from Kim's wedding check out Caitlin's blog where she features lots of outdoor shots.  I really love how Kim worked her love of nature into her bouquet and wedding decorations.  It all had a very earthy and woodsy feel which was perfect for a Winter Wedding!

As I mentioned before Kim was a very natural bride and I actually went even more natural on the wedding day (as per her request).  I kept the eye makeup very light using only soft pink shadows and smudged brown liner.  I was able to convince her in the end to go w/ a few false individual lashes...thankfully...didn't want her bridesmaids outshining her lol ;)  We stuck w/ the airbrush foundation which really did create a flawless, light and airy canvas and covered up all the natural redness in her skin.  I love the soft, flushed glow on her cheeks and natural nude/pink lip.

I didn't do the hair for Kim but I did handle all the bridesmaids' makeup and my team member Becca did the bridemaids' hair.  Really fun group and a great bunch to spend a nice Dec. Sat morning with.  I really love the pics Caitlin took...seriously check out her blogpost...I told her she should submit them somewhere lol!

Really Great Pics of the Bridesmaids!

New Pics From A Bride - Like X-Mas In July :)

Sorry for the long long break since my last post...it is officially wedding season and that means I'm SO BUSY!!!  Never a bad thing of course...esp. when you're self employed lol.  But I promise to be more diligent this mth and get back on track w/ blogging as I have LOTS of fun and exciting things to share w/ you guys!

Anyway, on to new business.  I thought I would share w/ you some pics I just received from my wonderful bride Tara who I worked w/ back in May.  First off a big thanks to Meghan Hall (Tara's photographer) for taking such beautiful pictures and allowing me to share them w/ you here on this blog and on my website.

I know it sounds silly but getting pics from the bride or looking through the photographer's gallery from the day is seriously like getting a little present...seriously it's like Christmas in July for me.  I never know what to expect and I'm always so excited to see how everything turned out or held up...and I can tell you if I do say so myself I did some good work on this one lol.  I saw the full photographer's gallery of the WHOLE day and the makeup and hair held up through wind, tears, dinner and dancing and still looked great at the end!

Tara has gorgeous dark brown hair and beautiful pale skin...such a contrast...like a modern snow white (w/ freckles lol).  Overall everything was kept really clean and beautiful in terms of makeup (although I will say the girl likes her eyeliner lol ;) ).  Tara knew she wanted to wear her hair up b/c her and her now husband Jason have this little inside joke about the higher her hair the happier she is (as she usually wears her hair up on most days).  Well I can tell you from the pics she looked freakin' ecstatic the entire day lol!  One of my favourite touches was her hair accessory which was actually a hair comb made from a piece of her mother's wedding dress...how can you not love special details like that!

Tara getting into her dress!

The Reveal - So Cute!

Love, Love, Love the Hair Comb Made from Her Mother's Wedding Dress!

I also did Makeup & Hair for her wedding party and they were such a great and easy going group to work w/.  So much fun and it was a really relaxed morning.  A big thanks goes out to my assistant that day Angelina.

Everyone Looks Great!  Love that So Many Brides these days are including Men in their Bridal Parties...I say Why Not!...I did not do his Hair and Makeup ;)

I also have to thank Tara for writing me probably one of the nicest reviews I've read in a long time!  It's always so nice when a bride takes time after the wedding to help out w/ a review b/c it really does help me out as a business owner!

Can't Wait To Put These New Pics Up On My Site!

Last Wedding of Last Year!

I officially had my last wedding of last year on Dec 23rd and it was a completely last minute booking too!  We're talking so last minute I had to change my train times to go back to Windsor for xmas just a couple of days before the trip!  But in the end I'm so glad it all worked out and I got the chance to work w/ Kerry b/c she was such a wonderful and beautiful bride!

Originally, Kerry was going to have a family member that is also a professional makeup artist do her makeup (I don't know about hair) but unfortunately this person had to cancel right before the wedding which of course left poor Kerry in quite the bind.  Thankfully (for the both of us ;) ) she found me and I was able to do a trial w/ her mere days before the wedding!

Right away it we hit it off well and I knew it was going to be a great bride/makeup artist match!  Kerry wanted something very soft and natural w/ a bit of a winged liner.  Originally, she wanted to do a red lip which did look stunning on her but in the end opted for the more neutral soft pink as she didn't want to leave red all over the soon to be husband...I can understand that lol.

For the hair she wanted an updo...nothing too fancy or severe.  The most important thing was to get some volume through the top...which I'll admit came w/ it's own struggles b/c she did have some shorter layers to contend w/ but in the end I think it all worked out!

One of my FAV things about Kerry's wedding was her dress!  I've seen a lot of dresses this past year and I think this has to be in my top 5 for the year!  I just love it!  This vintage type brides just hunt me out I guess lol...I don't mind...I mean if you didn't notice before I kind of love the style myself!

All the photographs are courtesy of Jessica Blaine Smith (yes another Jessica AND she has 3 names like some other VERY TALENTED & AWESOME ppl you know ;) )

Last Min Touch Ups...and I actually have a nice manicure in this one lol!

What a CUTE couple!

Love, Love, Love This Dress!...and the shoes ;)

Timeless Bridal Beauty

So on Sat. afternoon I had the pleasure of working on a really unique wedding w/ a really fun Bride - Tina and her Mother in Law - Winnie.  What made this wedding so unique you ask?  Well to start it wasn't overly formal at all...almost just like a big party w/ all your fav. ppl coming together which I guess is what a wedding is suppose to be lol. 

Also, the couple were doing their pictures over at The Distillery District at around 5 before the ceremony which was actually at night.  But what really made this wedding unique was the fact that it was a Time Period costume party wedding...but it wasn't decade specific you could come dressed in ANY time period you wanted!  So as you can imagine the couple obviously has a bit of whimsy to them.  The bride didn't even have a Maid of Honour but a Man of Honour instead lol!

Originally, Tina was going to do a completely 20's themed wedding but couldn't find a dress that was 20's specific and good for a wedding dress but then she found this amazing 50's inspired dress and they decided to change things up and let their guests choose any time period they wanted. 

To be honest I'm really glad Tina went w/ a 50's style b/c her features were made for that style and the makeup just suited her so well...she wore the look, the look wasn't wearing her which if she went completely 20's I fear it might have b/c that's a lot more costumey style IMO then 50's which is much more classic.  That's one of the reasons I love that classic 50's look of a strong red lip and winged eyeliner so much - you totally recognize it as vintage but it still looks modern and wearable today!  I mean years from now when she's looking at her wedding pictures of course she'll know it was a vintage look but I don't think she'll ever have any regrets about it or think what was I thinking b/c the pictures will be timeless! 

I also did her hair and boy does she have a lot of it!  I actually did an authentic wet set pin curl and dried it using my portable hair dryer hood that you hook up to your hair dryer...check it out if you don't know what I'm talking about.  Really useful for weddings or shoots b/c then you can go on to makeup and don't have to stand over the person drying their hair w/ a hair dryer.  After it the hair was set I brushed in out and pulled it into half crescent style side bun and finished it off w/ the perfect headband accessory that she had.  Man if you want a strong curl that you can brush and manipulate I strongly suggest trying a wet set pin curl technique.

Overall, I was really happy w/ the way Tina looked in the end...esp. since I didn't actually get to do a trial on her beforehand.  We did meet up for a drink to discuss looks and ideas and to sign the contract (we lived right near each other before I moved) but I never physically did a trial on her so it can always be a bit nerve wracking when it's your first go at the bride and it's the actually wedding day!

I also did the makeup for her Mother in Law - Winnie which actually was a lot of fun and turned out really well IMO.  I'm not going to lie I was a bit nervous about it beforehand...she actually was doing the 20's theme and had this amazing flapper dress that looked fantastic on her.  It's not that I don't know how to do a 20's makeup or anything it's just it can as I mentioned be a bit costumey or sad clown looking and a bit harsh w/ the heavy heavy dark eyes (not always the best thing for more mature clients).  But I modified it a little and it worked out really well and she totally pulled it off!  For once it was actually good a client didn't have full brows b/c anyone who knows 20s knows the brows were basically just thin lines so I was able to do those really authentically.  I did the eyes in a softer purple/grey smokey style and I didn't rim the bottom w/ any shadow b/c I didn't want to make her eyes smaller looking.  The thing of course that really defines the 20s is of course the lips w/ that little bow lip.  I was able to really camouflage her natural lips well and make a really cute bow lip which just totally set the look!

I really hope Tina sends me some pictures of the wedding b/c they are bound to interesting, a little off the wall and totally different than any other wedding I've done yet lol!  Also excuse the quality of the couple of pictures I was able to get of the bride she was literally jetting out the door for pictures when I took them!

Portfolio Printing

So yesterday I met up w/ the wonderful and talented Sian Melton in Toronto's beautiful Distillery District to print pics for my portfolio. First off what a perfect and gorgeous day yesterday. We started w/ some yummy lunch at Cafe Uno...my treat for her taking the time to help a computer reject like me print stuff. Great to catch up and gossip ;) w/ other artists about work, life and all that jazz.

Got my pics printed...lots of double pagers so it ended up being like 18 new pages for my book. On a positive note they look fabulous and on a negative note I NEED a bigger portfolio lol...not really that negative but I don't have the money right now to get one from House of Portfolios like I want :(

If you're in Toronto I highly recommend Pikto for your printing needs. You can rent a computer station for an hr to print your pics and make sure they are sized right and all that (if your pic order is over $25 the hr is free..reg $15/hr for station 1). See when I first started I was naive and I was getting 9X12 which I could actually print from the downstairs computers which were easy to use. Now I know better and I'm printing the professional size pics 11X14 but unfortunately the easy to use computers don't offer that size...damn them! So it's either bribe my computer savy friends w/ lunch and have them help me or pay almost $20/print to have pikto do it...btw if you print it yourself using the computers upstairs it's $4.75/print AND you get the pics that day...can't beat that!

Unfortunately for Sian she saved her pics wrong on her CD so she couldn't print yesterday...this sucks for her but actually works out better for me. I have like 3 editorials that I'm getting in pdf format next wk so I can just go w/ her again and she can help me again (maybe this time I can actually learn how to do it on my own so I don't need to harass my overly generous friends lol). Now the big problem is where the hell am I going to fit them in my book!?! Right now I have 40 pgs but I think in the next portfolio I'm going to move it up to 60 pgs...or I could start separating my Beauty from Editorial work...we'll see.

Next on my to do list - meet w/ agencies and get a new business card (kind of waiting on this one till I know about the agency thing so I could put them on the card ;) )

P.S. Someone commented about Todd wearing the same pants for all the shoots lol! Trust me this is an on-going joke between he and I regarding his "uniform". Just so everyone knows he has several camouflage cargo pants...it's not the same pair lol. As many of you may have noticed he really likes to get on the ground a lot when he shoots so you know he has to keep it practical and comfortable.