P&M Wedding - Dorchester/St.Thomas Ont.

Welcome to Pakhshan and Manny’s wedding photo Sneak Peek. Wow'! I have to say, this couple and their family are an extremely welcoming, fun filled and energetic group of people. From the day I met with Pakhshan and Manny here in St. Thomas for our consultation meeting, they made me feel like I was already part of their family and then on the wedding day their family did the same.

This day was amazing all around, but it didn’t go without a few hurdles to overcome. Starting with the obvious COVID-19. Pakhshan and Manny were forced to change the whole day plans as they were no longer able to have all the guests and family members join them. Some family still in Iran and some in Nicaragua, both unable to fly across the boarder to join them.

They also had to rearrange their timeline for the same reason which meant some of the wedding traditions wouldn’t work out for them. Restrictions set onto the venue at Pine Knot Golf and Country Club in Dorchester, Ontario meant that they had to be out of the building way earlier than originally planned. So, they came to me and asked for some ideas. I suggested that they go with a newer tradition that is becoming very popular now, and that is to do a First Look. This would shift the whole days timeline so that we would have Bride/Groom First look photos, (we also added Mom & Dad with Bride First Look) we were also able to have Family formal photos done and then tour the course for Bridal Party and more Bride/Groom portraits. All this would be completed before the ceremony. The guests didn’t have to wait in between the ceremony and the reception for the bridal party to come back from their photo session either. It was seamless for them.

Speaking of hurdles, this was also one of those weekends where the weather radar and predictions couldn’t seem to get anything right. It rained, then stopped, then rained, then stopped and on it continued for the whole day. And if dodging the rain wasn’t enough, we found out real fast that the quiet area we choose for the family formal photos had a 70% chance of golf balls landing in that area. Something that wasn’t apparent when we scouted the location because that day it rained in the morning and there was very few golfers on the course. Fast forward to the wedding day and we had a shot gun start golf tournament. Complete opposite. I was amazed at how Pakhshan and Manny managed to stay poised, smiling and calm. A true testament to who these two really are.

One of the best things about being a wedding photographer is not only getting to meet and get to know so many couples on their special day, but also getting to witness so many other traditions from other cultures around the world. Pakhshan mentioned to me in our first meeting that she wanted to have her sisters perform the “Persian Knife dance”. Basically her sister holds the knife and dances, the groom must give her money in order to get the knife, but the problem is that he doesn’t know how much it will take until she is satisfied to allow him the knife signifying her acceptance to him marrying her sister. This was performed very well, I can’t wait to see the video coverage from it.

Well…. I should let you see some photos. :)

Thanks again for having me document your day. It was an honour and a pleasure.

Some of the People involved to make this day so special: