Rowell Photography - Wedding

Fireworks, television shows and happily ever afters

Ryan Rowell — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:30:59 +0000

Jessica & Neil’s engagement session is the highest commented upon engagement blog post on this blog of all time. With a whopping 77 comments! Maybe you remember their fireworks engagement session. When Jess & Neil set out to do something, be it engagement photos, killer choreographed Bollywood mini feature films to entertain guests at their reception, or entering a television contest to win a free honeymoon, they go all out!!!! Nothing stops this couple from winning, being the most over the top or throwing the best party. Seriously they are a force. I am just glad Ryan and I didn’t enter the Slice Networks 4 Weddings TV show contest because we would have gotten our asses handed to us. We were way happier being on their team for the wedding day.

And so … Jess & Neil were married on July 30th 2011, at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham Ontario. They didn’t have a typical wedding, and if you read the paragraph before this you will know why. Their weddings, and by wedding(s) I mean they had two, were a semi-traditional Jewish ceremony and a Hindu ceremony. Myself, Ryan, and our 3rd photographer Sarah were joined by 2 videographers, and a crew of 6 cameramen from the 4 Weddings television show, plus 250 wedding guests, a whole whack of kids, a white horse, and a bridal party of 12.

It was seriously some of the most fun we have had at a wedding, ever! Now I don’t think that having a television crew follow every one of our couples around on their wedding day will be a great idea. However; if we can learn any lessons from this wedding, they would be: Give your guests something to do at the reception while they are waiting around for you to enter, or in between courses. Jessica and Neil made 2 mini movies, one that mocked and illustrated how they met (it was actually really well done, and in the style of the show How I Met Your Mother, so if you know it you would have really appreciated this video) and the other one was a crazy Bollywood dance video. Seriously everyone loved it! Secondly, get a candy table, the line up to get candy at their wedding was at least 10 mins long and the dance floor was still packed. And finally… come into your reception dancing. Why do you ask? because in our experience at the 100′s of weddings we have watched over the years. Couples who get up and dance, and have a great time in front of their guests usually end up partying until the late hours of the night with them. Let your guests know its okay to get up and dance. No one likes to be the first on on the dance floor, but since its your party, you’ll have to take the lead.

So here is what I want you all to do. Scroll to the very bottom of this post, once you are done admiring the photos, and leave a nice comment below for the newlyweds. Maybe congratulate them on their big win, or tell them they made the right choice in hiring us for their engagement photos and wedding haha! And if your wedding is going to be anything like this one, contact us and make the right choice too!

So to Jessica & Neil, thank you for choosing us to capture your wedding and engagement. It has been an absolute pleasure photographing you and your families. Congratulations!!!!!

Cheers

Erika & Ryan

….and the happily ever after. You can watch it online here.

Jessica & Neil’s Dream Team

Photography: Rowell Photography
Event Planning & Design Silverberry Occasions Event Planning & Design Inc.
Ceremony & Reception Location Angus Glen Golf Club
Catering – for Indian Options The Host
Videography Bright Sky Wedding Designs
Decor Designs by Dina
Floral Final Touches
Stationery Invitations, Menus, Table Numbers,signing board Palettera Custom Correspondences
Cake Pretty Sweet Cakes
DJ Nspire Sound
3rd photographer on Wedding day – Sarah Guy for Rowell Photography
Horse Dream Catcher Stables
Officiant 1 Enduring Promises
Officiant 2 (hindu) Dr. Ravi Srivastava
Dancers The Wedding Choreographers & Co.
Transportation Markham First Choice Limousines
Makeup SK Makeup Artistry
Bride’s hair The Sarum Room Salon & Spa
Groom’s Suit Strellson Store
Bride’s Wedding Dress Designer: San Patrick
Bridesmaids Dresses Designer: Love by Enzoani
Bride & Groom’s Indian Outfits CTC West
Groomsmen Ties Ed’s Fine Imports
Bride’s Fascinator Blair Nadeau Millinery

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 5.0/5 (9 votes cast)

Vintage Wedding Shoot

Ryan Rowell — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:43:17 +0000

When fabulous vendors get together to share ideas, their talents and resources only good things come from it. We are so lucky to have had the chance to work along side some truly amazing talents on weddings and style shoots. This style shoot was the brain child of Rachel Clingen, not only did she come up with this vintage English equine wedding theme but the shoot was also held at her ranch in Caledon, ON. The horses in the photos are hers too, award winning horses to be exact. I love these images, they were taken at sunset last October.

The Dream Team

Invitations & Stationary by: Paper Damsels

Design , Decor & Floral by: Rachel A. Clingen

Makeup & Hair by: Blush & Brush

Cakes & Cookies by: The Cocoa Cakery

Photography by: Erika & Ryan Rowell Photography

If you love the look of this shoot and wish to see more, pick up the latest issue of Elegant Wedding Magazine where this style shoot is featured. Or just hire this entire team to recreate this look for your wedding.

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 5.0/5 (6 votes cast)

Winter Family Portraits Muskoka – Bala, ON

Ryan Rowell — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:13:17 +0000

Happy 2012 everyone!

Its been a great holiday season, and we are happy to be back at work.

Just after Christmas Alyssa called us to come visit their cottage in Muskoka and take some family portraits to decorate the walls. She chose the snowiest day of the year (I know its not her fault) and the trek to their cottage was on all dirt road which were covered in snow, making it impossible to for our little car to get over, what felt like 50 hills to get t their beautiful property. I want to say “Couldn’t you guys choose an easier place to build your fantastic cottage?” and to that, Alyssa’s dad will most likely reply that we need to get better tires haha! (Her parents own Action Tire in Barrie). He would be right, our tires are horrible, and we proved that in a blizzard getting first stuck in their driveway, then trying to get up a hill on the way out of their street. Luckily that was after we were able to spend a great afternoon photographing their whole family.

So here they are, in the snow, The Labrecque Family.

Thank you for choosing us to photograph your family, it was an adventure!

Cheers

Erika & Ryan

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 5.0/5 (6 votes cast)

Quebec City in winter

Ryan Rowell — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:38:53 +0000

Just before Christmas Ryan and I decided to take a few days vacation for ourselves and travel to one of our favourite destinations; Quebec City. Quebec City is beautiful at any time of year but it was exceptionally stunning in the snow and with all the holiday lights. For a few days we just walked around the city visiting shops, eating the best croissants and onion soup in Canada and taking some much needed new couples portraits of us. If you know anything about Ryan and I, you know that we love to stay at the Canadian Fairmont brand hotels. We love them because they are steeped in history, and have a style of architecture that we believe to be very Canadiana (i.e: the copper roof to name one feature.)

This time we stayed at the fabulous Chateau Frontenac in Vieux Quebec. This is probably my favourite hotel of them all. What I find truly fascinating about it is some of the people who have stayed there, like Kings and Queens (Grace Kelly), even Alfred Hitchcock filmed the movie I, Confess there. We walked around the hotel picking out scenes from the movie and trying to figure out where Hitchcock would have sat while directing them. This is the 6th Canadian Fairmont we have stayed at thus far, so we are well on our way to our two year goal of staying at all 21 destinations over the next 2 years. It was a short trip. Actually it was too short so we are planning another trip to Quebec City for new years!

So excited to watch the fireworks over this beautiful city.

Happy New Year everyone!

Erika & Ryan

We hiked to the top of the fort for a amazing view of the Frontenac.

Quebec City is the best for night time photos. Every building is so creatively lit. Makes for some romantic cityscape photos.

I love this photo.

This is a time-lapse of a few vantage points around the hotel. Its short but pretty. If you would like to have us photograph you in Quebec City or Montreal in 2012 send us an email to email hidden; JavaScript is required to book your destination photo shoot or so we can put you on our list and send you the dates and times of when we will be in each city next.

We look forward to photographing you!

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 5.0/5 (6 votes cast)

Madi’s Family – Barrie, Ontario

Ryan Rowell — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:18:36 +0000

Winter really is a magical time in Canada. Even though it is freezing cold it is one of our favourite times of the year to shoot. It makes for some stunning photos. Earlier this week we photographed Kaitlin, Madi & Anita on the street where Kaitlin grew up in an area of Barrie we like to call Painswick. 3 generations of gorgeous women for their family portraits. We’ve known Madi & Kaitlin for years, you might have even seen them on our blog before. This is going to be our last family post before the new year. In 2011 we photographed 42 families in Muskoka, Barrie & Toronto. We would like to thank all the families who chose us to capture image for them this year. Family photos mean so much to us and we feel that every family should have the opportunity to relive this time in their lives through the art and the magic of photographs.

So if you are part of a family (which I know you all are) and you need to update a portrait of your clan, give a gift to a family member or just love photos as much as we do, contact us to book your winter family photos with us. be sure to join our rss feed for this blog, join our Facebook fan page and twitter to stay updated on all the happenings and travel dates at Rowell Photography in 2012.

Thanks again to these three beauties for a great shoot !

Happy New Year everyone!

Erika & Ryan

So in this series I asked Madi to give me her best pose. The last one is my have. She is so creative, like a little piece of art.

How beautiful is this background? this is just a regular neighbourhood in Barrie, Ontario. It looks like a postcard or a painting.

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 5.0/5 (4 votes cast)

Kewaquado Family – Barrie, ON

Ryan Rowell — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:34:42 +0000

This is what its all about, families laughing and having a great time being photographed. The Kewaquado family came to visit us last week for some family portraits in studio, downtown Barrie, just in time for the holidays. We would be lying if we said we didn’t have a super fun shoot with the whole family. These kids are hilarious. I asked the youngest kids to make each other smile, and if you scroll down to the 8th & 9th photos you will see how they creatively took my advice.

Thank you to the Kewaquado family for choosing us to capture your family portraits. We hope to see you all back again really soon.

Have a Happy new Year!

Erika & Ryan

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Rating: 5.0/5 (6 votes cast)

Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, з Різдвом Христовим

Ryan Rowell — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:46:26 +0000

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas to all of our family, friends and to our Rowell Photography couples, and favourites businesses.
It has been a truly inspiring year and we cannot wait to see what 2012 holds for all of you!
Stay Safe & Stay Warm,
Erika, Ryan & Pepper

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Rating: 5.0/5 (3 votes cast)

Rebecca & Charlie – Don Mills Engagement – ON

Ryan Rowell — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:21:44 +0000

It’s really hard to believe that 5 years ago we didn’t have a blog. I spend so much time writing and tracking statistics, and modifying galleries, and chatting with people on our blog each day that blogging has really become apart of my daily life. Its funny how things change. 5 years ago we photographed Sarah & Ryan’s Barrie wedding. Sarah and Rebecca are sisters. I don’t even have a blog post for Sarah’s wedding because I wasn’t blogging then, or texting or skyping, or face booking. A lot has changed in the last 5 years, so much so that Sarah & Ryan have a house full of children now, and her little sister is about to marry the love of her life.

Rebecca & Charlie called us the same week they were engaged. We have never met a couple so excited to get married! They are over the moon for one another, and two of the nicest people we’ve ever met. We are so excited to photograph their Barrie wedding next year. For their Toronto engagement session they wanted to sort of relive some of the first dates, just walking around the shops at Don Mills, sipping caesars, and checking out their favourite restaurants. They used to live in the condos just over looking the shops and they only had to mention to me once that the view of the city from the top of their old condo was awesome, and before we knew it we were borrowing a nice Chinese family, taking them up the elevator , to let us into the building to enjoy the rooftop splendour. We watched the sunset over the city, and then headed over to Joey’s Restaraunt for drinks. The perfect end to a great shoot.

Thank you to Charlie & Rebecca for choosing us to capture your Toronto engagement. We are so happy you remembered us from your sisters wedding.

Enjoy!

Erika & Ryan

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Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Kelly & Wayne – Niagara Falls Wedding

Ryan Rowell — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:16:00 +0000

It’s always kind of a sad post when we talk about our last wedding of the year. 2011 has been an amazing journey for us. We are so thankful for the couples we have had the pleasure to photograph and the couples we will photograph for 2012. There is something in the air and I can feel that 2012 is going to be a great year.

Kelly & Wayne, who you know from the blog post of their engagement photos from earlier this week, came from Singapore to Canada, with just 2 close friends and were married in a small ceremony over looking Niagara Falls, in the Konica Minolta Tower. We had such a great time running around Niagara Falls taking photos. I love the first shot. For years, every time we drove past these arches in the park beside the falls I always made a mental note to take a photos of a couple in there one day. I am so happy with the result.

Congratulations Kelly & Wayne!! We cannot wait to show you the rest of the photos and your wedding and engagement albums! Thank you for choosing us to capture you Canadian destination wedding.

Cheers

Erika & Ryan

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Rating: 4.3/5 (6 votes cast)

Kelly & Wayne – Niagara-On-The-Lake Engagement

Ryan Rowell — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:48:03 +0000

Now that I have a few things checked off my list for the wedding, it is on to the honeymoon. We have been planning and discussing and researching where to go for months, and we have finally come up with an adventure we will never forget. For 3 weeks in June 2012, we will be tracing my family roots in Ukraine, soaking up the sun on the beaches of Croatia, and road -tripping our way from Nice, France to Paris.

When we stayed in Iceland last year we found ourselves staying in apartments and bed and breakfasts. As much as I love hotels, when you are traveling for 3 weeks it is sometimes nice to be able to make a meal for yourself or do some laundry and wake up to breakfast. So we decided to try our luck on new site called AirBnB. Basically you type in the city and the dates you will be there and photos and reviews on unique bed and breakfasts, resorts, people apartments, homes, and bedrooms pop up. You can talk directly to the owners and caretakers of the places and book online. The rates really good. But what we like about it is the uniqueness and charm of each property.

For Kelly & Wayne’s wedding and engagement we all stayed at a cute bed and Breakfast in Niagara on the Lake. Kelly & Wayne contacted us last year to be their photographers for their Niagara destination wedding and engagement session. They hail from Singapore, so Niagara was quite a distance to travel to. We love destination weddings! Even when the destination isn’t too far from home (for us). Kelly & Wayne’s wedding was our last wedding for 2011, stay tuned to our blog to see the wedding soon. But for now here is their engagement session we photographed the day before the wedding in NOTL.

Thank you Kelly & Wayne so much for choosing us to be the photographers for your Canadian Wedding. We had so much fun spending time getting to know you both. We hope you enjoy these charming images from your Niagara destination engagement.

Cheers

Erika & Ryan

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 5.0/5 (4 votes cast)

Darren & Krista – Muskoka Engagement

Ryan Rowell — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:32:56 +0000

Choosing the venue has been for us the hardest decision in the wedding planning process. I think we felt it was the hardest choice to make because we, for some crazy reason expected all our favourite places to be crazy expensive. Since our wedding is small (20-30 guests) we just assumed that larger venues would not be able to accommodate us and we would have to pay big wedding prices. We were wrong. Some of the biggest venues we inquired with had options for small weddings like ours. It changed everything for our wedding planning. When it came down to price it was less expensive to rent 2 small venue rooms at the Fairmont Royal York hotel than it was to rent out a restaurant in our home town Barrie, ON. Why would the historic Royal York Hotel have better rates than a small private establishment 1 hour away front he city? Well here is the answer, and it is one that I should have picked up on earlier being a business owner myself. Events, corporate functions, weddings and anything you can fit into a large ballroom or small board room is what they do at the Royal York. A small restaurant is not used to catering to private events on a regular basis, it costs them more in time, staff, food and preparations just to accommodate even my 20-30 guests, they simply do not specialize in this service. So having a company that does not specialize in small or large group events on a daily basis is going to charge more for that service because to them, its special. At a large establishment like the Fairmont they have people who are hired to fold napkins and teams of serving staff to cater to each event happening in each room at the hotel. That is their service. Its a well oiled machine and because of that couples like us benefit from their great rates, excellent service and their overall consistency.

When it came down to actually choosing a venue it wasn’t about price, we were looking for a style, and a feeling. We were looking for places with history, but not too old that you can smell how old it is lol, we wanted a place that meant something to us. Something not to far for our families to travel to. We chose the Fairmont Royal York Hotel because we know we will be taken care of there. If you have ever read our website about us you know how much we love the Fairmont brand and how we have a goal to stay at each Canadian hotel over the next few years.

Venue. Check.

Next all we have to do is find: flowers, table linens, Ryan’s suit, gifts for the guests, a photographer!!! If anyone out there wants any of these jobs just leave a message below.

Enough about us, let’s talk about Darren & Krista and their engagement photo shoot at Taboo Resort and Bala, ON. Krista and Darren are awesome! Just look at them relaxing next to a waterfall in Bala, ON in late October. We love this photo, partially because its a little crazy, but mostly because it shows how brave and bold our couples are. Darren is also a photographer, he specializes in diving and underwater photography. So he understands what it takes sometimes to get a fun creative photo. We are very excited to be shooting their wedding next year at Windermere House, in Muskoka. Our very good friend Elizabeth Johnston of Eventdecorator.com is styling their wedding, so its sure to be a beautiful one.

Thanks Krista & Darren for braving the cold weather, and the rush of a waterfall, all in the name of great photos. We hope you like them!

Cheers

Erika & Ryan

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 4.4/5 (9 votes cast)

Nick & Caitlin – Niagara-on-the-Lake Engagement

Ryan Rowell — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:16:50 +0000

In August fo 2005 Ryan and I went on our first vacation together. We had been dating for a year, we had just started Rowell Photography the year prior, but 2005 was the first year we actually photographed weddings. We booked 7 weddings that summer and after our last one in August we decided to go away for a mini vacation for 4 days to Niagara-on- the -Lake. We took the train from Toronto to the Falls and then walked from Niagara Falls to Niagara-On-The-Lake, about 22km which took us about 4.5 hours to walk. It was hot, and it rained, and we carried our camera gear (which wasn’t very much back then.) It was the most fun we had ever had. When it started to rain we decided we would start hitching a ride. We had no idea how far away we were from our hotel in NOTL. Finally a cute older couple from Maine picked us up, and drove us the 2 minutes up the street to our hotel. We were so close. We still laugh about it to this day. We learned a lot about one another on that trip, I learned that Ryan is very outdoorsy, and he learned that I am amazing with directions (Don’t roll your eyes at me, Ryan. You know its so true.) We also learned to never give up, even when you are tired and in the rain. Our first trip together was amazing, it is the trip we stack up all the others to. On our days off we sometimes find ourselves driving to NOTL, eating at our favourite restaurant (Prince of Wales) or buying things we don’t need like ice wine tea, and birthday cake in a mason jar from Greaves.

It doesn’t take much to get us to go to Niagara. It is one of our favourite places to visit, photograph and hang out with cool people like Nick and Caitlin at. When Caitlin told me her plan to have their Niagara engagement photo shoot in downtown Niagara-On-The-Lake, a winery and Kurtz Orchard we were practically in the car, ready to go.

Thanks to Nick and Caitin for choosing us to be your photographers, and giving us the opportunity to visit Niagara-On-The-Lake again. We are so excited for your wedding next year!!!

Cheers

Erika & Ryan

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 5.0/5 (4 votes cast)

The Fatt Family – Muskoka, ON

Ryan Rowell — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:59:30 +0000

I’ve been fussing over what to say in this blog post for a day or so now, reading my old posts about families and seeing how I can convince more of you (the families who are reading this blog who have not yet had a portrait sessions with us) to contact us to photograph your families. At this time of year I usually write a 500-1500 word rant on the importance of family photos, but this year I am just going to keep it short and sweet because some of you just need a little push, and not a tearjerking essay written by yours truly. Here it is:

You are not too busy, it is not too difficult to coordinate schedules. No, you do not have time to do it later. Yes, this is a priority, and necessity, your responsibility, and a good enough reason. This is your life and it is your responsibility as parents, children and siblings to have this time in your lives captured in photographs. Not just because having a 20×24 inch canvas gallery print on your living room wall would look amazing, but because when your great grandchildren start asking about who you were and what you looked like, you will have something to leave behind for them.

Last month we photographed the Fatt family at their cottage in Muskoka, Ontario. This family photo shoot was a long time coming, a lot of planning and rescheduling due to weather went into this shoot. But it was worth the time, the wait, and all the planning it took to make it happen. We love these photos, they are fun, beautiful, and capture the Muskoka landscape and this amazing family. It was an absolute pleasure to meet and photograph you all. Thank you for choosing us to capture this time in your lives.

We hope you all love these photos!

Cheers

Erika & Ryan

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 5.0/5 (4 votes cast)

Join us for holiday portraits at Botanix Barrie

Ryan Rowell — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:12:24 +0000

It’s been a tradition of us, over the last 6 years we have been photographing, families, children and pets at Botanix Barrie’s Garden Centre for the holidays. If you have been there before for photos then you know what its all about, just drop in anytime between 10am-2pm, and have a portrait take in a vintage sleigh surrounded by real christmas trees. The sleigh will be located at the back of the greenhouse, so when you walk in the building just make your way directly to the back of the store.

We sell our photos by the sheet, so you get the option of:

(1)- 8×10 (2)- 5×7′s (4)- 3.5×5′s (8) wallet sized photos, and (1) 5×7 (16) wallet sized photos.

Each sheet, no matter which one you choose is $25 (tax in) and our holiday special is: Buy 3 sheets of any size and get the 4th one free! Most families use these images to hand out in holiday cards to friends and family.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Date: November 26th 2011

Time: 10am-2pm

Location: Botanix Barrie 375 Bayview Drive Barrie, ON L4N 8Y2

Attire: You can wear whatever you like, just remember it is a greenhouse so it will be chilly.

*Pets Welcome!

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

John & Amy – Windermere House Wedding – Muskoka, ON

Ryan Rowell — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:01:59 +0000

Today it snowed! which is why I am so glad to her this amazingly sunny brunch wedding to post not he blog today. Amy & John’s Muskoka wedding was held at Windermere House. They had a small intimate wedding with their closest friends and family and new baby girl. I had never thought about having a morning wedding until we photographed this one. The light, the mood, the pace was completely different than most weddings we shoot. It was so relaxed and welcoming. We are completely inspired to do a morning brunch for our wedding next spring.

Thanks to Amy & John for choosing us to be your photographers, and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

We hope you all enjoy these sunny morning photos.

Cheers

Erika & Ryan

Contact Erika and Ryan to photograph you.

Rating: 5.0/5 (5 votes cast)

Rowell Photography - Wedding

Fireworks, television shows and happily ever afters

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