It always surprises us when couples want to come to Canada for their pre-wedding photo shoots. It really shouldn’t because Canada is so beautiful, and even our hometown of Barrie, Ontario is geographically, and visually stunning. When Shan & Joseph who hail from Hong Kong emailed us asking if they could come all the way to Canada and have us photograph them in Barrie, Ontario on Canada Day, we were thrilled, and a bit nervous. Immediately we said yes, then started to wonder, what would we show them in our city? What touristy things would they find interesting? or beautiful? or exciting? It was a challenge to think outside the box, but then we soon realized that we didn’t have to. We put ourselves in their shoes, and thought what would we be interested in seeing if we visited Hong Kong? or some obscure small Chinese village? The answer: EVERYTHING!
It only took about 5 minutes of conversation to learn that even though we come from totally different cultures, and speak different languages, and have different daily routines that we as humans have one very basic, and similar trait in common; Curiosity.  So we took them to every location we love in our city, and all the places in between that make Barrie culturally unique. We were surprised to hear from Shan & Joseph what things they enjoyed the most, simple things really that we often take for granted in our hometown. Sometimes the things we don’t have are what make us so unique.
They loved how few people were around, even during Barrie’s Canada Day Fireworks celebration at the lakeshore. They loved how few tall buildings there are which made watching the sunset over our city so easy, they couldn’t believe they were the only people at Springwater Provincial Park that day, and couldn’t get enough of Tim Horton’s.
We loved rediscovering our city for this very Canadian Pre-Wedding photo shoot. Shan and Joseph were dream clients, always smiling, always laughing and having a great time, never lacking a sense of adventure. Thank you Shan & Joseph for visiting our hometown and allowing us to tour you around. Next time we will come to visit you in Hong Kong and check out all your favourite places.
Cheers & Good Luck with your upcoming wedding,
Your friends,
& Ryan Rowell
