Second Shooter - Bailward Wedding Photography

I got the pleasure to photograph with Rick of RH Studio Photography to shoot Connor and Karly’s wedding in beautiful Chilliwack, BC. I shot with Rick before and he’s an excellent photographer and friend. In this case he needed someone to cover the groom and his groomsmen getting ready, and of course extra coverage for the ceremony.

Bride Getting Ready

Bride and her bridesmaids getting ready at her parents home.

Karly looked amazing even before hair and makeup.

The makeup artists have a *lot* of gear!

Groom Getting Ready

The guys getting ready was a fairly unique experience for me. Picked up in a pickup truck in deep downtown chilliwack, driven up some sketchy roads into the backwoods of Chilliwack (which is already pretty far out there). No, this isn’t the start of a horror movie. Connor and his friends grew up out here, having fun, fishing, swinging off trees over the river, and they wanted to hang out there and relive some memories from the old days (and maybe have a bit of liquid courage as well).

Picked up in a strange truck by some strange guys.

They all got back after a bit of reminiscing about old times it was back home to get ready.

Making himself even more handsome than before.

One of the big challenges as a second shooter is sometimes having minimal contact with the couple beforehand, and having to turn into everyone’s friend right away. Gaining the confidence of the groom-to-be and a gaggle of groomsmen within a few minutes, and getting great and honest photos is a challenging task for sure.

Ceremony and Reception at The Secret Garden

The ceremony and reception took place at The Secret Garden at Woodbridge Ponds in Abbotsford. The location is gorgeous and a great spot for a wedding ceremony and reception.

Sign a leaf and let the couple know you were there.

Ceremony

The ceremony area is the great expanse of manicured grassy area with lots of room for seating and a raised area which gives the crowd a good view of the bride and groom.

The flower girl and ring-bearer were adorable.

... and most adorable ring bearer — … and most adorable ring bearer

The couple were preceded by the wedding party.

And then giving the bride away.

And the ceremony was of course amazing.

Connor and Karly are a wonderful couple and I was privileged to be allowed to share the day with them. Big thanks to Rick at RH Studio Photography for inviting me to work with him again. Having a second photographer as part of the photography at your wedding gives you more chances to capture moments, better coverage, and allows your photographer to be in two places at once! Something to think about when you plan and budget for your wedding photographer.

I got to work again with the wonderful Nicole Aurelie of Nicole Aurelie Photography (Facebook page) and jumped at the chance. She was shooting Barbara and Steve’s Vancouver wedding and I got to be her second shooter. Basically I get to not worry (as much) about the must have shots, but instead get to get details, shots from the side, get a different angle on the ceremony, and do some more out of the box thinking. Of course there’s also the dragging around bags, getting Nicole things she needs, keeping an eye out for hands out of place and any collars out of sorts.

Barbara and Steve were awesome. She’s fun and bubbly, he is a military man with a sense of pride and order about him. We started at the Sandman Hotel in downtown Vancouver with the ladies getting themselves ready.

Barbara and Steven — The Makeup Artist Stretch

Details, details, details… you know I love details!

From there we headed to the ceremony at the little church where they were married. A simple but beautiful ceremony, followed by some lovely family photos under the trees. I tell you I got a workout wrangling people for Nicole and getting the many, many family members out of the background of the photos!

From there we went to the beautiful Queen Elizabeth Park for formals.

Reception was held at the BC Regiment office (I told you that Steve was a military man) which was done up nicely. A normal wedding reception if you ignore the tank in the middle of the floor 🙂 We snuck out for a few quick photos on the downtown streets before the reception proper started.