The best time to learn something non-photography related while photographing a wedding seems to be during the speeches.

Inevitably, somebody will say something that will stick in your mind and you wake up the next day thinking about that new tidbit of useful knowledge.

At Robbie and Lindsay’s Quails Gate Winery wedding, there were two useful nuggets of knowledge that we picked up on.

The first was about the Seven-Year Rule of Relationships. As a friend of Robbie pointed out, when you’re in a long-term relationship, you’re eventually given two options as you close in on the seven-year mark.

Option one: You have kids. Option two: You get married.

Robbie went with option two.

The second lesson was from given by one of Lindsay’s bridesmaids, and we felt it rang the truest out of any speech we’ve heard at a wedding.

She spoke about deep-rooted friendships, and the evolution that happens as people’s lives transform into adulthood. She said that the truest friendships, as was the case with her and Lindsay, will change over time, but will never be different.

When we were photographing this wedding and as we went through the pictures afterwards, it seemed very apparent that Robbie and Lindsay have always been the kind of people you want around you in your life. That solid character is something that will never change.

The only thing in their lives now is what’s different. What’s different now is two strong individuals have come together and will undoubtedly have a hell of a successful life together.

And all of this happened within seven years.

Makeup // Shimmer and Gloss
Venue // Quails Gate Winery
Hair // Chatters Salon

Everybody knows somebody from high-school who you know will turn out to be someone special and live an incredible life.

The sort of people who are good-looking, smart, likable and full of potential. These individuals are ‘going to make it’, and they’ll find a partner who is equally as special.

Darren and Brittani are exactly those type, and they found one another.

Darren is the kind of guy who was a great athlete, has friends who’ll take bullets for him (but only one according to Darren’s best man – Darren will have to take the second).

Brittani is like some sort of princess and is absolutely stunning.

Both come from parents anyone would be lucky to have and everyone who is in their lives is lucky to have them.

They’re perfect for one another, and they’re the high-school standouts from different lives who found one another. It was meant to be.

That’s pretty much the content of an email Cole and I got a few days ago. Two people we’ve never met are planning one of the most important days of their lives after Nordica Photography’s availability.

To me, that’s surreal.

Surreal because this is our first year in business.

Surreal because a google search for photographers in Vancouver gives you hundreds of options.

Surreal because last year at this point I was still doing photo gigs at a governmental institution in Stockholm.

And surreal because it’s so awesome.

//Jakob

Here are a couple pictures from the wedding we photographed yesterday in Abbotsford.

Sometimes you just want to blog the entire thing right away, but we’ll hold off and post more later.

Lisa and Adam’s wedding was at Cecil Green Park, located near the University of British Columbia. The reason Cecil Green was selected is because both Lisa and Adam are lawyers who studied at UBC, so there is an obvious sentimental connection to this beautiful Vancouver campus.

So what can we tell you about this wedding?

Well as you probably noticed, there were details galore, many of which had a strong connection to Lisa’s Chinese culture. From the abundant use of the lucky number “8″ to the Dragon Dance at the reception, there was a meticulous attention to detail when it came to incorporating Chinese intricacies into the wedding.

The flow of the day was interesting as well. After preparations we were off to Stanley Park to do some portraits. We mozied our way from there to the UBC campus, where we did a few more pictures in front of the building Lisa had studied in. After that, it was a family effort in preparing the venue and the ceremony began.

But what we will remember is the care and consideration that Adam and Lisa invested into their wedding (they selected a book for each guest as a gift, for example). They are a two people with awesome character, and we feel very fortunate to have met them and photographed their wedding.

And as usual, here’s a slideshow from the day.

Cecil Green Park at UBC on Sunday was the venue where we photographed Lisa’s wedding.

The wedding was filled with details that had a lot of Chinese inspiration, and combined with the gorgeous venue, this was an all-class wedding.

More to come later.