For us, we have never waved the flag that says ‘We’re Event Photographers‘, rather we wave the ‘We’re Wedding Photographers‘ flag.

The way we look at event photography is we’ll gladly do it if we’re approached by companies or individuals, if we don’t have a wedding to be at. We do this for a few reasons, and those reason almost entirely point back to being better wedding photographers.

At events, you’re in situations where you have challenging lighting scenarios (like a wedding), multiple people in somewhat stressful environment (like a wedding) and once an event is complete, you need to have a slick workflow so that you can return finished work back to your clients on time (like a wedding).

So the biggest reason why we book events is so we can not only hammer off some stellar photos for whomever is hiring us for the event, but we can also hone our skills so that our next wedding is better then the last.

All that jabbering aside, events really do have their perks.

For this post, we just wanted to take you through a few of the stunning venues we had the opportunity to visit lately. These are some of the non-wedding related things that we’ve been a part of the last few weeks, and we thank everyone who invited us along to these events for letting us be a part of it.

As well, if you have an event coming up and you feel it could be complimented by a couple of photographers, we’d gladly enter a dialogue with you about our services. Just fire us over an email to info@nordicaphotography.com

So, first up on our small venue list is a birthday party we did in West Vancouver. We were contacted by the lovely Cat Barr (local über-celebrity!) and she invited us along. The venue for this party was at the snazzy confides of Beachside Forno Restaurant on Marine Drive. It’s cozy and for a smaller wedding, you can’t beat this spot. Plus the ocean-side sea wall is a short 8-iron away, so the view is absolutely money.

So, you with us still? Beauty, because this is the big one.

Ever heard of Meeting Professionals International? Neither had we. But, we were sent an email a while back about covering their World Education Congress that was being held at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The convention was held over four days, and there would be anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 members of this global community of networkers mingling around the Convention Centre at one time.

So, to say this was a challenge for two fella’s to cover would be about accurate.

But, it was awesome. And even more awesome were some of the venues we were able to cover over the course of the Congress. Like, we’re talking underworld society of Vancouver awesomeness that we had no idea even existed kind of venues.

First up on the list was The Vancouver Club.

Those in the know in Vancouver probably can concur that this is where the global heavy hitters hang out when they roll into town. We were a bit overwhelmed at first by this location because of the history of the venue, but once settling in with the very hospitable staff that worked there, it was a comfortable dinner to photograph. The MPI brass were ‘honouring’ their top ranks at this particular dinner, and they really pulled out all the stops to make this dinner something very special.

The Fairmont is basically a giant when it comes to hosting huge receptions like the ones that MPI was hosting. There were quite a few over the course of the Congress, so we feel like we really got to see the lay of the land in this monster hotel.

Not to be outdone by the Fairmont, the Pan Pacific definitely holds its own with it’s share of venues. The view you get in some of their ballrooms of Gastown, downtown and the North Shore are some of the best you’ll find in Vancouver, so having a few pops and celebrating a wedding in any of these rooms would be totally sick (in a good way).

Another of the MPI’s gala-type events over the course of the Congress was held at the Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel. The event held here called the Rise Awards, and they more or less recognized the up and comers of the MPI family.

From our point of view, we just couldn’t believe that a room this size was located in the Marriott. The venue looked big enough to hold a few thousand people, and it was done up to the nines. The things you learn eh…

So, that was about it for the hotel scene around the Vancouver Convention Centre. But what about inside this beast of a building?

Well, inside the Convention Centre you have it all. But one of the biggest rooms is the West Ballroom, and this is where MPI really put the peddle to the medal with the festivities. Considering how massive this room was, we couldn’t believe how intimate it felt in there. Unless you have a wedding with like 5,000 people, this room probably isn’t for you. But! It was impressive indeed and Vancouver will definitely be hosting some high-profile events at some point in this particular room.

We were recently flown down to Cancun for a wedding. Needless to say, it was an incredible experience and we felt very fortunate to be a part of it. Future weddings in Mexico are certainly high on our agenda.

This particular wedding was between Chad and Meagan, and while we were there, we spent a few minutes doing a pre-wedding photo session together. We just wanted to get comfortable with one another so on the day of their wedding, we would nail their pictures.

Voila. Engagement photography session Mexican style.

Here’s one picture from the pre-wedding shoot we did with the couple.

We’ll post the full engagement shoot later. Cerveza!

At the bottom of the post, we have put the images to music.

We’ll be in Mexico for a wedding that we’re both being flown in for, and it goes without saying that we’re very excited for this. Neither of have ever been to Mexico, and the ideas we have for this wedding are all unreal on paper. Of course, we’ll wait to see if they’re worth a shit or not in reality.

So if you’re trying to phone us over the next few days, please be patient and we’ll be back to normal Friday morning. But, email away if need be to info@nordicaphotography.com and in between the wedding, the engagement photography and the cerveza, we’ll promptly reply.

Adios amigos!

This picture is of us (Cole on the far left, Jakob on the far right) and the wedding couple we photographed on Saturday. We thought it may be good to put a picture of us in a post ever once in a while so you get an idea what we look like!

We will be doing Jennifer and Chad’s wedding in early September, but we managed to pencil in a date for some engagement photos. We did these pictures near Horse Lake, if you’re familiar with the area.

And yes, folks, that is a hemp field you’re seeing in this post.

If you’re interested in seeing these images with some solid tunes, we created a slideshow at the bottom of this post.

The couple have selected one hell of a venue for their wedding. The vineyard does not traditionally host weddings, so the fact their wedding will be held there makes it quite unique.

This is the first of a few photography sessions we have coming up. Jen and Chad in a boat.

There are a few pictures that look like they could have been taken in a field, but really, it’s along the Seawall. Deceptive!

Lisa and Adam are ridiculously photogenic. Thanks for making us look good!

The waves were a’splashin’ but they didn’t mind one bit and were more then happy to get in there and giver’.

The lady with the hat was sitting on the white log but volunteered to move if we took her picture. Thank you lovely hat lady!

You can’t shake a stick at getting Spandy Andy in an engagement session.

Inukshuk. For the love of Peter, Paul and Mary, Inukshuk.

Ominous clouds. Amen.

So, that’s what jumps out to us about this post. It’s like having a hit of valium into your eyeballs. Enjoy.