Wedding at the InterContinental Montreal

I was thrilled to work with F and J-C for their wedding at the InterContinental Montreal hotel.

A simple, story-telling approach

When I first met this quiet couple, they mentioned that they didn’t want to do a portrait session on the wedding day at all! Instead, they wanted only a few simple portraits at the church.

This request was pretty unusual since most wedding couples want at least a brief portrait session. This couple was somewhat reserved in personality and preferred having photos that tell the story of the day. The bride and groom didn’t want to be the centre of attention or have to pose for a photoshoot. They wanted their wedding photos to be about their families gathering together.

This approach worked great as I often prefer a more candid, story-telling approach versus formal posed wedding photos. I was able to focus on photographing their special day with a very un-intrusive style. It meshed perfectly with my photojournalistic wedding photography approach.

Wedding ceremony at the Saint-Léon-de-Westmount church

The wedding ceremony was held on a sunny day at the Saint-Léon-de-Westmount church in downtown Montreal. It’s a beautiful, historical church that has been around for over a century. It’s known for its traditional Roman Catholic ceremonies. The church was packed with family and friends from both Canada and France who joined them to celebrate. Since the bride and groom met each other at Catholic youth group, the religious ceremony was important to them. Their own priest officiated the wedding, making it very personal.

Simple portraits at the church

As the bride and groom had requested, we kept the formal portraits short and sweet, with a few group photos with family members on the church steps. Then I took only about 15 minutes in the yard of the church to take some photos of the happy couple, still sporting huge happy smiles after their wedding ceremony.

After these few portraits, we headed over to the InterContinental Montreal hotel for the wedding reception.

Wedding reception at the Hotel InterContinental Montreal

The wedding reception was held in the “S.Bernhardt” hall at the hotel InterContinental Montreal.

I used a few off-camera flashes to provide some extra lighting to the moody reception hall. While it’s a very elegant ballroom, it has dark coloured walls and little light. In this type of context, it’s important to add some extra lighting to make sure the guests faces are well lit. I also wanted to balance my flashes to match the mood of the room and not overpower the ambiance.

I was able to capture some great emotional reactions to the heartfelt speeches shared by moms, aunts, uncles and bridesmaids during the evening.

There were a few fun games to break the ice among the guests, including a fun twist on the Hot Potato game and a lively bouquet toss.

The night was expertly hosted by emcee Alisha Normil and DJ Matt from XO Productions.

Along with the documentary wedding coverage, I took plenty of group photos so the bride and groom would have memories of all their guests.

Take a look at the photojournalistic wedding photos below for the story of this couple’s big day!

If you’re planning a wedding at the InterContinental Montreal, please send me a quick message to see if I’m available.