A beautiful and elegant wedding at one of my favourite venues in Durham Region; the Nestleton Waters Inn.
A little background; Corry and James' wedding was a total Deja Vu, they tied the knot on Thanksgiving Sunday; my previous wedding at the Nestleton Waters Inn was also on Thanksgiving Sunday - crazy, I know!
One of the many reasons why I like the Nestleton Inn is because... well, it's an Inn. What I mean by that is the couple and some of the family members and friends can stay on site. This really eliminates the dilemma of where to get ready (all of the rooms are beautifully and uniquely decorated) and really increases efficiency in the day. It's really just down one flight of stairs a few steps outside and up another flight of stairs from where the bride is getting ready to where the groom is getting ready.
Another reason (of the many) why I really like the venue is that there is no shortage of beautiful backgrounds. Quite literally, wherever you turn there's a pleasing sight and a great background for photos. Although there's ample space to roam and multiple different backgrounds many of the spots are quite close to eachother. This means that you can get outdoor ceremony photos, bridal party/family photos and bride and groom photos that look completely different by simply walking a few steps and changing the orientation.
The weather:
We would have loved to have open skies for a gorgeous sunset but it was overcast. I talk about this a lot but overcast skies are actually really, really, really good for photos. When it's bright outside in the early afternoon (and not quite the golden hour just yet) I try to keep everyone in the shade as much as possible for 2 reasons.
1. I want to keep everyone as comfortable as possible (especially if it's a very hot summer day)
2. The photos look much much better. The shade acts as a softbox for the sunlight and creates very even lighting, meaning you won't see any hot spots on anyone's face or squinty eyes, this is exactly what happens on an overcast day but on a much larger scale.
On an overcast day we get free reign to go anywhere we like for photos and not be worried about staying in the shade because we know that all of the photos will look great and have that nice even lighting across them, - Also, the window light on an overcast day is just amazing! -
This meant that when Corry and James went out in the canoe on the water the lighting looked the same as when they were walking on the dirt road. To do the canoe photo properly on a bright sonny day we would had to wait until it was closer to sunset .
After we wrapped up our photo session we headed inside the Inn for a standup reception with various food stations. Typically the reception takes place inside the tent (across the pond from the Inn) but for smaller weddings they can accommodate everyone indoors. I feel like it creates a unique twist in the wedding and encourages the guests to mingle with each other more.
Towards the end of the reception I snuck Corry and James out for a few night time photos which were the icing on the cake of a perfect Thanksgiving wedding day.
