This was definitely the craziest day I’ve captured as a Wedding Photographer. These two, unfortunately, had postponed their wedding 3 times due to Covid. The day before their wedding, the bride had broken her leg and needed to have surgery the night of the wedding. We had a call at 9 am the day of the wedding and chatted game plans on how we could “fake” a lot of the important moments. We knew it wasn’t going to be the same, but we had a positive outlook on it all. She needed to be in a wheelchair to move around, be carried, or use crutches. However, that’s not the only thing that happened…
Derecho First Look
For their first look, we took golf carts to drive to our location. As we got there, the storm clouds were rolling in. As you can probably tell, it was really windy! We had just enough time to do the first look, then we had to get out of there because it had started down pouring on us! A severe thunderstorm swept across Ontario and parts of Quebec on May 21, 2022, bringing winds of up to 190 km/h. The historic event damaged more than 400 hydro poles in Ottawa, knocking out power to more than 180,000 homes. Several people were left in the dark for days, if not weeks.
I was in the golf cart with the groom trying to hold onto all my gear and not get it wet. He was going so fast to get us out that I almost flew out so many times. Shingles were flying off the roof at us. I thought we were about to get hit by a tornado. The golf cart that the bride was in crashed into a tent. She had to get out and at this point, she was completely soaked but her dress got caught in the wheel well of the golf cart. She then needed to hobble into the venue on her own with her broken leg. This was definitely the craziest day as a wedding photographer I’ve ever experienced.
All our video and camera gear, along with the DJ’s went flying as well. This was all set up before the first look and it was thrown everywhere during the storm.
Once we got back to the Venue
The second we got into the venue after many tears had fallen, the bride wanted to have the ceremony right away. So I got all of my flashes up and we were ready to go! I lit the very dark venue up like the 4th of July. Luc was doing video so it wasn’t great for him, but he made it work, luckily our cameras work well in low light. After the ceremony, the venue sadly had to kick us out due to the liquor license being in jeopardy as we had lost power.
I knew the bride was going to be so upset… So I invited both of them and whoever else wanted to join, to come to my house because we had a generator and we could order pizza and just have fun! We set up some tables in our garage and ordered lots and lots of pizza from JoJos! Friends and family raided fridges for drinks and ice.
Craziest Day as a Wedding Photographer
I knew that having beautiful photos was really important to the bride and groom and I desperately wanted to make that happen. I immediately invited Shelby from Showpony (what an absolute saint for saying yes!) to come back to our place (after driving through the wreckage that the city was in). This is why hiring amazing vendors is so important. She literally saved the day in my living room!
A close friend of the bride touched up her makeup, and after a few very real breakdowns (not sure how she made it as far as she did that day) we literally carried her outside just in time for sunset.
They couple had their first dance in our driveway, while their friends were surrounding them with lights from their phones! We were able to take gorgeous photos of the couple in our driveway. At the end of the day they did get married and I think that’s what it’s all about.
This was such a surreal experience! Definitely the Craziest Wedding as a Wedding Photographer I’ve ever been to.
Vendor Team:
Photo & Video: Grey Loft Studio
Venue: ALE – Amberwood Lounge & Eatery
Dress: Renewed with Love
DJ: Quality Entertainment
Hair: Shelby from Showpony
Cakes & Cupcakes: Suzy Q & Cakes by Crystal
Makeup: Jolene Powell
Officiant: Sharilynn Rowan by All Seasons
