Trillium Park and William G. Davis Trail - Ontario Place
Trillium Park on Toronto’s waterfront is one of our favourite spots to shoot at within the city. With every passing season, it feels like the park is transformed – with the ever-changing blooms and seasonal colours, we never quite know what to expect when we arrive at Trillium. But between the varied green spaces, unique sculptures and architecture, the gorgeous lake views, and the stunning Toronto skyline in the background, we never get bored creating an experience and memories for our couples at Trillium Park.
Madeline and Corey’s winter engagement shoot at Trillium Park was actually our first time shooting there with its grounds covered in snow. Madeline and Corey were hoping for a winter wonderland shoot for their engagement session, but as the date got closer to their shoot, we began to worry that we just wouldn’t have enough snow – Toronto weather wasn’t cooperating. With just a couple of days left until their engagement shoot, it finally snowed (and stayed!). We actually got super lucky with the weather, it was not too cold and there was just enough sun to reflect off of the snow and create gorgeous lighting. We couldn’t wait to meet up with Madeline and Corey and start exploring the park together!
Working with Madeline and Corey was so much fun! We know that it doesn’t feel natural for most people to have a camera pointed at their face, so we love to start our engagement shoots with a couple of silly prompts and games to get our couples comfortable being in front of the camera (great practice for the wedding day!) - with Madeline and Corey, it worked like a charm! They couldn’t stop smiling and laughing, and they relaxed right into each other, always cuddling and snuggling together (although I bet the cold winter air helped encourage the snuggling a bit lol).
Winter Light Exhibition 2020 - Ontario Place
You’d never know it, but Trillium Park actually used to be a parking lot for Ontario Place. It has since been converted to this gorgeous public green space and reopened in 2017. Thankfully, not too many people know about its existence yet so the park was quiet and not crowded, allowing us to explore all its fun spots. As a crazy fun bonus for us, a part of the park that feeds into Ontario Place has been converted to a temporary Winter Light Exhibition for the remainder of winter 2020, and holy moly, did we have a blast discovering and playing around the innovative light fixtures that were scattered throughout Ontario Place. There were Turkish lanterns, Christmas lights and bistro lights, mammoths lit up in caves, and even multi-coloured glowing garden hoses in funky patterns. Considering how much Diego and I love to play with unique lighting, you can only image how giddy we were running around searching for the next installation to inspire us. Our favourite part though was seeing Madeline and Corey get excited with us, even pointing out unique ideas for us to build on and create with. Like kids in a playground, Diego and I didn’t want to leave but the Winter Light Exhibition was starting to get crowded and we were all frozen and tired from an epic engagement shoot. We couldn’t leave though without incorporating the most prominent light fixture at Ontario Place, the iconic Cinesphere, and as luck would have it, it snowed for Madeline and Corey’s grand finale. They were asbsolute rock stars and we cannot wait to celebrate with them on their big day!
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Scheduling a winter engagement shootis always a little tricky - the conditions need to be just right! So many factors have to be taken into consideration, like is there going to be enough snow to capture the essence of a Canadian winter, or is it going to be too cold for comfort. It definitely takes a special couple, like Hema and Dileep, brave and committed, to rock a winter engagement shoot!
Tips on how to choose your location and date, what to wear and not wear, what to bring, things to consider, and what to expect from your engagement session.
When’s the last time you really celebrated New Year’s Eve with your family or friends? I know for us it’s been a while. Not too many people really celebrate New Year’s Eve nowadays - they just stay at home watching the countdown on TV (that’s if they can stay awake long enough). Bars and restaurants charge exuberant fees for special New Year’s Eve menus, plus they can be so crowded, which is not always the most fun... so that’s why we adore the idea of New Year’s Eve weddings.