Wedding Vendors
Venue: Winona Vine Estates
Portrait Venue: The Powerhouse Restaurant - Stoney Creek
Dress: Lovebird Bridal Boutique
Makeup & Hair: Honor Beauty
Officiant: One Soul Awakening
Flowers: Flower Frenzy Florist
Band: The Sound Parade
Photography: Diego and Liza Photography
Winona Vine Estates Wedding
For Diego and I, the most important part of any wedding is the people. It’s all about the people. All your favourite people gathered to celebrate one of the biggest days of your life. It’s the people who make you laugh uncontrollably as you are getting ready for your big day, and those that calm the nervous jitters as you are about to walk down the aisle, and all the ones breaking it down on the dancefloor with you at the end of the night, celebrating the start of your new adventure. Those are our favourite moments to capture, the candid moments, because those are the real moments we know our couples will cherish forever, and for that, we just couldn’t wait for Jen & Steve to see their photos as soon as they were ready.
From the first time we met Jen & Steve, we could right away tell how important their family and friends were to them, and what a big role they play in their lives. And while weddings can be hectic and a little crazy at times, it was very important for Jen and Steve to spend as little time away from their family and friends as possible and to truly enjoy and celebrate the whole day together.
Getting Ready
Arriving at Steve’s family home, I was immediately welcomed in and made to feel part of the family. The house was full of people buzzing with excitement, running around and getting ready. You could really feel the happiness and positive vibes flowing, and it was so wonderful to witness and capture Steve’s strong bond with his family, with his brother in particular, and with all of his childhood buddies that he grew up with, everyone there to support Steve and celebrate the big day.
Jen got ready at an AirBnB with her closest girlfriends and her parents by her side. It was so much fun watching Jen and her girls interact while getting their make-up and hair done by the lovely Paje and Melissa of Honor Beauty. The girls were sipping on mimosas, cracking jokes, and just having a blast while helping Jen get ready. It was awesome capturing such real and candid moments shared between Jen and her girls and parents right before getting married – everyone was just beaming as she put on her gorgeous dress from Lovebird Bridal Boutique and got ready to leave for the ceremony.
Ceremony at Winona Vine Estates
The ceremony, held at the reception hall in Winona Vine Estates, was led by Rev Audra of One Soul Awakening. We loved her approach of personalizing the ceremony, making us really feel connected to the ceremony and feel the love and emotion shared between Jen and Steve and all their guests. And looking around the room at their wedding party, their family, and all the guests, we could tell that everyone felt the same. There was so much love for Jen and Steve, and so much happiness as they were pronounced husband and wife.
Portraits at The Powerhouse Restaurant in Stoney Creek
Following the ceremony at Winona Vine Estates, Jen and Steve, along with their parents and wedding party, headed to The Powerhouse in Stoney Creek to grab a couple of celebratory drinks, while also sneaking in a couple of minutes here and there to capture their portraits. I say a couple of minutes at a time as it was a super cold fall day and that’s all anyone could really stand for pictures outside. Luckily, The Powerhouse is such a quaint building, with gorgeous historic elements and a relaxed atmosphere, that it was the perfect backdrop for candid group shots of Jen and Steve enjoying drinks and hanging out with their family and friends before returning to Winona Vine Estates to dine and party the night away.
Reception at Winona Vine Estates
Coming back to Winona Vine Estates for the reception, the guests were greeted with the gorgeous décor from Flower Frenzy Florist, plus delicious cocktails and so much amazing food to kick off a night of partying. The cocktail hour featured a giant antipasto spread with a mouth-watering selection of different salads and cheeses, a seafood station, and even a cut-to-order prosciutto station. All the courses were, in fact, just one amazing dish after another. And while the guests were enjoying all the amazing food, they were treated to hilarious and also very moving speeches - we LOVED seeing Jen and Steve erupt in laughter listening to the memories and stories that were shared of them. We definitely struggled to contain our laugher while capturing all the candid reactions.
We knew it would be an awesome party when a drinking game was incorporated into the wedding reception – if you wanted the bride and groom to kiss, you had to come up to the head table and take a shot of hard liquor. Well, depending on how you look at it, the plan either totally backfired, or totally rocked, because within a few minutes several bottles were emptied, and our couple had a lot of kissing to do.
The party that followed was absolutely amazing! The band, The Sound Parade, was off the charts and kept the dance floor jam packed the ENTIRE night – not an easy feat at a wedding. They were so much fun to watch in action, interacting with the guests and clearly having a blast jamming together. Their energy permeated to the dance floor and gave us an opportunity to capture some sick moments of Jen and Steve letting loose and their guests breaking it down with some crazy awesome dance moves. Jen and Steve, you rocked your wedding! Thank you for having us be a party of such an amazingly special day!
You Might Also Like…
There is something so romantic about winter weddings. Maybe it’s the fresh snow glittering in the sun, or perhaps it’s the classy and elegant fur wraps that make you want to curl up by a fireplace, but whatever it is, winter weddings never fail to impress us and Stacey and Vince’s winter wedding at the stunning Arlington Estate was no exception.
Stepping inside Hacienda Sarria to capture Cierra and Matt’s wedding was like stepping inside a luxurious Spanish dream. Every little detail at Hacienda is reminiscent of a lavish old-world Spanish style put together with much love and care to ensure that every couple has the most spectacular and personal experience, and the most amazing wedding photos, of course. It’s a wedding photographer’s dream.
Many of our family and friends are often surprised to hear that Diego and I work year-round shooting weddings. There is an assumption that the wedding season in Canada begins in the Spring and that we have the entire winter to relax and enjoy some time off. Most just cannot fathom standing outdoors in the frigid Canadian weather, posing for photos, wearing, well, not a whole lot...