Giulia and Dan’s urban romantic wedding shared with Wind and Willow Studio’s Insights.
You have communicated some of the upsides of couples giving themselves permission to scale the size of their wedding to suite their unique priorities. How was this the case with Giulia and Dan?
Although Giulia and Dan were lucky not to be too heavily impacted by the pandemic, we have noticed a change in the industry as a whole to really embrace the couples unique vision for the day and to put a focus on what’s most important for them. We really feel the pandemic helped put into perspective for a lot of people what was truly important.
For Giulia and Dan this was finally getting to marry each other, having all their loved ones gathered together, showing off their dance moves during their choreographed first dance, and making memories together as they started this next momentous chapter of their lives!
What lingers as truly unique about this wedding experience?
Their whole day was just so relaxed. A lot of times we start the day by getting thrown into the hustle and bustle of a busy morning but you could tell right from the get-go that they were very relaxed and just couldn’t wait to finally see one another – they were even ahead of schedule for the morning! It really felt like their focus was solely on each other and their love, and they didn’t sweat the small stuff.
Can you elaborate on the difference between a snapshot and a photograph when in the context of having a timeless, precious wedding album?
We feel the largest difference between a snapshot and a photograph is that one is captured and one is crafted. When we’re photographing a wedding, although we lean more on the documentary side of things, we consider things such as the lighting, the background, what to crop out and what to include, how we want to edit the image to invoke a certain feeling. This leads to a wedding album of carefully created and curated images with a similar feel throughout – continuity in our editing style within an album is very important to us!
How can a wedding photograph expand the viewers perception of the day, even if they were there?
There is so much happening on a wedding day, it’s impossible to see and experience it all! As a more documentary-style photography duo, we aim to capture as much of our couples’ wedding day as possible. The wedding album generally showcases parts of the day that everyone isn’t usually part of, from getting ready to the first look between the couple to the intimate golden hour session when most of the nerve wracking parts of the day are done. Full day photography really gives you a more complete view of what happened through the whole day, from the monumental parts to the small moments in between.
When it comes to decisions couples are making for their day, how does your input impact the success of their album?
We offer complimentary timeline assistance to all our couples and if they have a planner we work closely with them too! We want their day to be as stress-free as possible and to have enough time to capture what’s most important to them, so we take the time to discuss that with them first. Once we know what those are we’ll make recommendations on lighting and when the best time of day would be to ensure great photos but also a good flow so that our couples actually enjoy their wedding – not just be there for the photos.
How do you communicate to your couples how your signature editing style will contribute to and augment the natural beauty of their day while keeping an authentic overall aesthetic present in the photograph?
We send on average 3-4 example galleries to inquiring clients as well as a guide that details who we are and how we work. We also try to use a pretty true to life editing style as we 1) want to highlight our couple’s natural beauty 2) we want their photos to be timeless and 3) we want to showcase the details in the other decisions they made (i.e the colours they chose to represent themselves in their big day).
” when you take a picture of a woman and you show her the things that you find beautiful about her, it can change the way she fells about herself forever.” Jordan Bunniie
Reflecting on this quote how has your work given couples new perspectives about themselves individually and also perhaps as a couple?
We are all so self-critical, and it can be very hard to look past the things about ourselves that we struggle with. As photographers, it’s our job to capture beauty, and this can really help people to see themselves in a new light.
Being more documentary-focused, we find moments of real emotion as much as possible through our couple’s wedding days, and these unposed moments can show a new way to view their relationship – as seen through the camera and the eye of the photographer rather than as a participant in the relationship.
Photographer: Wind and Willow Studios
Venue: Berkeley Fieldhouse
Wedding dress designer: Allure Bridals
Wedding dress shop: Sarantina Bridal
Groom and groomsmen suit designer: Hugo Boss
suit purchased at: Harry Rosin
Bridesmaid dress designers: Dessy Group and Adrianna Papell
Florals: 3 Girls Floral
Hair: The Bridal Party and Alexandra Kathryn Hair|Makeup
Makeup: The Bridal Party and Rachel Hilton Makeup
DJ: Macmill and JS
Doughnuts: krispy kreme Canada
