Kat Arndt Photography shares Alyssa and Kevin’s Intimate Stylish Downtown Toronto Wedding.
“When a relationship forms between the subject and the photographer, a natural interaction takes place making the images more intimate.” Corinne Day (photographer)– How does this quote relate to your photography practise?
For my couples to feel authentically themselves on their wedding day, I find it important to form a genuine connection with them starting from the time they book with me! By sending questionnaires and asking questions during the engagement session before their wedding, it allows me to understand who they are together as a couple. I love spending time getting to know my couples so that on their wedding day they feel like they can be who they are in front of me. Getting to know each other’s personalities before the wedding makes the world of a difference!
How would you describe the mood and atmosphere of the wedding ceremony and how did you effectively capture and communicate it through your photographs?
Alyssa and Kevin’s wedding ceremony was equally heart felt but filled with joy and laughter. Their vows brought tears of laughter, of joy, and love to their guests! I love listening to vows and anticipating the emotional moments before they happen so that I can capture their genuine feeling. I was mindful to capture Alyssa and Kevin’s feelings for each other by focusing on them as a couple and their authentic reactions while listening to each other’s vows. The ceremony is so intimate and I want them to remember how they felt for each other in the special moments of their ceremony!
I feel like looking back at your ceremony, it’s so nice to see how your parents, grandparents, siblings, and favourite people also felt during one of the most memorable moments so I love to keep an eye out for natural moments from their guests as well. There was a moment when I saw Kevin’s sisters holding hands together and I love capturing that connection where they felt so close and like they were watching such a special moment together!
Who are you imagining looking at these photographs when you take them?
One of the questions I love to ask my couples is “how do you want to feel when you look back at these photos in 20 years”. I feel like I definitely imagine my couple reliving their wedding day through their photos and also bringing them as art into their home. Though, I am extremely close with my own family and there really is nothing better than capturing a raw moment between the couple and their close family, especially parents and grandparents so I do imagine the family feeling an appreciation for the moments captured as well!
What were some of Alyssa’s and Kevin’s priorities for their wedding day and how did you highlight these in your photography choices?
It was important for Alyssa and Kevin to feel fully present on their wedding day, and not feel rushed. They wanted the photos to feel natural and they wanted to enjoy the day with their family and friends but also put a priority on spending time together as well! When working to help Alyssa and Kevin with their timeline, we made sure to give them a lot of extra time for casual and natural moments to unfold throughout the day. We didn’t want their wedding to feel packed full of posed photography and they wanted a lot of natural moments in their gallery, so we added lots of extra time throughout the day that allowed for those moments to happen!
I always keep my camera with me and while they’re embracing each real moment, either together, or with their family and friends, I was able to capture it in a more authentic way than if we had planned every second of their wedding day.
They told me when they looked back at their photos in a few years they wanted to feel like they were classy for an evening, so I had visions in my head of old film movies and used that as inspiration for their couples photos throughout the day and evening!
How do you prepare to shoot in a venue and make some choices ahead of time and also leave space to modify and adapt and take advantage of new opportunities that arise? (Citing this wedding as a case study )
I love to come into a new space or venue and get inspired by the landscape, architecture, and lighting of the venue! I look at the venue on instagram and through their website before I show up on the wedding day, which helps me get a sense of the space. Before Kevin and Alyssa’s wedding day they shared with me some of the locations at Berkeley Fieldhouse that were important to them and that they wanted to make sure they got photos in. It is definitely important to be able to go with the flow and make changes if need be, because on their wedding day it happened to be quite a rainy day and so we weren’t able to go to some of their favourite spots for photos before the ceremony! I chatted with Alyssa and Kevin to make sure that we were able to find a beautiful space for photos at Berkeley fieldhouse that was sheltered from the rain but still brought their vision for their photos to life. Later in the day the rain stopped and I was so happy to be able to pull in some of their other favourite photo locations at Berkeley Fieldhouse in the evening!
When you are editing your sneak peek album what criteria does a photography choice have to meet to be included in the select album?
When choosing photos for a sneak peek gallery, I want you to feel like you’re reliving the most memorable moments from your wedding day! I am looking for photos that hold the most emotional and intimate moments between the couple but also between their close family too. I choose the photos that tell the story of their wedding day and that stand out to me. I love capturing moments in an artful way so I will usually choose photos that feel like art you can bring into your home. I include more moments between the couple in their sneak peek gallery because the day goes by so fast and I want you to feel like you can share something special together as a couple! There are so many moments of family and friends that it’s hard to pick just a few special ones to put into a sneak peek gallery so I usually save those for the full gallery.
Looking back back on Alyssa and Kevin’s album, what elements of your creative process would you say contributed most to its success?
By getting to know each other, I felt like Alyssa and Kevin fully trusted me to capture their wedding day. Since they fully trusted me to capture their day in a journalistic and artistic way, they were able to be fully present with each other and their guests rather than focusing on getting certain photos. The most creative, unique, and artistic photos from their wedding day come from genuine moments between them! I always encourage my couples to take a moment to themselves and be together. When they slow down and enjoy each moment, I am able to capture their authenticity and am able to slow down myself to create art from their connection.
Venue : Berkeley Fieldhouse
Photographer : Kat Arndt Photography
Florist : Blackberry Stone Florals
Makeup : Melanie Prentice
Hair : the Cutting Edge/
Band : Born In The Eighties
