Extreme weather is common here in the prairies. Yesterday hit 40° C (104° F) where I live and I was already down with a pretty moderate case of heat exhaustion or heat stroke that started a few days earlier. Every year the sun is hitting me a bit harder and I know I’m not the only one, so I’m going to share a few tips I’ve learned shooting weddings in the summer sun through the past decade:
Have water. Everywhere. More than you think you need, and accessible wherever you go, especially if you’ll be out in the open sun for a few hours during your ceremony or photos. Coolers in the car, coolers where you’re getting ready, coolers in the field if your ceremony is outdoor. It’s amazing how heavy and hot wedding day attire can be and it’s easy to forget to drink enough water through the day so having it on hand is important.
On extreme heat days, consider photo locations that give you a bit of air conditioned driving time between them. It gives you a chance to relax with your party people for a few minutes and helps bring your body temperature down. You can always plan for a ten minute wait at each stop if you don’t have travel time. That temporary cool down feels amazing and gives a boost of energy to get back out there.
Find shade or go ahead and make it! We keep a set of matching umbrellas in our car most of the year for rain, snow and a bit of shade from the sun. Umbrellas and small hand held fans can help ease the heat when you can’t get into the shade.
Consider scheduling most of the outdoor portions of the day for the evening when everything starts to cool down. Your ceremony can roll straight into the reception and photos while your guests relax without having to find something to do for a couple of hours between itinerary items.
There are plenty of other things to consider, but these are our go-to ways to beat the heat. Don’t forget to consider your guests and their comfort if your ceremony is outside!
Love is the farm you grew up on, the dirt roads you ran barefoot on and the cool water of the lakes where you chased away the burning hot Saskatchewan sun. Love is the family that raised you and gave you a home in this world. Love is connections, and moments with best friends and first loves at concerts and inside high school hallways. Love is leaving home to make new friendships and relationships, forging your own way in this world. And love is finding someone who sees you for who you are, and adores you the way you love them too. Love is all of these things and so much more, as threads pulling together in the fabric of who we are today. Love is your story.
Your wedding day is a celebration of this love. Of two stories that join together to share life’s twists and turns. We want to document your wedding day as it unfolds, to tell the story of your day – the laughter, those stolen moments and even the tears – the real moments you’ll remember as the years pass and your family grows. That’s what we value. The human connection and stories.
2023 dates are still available for Saskatchewan and Alberta weddings; Full day wedding coverage starts at $3000
One day you will see that what you thought was the end, was only the beginning.
Some couples see their wedding day as the end of their engagement and the start of married life, but when you step back to look at the story of your love it’s only one day. Nothing really changes, but yet everything is different after your wedding day – confused yet? You’re not alone. It’s common to feel all kinds of emotions from sadness or grief to excitement when a milestone like your wedding day ends. You’ve dedicated hours of your time and focus together, and when all of that buildup and excitement is gone many people feel differently than they expected and this can carry forward to how your married life begins. Having this knowledge before your wedding day can help you be aware of how you are feeling when the honeymoon buzz wears off, so be sure to schedule a few honest check-ins with someone you can talk to in the weeks following your wedding date.
The thing to remember is that your wedding day is a cementing of your partnership. Your team. You’re still the same two people you were the day before; there’s no magic transformation in you or your dynamic as a couple, but you’ve made a vow to stand together going forward and we’re wishing you all of the wonderful things this world has to offer!
It’s a hard job sometimes, but there are a few perks to being a wedding photographer here in Saskatchewan, and near the top of my list is being trusted with the knowledge of so many hidden gem locations. Early this summer we found ourselves at Checkerboard Hill; it’s a beautiful lookout at the top of a hill with a view over the south Saskatchewan river just a few minutes northwest of Leader, SK and the vantage point can’t be beat! It’s wild to me that I can live so close to amazing locations like this and not have heard a single thing about them. Luckily for me though, we meet beautiful couples like Drake & Monica to show us the way as we celebrate their lives together.
Image Description: A beautiful happy couple saying their vows at Checkerboard Hill near Leader, SKImage Description: A beautiful happy couple enjoying the view from the lookout at their Checkerboard Hill, SK weddingImage Description: A beautiful couple taking a few moments alone together for photos on their wedding dayImage Description: A happy couple embrace on their wedding dayImage Description: A custom made glass saying “Cheers to love, laughter & happily ever after” as wedding decor
The weeks are flying by as we speed through fall here in Saskatchewan, and our peak wedding season is coming to a close. After two years of rescheduling and adapting around the pandemic restrictions we are celebrating life and love in full force this year. As wedding photographers, it’s a beautiful thing to see!
Stephen & Kyla chose the Cypress Hills Resort as the backdrop for their July 13 wedding, and the recent addition of the Vale ceremony space makes for a breathtaking experience. Straight out the back doors of the resort and down a short winding path through the trees you will find a sheltered, private clearing in the woods made perfect for an intimate wedding ceremony. It’s my new favourite wedding venue here in the southwest!
Image Description: A beautiful happy couple sharing their first kiss as husband and wife as guests blow bubbles around them in the forestImage Description: A beautiful happy couple take time out of their wedding ceremony to say hello to their dogImage Description: A beautiful happy couple take a few moments alone together on their wedding day to sit in a field of wildflowers on a hillsideImage Description: A beautiful happy couple and their wedding party pop open a bottle of champagne; the spray goes everywhere as they laughImage Description: A Groom and his groomsmen walking a dog to a wedding ceremony along a forest pathImage Description: A beautiful happy couple having their first dance as a married pairImage Description: A beautiful happy couple sharing a kiss at their wedding reception photo booth, holding a sign with their personal social media wedding day hashtag
I put a pause on the blog a while ago when the pandemic was weighing heavily on our work and family life. Things have quietly been getting back to normal as restrictions have lifted though, so it seems like a good time to bring it back! With that though, it looks like there are tons of sessions to share. Let’s start with Brooklyn & Ian who planned the perfect relaxed, cozy engagement session. Everything about it showed how comfortable and happy they are in each other’s company, and being on the family farm made it so much more special. With all of the planning challenges couples have faced, it’s so good to be looking forward to a busy wedding season again!
Swift Current, SK Engagement | Webb, SK Engagement
I’m sure you noticed that there hasn’t been a blog post here since late 2019. It wasn’t from lack of caring on my part, I just didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to weigh in on all of the plans and hopes and dreams of the couples and children and adults whose lives were thrown off course by the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it brought with. Those carefully made plans with every single detail considered that have been postponed again and again. I have one couple who booked me at the very end of 2018 for their 2020 summer wedding who bumped to 2021 and then again to 2022 before the vaccines became widely available. You don’t need me to tell you how four years feels to a young couple in love who just want to have everyone they hold dear in attendance when they say their vows. I just didn’t know what to say.
So I sat through 2020 in a holding pattern, like everyone else. Waiting, and watching, and thinking about my family and yours, wondering how life would be going forward. Would everyone we love be with us when we take off our masks and gather? Would I be healthy enough to work again if I caught it? 2020 was a year of reflection and evaluation in what we want and what we value in this life, of that there is no doubt. I decided that family is most important to me so I hired some help sorting photos for editing (that part is still done by me, don’t worry but things will move much faster now with Judy sorting the keepers for me) so I could spend more time with my kids while they’re little. We only get 18 summers with them if we’re lucky, and those are half gone already over here. They’ve stood by while we worked through the hot vacation months – one of us gone every weekend and most evenings – their whole lives, but when the world shut down we gave them the best summer ever. Vegetable and flower gardens with a little splash pool in the yard, movie nights with snacks and laughter, and family bike rides along the Speedy Creek. It was magical, friends! Best. Summer. Ever.
We took the fear and uncertainty and made our own magic. We hardly worked and money was scarce – it was a good thing we were staying home, haha! and we missed our families, our clients, and our friends, but we learned a lot and saw our kids smile every day. I know that the couples who had plans destroyed and big life changes will be working through much harder times, but hopefully those of us who came through 2020 stronger can step up and help. 2021 will be another slow year for me since most couples opted to move their weddings to next year which means I have plenty of time to answer questions, track down contacts and information, and anything else you need while you plan! You can also check out my new project in collaboration with Kirstin Patzer of Three Strands Wedding Design and Jessica Williams, Author of All Write Here Publishing – it’s a brand new wedding magazine based right here in Saskatchewan and focusing on couples and vendors that we all know and love! You can follow along on our FB & IG, or find more information on our website, OR you can even check out our latest issue right now 🙂 Whichever you choose, there will be another blog post coming up soon all about it, so check in often and say hello! – C
Bumble & Vine Photography Swift Current, Saskatchewan wedding photographer
Wow it’s been a while since I sat here to write. I don’t like taking time for business if I have edits on the go, and in the fall it seems like that’s all I have on my plate. I say that with love and appreciation, I should add.
Mental health is on my mind as we go into the darkest days of the year (less sunlight means less vitamin D production) during the stressful holiday season packed with family obligations and expectations and the kids are at home for two weeks. It’s the perfect storm for those of us who struggle with keeping ourselves on even footing and I’m trying to stay ahead of the chaos before it overwhelms. I am failing a little there but staying above water!
Business was amazing this year. I have so many new friends and clients to thank for that, and am hoping to carry that energy and growth into 2020 (can you believe we’re even talking about the year 2020 in terms of days and not years away!?). We have hit our stride here as a two-photographer wedding team (say hello to Matt), and built up our equipment to give us multiple backups and options in each situation. That makes your wedding day stress free (for us), and when we can relax and have fun, the focus is on you and your loved ones!
We have hired on a part time photo sorting and culling helper (say hello to Judy) and we’re nearly through working out the kinks in the new process. This means that next year should see much faster turn around times – can we get a big cheer!?! It’s something that has been needed here for a long time, but with small kids it’s been tough to organize the transfer of duties. With 2019 coming to a close we have it figured out!
On a personal note we’ve made huge strides this year with our kids. Chase was diagnosed with ADHD and amid the research I was doing to be a better parent to him, I realized that I am the parent he inherited it from. In a giant flashing neon lights kind of way. I have no idea how I have made it this far without a diagnosis, but it has been an eye opening and incredible few months of adjustments. Most surprisingly it has brought us so much more happiness than expected. We have new medications and new daily routines and to my surprise they are helping us be better together – the goal in every family, right!? What started as a journey of fear and hesitation has been one of freedom for all of us.
This all contributes to the delicate balance that is our mental health, and the ups and downs have been intense some weeks. Going into Christmas we’re taking time to relax and enjoy time together and we hope you will be too!
Have I mentioned that I love what I do? My life is scattered and busy with small children and a business, but I truly love the art of wedding photography. Each wedding day goes by in a blur of tears, laughter, love and family, and we are fortunate enough to be on the sidelines documenting it all as it unfolds. What’s not to love!?
This year I was able to transition from family sessions into full time wedding photography during the summer months and it has been everything I hoped it could be! We have taken time away for the first time in years to tent for a week with the kids at Good Spirit and take in a night under the stars at the dark sky preserve in Grasslands National Park… if you haven’t spent a night out there, add it to your adventure list right now.
So, all this means that I am drowning in gorgeous wedding edits, wading through a messy house full of laughing children, and incredibly happy with life and work right now. It’s a big change from years past! I want to write about each of these beautiful couples separately, but for now I’ll leave a few of my favourite shots from this summer. See you in the fall!
You may know me (Candace) as the face of Bumble & Vine Photography’s every day sessions, but I want to take a few minutes to introduce my co-shooter Matt. By day he is the driving force behind EmJay Reno & Repair here in Swift, but on weekends he lends his skill and talent as the other half of the Bumble & Vine wedding team.
The main benefit to having a second photographer at your wedding is the obvious advantage in having additional angles throughout the day. One of us is setting flowers and rings up for details while the other is quietly capturing your family and friends while they visit and relax getting ready for the day. There are complimentary images of the kiss, the first dance, and so many more moments from start to finish. I love the way they come together in the final gallery so much that I don’t take on weddings without bringing an additional shooter!
If you are on the fence about hiring a team vs. a lone photographer for your wedding take a few moments to meet with them and ask questions about why they shoot the way they do – I’m sure they would love to tell you all about how they work and why. I encourage all couples to ask their wedding vendors questions about every aspect of their service. You are paying for their skill and product as well as their knowledge of the industry – use that to its full advantage!
