Can I tell you a story about why I love photographing weddings?

Since 2004, I’ve shot hundreds of them —some taking place over two weeks with multi-day celebrations with hundreds of guests, others as intimate as a quiet gathering with just close family in their home.

Each wedding carries its own narrative, and their own sets of experiences.

One of the most common things I hear about my work is that it feels as though I “know” the people in my photographs.

But the truth is, I don’t really.

I am there for a day, a witness to something deeply personal, and then I slip away—mostly forgotten. My relationship with a couple begins months, sometimes even years, before their wedding, and on the day itself, I move through their world quietly observing, and recording moments between people.

I don’t manufacture anything for the sake of making a photograph.

Instead, I remain present, tuned in to the rhythms of the day, allowing space for the raw, unfiltered moments that define a wedding—the laughter, the quiet glances, the beautifully unpredictable chaos. That’s what I really love about what I do.

Over the years, I’ve been to many weddings that have left a mark on me and changed how I approach this work — moments that reshaped the way I see my role as a photographer, and one in particular stands out: my first destination wedding in the South of France in 2007.

The couple, based in New York City, had their choice of renowned NYC photographers, yet after an hour-long conversation, they booked me—a Toronto-based photographer they found on The Knot, one of the few international directories at the time.

What sealed it wasn’t a sales pitch; it was a connection of sorts. A certain level of comfort with one another.

The bride and I shared a bond, both originally from Ontario, and what began as a casual call quickly felt like an effortless friendship. Before I knew it, my wife and I were boarding a flight to Nice to document their wedding at the iconic Hôtel Belles Rives and their family’s summer home overlooking the Mediterranean.

From the moment we arrived, we were embraced—not as hired vendors, but as guests, as friends. That evening on the veranda of the Hotel, as friends and family met for the first time to celebrate this wedding day, it didn’t feel out of place being there.

The generosity, the warmth, the open-armed welcome from both sides of the family transformed what could have been an overwhelming experience into something profoundly special. At that stage in my career, I was still adjusting to the intensity of weddings, having come from a background in design and retouching—solitary work that required little interaction.

This wedding was a turning point for me on many levels. The wedding was beautiful. The groom was SO in love with his wife, and his emotional response …well it made for some pretty great photography! The day started early, and in typical French tradition, went very, very late.

At the time, same-day slideshows were becoming popular, primarily in videography. I had never attempted one before, but that evening, as I scrolled through the images on my laptop, I saw the wedding from a perspective no one else had.

Every guest had lived their own version of the day, but I had seen it from the outside, through stolen glances, unscripted embraces, and moments of stillness between the celebration. On impulse, I pulled together about eighty images, added subtle edits, dropped in a popular Jack Johnson song, and created a three-minute slideshow.

I didn’t tell the couple what we were about to do. I wasn’t sure how they would react to be honest. I sort of thought it would hijack their wedding. I almost didn’t show it. I thought, if this goes sideways, I’m cooked.

But, I approached their uncle with the idea, and he suggested we go ahead with it. The projector was set up, and the guests were invited to come to that part of the property. The couple kept looking at each other, sort of nervously. What were they about to be shown?

As the first images appeared on the screen, the energy in the room shifted. The chatter softened, replaced by a quiet intensity, and then lots of cheering and laughter. Tears welled, smiles spread, and people instinctively moved closer to one another. The bride and groom kept turning to me in disbelief. "How did you do this?" she mouthed, hands up in the air as she just looked so shocked.

When the slideshow ended, the room erupted in applause, quickly followed by calls to "play it again."

So we did…Two more times!

Even now, I can still see the groom’s aunt and uncle in the corner of the room, her head resting on his shoulder, tears in her eyes as she turned to me and simply said, “Merci.”

That moment changed everything for me.

It was the first time I truly understood the weight of what I do.

Since 2004, I’ve photographed well over five hundred weddings. My wife and I recently celebrated twenty years of marriage together and we have three kids together.

I know my purpose as a wedding photographer. It’s not about getting thousands of “followers” on Instagram. I don’t create for that purpose. In fact, I fly pretty low under the social media radar for that reason.

Wedding photography shouldn’t be about getting accolades, industry recognition, or fleeting online validation from strangers - it’s certainly evolved into that sort of monster, but that’s not what wedding photography should be about.

Some couples will store their wedding photos in a box, others will fill their homes with prints, revisiting them daily.

But regardless of where they end up, I take comfort in knowing that, for a brief moment, I was given the privilege of capturing a story that will outlive us all.

The true value of what I do isn’t tied to what I charge for the work, but in what it comes to mean over time.

These images are for future nostalgia, and they will become conversation starters over the course of your lives, as the days turn to years, and then decades.

As your life evolves, this visual heirloom will allow you to recall your own memories and emotions of this one, big emotional day in your life together….and that is why all these years later, I still enjoy photographing peoples weddings.