Fiona & William | Cheery Waterfront & Sugar Beach Engagement

Walking down hand-in-hand by the waterfront, these two lovebirds were absolutely adorable to work with. Fiona and William started off their love story in high school but not as sweethearts. The two had such a natural connection that led them to talk for hours about anything and everything. They started off as friends that would do practically everything together be it shopping, eating out, or grabbing bubble tea to a couple that supported each other through patience, love, and laughter.

Originally, we wanted to take photos with the cherry blossoms but mother nature took us to the waves and sand of the waterfront in Toronto. With the pink umbrellas of Sugar Beach and the docks at Polson Pier, Fiona and William took charge of the shoot with their own charm, creating a space for themselves that embraced the moment. Not to mention the shoes! Fiona rocked a pair of Converse that had calligraphy written with their wedding date and “Mrs. Zhou” on the side. Thank you for letting us have just as much fun with your photoshoot as you did being in each other’s arms! We’re excited to see how fun and lovable your wedding will be!

Venetia & Sam & Jayden & Baby | Scarborough Bluffs Family Session

A summer evening well spent at the Scarborough Bluffs with this lovely family. It was a long time coming for our family session with them because COVID lockdowns and restrictions delayed us so so much! But we finally got to meet up with Venetia, Sam, Jayden and the newest addition family member!

As always, Scarborough Bluffs was crowded with many people who just wants to be out with friends, families and loved ones after so many months of lockdown. We picked a spot that was perfect for the stroller to park, the picnic blanket to be set out, and the family to be photographed. Can you tell at all that there were others at the beach with us? ;)

We were worried that Jayden would be tired and sleepy during our session, but he surprised us with all the energy in the world! He was so good and followed instructions very well. He jumped and ran a lot. We even got him to run and look back at the same time, he was good at multitasking! But I bet you his favourite was when he was on top of daddy’s shoulders - just look at all the laughs he had! Lol.

It was a lot of fun photographing these lovely smiles and their playful interactions as a family. Thank you Venetia, Sam, Jayden and baby for having us capture your family portraits and spending a beautiful evening with us!

Jenny & Aaron | Downtown Toronto Engagement Session

It was an absolute joy to have photographed this engagement session with Jenny & Aaron down the busiest streets of downtown Toronto! We started off at one of our favourite spot in a European-vibe hallway with columns creating the perfect backdrop for our lovely couple. They had so much fun walking up and down laughing with each other. We moved over to the front of St Lawrence Market and waited for the perfect moment after pedestrians and cars have passed. Finally, we’ve arrived at one of Toronto’s most iconic building - the Gooderham Building. It was a very busy spot with lots of traffic so we quickly snapped a few photos and carried on. Our final destination was really tailored for Jenny & Aaron, especially a little foreshadow for their wedding - “After Work is Guinness Time”! If you know, you know! ;) Downtown Toronto is a beautiful city and is surrounded by all sorts of backdrops for photo ops. We love a sweet downtown engagement anytime.

Aaron made our job so easy because he was always so good at making Jenny laugh (the photos can speak for itself). They share one of the best chemistry as a couple. Jenny and Aaron first met back in 2011 at a camp where they both attended. In 2013, this beautiful long distance relationship kick started with text messages and phone calls. With Jenny in Cincinnati and Aaron living in Toronto, video calling brought them closer together and foster their relationship deeper. (Thank goodness for technologies!) After 5 years of long distance, our beloved Jenny has decided to move from one big city to another to be with the love of her life - TORONTO! Fast forward to late 2020, Aaron popped the question and here we are photographing for their engagement!

Thank you for spending an evening with us and have us photograph this lovely downtown Toronto engagement! Oohh, we already started talking about some of the details of the wedding for next year and we are so looking forward to it!

YAO DAN & MICHAEL | Toronto Healthcare Heroes' Micro Wedding

Yao Dan & Michael stepped into their wedding at a very busy time of COVID. Both are frontline healthcare professionals working tirelessly so that we and our families are well and safe. Although this season has definitely brought them many surprising changes to their original plans for what they envisioned for their special date; they were still excited to make the best of every moment. With many of their friends and families, local and overseas, weren’t able to join, we’re sure everyone was just as happy for them. We know that loved ones are waiting in anticipation for the day that lockdowns will lift and they will be able to join them in celebration face to face again! So it was with great joy that we can see them finally tying the knot and seeing their smiling eyes behind their masks.

After the cutest first look witnessed by their closest friends we headed over to their church where their marriage would be bound and sealed. After reading their lovely vows Michael’s mom had a surprise of her very own. It was a long lost letter that Michael had written to Yao Dan in grade school sharing when he first fell in love with her. The pastor asked him to read out the letter which filled the sanctuary with raw young emotion, romance and a lot of laughter from family and friends. It was fun and hilarious and carefully crafted. Michael wanted to share this letter when the relationship became serious, as love should not be taken lightly and this was definitely the moment. Yao Dan and Michael are certainly the sweetest couple who will create many more fun memories to come! Thank you for having us to capture this beautiful union!

VICKY & MICHAEL | Micro Wedding

Vicky and Michael’s 2020 wedding during this COVID season was not at all expected when they had planned every fine detail of this wedding the previous year. Yet even with the virus bringing the entire world to a grinding halt, their love for one another continued to move them forward over mountains and through a pandemic, to say “I do”.

With much excitement to start their married life sooner rather than later, they pressed on through planning the wedding with what mattered most. Fortunately, Vicky is a wedding planner and a makeup artist, so there was a lot of DIY. She had professionally applied her own makeup and beautifully curled her hair in the morning. They had handcrafted the cherry blossom trees as their backdrop at the house for the tea ceremony. The beautiful bouquets and boutonnieres were handmade by the talented Vicky as well! She acted as multiple vendors in one during this process!

Growing up receiving so much love and sacrifice from their parents, they cherished the opportunity to show respect and love to their parents by holding a traditional Chinese & Vietnamese tea ceremony that brought so much light and joy into this moment of time. Families and friends had even sent them edible gifts to their house to spread the love and joy!

They then made their way to their church to say their vows, exchange their rings, and seal their commitment in love. It was topped by their first kiss that silenced the entire church - literally. Although the pews remained empty, the bandwidth on their phones data spiked from all the family and friends who had attended by video chat. The support and love from everyone filled the entire church creating an energy that will continue to grow in anticipation for their public celebration with everyone face to face next year – Stay Tune!

Photography: EC3 Moments
Venue: St Mary of Angels Church
Cup Cakes: Cake Star

ELIZA & ALVIN | Toronto Tennis Court and Alexander Muir Park Engagement Session

Eliza and Alvin’s love story began about 7 years ago where they met through a mutual friend. Although they almost missed each other by not attending this mutual friend’s outing, we are thankfully they both went to the gathering and the rest is history!

Alvin planned a romantic proposal at an Air BnB with fairy lights beautifully decorated around the space. Cards written over the years were also placed to remind Eliza of the sweet memories they have shared in the last 7 years. It will be exactly 363 days after she had said yes to the day they will both say their I-Do’s!

On top of sharing passions for food together, they are also avid tennis players! Watch out these two are competitive! This common hobby had spiked up some creative ideas for their engagement session - what better location then to have their e-shoot at a tennis court! They changed into their tennis outfit and were ready to strike some lovely pose for us! We had the whole court to ourselves and worked in many angles! The best part was when the staff turned on the sprinklers for some added effects for the photos - love love love! The sun peaking just through the trees behind them and the water sprinkling over them made the scene super romantic!

If you’ve been to Alexander Muir Park, you would know there’s many cute spots with nature that can be used as a photo op. The trees make the perfect arch for us to frame Eliza and Alvin. Of course we also hung out at the popular white stone stair case wall as the backdrop.

Warden and I have not done an engagement session on the tennis court before, but we love to explore new locations like these to spike out our creativity! It definitely was so much fun working with Eliza and Alvin! Congratulations Eliza and Alvin, we are super excited to capture your upcoming wedding!!

Venue: Alexander Muir Memorial Gardens
Photography: EC3 Moments
Makeup & Hair: Windy Chiu

RAPTORS | Toronto Championship Parade 2019

OK, so today we will side track from weddings, maternity, and family portraits a little bit and give some attention to the Toronto Raptors and their Championship Parade...because it’s We The North Day and our basketball team just won the 2019 NBA Finals! Of course we went out to document this historic date for Canada!

Like the millions of Canadian fans, Warden and I had the opportunity to witness the parade this morning! It was a super exciting time to see the team that had worked so hard to get to this very moment! The anticipation was surreal. People were on their condo balconies, rooftops, top of TTC bus shelters, on the roads, kids on top of their parent’s shoulders and even the city’s service staff had a chance to enjoy the moment as they did an amazing job keeping fans safe. Boy, when it comes to finding a good spot at a parade, some people are just so creative! Construction workers were on the high levels of their buildings and some fans got onto the Gardiner Express Way and watched the parade from there; they were everywhere! Fans were chanting “Let’s Go Raptors! Let’s Go Raptors!” before the parade was even a close to them. And when it came close, all you hear were fans screaming out of excitement the player’s name and of course “MVP” when Kawhi arrived! Champagnes from the top of the double-decker buses were popped and showered down to the crowd. Jerseys and hats tossed up in hopes of a signature from the champs. Some even brought a 3 foot house-warming plant known as the “kawactus” in hopes of having Kawhi stay for another season.

If you were there today, you would understand how hard it was to see every player on the double-decker since they were dispersed and moved around; so nevermind of getting a good shot of them. Thankfully, we did get some shots of Drake, Siakam, Green, Vanfleet, Lowry; sides of Jeremy Lin and Gasol; and Ibaka showering the crowd with champagne! And when you’re on the same side where Kawhi is standing, you’d be firing those shots non-stop!

Overall, the experience was fun and exciting as everyone was out there to unite in celebration! Sharing this same joy with so many others was great! Enjoy some of our photos and let us know what you think in the comments below. Also, we have included a snippet video of the parade from an iPhone (there’s likely better videos out there but just thought to include it to complete the experience).

EUNICE & GEORGE | Toronto Minimalistic Mint Room Maternity Session

It was an honour to have photographed a local family blogger: Eunice and George! They are both excited for their second baby girl on the way and so is little Rosie! She sure added a lot of fun into the session! She ran around barefoot exploring the space, inviting herself into photos, watching mommy and daddy pose and even helping us set up props! Little Rosie is ready to be a big sister!

This spring maternity/family session was perfect at the Mint Room Studio as it was still chilly outside in May. Though it was chilly outside but may be a bit too warm inside, and thankfully the staff had left a fan in the studio room a day before so we got to utilize it when we arrived. Hehe, we may not have used the fan for temperature purposes but more for creativity purposes for the photo session. It was unplanned, but that’s the best part right? Scroll down to see what we have done ;)

And congratulations again to George, Eunice and little Rosie on the new addition to the family!

Photography: EC3 Moments
Studio: Mint Room
Family Blogger: GeorgEunice.Adventures

MELISSA & TAI | Toronto Edwards Garden and Intimate Chinese-Vietnamese Wedding

Food and fitness goes hand-in-hand together, would you agree? Best thing yet, Melissa and Tai are both foodies! Melissa loves all thing ramen and Tai digs for fried chicken. In fact, their first meeting revolved around food at the monopolized fast-food chain McDonald's. As a 17 year old student at the time, Melissa worked at McDonald's where her manager was dating one of Tai's friends. Tai, who was 19, would visit the restaurant often with his friend and coincidentally Melissa was on shift. With a little introduction, these two began their love story soon after! As a couple now, they explore the city for food and also spend time together at the gym! What a great balance! 

Melissa and Tai's wedding was an intimate size which only surrounded by immediate families. They started off the day in their traditional Chinese wedding attires for the tea ceremony. They poured tea for their parents and older siblings in exchange for words of blessings and marriage wisdom! Below you will find a glimpse of joy and excitement that the couple shared with Melissa's mom during the tea ceremony, while she was gifting them with words of blessings, so cute! Next, the civil ceremony took place with family witnessing this special moment when the couple exchanged their "I Do's". And of course, we cannot forget the cutest ring bearer in his adorable outfit; puppy! After some family portraits, we moved onto Tai's parent's resident where the second set of tea ceremony took place. The couple also changed out of their traditional attire into their modern wedding outfits. A surprise first look also happened and Tai saw his stunning bride for the first time in her beautiful wedding gown! She was absolutely gorgeous! 

We moved to Toronto Edwards Garden for the bridal portraitures with the bride and groom - can we get more of this?! Yups, it was just Melissa, Tai, Warden and I for 2 hours! Photographers, I know it's amazing and lucky we got to spend that length of time with our couple! :) Couldn't have asked for more! We walked, we posed, we talked, and we even joked about how there should be some air conditioning or fan under the dress since it was such a hot day, IN MAY! Oh, and we were asked for a photography permit on the premise; good thing we had it! Always carry your photography permit with you when one is required on the premise!

Melissa and Tai's wedding was intimate and family-oriented; we loved and enjoyed it so much! Thank you Melissa and Tai for having us share this special day with you and your loved ones and capturing the moments for you!  

VENDORS:

Photography: EC3 Moments
Venue: Toronto Edwards Garden
Make-Up and Hair: Toronto Beauty Group

REBECCA & IAN | Toronto Mildred's Temple Kitchen Wedding

Rebecca and Ian met at the University of Waterloo during a night class together. Ian sat beside Rebecca and the love grew from. It is something about school that brings two people together and making their love story the ever more sweet! After graduation, they moved back to Toronto and their relationship grew stronger than ever! It was during a trip to Europe, while they had a layover at New York and Ian got down on one knee to ask Rebecca the question! This made their trip so much more memorable! Rebecca's family is from Taiwan and while visiting her family, they decided to do some pre-wedding photos at the local studio. Some of these portraits were shared on their wedding day.

Hotel X Toronto opened just a few weeks before their wedding and they made reservations to have a room for preparations to be done there. We may have been the very first to have wedding photos there! :D You can see what a gorgeous view they had that morning! In front of the windows, we had some portraits of Rebecca in her stunning dress! Isn't she just so gorgeous? Rebecca's father help covered the veil over her as a symbolism to send his daughter off. That moment shared was so sweet and intimate between a father and daughter on this special day. The sweet sister of Rebecca's presented a gift to her and wished her with much blessings to the start of her marriage! Rebecca's sister also bought a bottle of Moet champagne to celebrate with the newly weds alongside their parents! 

Rebecca and Ian participated in the Chinese Tea Ceremony at the hotel, as a form of respect to their parents. It was a heartfelt moment where Rebecca's mom teared a little while blessing the couple and said to Ian "Take care of my little girl". Later Rebecca and Ian fed each other boiled eggs; and that day we learned that eggs symbolize fertility in some Chinese culture. 

Mildred's Temple Kitchen was such a beautiful venue for Rebecca and Ian's wedding and the decorations that they chose added a great touch to it. Their wedding was focused more on spending time with people and less on themselves. They went around to everyone at the table, whether individually or together, to spend some time with their guests in engaged conversations, laughters, and even selfies throughout the night! Everyone surrounded the couple on the dance floor for their first dance, followed by a Father-Daughter dance, Mother-Son dance and finally the dance floor opened! Music by DJ Rich moved everyone on the dance floor even the bride and groom showed off some dance moves too! Rebecca and Ian are very considerate of others; ensuring that their guests are having a good time by keeping them accompanied. You can tell that their guests enjoyed and had a great time celebrating their wedding! Thank you Rebecca and Ian for having us capture this special day for you! <3

ALYSSA & ADRIAN | Rustic Burroughes Fall Wedding

Words alone cannot describe the beauty of two individuals coming alongside one another and placing aside their own needs for the sake of the other.

You know, they say true love is a mystery, not many see it, but Alyssa and Adrian would be one of the few we can say are apart of that mystery. Through the time spent with them we had the pleasure to witness their love that is grounded in their faith and demonstrated by their love for others. Not a moment escapes, where they have not considered the thoughts of those they love. We can really tell they have the heart to serve people and care for their needs. This love will flourish not only the people around them but will be the momentum that energizes their own marriage for years to come. 

Alyssa and Adrian both envisioned their wedding to be of a rustic theme and really planned towards that. That is what led them to choosing The Burroughes for their wedding ceremony and reception; as they were attracted to The Burroughes' brick wall. With the help of Narelle from Narelle Janine Events, their wedding details were on point! There was a wooden box displayed on the welcome table for wedding cards with "Mr and Mrs Broomes" calligraphed on it; along with a jersey with their last name on it as their guestbook. You would find wooden slabs as table numbers and trivets, black & white lanterns, burning LED candles and S'mores wedding favours on the dining tables throughout the reception area. They also added floral arrangements and gold accent with gold charger plates and cutlery for some elegance on top of their rustic theme. Even their wedding cake were of a tree and wooden textured with their initials engraved on it!   

After their ceremony, we had some time for family formal photos before heading out to Queen St. West. We brought the couple and bridal party out to Queen St W. and Graffiti Alley for some wedding photos. The encouraging pedestrians cheered for the couple through honking cars and words of congratulations - this is Toronto's love! Weeks before, we scouted out the area and planned out our route for the day of so things can flow more efficiently. We started with a road crossing shot, moved to Alex Wilson Community Garden for the greenery wall as the background for some wedding party portraits. Then I took Alyssa and Adrian further into the alley for more graffiti wall art as bride and groom portraits, while Warden stayed at the garden for individual bridal party portraits. 

We headed back to The Burroughes for the reception to start. Dinner was catered and served by Food Dudes and everything was delicious! Through our meetings with Alyssa and Adrian, we found them to be a fun and loving couple and really wanted their guests to enjoy the time at their wedding. So we suggested for them to add some photobooth props for guest to enjoy before dinner starts; and you can really see how much fun their guests had! Additional to that, we suggested the shoe game as a fun activity for them to have and laughters just filled the room!

Near the end of dinner, some speeches took place from their close loving families and friend. Alyssa's parents made their speech and gifted the groom a Guyana's National flag as a form of welcome to the family! The crowd shouted in agreement! Next, Adrian's mom and aunt came up for the speech WITH a Barbados FLAG! They mentioned how it was not coordinated with Alyssa's parents but I guess families think alike now a days too? ;) The heartfelt speech made by the Maid Of Honour, Alyssa's sister, had them both in tears! 

The night ended off with dancing of both the bride in her Guyanese dress and groom in his cultural attire; it was almost like having a dance face off on the dance floor! You can really tell how great of a time their guests had celebrating their wedding! Thank you Alyssa and Adrian for having us to capture this day and join in on the fun! 

Wedding Photographers: EC3 Moments

Venue: The Burroughes

Wedding Coordinator: Narelle Janine Events

Catering Company: Food Dudes

Groom Tie: Lord Of Ties

Bridal Shoes: Toms