My Most Viral Engagement and Wedding Photos of 2022
Between Sally’s videos and my own, the TikToks posted about Ernest & Sally’s wedding and engagement photos have racked up over 5 million views. It goes without saying that they became my most popular - and polarizing - photos of the 2022 season.
My origin story with Ernest & Sally quite honestly changed my life, and I’m not even being dramatic. It had started off like any other inquiry: they gave me the venue, the date and a short write up about looking for a wedding photographer. We set up a call and Sally mentioned a few of my creative projects that weren’t posted to my wedding profile. As we kept talking, I realized she had never actually seen any of my wedding work, only the creative projects from @doomanddaisies. I remember getting off that call feeling this crazy new excitement at the prospect of a couple wanting to inject some non-traditional creativity into their photos. Ernest followed up with how they envisioned the engagement shoot - Hong Kong neon noir mixed with Wong Kar Wai mixed with less typical shots of them not smiling. I was STOKED. Suddenly, most of my time was spent thinking (and panicking) about how to make this shoot unlike anything else I had done in the wedding & couple world before.
As someone who had often felt out of place in the wedding industry (the ‘meet me in the field at golden hour’ shoots were not bringing me joy, and I’m just not that person who gets classically soft and mushy) this felt like a chance be present in the industry authentically as myself. Someone who spends an excessive amount of time daydreaming, and someone who takes their inspiration from film and editorial shoots rather than wedding feature accounts. None of this is meant to knock down any photography style in the wedding industry, or to suggest I ignore traditional photos entirely, it’s your day, and I will always advocate for you to do what will make you happiest. It’s just to say that maybe there is room for more creativity, and I’d love to give people the opportunity to see what that looks like.
Ernest and Sally’s engagement shoot ended up being a DREAM. We booked J1 Studios in Toronto and they absolutely KILLED it. I told them probably 10 times that they needed to abandon everything and start a modelling career (which they kind of did). Also, quick shout out to my partner, Travis. He deserves a blog post of his own. You can bet he is behind the scenes of every creative shoot I do and I wouldn’t have been able to do this shoot without him.
A few months later, Ernest and Sally got married on a perfect summer day at The 1871 Berkeley Church in Toronto. Before we got to the venue, however, the day was started with a traditional tea ceremony at their family homes. It was super exciting to be invited to capture a tradition I had never seen before. The love and happiness in the room was overwhelming in the best way. Want to learn more about this Chinese wedding tradition? Click here for an article from Brides.com that goes into more detail.
Afterwards, Ernest and Sally took some time to have lunch, get changed, and travel to a photo studio for the wedding party photos. Before I move on, I want to take a second to emphasize taking a lunch break. Engaged couples with a full day wedding ahead of them, if you are reading this, carving out time to slow down and have something to eat midday will be life changing, I swear.
We were lucky enough to book a studio at Preto Loft in Toronto while they had an absolutely magical garden set up available for use. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. The texture, depth and moodiness it added to the photos was unbelievable. To top it all off, the wedding party florals created by The Blooming Iris were STUNNING. Of course, Ernest and Sally made my job easy with how naturally they came into poses. I have a ton of gratitude to give to the wedding party as well. They were total team players and mastered the “vogue face” as I call it hahaha.
It was these photos specifically that went wild on social media. In Sally’s post, she started the video with “I don’t want any smiling in our wedding photos” and followed that with a compilation of photos from the studio portion of the day. It got millions of views and people either loved it, or hated it. There are comments where people talk about saving the video as inspiration for their wedding photos, and other comments where people tell Sally not smiling in photos was a terrible mistake and she’ll definitely regret it when she shows her grandchildren and her grandchildren think they weren’t happy on their wedding day. LOL. Anyways, I’d like to think it was predominately loved….but I guess art is subjective right? My partner Travis has always told me that good art is polarizing, and I am inclined to agree with this sentiment.
At last, we were on our way to the beautiful Berkeley Church in Toronto. Guests were welcomed and ushered upstairs for the ceremony. The Blooming Iris continued her amazing work with the creation of the backdrop for Ernest and Sally.
Cocktail hour kicked off with the announcement of a gelato truck outside (how cool?!), which paired perfectly with the weather. At the same time, Ernest, Sally and I slipped outside to snap a few street photos. Being with the Bride and Groom does have it’s perks, and by perks I mean skipping to the front of the line for gelato once we were done.
Lastly, we moved into the reception! The entrances were HYPE, there was a first dance with a twist (a routine choreographed by Ernest and Sally themselves), and some GORGEOUS golden hour light that hit Sally’s parents at the perfect angle. There is no doubt that Ernest & Sally understood the assignment of creating an unforgettable night of celebration. We capped off our photography coverage with the cake cutting, and with tired legs and an overflowing heart, I made my way home, knowing that this was a couple who had impacted my life immensely. Another necessary shout out to my second photographer, Aidan. Thanks for crushing this day with me and never letting your foot off the gas!!
Ernest & Sally, if you’re reading this, thank you again for choosing to reach out to me, inspiring me to incorporate more creativity into my shoots in the wedding world, and including my in your day. You two were seriously the start of a huge shift in my practice, a shift that has felt truly authentic and necessary for my longevity in the wedding industry.
Also, if any of the TikTok haters are here………this is proof that they CAN indeed show their grandchildren happy photos from their wedding day. You don’t have to worry anymore. Shhhhhh. It’s ok.
