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2015 Coming to a Close

  • 0 comments/
  • December 14, 2015

2015 has been a whirlwind year for us and it is finally coming to a close. We are both so excited for 2016, we have so much planned and so many great adventures coming our way. In January alone we will be visiting with 5 different groups of friends and family coming down to the beautiful Mayan Riviera. February we will be in Cuba for a wedding and then again in June we will be travelling to Jamaica for another wedding. Expect another, more detailed post in the coming weeks and of course in January get ready for our best of 2015 photo collection.

I also want to say a big congratulations to my amazing partner Jasmin. Her beautifully intimate and candid photo of Svetlana was chosen by Your Perfect Wedding Photographer for their November collection. Check out the entire collection at the following link. Jasmin’s photo is attached at the bottom of this post.

http://www.yourperfectweddingphotographer.co.uk/article/november-collection/

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Best of luck in 2016 and much love!!

Matt (& Jasmin)

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  • Under : Updates

Jenna & Dennis’s rural wedding in the Northern prairies of Kinosota, Manitoba, Canada

Summer Recap – A Month in Winnipeg was the Perfect Amount of Time Back Home

  • 0 comments/
  • October 8, 2015

It’s hard to believe that the summer has already come and gone, although the weather doesn’t help much when you live in a tropical paradise and “every day is summer”. Obviously, this statement isn’t quite the truth, as temperatures do still fluctuate even in warmer, South of Canada climates. The fluctuations are obviously not so extreme, and there’s still no need to have entirely different wardrobes for the changing seasons, no mittens and scarves and parkas either. But, there is still definitely cooler temperatures here in the winter months (December-March). This is unlike the summer heat that has us melting while trying to conserve our electric bill with minimal air conditioning usage, plus an inability to cool the office and kitchen space on the opposite side of the condo as the split air conditioning units are located in the two bedrooms, but I digress. At night, temperatures can still dip down to 16c with a high of only 26c at the peak of the day in January, which is fairly different than July & August where it’s more like a low of 28c at night and a high of 38c during the day. There’s still variation in those temperatures, my friends. Just not -40c winter extremes to feels like +40c with the humidex summer extremes. I was born and raised in Winnipeg, and have spent a total of 6 years of my life (at two very different times in my life) in Montreal. So, when I tell you I know nearly everything there is to know about extreme temperature variations in one set place, I truly mean it. *Please note: this blog post will be sprinkled with teaser photos from our August weddings (Svetlana & Dmytro at Azul Fives Resort and Jenna & Dennis in Kinosota, Manitoba) to help navigate your eyes away from text at times*

 

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This long-winded, silly rant-like one-sided conversation I just had is a conversation that came up several times throughout our month long living arrangements in Winnipeg, Manitoba this summer. We were fortunate enough to travel home to photograph a wedding in rural Manitoba, and since we have our belongings, and essentially still, our lives in Winnipeg, it seemed only fitting to jump on the opportunity to spend as much time visiting with friends and family as we possibly could. There were ups, there were downs, and overall, the month back home went by far faster than I thought it would, or even could for that matter. I really thought 4+ weeks would be long enough that time would actually have a chance to stand still for a bit. But no, it just went as fast as ever. What we anticipated to be infinite time spent with those near and dear to our hearts, wound up (as always) becoming mere hours penciled in on a handmade paper calendar of events for the month. This was truly the only way to properly track our whereabouts, hangouts, and the like. We could communicate via this vital piece of paper when we would be separate and thus discuss access to borrowed vehicles, where we had opportunities to double date or visit friends jointly, and making sure we wrote a list of people to contact and connect with, in hopes of trying to squeeze in as many familiar faces as humanly possible.

 

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And it was exhausting. Rewarding too, but very exhausting. We had some much needed R+R time sporadically throughout the trip, with road trips to my family farm, Matt’s family’s cottage, and the rural wedding we were hired to shoot in the first place (making this whole trip entirely possible). Actually, the drive to and from Kinosota, Manitoba was spectacular. It’s easy to forget the simple pleasures in life sometimes, especially when you’re away from them for an extended period of time. Who knew I would miss driving a vehicle as much as I did? And who knew just how much we missed road trips with flat open prairie fields for kilometers, and those prairie sky clouds and endless horizon, and that unforgiving, relentless urge to be in the process of drinking a Tim Hortons coffee the entire road trip? We couldn’t have asked for a nicer and more exciting reward to photographing a stunning and beautiful Manitoba wedding than to have a month with friends we’ve missed dearly, family we’ve missed more, and common places and reinvented spaces that we had a chance to explore?

 

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In a nutshell, we ate plenty of delicious food, engaged in lovely conversations with all of our favourite people in the world (and those we missed, we obviously regret!). We took some “me” time together, but separate, at Jellyfish Float Spa for a 90 minute relaxation float (our first time and boy was it fun for me!). I treated my parents to a night’s dining experience at Chew, which is certainly a delicious place to grab food. We had a few outings with my brother, Justin and his partner Christine, with everyone enjoying Ethiopian food for the first time at Massawa Restaurant. And more importantly, enjoying a true tapas evening out with the two of them at Enoteca, which had mushrooms that were on another level, and have certainly ruined mushrooms for me in everyday day-to-day living. We were treated to a Chinese food feast at North Garden Restaurant in the city’s South end of town.  We brunched over sandwiches at The Yellow Deli, owned and operated by Common Sense in St Boniface. We took ourselves to brunch on some of the best burritos either of us have ever consumed (seriously, every time, they are the best) at Burrito Del Rio in the heart of the city’s eccentric hangout known as Osborne Village. We treated ourselves to a fancy lunch at Fusion Grill, despite the unfortunate torrential downpour happening all over the city as we paid our bill and were ready to head out. We had a laid back breakfast with Matt’s parents at Perkins Family Restaurant, while I made a second visit there for coffee and breakfast with a previous Winnipeg Humane Society co-worker friend of mine, Judy. We were fortunate to make two stops in at Peasant Cookery twice while home, once for their infamous Buck-a-Shuck oyster night (seriously, $1 per oyster all night?!) as well as to try their entry for Le Burger Week taking place in cities across Canada the first week of September. There were others that we did not even get a chance to check out, as we were often too busy with plans for delicious dinners at other peoples’ places, or just out and about grabbing small things here and there.

 

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And that was our month long stay back home! Lots of visits and lots of food. And it was glorious. As always, it’s great to be getting back into a routine and normal life down South, but I’m already starting to feel my heart strings being twanged just a wee bit to come back again, and soon. In the meantime, it’s back to photo editing and updating the site, while organizing business-related things and the new place that we moved to back at the beginning of July. And now, for the last of our teaser photos, and keep your eyes out for these weddings, and others, going up on the site in the months to come!

 

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  • Under : Photography, Teasers, Uncategorized, Updates, Weddings

Cheers to a Wonderful Year Passed and an Exciting New Year Ahead! Best of 2014!

  • 6 comments/
  • January 15, 2015

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I know that most everyone has done their reflection on the year that was 2014, and made their resolutions for the year ahead, but here at Jasmin & Matt Wedding Photography, we wanted to take some extra time to reflect. We didn’t want our “Best of 2014” to be lost in a sea of the same, among other New Year resolutions, and the discussion about whether or not it people will succeed or fail to meet them, which are often unrealistic goals in the first place. It also seemed fitting to time everything a bit more with our Ukrainian heritage background, feeling a bit more justified knowing that Orthodox New Year, according to the Julian calendar celebrates the New Year January 14th, 2015. So, with that, I would like to say Happy Malanka to all those celebrating the birth of a new year as of yesterday! It’s hard to believe that 2015 is already upon us, but we are eager, we are excited, and we are anxious to see what this new year has in store for us, on every account and at every level.

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And now, to take a look back at the past year on a personal level, which has been full of so much excitement, so much chaos, so many changes! It’s hard to imagine that just so much has happened in one year’s time. We went from working office jobs in Montreal, photographing the odd wedding or couple session on weekends in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to devoting our lives to weddings here in the beautiful Mayan Riviera. There were long long work days, many over time hours worked, to try to cushion our bank accounts so that moving to Playa del Carmen would not be too harsh for the first few months. We moved here in the summer. The summer months in the Yucatan Peninsula are something else. They are hot. They are humid. There is plenty of sun, and very little rain. The temperatures seemed to consistently be 36c, and with the added humidity, coming in anywhere between 44 to 48 degrees Celsius. Every day. Unrelenting. It was interesting. There were many a day spent melting in bed, wondering how groceries were going to be purchased in this heat. Wondering how we were going to cook food in this heat. Wondering how we were simply going to survive. They don’t call our home town Winterpeg for nothing. And having relocated from one frigid part of Canada, to another less constantly frigid but increasingly more snowy part of the country, with Montreal for the past four years (June 2010-2014), there’s been quite the adjustment period. I would certainly say we still plenty of adjusting to do, but we’ll see how that goes when the next summer season hits us here. We had a taste of intense humidity a couple weeks a year in Montreal, and now it’s a number of months instead. The plus side though, is that the climate doesn’t fluctuate here the way it does back home, and that means our bodies are constantly adjusting to no snow, no minus anything, no risk of frostbite or layers while waiting for a bus.

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We took some time to look back at the year from a professional business stand point, with the couples we have had the chance to work, and decided to narrow down the ones we were really happy with, the ones we felt were deserving of an additional nod towards, the ones we thought really captured a moment or could tell its own story. We were so happy to be a part of so many special days for so many special individuals this year, and can only look forward to doing the same again this year, and the year after that, and so on. We had the pleasure of photographing anniversaries, weddings (both straight and same-sex), a honeymoon, maternity, and preliminary wedding photos before a couple travelled overseas to China for their actual wedding and vow exchange with family. We were able to do work in the city we called home half of the year, Montreal. We were able to photograph a close friend’s wedding in our home town and home forever and always in our hearts, Winnipeg. And we have been photographing weddings in the place we now call home, Playa del Carmen and the surrounding Riviera Maya. It’s hard to believe that our lives have changed so much this year, but every step of the way we have poured our hearts and souls into everything we do. There are so many people in our lives, family, friends, acquaintances, that will often experience envy or jealousy over our situation, over what we are doing with our lives right now. And although those feelings are completely justified and make absolute sense, I do want to point out that it’s not always easy. Photographing a wedding day is a long day of work. Secluding ourselves indoors to work on writing for the site and photo editing for our clients when the sun is bright and begging to be enjoyed, isn’t easy but has to be done. When you live here, every day may seem like a holiday to others, but it most certainly is not for us. And that is the reality anywhere you decide to live. When you’re in British Columbia and close to the mountains, you likely aren’t skiing or snowboarding every day of the week. And it’s the same when you live by the ocean, or a beach. Sure, there’s the convenience of being close, which isn’t even an option back in Winnipeg, but it doesn’t mean you have the joy or pleasure of taking advantage of it every day. There will always be discipline involved with prioritizing what has to get done versus what you want to be doing some days.

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And that brings us to where we are now. Today. Here in the Riviera Maya. Here just North of Playa del Carmen. Here in the state of Quintana Roo. Here in the Yucatan Peninsula. Here in Mexico. And we wouldn’t change anything for the world. Of course, there have been plenty of smiles, laughs, sweat, tears, and everything in between, but it has been 100% worth it. Life will never be the same. This was a huge change for us to both be making each before turning 30, and we are so happy we took that leap, made that jump, and somehow still landed on our feet in the sand, by the water, in the sun, in a place we can, for now, call home.

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  • Under : Photography, Updates

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Riviera Maya & Cancun wedding photography by Canadian Photographers Jasmin & Matt. Photographing once in a lifetime moments is our passion. Intimate & breathtaking photography throughout the Yucatan Peninsula including Isla Mujeres, Cancun, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Puerto Aventuras, Akumal & Tulum

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Riviera Maya & Cancun Wedding Photography by Canadian Photographers Jasmin & Matt. We are Wedding Photographers based out of Playa del Carmen & working throughout the Yucatan Peninsula including Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos, Cozumel, Puerto Aventuras, Akumal & Tulum.

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