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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

Paula & Scott's Surprise Manitoba Engagement

Today: Paula & Scott’s Autumn Winnipeg Canada Wedding

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  • September 26, 2014

The day has finally come, today we will be spending the day with our long time friends Paula & Scott to photograph their wedding in our hometown of Winnipeg. We have been looking forward to this for a long time, since witnessing, and photographing, the surprise engagement July 2013 at Patricia Beach in Manitoba. The weather has been hitting Summer temperatures all week, the leaves are all in the midst of changing to their Autumn colours, and there hasn’t been a better weekend in September than this one. A wedding tonight and Winnipeg’s Nuit Blanche tomorrow night, means life probably doesn’t get better than this. And, on that note, I’ll make sure to keep this short and sweet so we can get back to getting our items packed and our faces ready for what is sure to be a spectacular day!

This is going to be so much fun!

  • Under : Updates, Weddings

Jennifer & Lee James Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Wedding

The Long Awaited Jennifer & Lee Teaser

  • 2 comments/
  • September 5, 2014

So, with September being here already, comes our trip to Winnipeg to photograph our friends’ wedding, Paula and Scott! It should be a solid time, with some people near and dear to our hearts. This also means a much needed, and deserved, break from the constant heat and humidity we battle daily living in Playa del Carmen. Our days, every day, average about 34c, feels like 46c with the humidity, which seems to always be at 90% or higher. So, knowing these autumn temperatures happening back home currently has us both a little giddy to wear jeans, or leggings, and cardigans, t-shirts and hoodies.

Also, we are just finishing up the absolute final culling down from the wedding celebration of Jennifer and Lee James. For now, we will share a much needed teaser on our site! There’s minor detailed adjustments in the works for the website, and that will be a continual process until we leave 4 days from now. The days have completely flown by us, and it’s hard to imagine that we have lived in our recent Paradise for nearly 2 months now, and excited for many more month to come too!

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It will be nice to reacquaint ourselves with family and friends we only recently left behind, but still weigh heavy in our hearts with thoughts and memories with everyone. This is the second visit to Winnipeg in one year, and am pleased to say that both visits had weddings to attend. As simply guests at a friend’s recent July wedding, and now as photographers and guests for Scott and Paula. It’s also going to be really exciting working with the couple again, considering how easygoing they were with their engagement session last summer .

And now, it’s Friday evening and a much needed visit to the beach is in order. It has been another long and productive week, so frolicking in waves and feeling sand between our toes seems the perfect way to welcome the evening.

  • Under : Updates, Weddings

So We Have Finally Arrived!

  • 2 comments/
  • July 18, 2014

So we have finally arrived! Playa del Carmen is now called home. It has been an exceptionally busy few days. Lots of changes and lots to learn. After arriving Sunday, we were met with the misfortune of having our luggage lost in transit at the airport in Toronto. We had the exceptionally fortunate experience of having an exceptionally kind gentleman by the name of Miguel, help take down our information and keep in contact with us until it was found Tuesday and delivered Wednesday. That being said, the first few days with no change of clothes, or anything else, was challenging. We’ve learned that we are approximately 5km from the outskirts of town, but nearly 8km away from Walmart, which is where we needed to go to get simple replacement items. Needless to say, in this heat and humidity, it can feel like quite the trek. We were so relieved when we received notice that our luggage was found Tuesday evening, and would be delivered sometime Wednesday.
 
Luggage situation aside, we are quickly learning that being completely foreign, and lacking Spanish speaking skills, proves to be very difficult. We are trying to pick up on words here and there, but that is going to continue to be a work in progress for quite some time still. Things are done very differently here, and we are learning new things not only daily, but nearly every hour, or so it seems. But, it’s all a learning experience, and we’ve remained positive and excited the whole way through. Bring on the challenges of living in Mexico!
 
We love our new place, and it turns out this condo is HUGE! The two rooms are basically the exact same size, never mind the vast openness of the living room/dining area. We have adjusted to the gas stove top, and just learned today that our washer/dryer system will likely also run on gas rather than electricity. We’re not certain, but this is the norm here, so it’s exceptionally likely to be the case for us too. There’s still a number of items needed to make this place feel a bit more like home, but that will come over time. Patience truly is a virtue.
 
We are excited to continue onward with obtaining our immigration cards and being fully entitled to work here. It has been proceeding rather steadily, with a day trip to Toronto July 11th to sign for our Mexican Visa and now, meeting with our lawyer here in Playa del Carmen to continue filling out applications for the card proceed to be complete. One slow and steady step at a time.
 
The beach is just over half an hour away from the entrance to our complex, and likely just shy of one kilometre away from our front steps. Needless to say, this is heavenly and we’ve enjoyed our splashes and milling about in the ocean nearly every day. The sun is hot, the air is humid, and the water is warm yet still refreshing. It feels great to finally be here, and despite always having things to do, we still take time to sit back and remember where we are, what we have accomplished thus far to get here, and give each other random high fives for doing it. If you couldn’t tell from this post that we’re ecstatic to be here, the photo should sum that up nicely.

La vida es bella!

  • Under : 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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