Cottage Wedding | Kristina + Kevin

If I were to tell you that I shot a wedding in a garage, what would you think? I know where your mind is going, but wait. A cottage wedding, or any wedding venue outside of places where you are “supposed to” get married get my creative senses all riled up! So, a cottage wedding in a garage? Yeah, let’s do it!

This particular cottage wedding took place at Kevin’s family cottage in Westport on a breathtaking lake front property on a hill. I’m talkin’ full-on log “cabin” with a red steel roof with the most beautiful walkway, made by the groom’s landscaping company no less (shout out Higher Ground!), down the steep hill to the dock where you’d be silly not to enjoy sunsets every chance you get, with a drink in hand and good people by your side. No doubt, the cottage was the perfect location for this 30 guest wedding…but where will we eat? Ah, Kevin’s dad had a plan, nay an excuse to get the garage of his dreams. When wedding plans started a year ago, so did construction of papa Roy’s double wide, double deep, board and batten beauty of a garage with a matching red steel roof. It was finished in time for the wedding, but not early enough to fill it up with boats and classic cars, nope, just the perfect open floor plan to host an exceptionally delicious dinner, prepared by Tangled Garden. We enjoyed the food in the lovely ambiance of incandescent string lights and beautifully simple decor that mildly disguised the unfinished exterior walls inside the garage. There was a ceasar bar, an old fashioned bar and home made craft beer the we enjoyed in custom made glasses with Kristina’s signature calligraphy. So, cottage wedding in a garage? No question!

Let me back up just for a second and talk about the first look. I met up with the girls at the Cove in Westport for some relaxed prep time and portraits of Kristina with her Mom, Grandma and maid of honour once Kristina donned the beautiful gown from The Handmade Bride. It was a lovely time with the lovely backdrop of a really quaint hotel in cottage country. My right hand man, Luke, hung out at the cottage and photographed the groom and his boys as they got into their monkey suits and slammed golf balls off the dock over a couple beers. They eventually made their way into Westport for the first look out on the dock. Luckily, there was a huge boat that I was able to convince the owners to let me onto for a cool vantage point of Kristina’s approach! hehe, I just can’t not climb things when I’m shooting. With the beautiful reveal done, we went on a short hike up on Foley Mountain before heading to the cottage for the ceremony. Of course, it then started to rain but it didn’t matter. We nailed some portraits and then they got married under a light sprinkle at the cottage.

Ok, I’ll shut my yap and just let you look at the photos from this delightful, kind of hot and rainy, emotion filled beauty of a cottage wedding day. When they asked me to stay an extra hour at the end of the night to capture the release of Chinese lanterns off the dock and s’mores by the fire, you can guess my answer.