Stylized Ottawa Wedding at Le Belvedere

I mentioned in the sneak peek that the drive up to Wakefield is so beautiful and is only going to get better looking as the trees fill with leaves (and think of how stunning this place will look in the Fall with all those amazing colours!). It is a wonderful drive and an even better spot for weddings, which is likely why Le Belvedere chose it for their fantastic venue and why our time spent there was not only a feast for the eyes, but a ton of fun also!

We were lucky enough to be part of another Stylized Shoot with some wonderful local wedding vendors. Our previous shoot organized by Opportunity Knocks Events paired rich gold details with the robust marsala colour and it came out beautifully! This time around the ladies went with a brighter colour palette including vibrant peaches, pinks and corals set against crisp, clean white details. All of these beautiful colours were accented by the rustic glamour of Le Belvedere and the surrounding area.

We spent the first bit of our day chilling in the cozy cottage at Le Belvedere that is available for their newlyweds. It has a nice feature where from the outside you can tell it’s a great little cottage, and then once you get inside the place goes on forever without ever feeling too big. It was a great way to start our day and I can imagine it is a wonderful spot to relax after your wedding.

This time around we were lucky enough to have 4 beautiful ladies as our models. These ladies were so stunning right from the get go and Meghan from 2bu Esthetics & Makeup and Camille from Hair Bistro brought out all of their natural beauty so flawlessly. Both the hair and makeup was styled to match the colour palette for the shoot and dresses and to go with the general feel of the venue with its natural surroundings and understated elegance.

I have absolutely no talent when it comes to hair and makeup myself, so watching the pros do their thing so seemingly effortlessly and with such wonderful results is always fun for me.

While the ladies were getting all dolled up by the wonderful hair and makeup team, I took the opportunity to play with some of the details for the day. Detail shots are some of my absolute favourites from weddings and I have so much fun moving them around and getting things just how I envision them in my head. Normally on weddings we do things like ring shots during dinner to try and optimize our time with our couples and shots for the bride’s details are done as quickly as possible while still giving them some options, but this time around I really got to spend some quality time with these little gems and it was fantastic.

This wonderful hairpiece, which matched the bridesmaid’s dresses so nicely, pearl necklace and sash were from The Handmade Bride and they looked so perfect when paired with the bridal gown. I really loved the softness of the hairpiece with the layers of different fabrics, but how it was still a bold statement piece as well due to its bright colour.

Both the bridal gown and bridesmaids dresses were provided by The Handmade Bride and they were perfect for the location! The simple, flowing bridal gown when paired with the extra little bling from the sash was so beautiful. Even our model, who always pictured herself in a traditional (and very poofy) ball gown, was floored by how lovely the simple design was.

The bridesmaids’ dresses were the amazing infinity dresses. These dresses come in many different colours to match almost any colour scheme and can be wrapped in seemingly endless ways to create a truly unique look. I love how these dresses can be used to create a matching look by using all the same colour but still have an individual style by wrapping them differently for each of your bridesmaids. For this shoot, we went with non-matching dresses in three different colours and two different lengths. Kiley from Opportunity Knocks Events was the resident expert in tying them up so she stopped by the cottage when everyone was ready to get the ladies all set.

To be honest, one of my favourite things about the infinity dresses is not that they can easily be worn again by the bridesmaids, but rather that with all the wrapping options out there, they really can fit any body type and allow for everyone to be comfortable throughout the day.

Stephanie and Kiley are so meticulous in their styling for their weddings and it was such a pleasure to have that level of attention to detail at this shoot. While the ladies and I were at the cottage getting everyone ready, they were at the main reception hall setting up, folding napkins just right and making sure all of the glasses were spotless. This last one really makes me happy since I am a bit of a perfectionist and spots and fingerprints on glasses, though inevitable, especially at weddings, always annoy the OCD in me.

The ladies had brought over several of their rentals items for the day including these amazing light up letters! They were the perfect addition to the head table and I love how they reflected so nicely off of the floors of Le Belvedere.

These fantastic white cane chairs are from Le Belvedere and really worked well with the linens provided by Mastermind Events Rentals. I absolutely love the chevron tablecloths. Having non-white linens, and particularly patterned linens, as part of your wedding décor can really add some personality to your day.

The invitations and stationary were designed by Ink Blossom. I love how they incorporated the colours and feel of the shoot. And I still love the watercolour look that is so popular right now in stationary! And of course, that little bit of bling and sparkle in the band and envelope for the wedding invitation really hit the nail on the head!

We have had the pleasure of enjoying the goodies from Sweet Clementines before as we have done some bridal shows together and their stuff is always so delicious (we often spend the entire day sneaking their samples when they aren’t looking) and the treats they made for the shoot were absolutely no exception! I loved the decorations for the cake they made, the layered bright flowers and leaves kept with the simple yet elegant feel of the shoot and looked fantastic. Cupcakes are some of my favourite desserts and again, the sweet and simple design with a hit of bright colour really worked well. But my favourite things from Sweet Clementines are always their sugar cookies, and that was this case this time too. I love the design work they did for the cookies and they were of course, scrumptious. Everyone at the shoot agreed, although we did torture everyone by not letting them actually eat anything until we were done…but everything really did smell this good!

The bouqets and centerpieces were provided by the 2014 Ottawa Wedding Awards winning florists, Ottawa Flowers. The ladies’ bouqets were a lovely combination of various roses matching the colour scheme and soft greens. They were wrapped with burlap pinned with a little bit of bling that really kept with the elegant rustic feel.

The centrepieces were so beautiful! Added to the roses and green used in the bouquets were budding roses, more greens and budding orchids. I love the use of the budding flowers amidst all of the beautiful blooming ones as it really added some great dimension to the arrangements.

Okay, let me get serious for a second, this shoot was absolutely the most hilarious one I have done to date! These wonderful ladies had me in stitches the whole day and I left with sore cheeks from all of the laughing and smiling. I would set them up with a pose and then leave them with it for two seconds and they had made it look so natural and fun. Not to mention the fact that if you left them for two seconds more they were cracking up at each other! Without a doubt, they made the session not only fun, but easy too. I mean come on, look at them, they’re gorgeous!!

Add onto the lovely ladies those natural surroundings and the elegant décor of Le Belvedere and it was truly breathtaking! I absolutely love the chandelier they have in their outdoor ceremony area that overlooks the entire valley. There was just so much we could have done with this area that I truly believe we could do tons of weddings there without having to duplicate images for couples.

The day we did the shoot was so lovely. It was a little chilly at times, but personally I like that since I was working away taking as many shots as I could. As the day went on, the sky turned a beautiful blue and the wind was still blowing every now and then so we had the girls twirl around. The design of their dresses really worked well with this and of course, they made it super fun!

Close to their ceremony location Le Belvedere has an outdoor bar area, which for the shoot, the ladies at Opportunity Knocks Events had turned into a super cool Lemonade Stand with the help of some of their rentals. Not only was it nice to look at, but it was delicious! It was a great little break for everyone to sip away at the lemonade (and later on when we devoured all those sweets, the lemonade really helped too).

As I said before, we had a gorgeous day for the shoot, but just in case the weather isn’t on your side, Le Belvedere has an indoor ceremony location as well. It’s a fantastic area with high ceilings and big windows that look out to that wonderful view. In fact, the entire cliff facing side of the venue is full of huge windows! It is a photographers dream with all that wonderful natural light flowing through.

All of that is added to by the luxurious chandeliers and country details like these magnificent barn doors. The entire venue is full of these tiny (and not so tiny) details that really take it up a notch.

This Stylized Session was definitely a memorable one and everyone involved did such a fantastic job, I really couldn’t have asked for more!! It was the perfect lead-in to the upcoming 2015 wedding season, which is looking like it is going to be the best yet!

Want to know about the amazing vendors who were part of this shoot?

Photography: Stephanie Beach Photography (us!)
Design & Decor (Wedding Planning): Opportunity Knocks Events
Venue & Catering: Le Belvedere
Cake: Sweet Clementines
Bridal Gown & Accessories: The Handmade Bride
Makeup Artist: 2bu Esthetics & Makeup
Hair Stylist: Camille Raymond, Hair Bistro
Invitations & Stationary: Ink Blossom
Flowers: Ottawa Flowers
Decor & Rentals: Mastermind Events

Big thanks to all of the vendors listed above!