Summer Arboretum Ottawa Engagement Session // Leanne + Tom

“We are all navigating these unprecedented times together and we gotta do what we can to help each other out!” This is what Leanne said to me when I asked if we could move their Saturday engagement session to another date. They were coming from Toronto for the shoot, so we had limited flexibility, and I felt guilty asking. One of my early 2020 wedding couples (who had already had to postpone their wedding plans) decided they couldn’t wait until 2021 to say “I do” and wanted to have a lovely backyard ceremony with their family. Their 5pm ceremony was the same date as my sunset shoot with Leanne and Tom and I took a chance to see if we could move their shoot to Sunday. When Leanne replied with a “no problem at all” and complete solidarity for the strangers who’s wedding plans were trashed at the beginning of Covid, I knew they were my kind of people! She moved her hair and makeup appointment and adjusted their plans so we could do their engagement session on Sunday instead. I was so touched by her kindness and I crossed my fingers for good weather.

Saturday was stunning for the wedding (you bet your ass you will some of those pictures here soon too), and then Sunday arrived and…. rain! I felt so guilty that I had them give up the day with beautiful weather and there was no way to postpone to a sunny day. So we checked the weather radar and all things looked good for a dry shoot that evening. It started a beautiful overcast down along the water and then the rain came back! Just in time for our location swap up to the Ornamental Gardens. We were determined and refused to give up! We sat in our cars and chatted back and forth between the open windows for about 20 minutes just waiting for the rain to pass. Our commitment paid off and the clouds parted, the sun came out, and more beautiful photos were taken!

I will admit I felt discouraged for a few minutes, but it could not have been a more perfect evening in the end!

Now I just have to patiently wait for these two to tie the knot in October at the beautiful new The Knox venue!