Rarely do I tell a story from start to finish. I like to begin in the middle and then work my way around and out. But here’s a day that begs a linear translation–it’s just simply entertaining enough exactly the way it happened.

Becky put her red dress on upstairs, with her mom, in the bedroom of her & Nick’s 4-storey apartment. Downstairs, her bridesmaids ran Nick & the groomsmen through a series of humiliating integrity tests (which they passed with flying colours of course) and then sent Nick on up to his sweetheart. A very brief but touching tea ceremony followed (sorry – no photos here) before everyone swept themselves up and travelled across the full 10 city blocks east to the Berkeley Church.

Becky now in white and borrowing her mother’s wedding veil, we start a portrait session. At the venue, in the courtyard, down by the water at Polson Pier, in Underpass Park, and under my daughter’s rainbow umbrella I happened to have in my trunk – a little wedding day nod to Pride. I love the cloud cover shrouding the Toronto skyline and these dress-up skatepark scenes. As we’re finishing up, the rain comes down. And some. A welcome omen. Just in time to get inside and have a wedding.

Dominic Nti officiated the ceremony with so much charisma it felt like the whole room might dissolve in a pool of laugh tears. These two have such a genuinely radiant love for one another, it’s palpable. It’s mesmerizing. I cherish these looks. The way we can see the meaning without hearing the words. All this joy and excitement held between two faces.

All you need is love.

dah dahn nah nah nah…the audience plays it out on kazoos as the ceremony recedes into cocktail hour, sweet and silly and totally awesome.

Then (obviously) they had Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart set up alongside the cocktail bar and the band. From this point on, a pre-dinner party will never seem complete without video games and joysticks.

Dinner. Speeches. Carefully worded amusements and crushing hugs.

And then the bride & groom are called to the middle of the room for the first…piano duet!! It’s heart-shattering, Becky played the intro to Married Life from the movie UP, and then Nick joining in beside her to play the counter melody.

Seriously.

But just when you feel you’ve witnessed the true highlight of the day, Nick & Becky hit the dancefloor, and blow everybody’s minds. They are known for this – I’ve seen it before, at Becky’s sister Brittany’s wedding. They are literally on fire when it comes to dance moves.

What else is there to say? The night gets danced away. These two get to share a whole bunch of years together shining in each other’s light.

Simple and beautiful. The way it should be.

Big love from here B&N!! xo