Over the last few years the idea of what a wedding or elopement “looks like” has drastically changed. There aren’t any rules and many couples have opted to create an intimate experience that focuses solely on them instead of creating a larger event that (sometimes) creates a lack of intimacy. For Jesse & Tom it was a no brainer; elope in Toronto and create an honest and intimate wedding experience that allowed them to enjoy the quiet moments with an absolutely zero stress environment to bring it all together.

This elopement started off as a blank slate but after chatting with Jesse & Tom a few times things slowly started to unfold and we collaborated on creating the perfect adventure elopement timeline that felt natural and relaxed. Adventure elopements aren’t only reserved for hikers looking for the ultimate mountain landscape for a picture perfect background. You can absolutely approach a city elopement with a sense of adventure but what makes them a little more fun, at least to me, is that cities have a lot of different things to offer, there’s a misconception that large cities are hackneyed or unimaginative, which couldn't be further from the truth. Jesse & Tom love where they live and for all intents and purpose Toronto wasn’t just a location for a wedding, it was an active member of the elopement experience and Jesse & Tom very much saw the city and their lives within it as major factors for their wedding.

Another very important element for these two was to have the entire wedding captured on analog film. The tangibility and slow pace of the analog photography workflow just felt right to them and ultimately they wanted that indescribable nostalgic factor that they felt would represent the apogee of emotions that become blurry and imperfect within our memories. Selfishly I’ll admit that I very much prefer to shoot film and I truly believe that it’s the ultimate medium for me to channel my creative visions and mindsets, but over the years I’ve become lucky enough to work with creatives or creatively inclined couples who see analog film as a standard, a must-have to receive the sort of imagery they expect from me as a photographer. For Jesse & Tom to express these values meant that I was going to be working with people who would let me do my thing and genuinely allow me to be apart of the overall experience in an artless way.

The day started off at the Cherry Beach dog park where Jesse & Tom got to spend the sunny morning doing something they love doing together, walking the dog and spending a low-key morning by the water. I know it’s consider “untraditional” to do this sort of thing on your wedding day, but I’ve been seeing this more and more and I really believe it created an amazingly comfortable atmosphere to kick off the day, I mean, why not see each other in the morning and spend as much time together on the day? Jesse & Tom got to legitimately spend quality time together soaking in the anticipation of what was to come with the rest of the day and it helped set the mood going forward.

A low-key adventure at the dog park flowed into a casual lunch at their home where they got to spend a few quiet moments together in their bedroom before starting to get ready for the ceremony. The perfect playlist of alternative rock and shoe gaze set the tone as it subtly played in the background as things became serene. I realized that music was important to these two as per the Radiohead concert posted framed in their living room, which I only noticed since Tom was scribbling down his vows in the corner while Jesse prepped her makeup in the neighbouring bedroom. Their proximity created this sort exciting tension, an ambiance the was unintentionally cinematic but somehow utterly beautiful. Very few words were exchanged as they both got ready, but what wasn’t said out loud was somehow speaking volumes through their body language which was beguiling and captivating.

Once their wedding day styles were finalized Jesse & Tom made their way through the west end of Toronto making a few pit stops along to way to take in a few meaningful views from, in what they described to me as, their every-day-life locations, places in their life that would seem mundane to anyone who didn’t understand or appreciate the personal and deeper meaning these places had, making a popular Toronto location suddenly sequestered. The power of memory and lived experience with another individual is what can transform any run of the mill place into something worth going back to time and time again. Watching Jesse & Tom make a few trips down memory lane was endearing, a kind reminder that their arrival in this moment was paved by a path and journey together, so why not take a few moments to appreciate the ride while you’re still on it?

Preto Loft in the Junction was the setting for their intimate wedding ceremony, witnessed solely by their parents. Their vows were grounded in honesty and sincerity, a deeply beautiful exchange of words that had an abundance of nuance and written with elegance that was poetic, poignant and delicate in its message. Not bad for a pair of doctors you’d probably think, but really it would be a testament to any individual who considers themselves a wordsmith.

Through watered eyes and profound gazes, they were pronounced married. A small celebration and toast capped things off before heading to their final destination for an intimate dinner at Richmond Station in downtown Toronto. A large studio, seemingly empty in comparison, was filled with a sudden love and joy unbelievably created by only a handful of people.

Jesse & Tom’s beautiful city elopement encompassed all the values and important elements that should reflect a wedding day; love, memories and experience. Besides being beyond cool, Jesse & Tom created moments to appreciate one another and the experience they were having. Ultimately when they look back on their wedding day they’ll remember every small detail, every smile and laugh, they’ll remember what their embrace felt like or how they felt staring into one another’s eyes. There’s a stack of negatives leftover to serve as a reminder, but they’ll never be as powerful as their own blurry, imperfect memories of it all.