A fall wedding at Puska Properties
After having to postpone due to COVID, Blaire and Brandon’s fall Puska Properties wedding finally came in September 2021. I first met B + B (and their sweet pup Rex) at their engagement session in Nanaimo at Duke Point. These two are a blast so I knew their wedding day would be so much fun!
Their wedding venue, The Puska Properties, is located in the Yellow Point area south of Nanaimo. It was my first time shooting a wedding here, although I’ve shot at several nearby locations like Noisy Acres. I LOVE this area; it’s super quiet and private with lots of trees. Also, there are many parks and water access points nearby for portraits. However, The Puska Properties is gorgeous and has all the backdrops we needed on-site! Blaire and Brandon, with the help of Krystalized Events, transformed the on-site tent into a beautiful covered ceremony and reception location to hide out from the rain. Their dog Rex was a key part of the day; each table had a photo of him and he was even on the wedding cake (a surprise for the bride!).
A few tips for family portraits
Next, we hid under a huge tree for family photos after the ceremony. It took awhile to wrangle the extended family, so I had a little extra time with Blaire and her immediate family. Honestly, these ended up being some of my favourite shots! I used to recommend 30 minutes in total for all the family portraits. Typically, this covered enough time for lots of different family groupings, which we’d move through quickly. After this wedding, I now recommend setting aside an extra 10 minutes for photos with your closest people. It could be your parents and siblings, or another close family member or friend. The extra few minutes is worth it to get candid photos of you being yourselves rather than just smiling at the camera!
To recap, if you’re planning a wedding right now, aim for about 45 minutes max for family photos. I recommend keeping your list of groupings short and sweet. Keep the smaller groupings limited to your close people. For your extended family, do one or two bigger group photos rather than a dozen smaller groupings. I’ve found that having a long, complicated list of dozens of groupings tends to be stressful for the couple and the guests. Family photos are super important, but don’t let it be a stressful part of your wedding day! This is something I’m always happy to help my clients figure out, too.
Thankfully, the rain stopped just in time for the bride, groom, and myself to sneak out for some evening portraits. Lastly, I finished off this magical evening with some dancing photos. I hope you can feel the love in the room when you look at them too!
Vendor Love
Venue: The Puska Properties
Planner: Krystalized Events
Videographers: Steph and Kati
Makeup: Beauty by Sydney
Hair: Madison Paige Hair Designs
Cake: Coastal Cake
Your turn!
It was an honour getting to work with Blaire and Brandon for their Puska Properties wedding. If you’re planning your wedding right now and looking for a photographer, I’d love to hear from you! I am available for weddings all over Vancouver Island and beyond. Send me a message using the contact form below and I will email my Info Guide with all of my packages.