Quick disclaimer before we start—although I’ll be showing some wedding photos, please note that I no longer do wedding photography! I’m instead focusing mostly on editorial and commercial portrait photography, as well as headshot photography. Before my retirement from wedding photography, however, I was able to sneak in Fabio & Samia’s amazing wedding. Here’s the story!
I met Fabio in my former life as a biology student. I actually knew of him before I officially met him. We knew him as Sweatpants Guy (he was a guy and he wore sweatpants). He was the tall dude who would conspicuously sit waaaay back in the back of the lecture hall with his sweatpants. The next series of events happened over the course of the last 8 years: we became friends while geeking out about evolution, we studied Blue Tangs in Barbados, we graduated from biology, he became a high school teacher and I became a photographer, and along the way, he stopped wearing sweatpants and met Samia.
I was eventually introduced to the ball of energy that is Samia, the perfect counterpoint to Fabio's mellow personality. If you’re meeting them for the first time, this contrast between the two of them might surprise you, but you’ll quickly see that when it comes to being silly, it's an arms race between the two of them. (Let’s be real though, Samia always ends up winning that battle.)
One thing that binds them together is their shared thirst for new experiences, especially when these come in the form of food. One of their regular hang out spots is Kim Phat, and it seems like every time I show up at their place for dinner, they’re introducing me to some new dessert or ingredient that I had never heard of before. And what better way to discover new food than to travel off the beaten path? These two have trekked across the world, stuffing their faces with anything they find in food markets or street food stalls. (I must say that it is possible, however, that their travelling is fuelled not by wanderlust, nor their desire for new culinary experiences, but rather by their obsession for hiking and camping gear.) In any case, you’ll constantly find them planning their next trip.
It’s during one such trip (in the land of llamas) that they became engaged. To answer Fabio’s “Will you marry me?”, Samia excitedly replied “I do!”. Grammatically incorrect, but still adorable nonetheless.
Over a year of wedding planning passed, and then... a massive Italian-Lebanese wedding.
Leading up to the wedding, I was pretty nervous. As you may know already, Fabio had started working with me as my second photographer at weddings. These photos are our light tests that we had taken in previous weddings.
Photographing your friends’ wedding adds more stress, and now add on top of that the fact that it’s your second photographer’s wedding. But ultimately, it made things easier actually. Fabio would already know where to stand and which direction to face for photos. They’re both used to being around me and my camera. They also made ridiculous faces at me throughout the day.
My second photographer for the day was Julien Catella. Check out his street photography. We started the day between Longueuil and Laval in their respective parents’ homes.
Eventually met up in the middle at the Paroisse Saint-Viateur-d’Outremont.
When you’re in the Mile-End and you’re Italian, a visit to Café Olimpico is warranted, even if it’s your wedding day.
We then headed to the Mont Blanc in Laval where the feast began. Oyster bar, mountains of cheese, Lagavulin scotch, and all kinds of deliciousness.
I'm so glad I have these two in my life. It was great to see their journey since the start, and also seeing Fabio's full transformation from goof to groom. The wedding is over, but fortunately, the feast continues with these two and I. In the past 3 months since the wedding, I’ve probably spent more time at their dinner table than at mine.
In a few years, we should have enough photos for another blog post.
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on social media (Facebook | Instagram), or if you're interested in getting a sometimes monthly photo newsletter, you can check it out at Postcards from Alex.