A Summer Wedding at the Viscount Gort Hotel

August 16, 2024 · Winnipeg, Manitoba

This August wedding brought the entire day together at Winnipeg’s Viscount Gort Hotel, from the preparations and ceremony through to the evening reception. Between the ceremony and reception, we stepped away to Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Assiniboine Park for wedding-party and couple portraits surrounded by greenery, pathways, sculpture, and the garden’s distinctive wooden pergola.

The day was a mix of quiet anticipation, emotional ceremony moments, relaxed portraits, and a reception filled with energy. My approach throughout was to document those moments naturally while stepping in with simple direction when it helped create a stronger photograph.

Getting Ready at the Viscount Gort Hotel

The day began at the Viscount Gort Hotel, with both sides of the wedding party preparing on site. Getting-ready coverage is an important part of a complete wedding story because it captures the smaller moments before the ceremony begins — finishing touches, details, time with friends and family, and the anticipation building throughout the morning.

I approach this part of the day primarily as a documentary photographer, allowing moments to unfold naturally while using the available light and surroundings to create portraits along the way.

Before the ceremony, they shared a quiet prayer without seeing one another.

Wedding Ceremony at the Viscount Gort Hotel

With the ceremony taking place at the Viscount Gort Hotel as well, the transition from preparations to the ceremony was seamless for the couple and their guests.

During a wedding ceremony, my priority is to preserve the moments that cannot be recreated — the processional, reactions, vows, exchanges between the couple, and the moments immediately after they are married. I work quietly and stay attentive not only to the couple, but also to the family and friends experiencing the ceremony alongside them.

Wedding Portraits at Leo Mol Sculpture Garden

Following the ceremony, we headed to Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Assiniboine Park for portraits.

The garden provided a completely different visual setting from the hotel, with mature trees, winding pathways, sculptural elements, and the wooden pergola creating natural frames for the photographs. I kept the portrait portion of the day relaxed and moving, using simple direction rather than turning it into a long, highly posed photo session.

Reception at the Viscount Gort Hotel

The celebration returned to the Viscount Gort Hotel for the reception, where the photography shifted almost entirely toward candid storytelling.

Receptions are full of moments that are impossible to plan — reactions during speeches, conversations between family members, emotional exchanges, dancing, and the unexpected moments that happen once the formal parts of the day are finished. Those photographs are an important part of telling the complete story of a wedding day rather than focusing only on the formal portraits.