Elizabeth and I met in Sicily back in 2010. Due to a fortunate chain of events we ended up staying at the same fantastic vila. We connected right away on many levels and I recall our laughs with great pleasure. We truly felt we must have been sisters in a previous life! Since, we have had long, deep conversations over the phone and have exchanged soul soothing emails. She is a special human being and I am very happy to have her in my life. Needless to say, I was super excited for her the moment she announced the engagement to Dan, her boyfriend of a few years. They met in Buffalo while she was doing her Master’s at the Buffalo State College. Fate? I would think so! I have not had the pleasure to meet her fiancé until their wedding day. And I was very content to discover that Elizabeth could have not chosen to spend the rest of her life with someone better suited: a gentleman in all senses. I felt fortunate to get to spend so many hours around them that pretty mild January day and I could have not thought of a better way of part taking in all the emotion while capturing some great moments through my lens. Their choice of a venue was fantastic, the quaint Queen’s Landing in Niagara on the Lake still had all the Christmas decorations up so the celebrations felt even more festive.

Dear Sissy Beth and your lovely Dan, I am wishing you both a new path paved with love, mutual support, fun, health and many wild dreams coming true!! Lots of love, Sissy M.

One of my very best experiences so far has been traveling to beautiful Arizona to capture Michelle and Stephen’s wedding events. Their celebrations started with a Western style rehearsal dinner at the quaint Pinnacle Peak patio in Scottsdale. I really felt like I stepped back in time, I would have not been too surprised if John Wayne himself suddenly crashed some of the local bar’s doors open, jumped on his horse and rode into the beautiful sunset Great party, fun crowd, tasty food and extremely friendly staff! Next day we continued on at the super elegant Four Seasons resort. Despite the super hot day, we enjoyed an impeccably blue sky and the sun shining over the perfectly kept patches of dessert surrounding the resort. I do not think I could have asked for more in terms of photo taking opportunities. The ceremony took place while the sun was setting behind the mountain creating a surreal, romantic atmosphere and casting a fabulous light. Cocktails followed and shortly after the party started. Michelle, Stephen and their guests danced away, almost non stop, throughout the night. I will never forget the vibe in the room once the High Energy tune began…I can still hear and see it all

Dear Michelle and Steve, thank you for the amazing opportunity of having spent some great days in one of the most beautiful corners of the world. I had a blast traveling around and discovering such majestic landscape! May you live happily together, enjoy each moment and hope to see you again in NYC soon and have more fun together! Hugs, Manuela.

Happy 2012, may this year bring only joy, health and prosperity to all!

I am excited to let everyone know that the January 2012 edition of the Elegant Wedding magazine is now out. Just a day after I returned from Europe the courier came and delivered a bunch of these wonderfully creative books. I was thrilled with the quality. If anyone is interested, I would be happy to provide copies so please just email me.

I am also super pleased with Mona and Emon’s beautiful destination wedding being featured. It truly looks fantastic! So does my new ad!

A big thank you to Elegant Wedding’s creative team!

I will start with saying that Meaghan and Dallas are extraordinary people. The kind you want to be around and have deep conversations with. Talk about the world these days and everyone’s struggle to become more and more real and true. I did not meet these two prior to their big day, we have only exchanged a few emails over the past year. I was more than pleasantly surprised to discover two individuals with very unique personalities and simply a joy to photograph. In spite of the cold weather we still managed to steal some good shots around the King Valley premises and trust me, I was shivering underneath my jacket! The reception was a riot: the couple decided to go for the Soapbox photo booth and their guests had so much fun with it! I am sure all in all, the combined photographic records of the day will help Meaghan and Dallas be in that fantastic atmosphere over and over again.

Dear Meaghan and Dallas, it was a pleasure meeting and working with you, I wish you a very happy new life together! Hugs, Manuela & Co.

I always love it when the couples I have the pleasure to work with are laid back and fun. Lisa and Mike are a pleasure to be around and so easy to capture. Our photographic journey started this past summer with a fun engagement session at the Harbourfront where we walked around, laughed a lot and enjoyed some great gelato. For their wedding day the two of them decided to take pictures before the ceremony and I always love when that happens. Because it creates the opportunity of spending some relaxed time together and creating a lovely collection of images without any time pressure. Strolling through a beautiful forrest just outside of the Old Mill we have thoroughly enjoyed each possible spot, while being wrapped in a beautiful, soft light. Quite dreamy I have to say. The result is for you to enjoy.

Lisa and Mike, I am very happy we got to meet through a nice chain of coincidences. Congratulations and stay at your happiest over many years to come! Hugs, Manuela

Olivia and Louis are a lot of fun. It has been simply effortless to capture them at their most relaxed and natural way of being. First we had a great engagement session at the Bluffs followed by their great fall wedding held at the quaint King Valley Golf and Country Club. Their day was fantastic: beautiful weather (a bit cool in the afternoon, but they were such good sports when it came down to modeling…), cocktails on the terrace, amazing food and of course, lots and lots of fun. Their friends came up with some of the most interesting game ideas which got the crowd going and the atmosphere turned exuberant. Not to mention the dancing! This bunch really loved to move! All in all, simply a great day!

Olivia and Louis, thank you for having us capture your great day, congratulations and keep on having fun together! Hugs, Manuela.

Kelley and Jordan are getting married next January. We all hope for some snow so we can get winter flavored photos. To add some contrast to their photographic memories they decided to do their engagement photos at Jordan’s parents’ farm close to Bancroft. I still can’t believe how that September day had turned out. On the way there I have driven in torrential rain, barely seeing ahead. The forecast was not very encouraging, yet there was a faint chance that there could be a little break in the gloomy weather in the afternoon. The moment I parked the car at the farm, I could feel only a few drops here and there and then not only it all stopped magically, but the sun came out to the point where it was quite hard to bare! Regardless, we had so much fun exploring the 100 something acres with tons to see and enjoy! It felt like a little trip within a trip A few kilometers into my drive back to the city the skies closed again, it got really dark and the rain started coming down in the same manner as early in morning. I smiled and I felt so grateful towards the bearded people up in the sky who have orchestrated everything to perfection

Kelley and Jordan, I look forward to having more fun together in the New Year! Hugs, Manuela.

A bit over a year ago, my dear friends Reyhaneh and Will were celebrating their union in marriage at the dreamy Riu Palace in Los Cabos. Not to mention the fantastic ‘trash the dress’ photo adventure that followed the next day in the midst of which our connection got cemented further. We have experienced so much together that even to this day we like to talk about it and recall such unbelievably fun times.

It was with much excitement and joy that I found out they were going to be parents. And that is happening very soon and I look forward to meeting their little addition. Meanwhile, we went for some belly photos and we had another share of nice moments together. Reyhaneh is simply stunning as a mama to be and I am super thrilled to have captured some of these memories for them.

R+W: I started the countdown and I am waiting for the big announcement. More visual stories to be written! Love, Manny.

I simply love the way Hanna and Matthew’s wedding photos stayed colourfully consistent with their engagement images we took downtown Toronto. I know how much they like vibrant tones and I am thrilled for the fact that their celebrations were such a representation of their vision. Despite the rain that decided to start just when we were on our way to Kleinburg for photos, everything ended up working out just smoothly. Umbrellas are always fun and such a romantic element that add a nice touch to the photographs.

The celebrations that followed were intensely joyous, with a lot of fun and even exotic dancers! Everybody thoroughly enjoyed each and every second.

Hanna and Matt, enjoy the years to come and make the best out of them, simply enjoying each other while walking on your new path together! Manuela

Needless to say that I always enjoy myself whenever I go back to photograph weddings at the quaint Inn on the Twenty in Jordan, Niagara. I was therefore super happy when Julie and Louis told me this was their choice of a wedding venue. I recall sitting down with them and connecting over topics like travel, finding the best place to live in, etc which made me feel like we almost knew each other prior…so interesting to have such moments happen. Even more reassuring for the shared experiences to follow. We had an amazing engagement photo session at the Beaches (I will post it soon, I am slightly behind with my blogging) and an even more beautiful wedding day together. Even though the sun was harsh and no clouds seemed to want to appear, we worked with it and ended up having fun around one of my most favorite spots: Cave Springs.
After that we continued on at the Inn with Julie and Louis amazing family members and friends.

Dear Julie and Louis, hope you will always recall the sunshine on your day and will hold it in your hearts forever! Best, Manuela.