I don’t want to bury the lede here, so I’m going to come right out and say it — this wedding had alpacas! I learned a lot about alpacas for the hour or so they were on site to entertain the guests:
- Alpacas don’t like being touched.
- Alpacas will spit and drool and make a mess if you feed them.
- Alpacas pretty much go anywhere you want or need them to just by leading them on their leash.
But they sure were cute and fluffy! Never in a million years did I think I’d get to do alpaca wedding photos.
These magical critters were guests at Samantha and Coltyn’s wedding in Ganaraska Forest, in Campbellcroft, Ontario (near Rice Lake). The Ganaraska Forest Centre venue is right in the middle of the 11,000 acre forest, and this natural woodland absolutely comes alive with colour during the autumn season. The height of fall colour varies so much from year to year, sometimes peaking around Thanksgiving, but sometimes not until close to Halloween. Thankfully, Samantha and Coltyn lucked out with the most beautiful fall scenery on their wedding day. If I could just photograph every single wedding during the peak fall colour season, that would be exceptional.
Because the pandemic threw so many wedding schedules into chaos, it turns out that Samantha and both her sisters all got married back-to-back-to-back in 2022, which was most definitely not the original plan. Sister Paige’s wedding was first in May, which I also had the pleasure of photographing. Samantha’s was the third of the trilogy, so to speak, and I can’t think of a more picturesque way to cap things off.
VENDORS
- See Samantha and Coltyn’s wedding video at mnfilm.ca
- Alpaca wedding rentals: ourtinyfarmstead.com
