Max & Frederick's Intimate Wedding at The Drake Cafe
In short here’s how M&F described their wedding: Drake Hotel, 30 people, and great food!
They swooned us with this description of their big day even before we met them and then after we did we fell for them hard. After spending our season shooting such large weddings and events (which were all really great and so fun, don’t get us wrong) it was nice to take a small step back on this wedding and slow things down with only a handful of people, at one of our favourite places in the city. Max + Frederick are both so incredibly warm, laid back, and were such a dream to work with throughout their wedding day! If they are an example of the people they surround themselves with, it’s then no surprise that every single person there was just as warm and inviting as they are.
The Drake is such an iconic location in the city for so many reasons (it’s physical location (Queen West), it’s actual hotel rooms, it’s nightlife, it’s cafe, etc. etc. etc.) but something that M+F mentioned about why they chose the Drake was because they wanted to “let the ambiance of the space do a lot of the heavy lifting” which it absolutely did! All of their little touches + the decor that you can already find in the café set the stage as their wedding venue, cocktail and reception, and even for their late night dance floor.
See more photos from their wedding day down below, click the photos to enlarge + browse through
This is probably the first wedding where after the ceremony we didn’t try and rush the newlyweds out of the door so we could start shooting their couple portraits…
After the ceremony we usually encourage people to B-line it out of the door because it’s so easy to get caught in a receiving line (whether you were planning one or not) with your family and friends coming up to you and sharing their congratulations and excitement, and this cuts into the time that we have to shoot together before dinner. Since Max + Frederick only had 30 people with them this was the first time where we just let the receiving line (a term we use loosely here) happen because it only took a few minutes start to end!
Once they greeted and thanked all of their guests we went back outside to take some portraits. What we loved most of this little session was that we hardly had to give them any direction; they were so giddy and excited that we just ended up shooting them as they were, in their own little bubble eagerly embracing each other. Something Max said that we really loved was, “I just can’t stop kissing him and I don’t know why. It’s not like we haven’t done this (kiss) before. I’m just so excited and I can’t stop.”
Another great perk of having only 30 guests at your wedding (can you tell how much we love it?!) is that after their session and before dinner, Max + Frederick were able to talk to everyone for more than a few minutes each; with a small guest list they gave themselves the opportunity to be present with each and every person there.
