Stephane Lemaire
When planning our wedding my then fiancé and I sat down and discussed what was most important to us. As many of you know, weddings are expensive and all the details involved add up very quickly ! So at the top of our list was hiring a good photographer, a great DJ for the reception and planning a nice honeymoon. You spend months sometimes even years planning your wedding day which really only lasts 13 hours. But when it’s all said and done, the one thing you actually walk away with are the pictures from that special day. For that reason, we felt that it was crucial to find an amazing photographer to capture the most important day of our lives. We were referred to Stephane Lemaire from a friend of mine that used him for her own wedding. After meeting with multiple photographers and even doing an engagement session with another photographer we knew Stephane was the perfect match once we met him. He welcomed us into his home for a meeting to not only discuss his pricing and variety of packages but to actually get to know us. This was one of the first things that set him apart from other photographers. He was genuinely interested in getting to know us as a couple and hearing our love story. From what I remember, our first meeting took almost 3 hours because he wanted to know all about our lives. He showed us his work by presenting us with wedding albums of other couples and a slide show. We instantly felt a connection to Stephane, he was friendly, laid back but also confident in his work and very professional. One of my husband’s frustrations when meeting multiple photographers was that most of them were self taught or someone who just picked up photography as a “hobby”. Not trying to knock anybody who decides to pick up photography as a hobby but many of them were not very good with their editing and their poses seemed cliche. They used the same locations, same poses and everything looked staged. Every album and couple had the same pictures. Not to mention they seemed over priced for what you were getting. On the other hand, Stephane had credentials, formal training and actually studied photography. His photography was not your every day picture. Every shot was unique, candid and it seemed like he really captured the theme of each wedding. No pose or style was repeated, he made every wedding look different. Stephane was confident and very organized. Hiring him was a big investment and he took the job seriously. He was incredible from start to finish. He made us feel very comfortable during our engagement session offering guidance here and there but he mostly just let us do our thang. He encouraged us to include props or anything that was meaningful to our relationship. He wanted to capture it. We felt completely comfortable with Stephane and had lots of fun working with him. Not to mention, he also provided us with information on other local vendors such as make up artists, hair dressers, and DJs. Which was super helpful when you are new to the wedding industry. Prior to the wedding day, he had us fill out a questionnaire pertaining to our family members, the wedding party and what were “priority” pictures that we wanted taken. On the wedding day, he arrived early, was completely stress free and worked behind the scenes. Looking at our pictures there were so many moments he captured that I didn’t even realize he was there for. He created a gorgeous wedding album for us that we will have for the rest of our lives. We were able to pick the material used, the box it would be stored in and the aesthetic details but Stephane designed the spreads that displayed one of our happiest days. He was flexible throughout the entire process and we knew we could count on him. His beautiful photography now decorates the walls in our home. We have shots of our engagement session and wedding portraits hung throughout our home serving as a constant reminders of such a special time in our lives.
I can’t say enough good things about Stephane. If you hire him, I promise you that you won’t regret it.