Draht Photography

08/31/2026

I pulled up in the rain. Not a light rain, not a romantic drizzle — rain. The kind that soaks through a jacket in under a minute and reminds you of your emo days in high school. I was already wet by the time I got to the door.

Alice came right up to me with a smile that had absolutely no business being that big given the weather situation, and said: "I think it's going to be a good day."

I hoped so too. I was also already wet.

She walked me to her parents' room where the dress was hanging. Heavy satin, simple, beautiful — the kind of dress that doesn't need anything extra to make a statement. She handed it over to me with complete trust, which in retrospect was generous of her given what was about to happen to it. I had an idea. There was a big field right next to the house. I walked to the middle of it, set up the dress, and took the photo in the pouring rain. If you zoom in on that photo you can see the individual raindrops. I love it completely and have zero regrets.

Then, the boys.

They were at an oversized mansion on the outskirts of Armstrong, which is exactly the kind of detail that sounds made up until you're standing in the foyer of an oversized mansion on the outskirts of Armstrong. Clinton and the guys were getting dressed — suspenders, open collars, boutonnieres — helping each other look sharp in the way that guys do when they're genuinely happy for each other. The light inside that house was something else. I got the group, I got the details, I got the fancy socks, which were excellent and deserving of documentation.

Then I headed back to Alice, and found something I was not expecting waiting outside.

The same car that had carried her mother to her wedding — the actual car, on an actual transport truck, shipped in for this day — was parked right there. Her father was waiting to help her in, the same way Alice's grandfather had helped her mother in decades before. Same car. Same gesture. Same love, one generation later. I stood there for a second and just let that land. It was nostalgic and traditional and quietly one of the most beautiful things I've seen at a wedding in a long time.

At the venue, the rain was still going. Everyone had their umbrellas up and nobody seemed particularly bothered by it, which tells you everything you need to know about this crowd. Then Talon stepped up to speak.

I have been to a lot of weddings. I have heard a lot of speeches. Talon's was a barn burner. In the rain. Everyone stood there getting rained on and nobody moved an inch because nobody wanted to miss a word. It was funny and warm and deeply loving and by the end of it the rain was the least notable thing happening in that space.

Group shot. Then my favourite part of any wedding day — the bridal party.

We took some photos with the car, which was picturesque in the way that only a vintage vehicle in soft rainy light can be. Then the bridal party walked toward the woods, and the only way to describe the way they moved is: with flair. The specific flair that belongs entirely to this group of people and cannot be taught or borrowed. In the woods, I gathered everyone around an old evergreen tree and had them all peek out from around it at once. The result was exactly what I hoped for and also somehow better.

We made our way inside where an incredible spread was waiting. The beef brisket. I need to talk about the beef brisket. It was one of the best things I have put in my mouth at any event in recent memory. I ate until I hated myself. Then I ate more. Outside, I'm told there was a cow on standby in case anyone needed additional beef options, which is the most confident catering decision I've ever encountered.

Then I saw something I hadn't seen in weeks.

A sunset. Just a sliver of it, pushing through the clouds over the meadow like it had been waiting for the right moment. I moved fast. We got Alice and Clint down to the meadow and I asked Alice and Clinton if they thought they could balance on a hay bale. I didn't finish the sentence. The next photo is the two of them already running toward it, full commitment, no hesitation.

You can tell in the photos that we were not particularly kind to that wedding dress by this point. It was dirty. Beautifully, authentically, unapologetically dirty. Which, it turned out, was not yet its final form.

Back at the venue, the sparkler arch was forming. Every guest with a lit sparkler, lining up on both sides, because the legend goes — each sparkler is a blessing from whoever holds it. Alice and Clinton came through that arch and the sight of it was something else entirely — this tunnel of light and warmth and the faces of every person they love grinning on either side of them. At the end, Clinton dipped her. Kissed her. The crowd lost it completely.

We finished the night dancing, eating desserts that were doing what the brisket had done earlier, and drinking well. At some point I found Talon and Morgan and made sure to thank them properly. They had, by their own proud admission, inducted Clinton into what can only be described as the Terrorize Alice Club — but everything they did that day, every bit of it, was done out of love. The day couldn't have been more perfect and they had a lot to do with that.

Alice told me at the start, soaking wet at 11 in the morning, that it was going to be a good day.

She was right. She was so right.

It was a great day. One of the best. 🤍

Enjoy this sneak peek. Sign ups for the gallery are here:
https://galleries.drahtphotography.com/client/alice-and-clinton-are-married/register

With Love,
Your photographer

08/27/2026

If you eloped last week, your photos aren't ready because I'm obsessed with them. Very sorry and you're welcome.

08/23/2026

Everyone who pulled up to the venue immediately assumed it was an Airbnb. The pool, the view overlooking Vernon, the kind of backyard that makes you reconsider every life decision that led you to a smaller backyard — this was someone's actual home, and they opened it up completely for one of the best days I've shot in a long time.

The ceremony arch was the first thing that grabbed me. Huge, architectural, draped, and the florals that were doing something really specific and really right — vibrant oranges and reds that lined up perfectly with the bridesmaids dresses like someone had held them up side by side in a planning meeting and refused to move on until the colours were exact. They were exact. Then Kennedy's dress. Fully custom, 80's glam movie star energy in the absolute best interpretation of that sentence — the kind of dress that has presence before the person wearing it even enters the room. I was already excited for the reveal.

Outside, the wildfire smoke had mostly pulled back, leaving just enough haze on the horizon to give the Vernon skyline that soft, golden, cinematic quality that you can't fake and can't plan for. The benches were rustic and the whole setup felt considered without feeling overdone.

Phoenix stepped up and announced the start of the ceremony, and the music that came on was not what anyone expected. In the best way. The kind of song choice that makes you look around to see if other people are having the same reaction, and they are.

Then Kennedy appeared, her father at her side, walking along the pool toward Gareth. I had my eye on Gareth's face. He didn't disappoint. The look of a man completely unprepared for how beautiful his person looks, even though he's been thinking about this moment for months — that look landed exactly on cue and stayed there. Her father walked her up, delivered a secret joke that earned a genuine laugh, and stepped back. The officiant kept everything warm and moving, the vows were real, and when it came time for the kiss Gareth leaned her all the way back like the music was already playing in his head. It was already playing out loud a half second later — blaring from the speakers, the crowd erupting, the two of them walking out into a wall of applause and so many hugs that it took a while to get anywhere.

Then we went to find a waterfall.

The light through those trees was doing something special — dappled and warm and shifting — and the creek bed turned into our playground for the next stretch of time. Up the mountain, down through the forest, across the rocks, the whole bridal party game for every single idea. Those locations rewarded us. Every setup worked. The water, the trees, the light — all of it cooperated like it had been briefed in advance.

Back at the venue, Two Sparrows Pizza & Catering was setting up the food situation. I want to be clear: it was unlimited pizza. Handmade. In the driveway. Straight from the dough. The speeches were beautiful and heartfelt and the kind that make a room go quiet and then loud in quick succession — tears, then laughter, then both at once. I ate a lot of pizza.

My wife stopped by with our daughter Madeline, which meant this was officially Madeline's first wedding. She was small and impressed and perfect, and she fit right in with a crowd this warm.

We finished the night at the top of a nearby mountain. The rain had cleared out, and below us the city of Vernon was lit up in little yellow points of light against the blue dark. The clouds were moving and the air had that charged, electric quality that makes the back of your neck stand up. We shot in that atmosphere for as long as we could, getting everything the light and the landscape were offering — and then the sky lit up. Thunder. Lightning behind the clouds in the background of a frame. You don't plan for that. You just have your camera up when it happens and you hope, and sometimes the sky delivers.

On my way out, Kennedy stopped me. Sent me home with both hands full of desserts and absolutely would not hear otherwise. My wife extends her sincere personal thanks. RIP to your short and beautiful life, pastries.

Kennedy and Gareth — you are the kindest people, you threw the most fun party, and you let me chase lightning on a mountaintop at the end of it.

An incredible day. Every bit of it. 🤍 Enjoy the sneak peek. https://galleries.drahtphotography.com/client/kennedy-and-gareth/register for more when it's ready.

08/16/2026

Just past Oliver, the smoke was sitting light on the horizon — enough to notice, not enough to complain about, and as it turned out, exactly enough to do something magical with later. I pulled up to what I was told was a backyard wedding and immediately had to recalibrate my understanding of the word backyard.

This was not a backyard. This was an estate that happened to be attached to a house.

A massive bed of wildflowers greeted me first — the kind that look intentional and wild at the same time, every colour competing for attention and somehow all winning. Beyond that, a path cut through the trees leading to a clearing that, according to a guest standing nearby, used to be nothing but forest. They had gone in there. Cut it down. Levelled it. Laid grass. Built an oasis from scratch in the middle of the trees like it had always been there and the trees had simply forgotten. Two rows of oak chairs faced an arch dressed in a long white bow — simple, elegant, the kind of setup that photographs itself.

Every single photo in that clearing turned out beautifully. Every one.

The ceremony was at four, which meant the light was doing exactly what afternoon light in the South Okanagan does in summer — warm, golden, coming in at an angle that makes everything glow. The flower girls came first, young and absolutely committed to their job, petals going everywhere with great enthusiasm and zero restraint. Then Lizzii.

Kyle's face said everything. He looked like a man seeing something he couldn't quite believe was real, which is the only appropriate reaction and he nailed it.

The officiant was spectacular. He surveyed the crowd early on, spotted the inevitable forest of raised phones, and addressed it directly — "I know you all think you're photographers, but put the cell phone cameras away for a moment during the ceremony." Delivered with a smile, landed perfectly. He kept it warm and funny throughout, which didn't slow down the happy tears one bit. Some things cannot be joked away and apparently this ceremony was one of them. Tissues were involved. No one was embarrassed.

They kissed. He introduced them. They walked back down that aisle looking like they owned the world, because for that moment, they did.

Group photo, then I stole them.

The wildflowers were waiting and I wasn't going to let the light get away from us. We spent time in that massive bed of colour, the two of them in the middle of it, and the photos have that feeling of stumbling into something secret and beautiful. Then into the trees for something darker and moodier — and this is where the smoke earned its place in the story. That light coming through the forest, filtered through just enough haze, turned everything orange and gold. The woods looked ancient and cinematic and like nowhere else on earth. Those photos have a quality you simply cannot manufacture. You can only show up on the right day at the right time and let the landscape do what it wants to do.

The rest of the night was great music, the best food — genuinely, seriously good food — and drinks that kept the dancing going well into the dark. The kind of evening where you look up at some point and realize hours have passed and nobody noticed because everyone was too busy having the best time.

Lizzii and Kyle, what you built back there — in that clearing, in that wildflower field, in that room full of people who love you — was something really special.

Thanks for letting me be part of it. 🤍

Enjoy this massive sneak peek. Want to see more? Pop by https://galleries.drahtphotography.com/client/lizzii-and-kyle/register

Hair: Natasha Ann .astylist
Makeup:
Dress: Mie Tran Vietnam
Alterations: The Couturess .couturess
Suit: Elliott Row
Rentals: Westminster Party Rentals & Bask Event Co
Rev:
Location: Oliver, BC

08/12/2026

Kelly, your engagement photos are ready. They are, of course, stunning, but more importantly I had fun.

08/12/2026

Sneakaways are a great time to recharge. Some times, you don't walk, you run to it.

08/06/2026

Be with someone who makes adventures out of late night trips to the grocery store. Be with someone who mindlessly reaches over for your hand while they drive. Be with someone who can't fall sleep without hearing your sleepy good night. Be with someone who brightens your Monday and motivates you to do better. Be with someone who makes the stars shine a little brighter.

08/04/2026

08/03/2026

I had to drive 12 hours to get to terrace, but man is Terrace just an unreal place