Kate Paterson Photography

If you blink, you could miss the moment... litterally.

Brittany and Steve had their due date and plans up until then. You’re told you have 9 months and when the time is flying by, you expect those 9 months. What you don’t realize is that that little bundle will arrive at any time they decide they’re ready.

They were fortunate enough that we’d planned their maternity photos with enough time for their little boy to arrive a month premature and we were still able to capture these beautiful moments for them before life took this huge shift.

The single biggest thing that makes a wedding day feel calm instead of rushed? A timeline built with light and breathing room in mind.

Here’s the hour-by-hour flow I share with every couple, enough space for the getting-ready nerves, the first look, and those golden-hour portraits that make the whole gallery glow. When the day has room to breathe, the photos feel effortless because you actually are.

Save this for your planning, or send it to your partner 🤍 As a Fraser Valley wedding photographer, I help every couple shape a timeline that protects the moments that matter.

What time is your ceremony? Drop it below and I’ll tell you the one thing I’d tweak. 🌿 (Inquire, link in bio.)

Your engagement session, the moment it takes reality outside of your Pinterest board and you get those moments captured for yourself.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Paige and Adam hopped in front of my camera last month and we captured something so special for them.

Some love stories need rain. Gabby and Brendon just needed a sprinkler and a bottle of champagne!

Golden hour, bare feet, water catching the light and two people too wrapped up in each other to care about anything else.
This is what summer love looks like and I am here for every second of it.

Spots are still open this summer. Send me a message and let's make something like this for you.

What's your sprinkler at sunset moment?

Location:
Hair and Makeup:
Jewelry:
Model:

Choosing your engagement location based on someone else’s photos is the fastest way to images that don’t feel like yours.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The location of your session should be an extension of your relationship, not a backdrop you borrowed from someone else’s highlight reel. And I say that with so much love because it is the most common mistake couples make when planning this.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A few things worth thinking through before you decide:
How do you want to feel in these photos? Adventurous and wild, soft and romantic, cool and editorial, relaxed and playful? The environment you choose sets the entire tone before the camera even comes out.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Are you drawn to texture and movement or to open and airy? City sessions give you architecture, light between buildings, energy and life all around you. Natural settings give you breathing room, golden light, open skies. Neither is better. They just tell different stories.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What are you going to wear? Your outfits and your location need to make sense together. A flowing dress belongs somewhere with room to move. A sleek editorial look belongs somewhere with strong lines.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
And the one thing that matters most: choose somewhere that feels like you. Not somewhere that looks impressive. Somewhere that makes you both exhale the second you arrive. That is where the real magic happens.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Where did you end up shooting your engagement session, or where are you dreaming of?

You’ve spent months choosing every single one of these details and most of them will be gone by midnight
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The shoes you found after searching for six months. The florals you went back and forth on until the week before. The earrings that took the whole look from beautiful to perfect. The dress that made everyone in the room cry when you walked out.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Here is the part nobody tells you. Most brides don’t think about their detail photos until the day is over and they realize they barely have a single image of the things they poured the most time into planning.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Details need their own time on your wedding day timeline. Not just a quick snap between moments but intentional, unhurried time where everything gets the attention it deserves. I always recommend laying every detail out together before getting ready begins. Rings, jewelry, shoes, florals, invitation, any sentimental pieces. That is the window where the story of how carefully you planned this day gets told through the images.
The flowers won’t last the week. The dress goes into a box.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
These photos are the only thing that keeps all of it alive.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Is there a detail from your wedding day, or a detail you’re currently obsessing over, that you would want to make sure was beautifully captured?