Oh and Eid Mubarak everyone!

and you may remember their Engagement Shoot pictures from earlier on our blog.

This was the same day as the two religious ceremonies so by the time we made it to Dow’s Lake, Jeet and Nidhi had already been up and running for about nine hours and were really tired having barely had any sleep the night before. They were still the best of sports and worked with us happily.

Today, we also wanted to take a break from our regular wedding photography related blog posts and write on a more personal note, and help promote one of the programs we recently became involved with.

Over the last couple of years, among many other things that we have been blessed with, including family, friends, and career, we have seen our photography business grow from mere thoughts and whispers to a big part of our lives and a full fledged running operation. As an extremely miniscule token of our gratitude, we wanted to turn over some of our blessings to those who may not have the same opportunities in life that we do.

After some research, the program we decided to be involved with is called Plan Canada. Plan Canada has been around since 1937, is currently active in over 60 countries, and is all about building communities in the lesser fortunate parts of the world. Some of the things that were important to us were

- being able to communicate with the sponsored child(ren)
- being able to plan a visit and go meet our sponsored children in person and see how our contributions have made a difference in their lives
- being able to sponsor children in a country of our choice

Plan Canada met all these criteria and more. They advocate equal rights, promote and encourage education, enable children and their families to meet the basic necessities (clean water, free healthcare, etc.) and much more.

This holiday season, with so many families struggling to make their ends meet even here in North America, we encourage you to spread the love. Be it here or abroad. Make someone part of your family. Reach out and touch someone.

Pay it forward. It’s bound to come around.

Happy holidays everyone!

We started the day off at Melissa’s place.

We then headed to the ceremony.



Melissa just before stepping into the church waving off some last minute emotions.


The cutest ring bearers ever, all set to go in their ride!

We love this picture of the bride and her father’s entrance, with everyone standing to receive the bride, clicking away. Can you count the cameras?









Mehreen caught this picture of Shawn and Melissa sharing a moment during the ceremony, exchanging smiles of excitement and disbelief.





And the happy couple has left the building! Part II coming right up …

Friday: we had a date with our friend and future bride Fro to visit and scout the location for an engagement shoot she had picked. We will write more details about the location after her engagement shoot. She picked us up from our place and we drove towards Aylmer in her Civic. Fro grew up in Aylmer and has a sweet spot for it. After visiting the location, she took us on a drive. A very long and enjoyable drive. Mehreen sitting in the front passenger seat, took control of Fro’s ipod. She picked out all these english classic hits from the 80s and 90s and then switched gears with some Bollywood tunes. Fro and Mehreen sang and danced the whole time, with Fro often letting go off the steering wheel completely to do moves that required both hands (e.g. during “Where’s the party tonight!”). Asad sat in the back seat trying to keep up, but his genuine disability to dance, coupled with his five-second-memory and not knowing any of the words kept him out and quiet. At some point during the night, Fro transposed from our client & friend to our tour guide. She took us to spots in Ottawa we hadn’t discovered yet. Somewhere in between we had fries with lots of vinegar (Fro’s introduction), while Mehreen and Fro discussed marriages, married life in general and men, while Asad shifted uncomfortably on the bench. The night ended when Fro finally dropped us back home.

Saturday: The day started with an amazing breakfast of eggs, parathas and chai. By early afternoon we headed down to the church near Experimental Farm to cover Andrew and Marianna’s wedding. You can see their engagement shoot on our blog here. We got some amazing shots at the church. Their bridal shoot was scheduled for the Experimental Farm, but because of the rain we ended up doing some shots around the downtown area. Finally, we convened for their small and intimate reception at Lago’s on Dow’s Lake. At the wedding were also our friends and ex-clients Jawad and Bushra. The rest of the night was spent laughing, taking pictures, and Mehreen teaching the white guys how to do Bhangra! Don’t ask!

Sunday: Mehreen’s friends Sachin and Vibhuti came to town from Toronto so we spent most of the day with them. Some time in the morning it was discussed and decided that during the course of the day we will do their portrait shoot. Minutes later we were making wardrobe selections for them, which basically meant picking between the two shirts Sachin had brought and the three tops Vibhuti had. Needless to day, this was totally unplanned and last minute. First we ended up taking them to a park in Gatineau, where we spent about an hour or so. We then headed down to the Byward market because Vibhuti wanted to go. We took some more shots there, and had pastries at Le Moulin De Provence. Finally we took a long drive back to Les Galeries De Hull‎. Here we must give a big shout out to the best shawarma place in town! If you go to the galeries’ food court, there is this shawarma place there. The best and the freshest food ever, and the nicest people. Their potatoes with garlic sauce are a must-have! It’s almost embarassing because we take all our out of town visitors! They’ve met Asad’s parents, Mehreen’s mother and siblings, Asad’s sister, her husband and two kids, and today Sachin and Vibhuti. The lady at the counter is always happy to see us because, one, I think she finds it humourous that we bring every single out of towner to have a shawarma there, and two, because she is in love with Mehreen’s hair. The manager there also is a wonderful man, who wasn’t there today when we ordered, but he especially came out to meet us and brought us each some Baklawa later on! How nice is that? We’re always so happy to see each other, we’re idiots for not knowing them by names. We should totally ask them next time. So if you’re reading this, go and try their shawarma. Tell them you found out about them through the crazy couple who keeps bringing all their family, friends, neighbours and their dogs over. They’ll recognize us in no time!

Anyhoo … we can’t finish the post without pictures. So here are some pictures from Sach and Vib’s shoot today. Enjoy!

Our apologies, but these pictures have been removed for personal reasons

More information available at our Ottawa Engagement Photography website www.AliphAurMeem.com

Speaking of beautiful things, we covered Umair and Sarah’s wedding couple of weeks back in Ottawa. It decided to be a rainy day and we ended up taking some indoor shots. Here are a few teasers.