Maggnard and Adorno: Plaza Rive Sud

My relationship with Maggnard and Adorno started what feels like a lifetime ago, before their beautiful wedding at Plaza Rive Sud. Adorno actually reached out to me in September 2020 to plan his surprise proposal to Maggnard. He had the location and date in mind and wanted to surprise her by bringing her down from Montréal to Ottawa for a little romantic getaway. Of course, on this cold December 19^th 2020, Maggnard said yes! And this blog post is all about their beautiful wedding day. So dive down with me and welcome, Maggnard and Adorno officially to the blog.

I’d like to say I started my day off like any other wedding, but I didn’t. I’d actually driven to my parents home the day prior to shorten my drive because the morning of their wedding, I had a 2h drive ahead of me. I packed up all my gear, some snacks and a redbull… or 2, and made my way over to the Courtyard Marriott, Brossard, to meet our beautiful bride Maggnard.

I arrived to the hotel room to find Maggnard in her beautiful white robe, fully done up and STUNNING. I can’t get over how beautiful she is. The room was quiet and… empty. I knew she had a decent size wedding party so I asked where the girls were? Turns out, they were in the adjacent room where they kept the mess so that the main room was nice and clean for us. Something that doesn’t happen often but boy do we ever appreciate those little gestures to make our job just that much easier.

She’d prepared a box with all of her beautiful details for us to play with so Bethany, Luc (Greyloft Video), and I got to work on capturing some perfect details for our couple. We then asked the girls to pop into the room before getting dressed to pop their bottle of champagne. Obviously, given we were in a hotel room, they couldn’t spray it all over the place but they sure as heck didn’t hold back on drinking that champagne. Maggnard even did so directly from the bottle. Girl was living her best life.

It was then time to get dressed. The girls scurried off into the other room while Maggnard got her gown ready and on. Mom made it just in time to help her little girl into her dress and put on her finishing touches. We had the most beautiful light coming into the room that we took a moment to do some portraits of Maggnard in this serene moment before the hustle and bustle of the day began. I could have stayed in there for hours but we had to get going or else we’d be late! And so, a quick first look with her girls, smiles, laughter, cheers and a big group hug and off we were to the first look.

I arrived to Parc des Jésuites only to find, no one. I was worried because the venue, Plaza  Rive Sud was across the street and that’s where Adorno and his guys got ready so I was a little confused. I gave him a quick call and poof, there he was, down the street! He walked on over and oh my, he looked so handsome! The timeline unfortunately didn’t allow for me to get to his getting ready so it was wonderful to see him for the first time all dressed up. We found a spot under a willow tree and placed him there to await his bride who would soon arrive.

We’d thought the girls were right behind us but as it turns out, it took a little more time to get everyone into their rides. But when Maggnard arrived, things got rolling and QUICK. She walked up to her man, tapped his shoulder and Adorno turned to see his beautiful bride for the first time. His face lit up, a smile strewn across his face and he was left speechless. Maggnard reached up to caress his cheek as they hugged and basked in the moment.

I chose to do a few portraits in the moment and I asked if they were allowed to kiss. To which they both laughed and said ‘’oh no. we already broke tradition by doing a first look. We have to follow the rest so no kissing until after the ceremony.’’ And so I respected their traditions, we all had a good laugh and we moved on to some family photos. Luckily for us, the entire wedding party consisted of their friends, and immediate family so it didn’t take us long at all. We quickly sent the guys off to Plaza Rive Sud while we quickly did some photos with the ladies before heading over ourselves to start the ceremony.

Plaza Rive Sud is a beautiful wedding venue with so much to offer. A lovely lobby area, beautiful ballroom spaces, a great area for cocktail on their balcony and a private ceremony space with gazebo. Maggnard and Adorno’s ceremony was happening outside in the private area. 200 guests were invited to celebrate their love and I’m pretty sure all 200 guests made it by the looks of things. In my 11years of doing weddings, I’d never photographed a 1.5h ceremony before but that’s what today was! Adorno’s father is a pastor and many of their friends are a part of the church and congregation so the ceremony revolved around their love and god’s love for them.

Due to multiple delays, the ceremony ended up starting about 45mins late. During this time, guests were given water to combat the ridiculously sunny day/heat wave as well as moving chairs into the shade. Luckily once things started, no one seemed to mind sitting in the sun for so long. They were truly all so present in the moment as Adorno, his groomsmen and the girls walked down the aisle. Finally, it was Maggnard’s turn. Her dad walked her down the aisle and as she arrived at the end, he listed her blusher from her face, gave her a kiss + hug, greeted his new son in law and let them make their way up to their seats.

Thankfully, they were seated for the majority of the ceremony so that they could be comfortable while focusing on those who came to the front to speak. Adorno’s father officiated the majority of the ceremony and did a wonderful job. Additional friends and pastors came to the microphone to give readings and advice to our couple and their even had a group come and sing beautiful songs that included their guests along to sing with them. Something Maggnard and Adorno added to their ceremony was the typing of the three ropes. From the book of Ecclesiastes:

‘’Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. ‘’
ECC 4:9-12

A beautiful sentiment as both Magnnard and Adorno went up to tie the ropes together to symbolize their relationship. Their vows were also filled with so much love, it brought Adorno to tears and made Maggnard smile probably the biggest I’ve ever seen her smile. Yes, even bigger than at her surprise proposal. I couldn’t help but laugh (and so did everyone else) when it came time to exchange their rings. Adorno had no problem going through the words his father told him to repeat but, Maggnard I think was too happy in the moment and missed a few words. It was so good because instead of saying ‘’I’’ TO Adorno, she said ‘’you’’ to him basically making it like he’s promising something to himself. She couldn’t help but laugh and so we all joined in with her. It was a cute moment that stuck in my head and the smile I captured to go with the moment was just perfect.

And after 5 years, these two were officially husband and wife, yay! A beautiful kiss and down the aisle they danced away with their wedding party in tow. We quickly grouped up and made our way over to the lawn to get a few more family photos done before proceeding with portraits.

Guests were greeted at the balcony over looking where we were with some beautiful music by Soul Station Orchestra and some drinks. We made the best out of our short time for portraits and had an awesome time with everyone. There was hugs to be had by many from family and friends they hadn’t seen in so long and of course, lots of dancing with the wedding party. We were told to be ready for walk-ins by 7:05pm but We mayyyyyyy have pushed things a little and took an extra 10 minutes, hihihi. Luckily for us, the reception space wasn’t fully done yet so even though we took that extra time, we didn’t eat into the entrance so it was a win win scenario for us.

The Plaze Rive Sud has multiple event spaces within their building but thankfully, we were the only wedding that day so the guests were able to mingle about the lobby while the vendors made their way into the reception space. The room was decorated BEAUTIFULLY, totally how I would do things if I had a big wedding. Purple up lighting, white draping and linens, Gold accent pieces and candelabras and flowers, LOTS of flowers. Their seating chart alone was a beautiful large gold frame with their monogram and floating candles to set the mood. Guests finally made their way in and it was time to get this party started.

Grand entrance doesn’t even begin to describe what we witnessed. Magnnard and Adorno don’t do things small. They had different songs for all the pairings entering the space, everyone had a dance or something to do as they walked in, most noticeably Magnnard’s sister, Bernarde. She came in with a money gun, shooting money into the sky and dancing in her sneakers all over that dancefloor. It was awesome. But the piece the resistance had to be our Bride and Groom of course. They burst through the doors with Sparklers/fireworks shooting up on either side of them, waving the Haitian flag and dancing their little booties off. The party on the dance floor was WILD. Everyone jumped in on it and celebrated with them before things toned down, but only temporarily.

Honorable mentions for the entrance though had to be their nephew who rolled on in in a mini range Rover and he LOVED it. The cutest for sure.

We were running behind due to the ceremony and reception starting later so immediately after their entrance, they had their first course and we ran outside to get that end of day light we always crave. Of course the photos are stunning because a- the light was beautiful. B- the location was wonderful and c- Have you seen this couple? So much Yaaaasssss. We ended portraits with photos oh the beautiful Porsche they got as a ride and then made our way in to enjoy the nights celebrations.

The night was just so much freaking fun. The MC, Max, made everything so interactive and had guests join in from dancing, to cheering to even playing games. One game he asked the wedding party to come up, Ladies vs gents and they had to answer questions about the couple. Who ever answered the quickest got a point. Needless to say, the ladies won 😉. And then they got guests, couples, to come up and take off their ties. The ladies had to then try to tie the tie back onto their guy and whoever the crowed deemed the best, won. Bernarde and her boyfriend won, her tie was definitely the best haha.

Maggnard and Adorno did things a little backwards for their dances which had me confused at first, but there was a reason. First, Adorno and his mom had a beautiful slow dance followed by Maggnard and her Father who danced to a more upbeat song and they looked like they were having a great time out there. Finally, Maggnard and Adorno’s dance. Things started normally, then the lights dimmed and the spotlights were turned on. It was beautiful but then, ooooooo the pretty stuff started to happen. First the fog started, it enveloped the dance floor and it looked like they were dancing on a cloud. THEN the sparkler/firework cannons went off, 4 of them this time. AND THEN the snow machine. Yes, that’s right, a snow machine. This dance was epically beautiful and so freaking cool to capture and witness.

After all that beauty, it was time to PARTY! The dancefloor filled up within seconds. People coupled up and slow danced at first, even the little ones joined in. It was so cute! The twin girls even played with the foam from the snow that was on the ground. Maggnard had told me she had a special dance but I couldn’t find her anywhere and then BOOM! She pops in the room with two of her bridesmaids in Jeans and sneakers and they started dancing their butts off. They had Adorno sit in a chair at the front to watch the dance and he was so surprised by his wife. I think he loved it, I know me and the guests did.

Maggnard and her girls had a choregraphed routine that flipped through hip hop and traditional dances from their Haitian Culture. She even put on a baseball button up shirt with ‘’WIFEY’’ on the back for the second half of the dance. It was honestly AMAZING. For the last bit, She grabbed Adorno and got him to join them and then all the guests joined in on the dance floor. And that is literally how I ended my night. With them, on the dance floor, dancing my butt off to songs from the 2000’s that just brought out another person in me. It was nostalgic, magical and absolutely fantastic!

Seriously, I had AN AMAZING TIME at this wedding. Was it ridiculously hot? Yes. Was it a lot of driving? Yes. Did things go according to plan? No, but they never truly do. Was everyone fantastic? YES. Did we all have an awesome time? ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY. I can’t begin to describe how wonderful this wedding was and how high on life I was the entire day and drive home. To the point where I didn’t even sleep, I stayed awake 23hrs and edited during a good portion of that haha. Maggnard and Adorno, what can I say, seriously? You brought me along on your journey from the proposal, to a second engagement session and now to this fantastic celebration I get to cherish forever. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you and the 3-4 kids you said you wanted! I hope your evening was as awesome after I left as it was when I was there. And I hope your honeymoon was a blast. Hopefully we’ll see each other again xox

Vendor love:
Venue: Plaza Rive Sud
Wedding Planner and Decor: Elizabeth at Casaderamo
Florals: Pouvoir des Fleurs
DJ: Dj Crusher
MC: Max Lefranc
Band: Soul Station Orchestra
Bridal Gown: Boutique Oui Je Le Voeux
Suits: Manzotti Fashion
Cake and Cupcakes: L’attablée
Hair: Cindy Beauty Hair Store
Makeup: Shally’s Approach
Videographer: Grey Loft Studio
Photography: Samantha Danis Photography