Unique Weddings By Madman. Your Alberta Canada and North Western Mexico areas Wedding Photographer.

Yes! I will participate in helping you achieve your "unusual" wedding. I'll even consider trying to fit you in when I am "fully booked" if there is something very unusual about your wedding.

I am not afraid of the unusual. While most of the weddings I particpate in are "traditional" and while I love doing "traditional" weddings, I equally enjoy the "unusual" weddings and I relish the challenge of helping people achieve their non-traditional weddings. Consider the following to get your creative juices flowing. Some of these you will find samples of in the galleries on the web site.

- Getting married at -12C (That's 26F for my US customers) 7800 feet up on top of a mountian in the Rocky mountains, near the Icefields, with 6" of snow, light breeze. Imagine further: Drinking a (small amount only because of the temperature and altitude) of wonderful champagne, then making snow angels before rushing back into the helicopter to warm up and return! The decision to do the snow angels was made weeks ahead of time by the bride! To pull all the mountain top photos off required frequent wrapping up of the bare-shouldered bride to prevent hypothermia.

If this option excites you except for the temperature and snow - do it in the spring or summer instead!

- Getting married in a 6 seater church. (The "Worlds Smallest Church" just North West of Drumheller Alberta)

- With a friendly Buffalo.

- Getting married on inner tubes behind a power boat.

- Getting married in the mouth of a dinosaur. (No, they decided against this option - and no, it was a fake 80' dinosaur.)

Some of the ideas above, such as flying by helicopter for your wedding high in the mountians or on a glacier would be great ideas for many people (especially if done in the summer instead of winter.) If you want something unusual, first think about what things are special in the lives of both of you, then pick something unusual that makes sense for you, then talk to me about how we can make it work for your permanent photographic records. Some people have "a crazy" or "an impossible" idea, and then tell me after the wedding, wishing they had told me before the wedding so we could find a way to make it work. In all cases to date, we have found a way to incorporate the unique aspects while keeping the ceremony with the proper seriousness and solemnity. I treat all weddings with respect even if the circumstances are far from traditional. If it is an idea that is uniquely you, don't be embarrased, lets talk about it! You can always decide not to do it.

Costs: If I have no additional costs to bear, I do not charge anything extra to do these. Indeed, not one of the above ideas cost any more than my normal rates for a wedding in that location. Even when I lost the feeling in my fingers on the mountain top winter wedding.

Do you race cars or ride motorcycles? Why not incorporate this into the wedding, or into the formal pictures afterwards.

Are you avid hikers? Avid cavers (cavers don't use the word spelunkers)? Rock climbers? Those all give fairly obvious settings for weddings or the formal pictures afterwards.

Do you (or your best friend, or your mom, or your aunt, or...) have a beautiful garden?

Do you want the whole (or portion of) your wedding ceremony done by candlelight?

Do you ride horses? Do you ride Buffalo<g>? Do you like an "old tyme barn wood" setting?

Zoo keepers - what about with your favorite animals (subject to zoo approval of course!) Not a zoo keeper, but interested none the less? There are smaller private zoos around that are more likely to help set up in a safe way that works for you.

Just think. What makes YOU you. And if your conclusion is "We want a traditional wedding with traditional formal photos like most of the ones on your web site" Then great! Lets do that and do it properly. Oh, and if you like the helicopter idea (its the one that more people ask about than any other one), go to Icefield Helicopter Tours and tell them "Madman Pierre" sent you.

One promise: No matter how "crazy", I will do everything I can to help your wedding have both the style and effect you want and to keep the proper reverance in the whole point of the ceremony. I believe that the intention and design of marriage is for a lifetime and I believe even "unusual" weddings can have the proper dignity that justifies this "beginning of a lifetime" commitment. In my pictures I strive to bring out the love you have for each other and down the road, I know that my pictures have helped people remember that love and work to regain it. That is one of the reasons I love so much photographing families and weddings (families at the very start of the "family"). I look forward to the opportunity to serve you as you start your family.