It all started one night in 2016 in Montréal’s Plateau neighbourhood at a pub gathering for a mutual friend. Jesse, a local musician, wedding videographer and all around hipster hottie - mentioned they were neighbours and fuelled by one Fat Tug IPA, Elena said they should be friends. The rest is history! Together we love to listen to records & talk about the nature of things, we play music together, enjoy cinema and all kinds of art, sour candies, laughing, and spoiling our two fluffy cats Wallace and Sushi and our pup Daisy.
Elena is a cat lover, flower sniffer, and geology enthusiast. As a teenager, disposable cameras were the perfect answer to the age old question: what to do with one’s hands at parties? This thankfully turned into a love for film & documenting life. When given the opportunity to shoot weddings after meeting Jesse, the role of capturing such inherently beautiful and emotional real life events felt joyful and intuitive. A graduate of McGill’s Schulich School of Music in Jazz Voice, Elena enjoys creating photographs and music that are moving and heartfelt - an image or a song are an avenue for expression and storytelling.
Jesse is a renaissance man and a practicing Taoist. As a young musician in Montréal Jesse was quick to see that the internet was the way to make his voice heard - and that meant making his own music videos, which led to working as a videographer. Already a connoisseur of film and cinematography - through videography Jesse carved out a name for himself in the Montréal’s wedding scene by approaching weddings like the movies and documentaries he admired, at the peak of music-video style posed wedding videography Jesse created completely candid videos - offering couples a real window into their past. Currently, Jesse’s favourite filmmakers to name a few are Ari Aster, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Quentin Tarantino
Hey Lover is about celebrating authenticity: letting tears fall - whether they’re from joy or sadness, uninhibited expression, being vulnerable and telling people when you love them; therefore, we give you and your guests the space to be present and truly enjoy the day. Our couples come to us often with the same request: to spend as much time with their loved ones as possible and to have beautiful photos and videos to look back on & revisit what was missed in the blur of the day. (Oh - and requests for film! We are so glad film is back!). 12 & 7 years of photographing and filming hundreds of weddings has given us the experience to know how to position ourselves to document your day with as little impact as possible - we approach each wedding with fluidity and without expectation, blending in with your guests to capture memories as you experienced them. While we fully commit to documentary mode for most of the day, we also know the value of offering support when needed. We organize and capture any formal family photos requested, offer direction for portraits that’s fun and natural, and most importantly get to know you and your plans before the wedding day so we can integrate photography & videography into your day in a way that aligns with your values and vision.
Our Philosophy
We are here for the full spectrum of personalities: from the self aware camera shy folk (like us) to those who love to be on camera. We shoot documentary for similar reasons we shoot with film: spontaneity. Film is special because it reacts very particularly to the specific lighting/conditions unique to that moment - which is magical. Documentary photography allows for photos to evoke real emotion, real memories unique to that moment - great wedding photos don’t just show how you looked — they show how you loved.