Destination weddings

Arman Arai photographs weddings anywhere in Canada, and destination weddings anywhere in the world except the United States. That includes Mexico, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Greece, the United Kingdom, Ireland and anywhere else the date can practically be reached. Couples usually find me for a Canadian wedding first and then ask about a wedding abroad; both are booked here, on the same three collections.

Arman does not work in the United States. A wedding taking place anywhere in the USA cannot be booked, at any price. Couples who live in the United States and are marrying outside it are welcome. It is not a capacity question and there is no price at which it changes, so if your wedding is in the USA the honest answer is to book someone else. If you live in the United States and are marrying in Mexico, Italy, Portugal or anywhere else outside it, that is a wedding I can photograph.

The three published collections are Canadian prices. A wedding outside Canada is quoted against the country, the venue, the date and the route, as one number given before you decide. There is no published destination figure and no fixed multiplier. The collections on the pricing page are what a wedding in Canada costs; a wedding in Puglia or Oaxaca is a different job with a different shape, and quoting it off a Canadian ladder would be guesswork dressed up as a price list.

Because the honest range is too wide to be useful. A five-hour flight to a city hotel and a two-connection trip to an island in shoulder season are not the same job, and a single published figure would be wrong for both. You get a real number, built against your actual venue and date, before you commit to anything.

Against the real itinerary, not a blanket rate. It covers the coverage you want, and the flights, ground travel and nights the schedule actually requires, booked on practical routes early. You see one number before you sign, and it does not move afterwards.

No. Canadian couples marrying at home or abroad are the majority of the work, but the only real condition is where the wedding happens rather than which passport you hold. Prices stay in Canadian dollars either way.

You do, with the local authority or through your planner, and it is worth starting early because residency waiting periods vary a lot by country. I photograph the day; I do not file paperwork and I do not officiate. Plenty of couples sign the legal documents at home and hold the real ceremony at the destination, and that is photographed exactly the same way.

Nine to eighteen months for a peak-season Saturday, and earlier than a Canadian date of the same size because the trip has to be built around it. A non-refundable 30% deposit secures your date, and the date can be held free for 48 hours while you decide.

The photography is the same documentary and editorial work; the planning around it is not. I arrive ahead of the date rather than on it, scout the venue in the light your ceremony will actually have, and build the timeline around the local sunset instead of the one you are used to. Equipment travels as carry-on with a full second body, because a lost bag on another continent is not recoverable the way it is in Toronto.