A Husband & Wife Duo From The Start
"How is it working with your partner?" We get asked this all the time. The answer? We met in 2008 and for the first 3 years that we dated we actually worked together as Manager and Assistant Manager of a Sears Portrait studio, it's sort of all we've ever known and frankly, we make a hell of a team. Neither of us were professional photographers when we started to work together at Sears Portrait but after a while we both started to find it fun and rewarding to bust our butts trying to get that perfect little smile out of a 2 year old for their stressed out, exhausted parents (Something we understand now more than ever). In 2010 we bought our first camera and created Black & Gold Photography. In the beginning we were photographing mostly family sessions, events and the odd commercial shoot but it wasn’t long before we booked our first wedding.
Fast forward to 2016, and we were planning our own wedding. We opted for a destination wedding in Mexico so we could have a fun-filled week long adventure with our families and friends and it was perfect! For our honeymoon, we went a little outside the box. We chose Iceland to attend our first wedding photography workshop together and it was then that we knew we wanted to pursue this career together for the rest of our lives.
In 2018 we decided to leave our 9-5 office jobs in sales and marketing and dove headfirst into being wedding photographers. Over the next few years we attended photography workshops and conferences around the world to really master our craft and gain new perspective from some of the best photographers on the planet.
Our Little Picture
Perfect Family
Atlas & Oslo: In Our Mommy & Daddy Era
In 2020 (literally the week of the pandemic lockdowns) we had our first baby boy, Atlas. Because of the lockdowns, our workload was a little light that year so we got a chance to settle into parenthood with an unexpected break. In 2022 we had our second baby boy, Oslo. His birth story was a lot more eventful than our first. Oslo was born two months early at only 4lbs. Our first couple of months with him were spent visiting the NICU everyday, recovering from a major surgery (Cheryl) and our first battle with the covid virus. That was also our busiest wedding season yet. We still say to this day - if we made it through that year we can make it through anything.
Our boys have literally grown up in front and behind the camera and to this day we love watching the world through their eyes and our lens. These days our lives look a little different than the jet-setting newlyweds with cameras of 2018. You can usually find us in bed watching Netflix by 8pm (if we’re not out shooting amazing things) and up early each day… like, really early. Unfortunately we’ve been blessed with morning people so while you’re cozy in your warm bed we’re often watching Cocomelon and Blippi at 6am every day.
Starting this business was always fueled by one goal. To have a career that would allow us to be home with our kids as much as possible during their formative years. We’ve achieved our goal. While our boys often get a little sad on the weekends when mommy and daddy have to go to work, they’re always excited to hear all about the beautiful weddings we get to photograph.
Cheryl & Joel
as Individuals
As a husband and wife team we often get lumped together as a unit and we’re totally okay with that but if you’re reading this far, perhaps you’re curious about us as individuals.
Cheryl Mains
Cheryl Mains grew up in a bustling household with three sisters and a brother, all within a decade of each other, fostering a close-knit sibling bond. Today, all the sisters are moms, and their kids, eight cousins in total, are all within six years of each other, forming a tight cousin crew. Cheryl attended Pierre Elliot Trudeau High School, a French immersion school in Winnipeg, where she excelled as the valedictorian. She later earned a Bachelor's degree in Theatre Design from the University of Manitoba. Her childhood was filled with music and dance, and she was a super fan of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, following their careers avidly since they are only eight days older than her. Her passions have evolved into a love for yoga and fitness today, alongside a penchant for watching reality shows. Cheryl also has a lifelong fascination with multiples, such as twins and triplets. Known for her impeccable organizational skills and dedication to cleanliness, Cheryl brings a meticulous and enthusiastic approach to everything she does.
Joel Boily
Joel Boily spent his childhood split between Steinbach and Winnipeg, where he was surrounded by a rich family history. His grandfather founded the town of La Broquerie, served as its first mayor, hosted the royal family, and even endured a dramatic kidnapping during a bank heist. His other grandfather was a pioneer, participating in the first voyage to Paraguay to establish Mennonite settlements, colonies that are still thriving today.
Joel's first claim to fame came at the tender age of four when he made the 6 o'clock news for accidentally burning down an apartment building in St. Boniface. Despite this fiery start, he went on to graduate from Steinbach Regional Secondary School and pursued an education in audio engineering. After high school, he started DJing part-time, which gave him his first exposure to weddings. When Joel discovered photography, he found the perfect marriage between art and technology and never looked back.
In 2024, Joel founded Canadianweddingphotographers.com, an online platform celebrating wedding photography in Canada. The community has been steadily growing ever since. Outside of photography, Joel enjoys comedy, podcasts, fitness, and film. You can be sure that if Joel is editing your photos, he's chuckling to himself while listening to something funny.
So Why are
you Called
Black & Gold?
Our Photography
Philosophy
No, it’s not our hair colours. And if you’ve cornered us at an event we may have said that it represents Nikon’s colours to avoid a lengthy explanation but if you’ve read this far you deserve a little treat!
Black & Gold Photography was inspired by a song by Sam Sparro called “Black & Gold” in 2008. The song delves into themes of existentialism, the search for meaning, and the complexity of human emotions. The lyrics juxtapose the concepts of black and gold to explore contrasts and dualities in life, such as light and darkness, certainty and doubt, and the material and the spiritual. Wedding and portrait photography is all about contrast. The contrast between light and dark is too simple, there is contrast in the moment that is captured, the emotion, the life. If you’ve ever worked with us you may hear Joel mutter “that’s gold” to himself after getting a great shot. Gold represents the moment, the love, something real against the black contrast of the mundane. Our goal is always to create gold for our clients.
How Can we
Serve you?
