The dress was incredible, the wedding party was hilarious, the church was beautiful, the reception was heart-felt, the speeches made you laugh one minute and cry the next, the groom gushed over his beautiful bride and the bride was, well, I‘ve already told how great she is! (… and, yes, the cake was to die for!)

We caravanned around Edmonton in four different vehicles- good thing because our rental BROKE DOWN- but we abandoned my poor husband on Jasper Ave and continued on our whirlwind photographic adventure making it to as many places as our time slot would allow! Both happy couple and the wedding party were game for anything with a ‘giv-er’ attitude for the entire time block we had between the ceremony and reception so we could conquer as much of Edmonton as possible. Every single person was so wonderful to work with and after the three hour photographic extravaganza my cheeks were so sore from all of the giggles!

Although I love my Yellowknife weddings, I had an incredible time scoping out fun places to photograph this wedding party in and around their church and reception hall. The one challenge I had was trying to hold back and remind myself that we couldn’t use every location!

Thank you Mike and Sheena for sharing your wonderful day with me and my family. We had an excellent time and wish you both the very best.

Best wishes Baby R. I look forward to watching you grow!

Clients who take advantage of the My First Year package receive a Maternity Session, Newborn Session, Six Month Session and One Year Session to capture the major milestones of their little bean’s first year. Mom and dad’s favourite images are then displayed in a 12 x 12 hardcover coffeetable book. If you are curious about the types of images you receive with the My First Year package, see Baby F’s sessions here:

Alex & Christine’s Maternity Session
Welcome Baby F Part 1 And Part 2
Happy Six Month Birthday Beautiful Baby F

I only had the pleasure of meeting Beata & Kevin for the first time at their engagement session. What a wonderful couple. They were warm and friendly and so easy to work with. On their wedding day they both beamed and I had a great time photographing them with their friends and family. The only thing that could have made this day any better was an upgrade in weather, but rain on a wedding day is lucky!

This reception was like no other. First off it started at 4:00pm! I was nervous about having enough time for photos, but this couple’s fun-filled reception presented many great photo ops! I have never seen so many talented ballroom dancers in one room (except of course in my living room during Dancing With the Stars!) Beata, her brother and cousin set high standards when it came to celebrating on the dance floor, but everyone had a great time trying to keep up!

Although I can’t believe a year has gone by already, I am so excited to already have this family back on my shoot schedule as they count down the days to their next Maternity Session. Thank you, Lacey and Darin, for sharing so many incredible family milestones with me this past year. I enjoyed being a part of every single one of them. Congratulations on the exciting news and I look forward to spending another year with your wonderful family.

* The painting above the couch in the photo below is by Adele Bisaillon’s Art By Adele.

I sometimes wonder if my husband holds his breath until wedding season is over. I take wedding season very seriously and as a result tend to come home a little emotional! When my husband and I were married, the one thing I was unwilling to cut corners on was our photography. (This probably isn’t a surprise to many of you!) But it may surprise you to know that I actually had to work to convince my own husband that there was no way I was going to budge. I already knew who was going to photograph our wedding- and it wasn’t going to be the resort frebbie photographer! I couldn’t believe that I, the professionally trained photographer, was being questioned about photography! In the end, my husband backed down and our wedding photography was our ‘splurge’ item. (Which he now admits was worth every penny!) Close friend Erin Cennon of Out There Photography captured our Jamaican wedding perfectly. I knew who attended our wedding so I didn’t need faces in frames, what I wanted was feeling in frames. I wanted to look at the images from our special day- our nine years in the making special day!- and feel what I felt on that day. I wanted the images as a testament and constant wall-art reminder as to why I married the man I did. I wanted to see the happiness in my eyes as, yes, I married my best friend. I wanted to see the laughs we shared that day with our very best friends and our proud parents looking on. That is exactly what Erin gave to me and exactly what I strive to provide my clients.

So every wedding season I take a deep breath and dive in. I work with clients to find out what favourite things they have in common and special places they share. I invest myself emotionally to try to provide clients with images that they will love as much as I adore and cherish my own images from my own wedding day.

This longtime Yellowknife couple had their first date at Fuegos, Justin proposed at Fuegos, and so it only seemed fitting to gather up the wedding party and make the Yellowknife hot spot our first stop as we trucked around Yellowknife for ‘formal’ photos after their outdoor ceremony. If there is one thing my potential wedding clients should know about my wedding photography style it is that I detest traditional formal wedding photography. So when I say post-ceremony ‘formals’, don’t envision stiff images of you and your best friends looking uncomfortable in the summer heat. For my brides and grooms, I strive to capture the essence of their special day. Essence is what drives the energy on a wedding day and is that little something that keeps the day flowing. This key ingredient to a wedding day is what makes it memorable and it comes from those very special people you choose to have surround you on your very special day. Danielle and Justin had a great ‘team’ that shared as many laughs as they did tears and danced like I have never seen a wedding party dance!

I want my brides and grooms to look at the images from their wedding day and share a laugh just as they did the day they were married. I want a bride to see an image of her groom sharing his vows and for the same happy tears to flow from her eyes five, ten and twenty years later. And, for a groom to look at a photograph of his beautiful bride and feel just as emotional as he did when he saw her step into the aisle.

Danielle and Justin, the night after your wedding, I walked in the front door, past the images that Erin captured of my own wedding day, was reminded of how thankful I am for the gift of love, and snuggled all teary eyed and post-wonderful-wedding emotional with my hubby. Thank you for inviting me to capture your special day. It was an honour. I also thank you for the gift of being reminded how special my husband is!

I wish you decades and decades of laughing and loving as true as you did on your wedding day.

(As this is my first official post post-spam, it is very LONG!)

Good luck and if anyone knows how to keep them smaller longer, let me know!