The Wedding Room

Last month I had the pleasure of attending The Wedding Room, a wedding show put together by The Hudson's Bay Company, Oliver & Bonacini and The Wedding Co. It was a beautiful event full of stunning details and an abundance of inspiration. Gorgeous floral creations were everywhere and the gowns took center stage. It was also a day for the taste buds with everything from ice cream sandwiches to macarons to mini poutine and to top it all off, an open bar!

Bobbette & Belle Artisanal Pastries

Catherine Langlois Bridal Design

 Bits and Blooms

Sweet Woodruff

The Sweetere

Event Rental Group

Sweetpea's

Lisa and I sampling some Cave Spring Wine

Truffle

Kleinfeld Hudson's Bay - featuring Pnina Tornai

 Lisa trying on one of the Pnina veils

Happily Ever After Events Inc

Cool Green & Shady Flowers

Sweet Sammies

Celebrating Women

Tomorrow is International Women's Day - a day to not only celebrate the strides that women have made, but also a chance to identify what still needs to be done throughout the world for women's rights. I thought I'd take a moment to showcase some of the fabulous, beautiful and successful ladies I have been fortunate enough to meet and photograph.

Featured: Lisa's Bridesmaid Ask on Style Me Pretty!

After sorting through over 500 images, I had picked out my favourite 130 from a session I had photographed. A session I was submitting for the first time to the wedding blog Style Me Pretty. I spent the whole day meticulously choosing each image that I thought SMP would love the most - that I loved the most. Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon I held my breath and hit the submit button. I walked away from the computer and took my pup out for a nice walk. Of course, I checked my email throughout the night but I didn't hold my breath. I went to bed full of hopeful dreams. The next day I woke up, had my breakfast and tried to avoid my phone or computer but when I did finally look, there it was. I caught a glimpse of the first line of the email and it included "Congratulations". I barely read the whole thing before I was yelling "Oh my god! Oh my god!" I ran up to Robin in the kitchen jumping up and down and I explained that I had been accepted into Style My Pretty. He jumped up and down with me saying "Yayyyy" and then "Is that good?"

This shoot was a blast from start to finish! Lisa wanted to ask her bridesmaids to be a part of her wedding in a unique and meaningful way so she opted to have a girly date in the park full of treats and champagne. Although there was a bit of rain, the shoot went off without a hitch and the girls were honoured with custom handkerchiefs from the bride-to-be; something they'll have forever and that ties in with the wedding theme.

While this wasn't my first feature or second feature on Style Me Pretty, it was the first submission I made so it will always be a special memory and milestone in my career. My obsession with SMP continues and I'm so excited and thankful for this feature!


To view the whole post, click here.

February Favourite Photo

It's no surprise that February is one of my favourite months. It's full of love and celebrations (and my birthday) so naturally I'm a big fan. At the moment though, I'm a little relieved that February is a short month. I feel as though I'm in a state of anticipation and I want things to get going (like the start of spring and warmer weather). Patience is something I'm always working on so as much as I'm ready for this year to get moving I'm really trying to relish in each moment and enjoy the rest of this lovely month.

We've had a fair share of snowfalls this month so this sight is getting a little old, but I'm loving the stillness in this photo and it's testament to slowing down sometimes.

Six Months of Growth

This month marks six-months since I officially launched this full-time photography business. It's odd to think it's only been six months. In so many ways I get ahead of myself and feel it's been so much longer and I tend to expect I should be doing more or at a different point. But when I stop to remember it's been six months that helps put things into perspective and I can appreciate everything I've done in this short time-frame. I remember back when I chose to leave the steady, full-time, 9-5 job I was scared, nervous, timid, and doubtful - but I was also sure that what I was doing at the time wasn't meant for me. I used to think I never wanted to be someone who dragged themselves to work or who dreaded Monday's and that's what I had turned into. The drive wasn't there, the passion, or the happiness and I felt I was doing myself a disservice by not putting everything I had into something that took up the majority of my time. So while the leap was scary, it was also liberating and necessary and now looking back I'm so happy with the choice I made.

In six months I've come so far and have grown so much as a little business and as a person. I am constantly reading interviews or stories from other business owners and while there's tons of advice that I cherish, there's one in particular that stands out and that was a recurring tip from many. It's the advice to dive right in and do it. When starting a business it's so easy to get caught up in making things perfect. You end up spending hours and hours editing or tweaking or fixing and never actually doing. I made sure to keep this in mind when I started and still do. I know that I want to produce the best possible work, but I also know that part of learning and growing is making mistakes so as much as I try or prepare to be perfect, I know it won't happen.

Over the past six months even my packaging has changed. Right now I've settled on this look for my lovely clients but I'm sure it'll keep growing and evolving as I do. Here's a little sneak peak:

Lately - Birthday Recap

This past weekend started amazingly well. Robin and I spent all day Friday/Valentine's Day curled up on the couch watching movie after movie. I made us blueberry pancakes and we sipped on endless mimosa's while checking a few of the Oscar-nominated films off our list. After eating way too many treats throughout the day we took our pup for a stroll and then Robin made us dinner.

Saturday morning we woke up early to play squash together - this one is a big deal! I've played squash with my husband once! You'd think since he does it professionally that we'd be on court more often but nope! So this was a great treat! I'm sure it was painfully slow for him but he gave me some pointers and only laughed a little when I missed the ball ;) We spent the rest of the day hanging out then got together with friends for a (very late) night out dancing.

The next day I met up with my girls for brunch at Weslodge (where the mimosas made an appearance again!). The time was spent in simple conversation catching up with one another and eating some mighty-fine food.

That night Robin came home and we popped open a bottle of prosecco. Robin was eager to toast before midnight - I informed him that I was born at 3:30am so this didn't count but he didn't care. We toasted to my 27th year. To every high and low that came with that year. To all the change that happened. To all the growth. And to the fact that this year has given me the strength and wisdom to grow even more as a 28-year-old. Then we reminisced on everything that's happened since last February 17th.

Then it was my birthday. I shared the day with a holiday in Canada (Family Day) so I knew we would keep it pretty low-key since most "attractions" would be filled with crowds on their day off. Robin picked me us up some donuts while I got my birthday drink from Starbucks :) He made breakfast while I ate all the donuts then we took the pup for a nice walk and we went out for dinner to my favourite Mexican restaurant, Milagrio. It was such a simple day but it was perfect and exactly what I wanted. At the moment I'm just in owe of how the simplest things can bring such happiness. The fact that the sun was out during the walk with our dog. Thoughtful birthday cards. Sweet calls and messages from friends. And toasting to this new year and chapter in my life.