this past saturday, i had the honour of photographing a young lady who is near and dear to my heart. actually, both the bride and groom are part of my non-family family. katie has been calling me mom for a couple of years now, because that's the honour she bestows on the women in her life that she loves dearly. love ya katie! darrin and katie are married, and are now on their honeymoon at a cabin somewhere. hopefully the black flies won't eat them alive, since i know the whether up north has been cold and wet A LOT this spring. katie's family have been some of our closest friends in the last 7 years or so, and katie actually dated (or, using that word loosely) my son for 2 whole weeks when they were 13 or somthing! HAH! it was a saturday filled with love and laughter, and i thin my favourite part was when Howard (Katie's dad) surprised Katie with a father/daughter dance. our church doesn't allow dancing at the receptions that are held there (not sure why), but when the music played and Howard took his daughter's hand, i teared up BIGTIME! luckily i was holding a camera in front of my face, otherwise everyone would have seen my big, gobby tears. i'm such a softy! here's a sneak peek for my blog friends!

this past saturday, i had the pleasure of second shooting for Arica Ingratta of Manifesto Photography at a wedding here in Windsor. it was a beautiful day for a wedding. when i got to the church, i recognized the bride's mom as someone i once knew, and realized that this family had attended the same church that we used to attend years ago. it was nice to see them again, and it was weird to see all the girls grown up! the last time i saw this family, the girls were teenagers! man, i'm feeling old lately!  

ok, so it's not wednesday and i haven't done a shout out for a while now. i thought it was a good time to remedy that. this week, i wanted to do something different. i decided that i wanted to interview a photographer, and who better to choose than my good friend and colleague, Amber Chudy of Painted Amber Photography . i met Amber last December, at a photographer's get together in Chatham Ontario, put on by my other friend, John Lyons. (btw... i feel blessed to be able to call these awesome photographers my friends). we had a little chat that night, and Amber shared with me her love for boudoir photography. actually, i thought that it was definately more than love for boudoir photography, it was a PASSION for boudoir photography! it was January that we touched base again, and this time it was at a wedding. Amber was the first photographer to give me a chance to do some wedding photography, and she had me come along to try it out. it was there, at that wedding, that i fell in love with wedding photography. since then, Amber has hired me to shoot about 8 more weddings with her this year, and we've become good friends in the process. Amber is a beautiful young woman, inside and out, and i'm blessed that she's in my life. boudoir photography takes a special kind of photographer, especially when you aren't working with models but just ordinary women, rolls and all. Amber usually does her boudoir sessions out of the Retro Suites in Chatham Ontario, so if you live anywhere in Southwestern Ontario, look on her blog for her Diva Days schedule. here is my interview with Amber and a few of her awesome photos.

kingsville is where i live, and it was the setting for a beautiful wedding that i photographed this past saturday. kingsville, is about 1/2 and hour outside windsor, ontario, and we are right on lake erie. it's a very nice little town and a great place to live. i had the opportunity to work with wedding photographer, John Lyons , for the very first time. it was a blast! John is a great guy and a wonderful wedding photographer, and i was thrilled to have the chance to work with him.  he's also like the energizer bunny, and seems to have the energy to just keep on going and going! i have also just hired John and his graphic design company to take on my branding/marketing work. this will be a fun summer! our day started at Anjolie salon in Leamington, and that was the beginning of our marathon wedding photography day! in total, we photographed in 10 locations and the day lasted 13.5 hours for us! we ended the day at the Roma Club in Leamington, where a beautiful, fairytale reception was hosted. i was so tired when i got home, but it was the wonderful kind of exhaustion that you feel when you've been scuba diving all day and sleep comes instantly! wonderful. adam and lisa are both from the kingsville area, and are highschool sweethearts. they started dating in grade 9, and at 22 years old they got married. i have a soft spot for highschool love stories, since the hubby and i started dating in grade8/9 too! you could tell by the looks that they gave each other, that they are deeply committed and in love. it was a beautiful day. there was so much love from family and friends, that Adam & Lisa just sailed through the day, happy and smiling every second. i had a really hard time picking just a few photos for this blog post, so please don't get mad at the crazy amount of photos. after saturday, i think i am even more in love with wedding photography than ever before! yeah, it was crazy & exhausting, but i love being so intimately involved with such a special moment in people's lives. i also just realized that saying that i'm a 'wedding photographer' sounds like the cheeziest career choice around! HAH! ok, here is some eye candy for you!

you know those days when your mind doesn't stop racing, and the idea flow like crazy? well, i have been having weeks of thos kind of days! sleep has been less than stellar, and i'm starting to feel the effects. i wanted to keep you posted on some of the good ideas i'm going to be implementing in my wedding photography business. first off, i am going to be doing album designs for each and every client. yep, each one! the more i have been reading and learning , the more i have realized that i don't just want my clients to have a cd of the digital negatives to print off at Walmart and frame in a cheezy frame! i want my clients to have something in their hands that holds all the precious memories of their beautiful day. i want to become the wedding day storyteller! i have been researching album companies, and i think i have narrowed it down to 3 choices, but only 2 are going to make my short-list. the one leather album company (KISS albums) ROCKS MY WORLD, but they are kinda pricey. i LOVE them to pieces, so i'm trying to figure out a way to use them without breaking the bank. the other company is Iris Book, and they are very different than the KISS books. they are more of a book than an album, and with beautiful linen covers , they are true keepsakes. i'm pretty sure i'll be using them. they are super yummy. finally, i am also considering Finao albums . they have really beautiful, flush mount albums as well, and they are a bit cheaper than KISS, but it's tough to choose. i know that Finao has a bizillion options for covers and sizes, but that's actually what i don't like about them. if i go with them,  then i'll be picking a few sizes to use, and that's it. i'll also be sticking to leather because it's classy, but again, only a few colours. hmmmmmmmm..... other plans? well, you'll just have to wait and see! btw... the baby robins have flown the coop and are no longer in the nest in my backyard. i hope that a hawk didn't annihilate one as it flew away from the safety of it's little grass home.