2012 is going to be an amazing year.

Nicole is so creative! She handcrafted and recreated an amazing paper backdrop with her sister and sister in law after being inspired from something she found online.  It was gorgeous.  It had this airy, fun and romantic feel to it that worked so well with the vibe she and Michael give off.  They have so much fun together and were incredibly easy to photograph.

After spending some time indoors we headed out for some snowy winter engagement pictures too.  Using one of the only places left in Edmonton that has snow on the ground still.

Here are some of our favourites from their session!

Happy Holidays!!

Steph

Scott and Faye knew they wanted a day to remember, that focused on their marriage and their love for family.   What they came up with worked out perfectly;  A beautiful church ceremony with friends and family gathered around;  An intimate dinner shared with their immediate families at Sorrentino’s downtown; and then a walk around the corner to Moriartys to celebrate and have a few drinks with all their friends and family.

Congratulations! Have a wonderful first Christmas together as husband and wife.

love the Scades

Chloe was happy to be a flower girl, but was not impressed when it came time to go.

I’m lucky enough to be friends with both the bride and groom and I was more than thrilled with the opportunity to photograph their wedding with Shaun.  They are both so much fun to be around, and I felt honoured to be asked.  Shaun’s had the opportunity to photograph a couple other tropical destination weddings before, but it was going to be my first crack at it.

Spending an entire week with close friends and family is some-kinda-wonderful.  Especially when everyone got along as well as this group did.  Adventures in the sun, sand, ocean, and discotheque were abundant, and waterpolo at 4pm was an obvious crowd favourite.  What a great way to have a holiday with all of your favourite people.  Typically after a full day photographing a wedding with a couple and their families, Shaun and I walk away feeling like we’ve made new friends.  But, after a week with Joyce and Derek’s friends and family, we were blown away by how wonderful our new collection of friends were.

They lucked out with excellent weather, having only one day with some rain.  The day of the wedding went by so smoothly. Warm, sunny, breezy, and fun.  After a beautiful morning ceremony on the beach, we spent the day photographing the couple and bridal party throughout the resort, stopping for as many drinks and snacks as were needed though.  Joyce and Derek were up for anything.  It was awesome!  Next up was the poolside reception.  It was beautiful and cozy.  Just the way it should be.  After an ah-mazing dinner and some lovely speeches came the dancing.  I must say, there were some excellent dance moves pulled out and after shutting the pool bar down for the night, we headed out for more dancing at the discotheque.

Thank you so much for including us in your destination wedding plans.  We had a wonderful time.

Here are just a sampling of some of our favourite pictures.

- Steph

We’re always looking for new and unique products to offer to our clients, and this year we’ve found a line of lux holiday cards that will definitely be a huge hit with your family and friends.

Each one is custom designed by us and printed on high quality press paper and with a variety of unique shapes and size.

From now until the December 10^th  we’ll be  offering 20% off for any card products from past portrait sessions with us over the last year.  If you’re interested in booking a last minute session with us we have a little bit of availability left and we’d be happy to try and make something work.

Here are some of the cards that the Acevedo family had made up for their family this year.

Lux Folded cards come in sets of 25

1 set of 25 – $110 each – 20% off – $80
2 to 4 sets of 25 – $95 each – 20% off - $76
5+ sets of 25 – $80 each – 20% off - $64

Press Printed Folded cards come in sets of 25

1 set of 25 – $100 each – 20% off – $80
2 to 4 sets of 25 – $85 – 20% off each – $68
5+ sets of 25 – $70 – 20% off each – $56

We took 2 days to get to Vancouver, stopping in Salmon Arm to visit family, and then leaving the next morning.  We met a fellow photographer friend, Kim Elsasser, in Kelowna for lunch and a surprise boat ride on the lake.   We stayed with friends in Vancouver, went for lunch with family, and just enjoyed our time there.  In the evening was the concert.  Bon Iver.  We had front row tickets.  It was an amazing show.  One of the best shows I have ever seen.  The 9-piece band and their new arrangements transformed the classics, and enhanced the new songs.  Other Lives opened and they were really great as well.  In the morning it was off to Eugene.  Eugene is a very unique place.  We found a cheap hotel and then got ready for the show.  Once again we were treated to one heck of a show.  Dan Mangan (a fellow Canadian) opened for the up and coming Blind Pilot.  But if you were at the show, you would think they were already huge stars.  In the morning we went to Voodoo Doughnuts, a Eugene and Portland exclusive, that is worth the trip.  And then it was off to a fantastic brunch on Campus.

Our next stop was the Redwood Forest.  The Redwoods are an amazing sight.  Taking a walk into the forest is one of the most humbling and awe inspiring feelings.  The Redwoods are the largest living things and some have been alive for around 2000 years.  After a day in the forest we headed to the Oregon Coast.  This is a trip that my family did when I was 11.  I remembered it from then, but as an adult, I had even more respect the area.  Mile after Mile of gorgeous coast, Rocky shoreline, and beaches.  We wish we had more than 2.5 days to explore this area, and might have to head down for a family vacation one day.  After the famous Cannon beach we headed over to Astoria, home of the Goonies.  A fantastic city that we will head back to again.  We just really enjoyed the feel of it.

After Astoria, we went over to Portland.  We have heard that Portland was amazing, and it was.  We stayed in amazing BnB from 1905 and we explored downtown, the market, the Food Trucks and one of the trendy streets.  We are definitely going to head back one day to enjoy the rest of it.  One stop in Seattle to meet a friend’s Dad, the very talented photographer Doug Loates, a lot of shopping on Steph’s part, and then we headed home, stopping in Jasper for an Engagement session.

It was a fantastic road trip that I would recommend to everyone (Steph’s parents ended up doing an extended version of the trip 2 weeks later).  And like most trips, it makes you want to travel more, and go back to visit your favourite places.  As always, we took a lot of pictures.  We even borrowed at Sony NEX-3 mirror less camera to try out, so a bunch of the images are fromt that camera.   Here are a “couple” of our favs for your enjoyment, and at the end is a collection of my iPhone photos of the entire trip.

thanks.

- Shaun (and Steph)

A Collection of my iPhone pics

- Shaun

- Shaun

With parents who like to travel as much as Mike and Lindsey, Lola is sure to have more than a few adventures under her belt before she’ll even be able to walk.

Congratulations,

- Steph

I’ve only just met Pauline this past summer, but already she’s left a beautiful impression on my life.  She’s bright, friendly, gorgeous, and has an enormous amount of contagious positivity!

She’s now working for the Multicultural Coalition in Edmonton as an Associate Coordinator.  Somewhere I know she’ll make another beautiful impression.

x0

Steph

ps: Notice the earrings she rocked in this session?  She sells them for her aunts who make them and send them from Rwanda and in Malawi.  Let me know if you want me to hook you up with a pair of your own.

- Shaun

- Shaun

Check out that smile!!!

Thanks for a great afternoon!

- Steph

Steph

ps: It was fun watching the two of you take turns prepping and caring for Sofia, you worked so well together Congratulations again!