Hello :)

thank you all so much for the love and positive responses regarding my first blog post, I was slightly overwhelmed and very humbled. The boudoir marathon was a great success with lovely ladies :) Lindsey and I had so much fun, we are looking to do another in July so stay posted for the details on my Facebook page!

I was lucky enough to be asked to participate in the annual Give A Kid A Lift Charity event down at the Ironwood again this Spring :) Its a wonderful day filled with love, live music, yummy food, refreshing drinks, and many, many laughs (totally my kind of charity)

The purpose is to help out families who have children with mobility issues; installing lifts and/or elevators in homes to make life easier and more accessible! As you can imagine, these can be a huge expense, so the good people at Canwest elevators, Garaventa Lifts, and the Easter Seals of Canada (also Patrick at the ironwood) all pitch in their time and hearts to help out. Its such a great cause, and one I'm happy to be a part of.

Can West Elevators had also hired me to do a shoot at the Porche dealership a few weeks later, to photograph their elevators (because as I told you before, I'll shoot anything)

It was fun and I hope to be able to do more commercial work in the future

The very next day I was off to Mexico to shoot a destination wedding in Cabo! This was my second trip to Mexico in the last 6 months for 'work' and I was excited to see the pacific side

I hadn't met the bride or groom beforehand, but some of my most favorite friends in the world had referred me to them (thanks Mike and Lisa!)

Jenn (the bride) and I got to know each other over email last fall, and got along right from the start; we knew we would be a good fit together.

The Riu Palace was where we all stayed and also where the ceremony took place. It is a STUNNING resort, and everything went amazingly well. The bride and groom had 70 or so guests attend the wedding, most of them coming from northern Alberta, Ontario, and Newfoundland.

They were a great bunch of people and I had a lot fun getting to know a few of them in the pool bar over the week ;)

This brings me to the purpose of this post;

Qualities you must look for in a (destination) wedding photographer!!

1-punctuality-vitally important! make sure your photographer isn't the type to miss a flight or be late to any scheduled photo event!

2-friendly, easy to get along with, and approachable-you need your photographer to be able to engage with your guests, and make them feel at ease! You'll get great candid shots if your guests feel really comfortable around your photographer

3-patience-It's a wedding. Things go wrong. Timelines get rearranged and things don't always go as planned! People can get irritable under pressure and wedding days are notoriously stressful. You need a photographer who is patient and understanding when circumstances change, and can even help put the bride (or wedding party, or family) at ease and stay calm.

4-prepared and organized-Make sure you sit down with your photographer asap to go over a timeline for the entire week. They need to know where they need to be at all times for photo events (excursions, boudoir, family portraits etc)

5-fun-to invite someone to spend a week with your closest friends and family, you want a photographer who is fun! They need to be able to enjoy themselves and contribute to this celebration of love!

....but not too fun! You also need a photographer who is a professional, and knows their limits. Having a few too many mojitos can lead to bad decisions and overall embarrassment for everyone.

6-references-make sure to either read some honest reviews online, or ask to chat with past clients to really know who you're getting!

7-experienced-depending on whatever deal you have made with your photographer, you need to know what they're capable of, and what you're expectations are, and hope they're similar. Make sure to go over their portfolios and see the work they have produced thus far. I also personally follow my brides Pinterest Boards to have an idea of what they're looking for, specifically.

8-love for the work-free trips are nice and getting paid is nice, but make sure your photographer LOVES photography! To only be 'in it' for the trip or cash, will not give you a great experience. You need someone who loves photography, can be creative, and has their heart behind it.

Not only has photography been a passion of mine most of my life, I also LOVE weddings! And I love LOVE! And I love knowing that the images I capture are going to be hanging on these families walls forEVER!! Its such a special time, and for me, bringing LOVE and photography together is a no-brainer.

9-good quality equipment-I recently upgraded to a 5D Markiii Full Frame Canon camera. It had been on my wish list for 2 years, and it meets all expectations! I also recently purchased a wide angle lens for those large group shots (and maybe for Aurora too) I bring a rebel for a back up, a PowerShot just for tooling around, and a Polaroid, purely for fun :)

10-has a contract in place-you need to be clear on what your expectations are, and what the photographers expectations are as well. Getting paid, length of time to receive photos, copywrite issues, and everything else! It needs to be clear for everyone so there are no discrepencies down the line.

Thank you to everyone for your support, and patience as it took me months to write a follow up to Blog #1! I am a full time stay at home mother to my 2 young boys and life can get hectic! I will always write when I can, and share photos from recent sessions.

Here's a few of my fave photos from the last few months...