Leanne & Maurice- esession

Last Week I had the opportunity to photograph Leanne and Maurice, a couple of the sweetest people ever! Even though poor Maurice was battling a head cold he didn't once act like he didn't want to be snuggling his lovely fiance. We had a beautiful afternoon hanging out downtown in the crisp March air. I enjoyed hearing about their lives and their puppy, but most of all I enjoyed seeing the two of them truly enjoy spending the afternoon out in the cold together :)


See you in May for your Big Day!

Cheers,

Kelsy

Tracy & Willie- March 21 2009

Tracy & Will were married last weekend in a beautiful Camrose Wedding. The ceremony was at St. Xavier Parish and the reception was at the Norsemen Inn. Tracy decorated the Norseman like she was a professional wedding coordinator! I was super impressed and I won't be surprised if she sets up shop with all her awesome ideas and budget-saving skills. I'm sure her phone will be ringing off the hook. One of my favourite ideas was in the center of the room: a beautiful tribute to the parents and grandparents... complete with pictures of the six happy couples on their wedding days. It was incredible to see love standing the test of time and I am sure what such amazing examples in your life that you both are going to be together forever. The love that you share is so real and precious....and Will, you are pretty lucky Tracy saw through all that hair to see the amazing guy you are.


Thanks for sharing your day with me. I loved seeing how you both looked at each other it made my heart melt again and again.


Congrats on your little piece of heaven....

Be Blessed,

Kelsy

Blend Workshop

The day before I left for Santa Fe, Tim and I went out to our favourite Chinese Restaurant, Chan can Wok and when we finished our meal I was presented with perfect fortune. "Travelling to the South will bring you unexpected happiness." And it sure did! I had a wonderful week of learning from the best of the best and meeting other "blendees" like myself from all over the world.

The experience was Incredible. Thought provoking. Awe-Inspiring. I wish I could actually describe the experience better, but words couldn't do it justice. However, I can share one thing I learned....

You are of Infinite Worth.

You are unique, you are blessed and you are adored. I still can't believe it is my job to photograph the beauty and happiness of my you, my amazing clients, in love. It is just inspiring to be in the presence of those in love and I can't believe how blessed I am to have so much love in my "workplace". It is truly an honour and I promise to try to do your inner and outer beauty justice by creating images of how gorgeous you are and the love you share.

So to my new friends Jesh, Jose, Nate & Jaclyn, Tamara.... thank you for sharing so much of yourselves with me this past week. You are all beautiful people, inside and out.... Amazing people and amazing photographers. My heart and mind were stretched past their limits and my love for our industry grew a million times. Thank you again.

To my new Blendee friends, it was awesome to meet you all and to learn from everyone of you. I can't wait to see where our journeys take us.

Lots and lots of Love,

Kelsy

I had the opportunity to do a very small amount of shooting (and I mean small... we were each given 5 minutes with our brillant models). Here are a couple of images from my fast-forward shoot:

Santa Fe, Here I come!

Hi Everyone!

I am going to be out of the office from Monday March 23 till Tuesday March 31st 2009 on a amazing workshop presented by some of the best photographers in our industry. I am incredibly excited to be spending the next week learning from the likes of Jose Villa, The Image is Found and Jesh de Rox.

However, since I fly out early tomorrow morning I haven't been able to post images from my lovely wedding yesterday and my adorable esession this weekend. So, if you hang tight, I will be a blogging a ton on my return. Thanks for your patience! Also, please give me some extra time with emails and phone calls, as I am out of the office and not sure how much time I will have for the business stuff in the next week :)

Look forward to sharing my adventures with you all soon!

Hugs,

Kelsy

PS. I received an excited phone call from a newly engaged bride-to-be planning her wedding to take place right before her fiancee leaves for Afghanistan. I would love to be a part of her day, but I couldn't quite catch the number you left. Please give me a another ring or email, since I really don't want you to think I am ignoring you :( Talk soon!

Lisa & Dave- My Wedding Gift Couple 2009

Lisa and Dave were married on March 6 2009 in Edmonton in a small ceremony surrounded by their closest family members. I had the pleasure of photographing their wedding after receiving an email from Lisa explaining their situation. After I heard their story, it was easy to choose them to win my free wedding of 2009. Not surprizingly, they are a beautiful couple, inside and out and I loved being the one to capture their memories. Their story touched me and I am honoured to share her words with you:

Our situation: We both come from big families. In fact, we both have 8 siblings. We always knew that a wedding budget would be tight. Recently, I went on an 18 month church mission - did lots of service & enjoyed it tremendously. I moved to Edmonton to finish massage therapy training, balancing work and school. I met Dave right away, and became good friends; we were just ourselves, with no great romantic interest.

But the more I got to know Dave, the more I liked him.

Eventually I talked him into dating me knowing that I would be moving away in a few short months...but then his mother passed away very unexpectedly - such grief, a very a tangible loss for his family.

Dave withdrew from his university courses temporarily to be with his family; and then it seemed that we had more time to spend together. I met his family, helped him clean his car, played piano and sang songs from movie scores with his brother.

They told him never to let me go.

Then Dave met my family, helped my mother do the dishes, even asked my father's blessing in the traditional way. He gained their approval.

It then time came for our planned, but still difficult separation. I moved to southern Alberta to help out my aging Grandparents and spend some special individual time with them. We were planning on being apart for four months. It ended up being...five weeks. You see, as independent as I am, I didn't anticipate missing Dave as much as I did. So yes, absence "made our hearts grow fonder" and we decided to move up our wedding date.

Funds are tight, and emotions still a little raw after the death of Dave's Mother, so we're having a small, quiet wedding on March 6th with mostly immediate family. We are having the reception at a family friend's home. Dave's sister is making my dress and helping me with my hair and make-up. A friend is making me a bouquet. My Wedding Band is Vintage yellow gold, a gift from my oldest sister. I am also having another band, from Dave's mother's ring, precision cut to encircle my own engagement ring. The rest of the details are all falling into place.

I was the last girl with plans for marriage. He was planning on moving away for school, but something held him back. I know most couples must feel this way, but we truly feel that our marriage was meant to be.

We feel that everything happens for a reason, and the big guy upstairs who knows us best has given us more than we ever could have dreamed of - each other.

I also believe that everything happens for a reason and know that someone is smiling down on you both in approval of your marriage. I am sure she would be so proud of your decisions. Your day was unique, special and most of all full of love. What impressed me the most was that you both were so centered on your marriage and didn't get caught up in the sometimes craziness of planning a wedding. I was also very happy to see how excited you both were to spend forever together.

Here's to your happy ending....or happy beginning!

Lots of love,

Kelsy

The beautiful winning couple!

Isn't she adorable?

Such a serene scene....

Until a lovely wind gust of snow blows in.... brrr!

Love this :)

I also really loved this one...especially when I notice Dave is wearing my " just-in-case-I-need-to dig-myself-out" emergency car gloves. Stylin'... but it was -10C so I forgive him for trying to sneak them into the pictures. You guys were real troopers!

Edmonton River Valley images always make me happy....

It was a pleasure spending your wedding day with you and hearing your story. I hope the day was everything you imagined and more.