I had to put my camera in my luggage...just in case. But my hope was that it would never leave that bag, until I safely returned home from Toronto this weekend, after a birthday celebration for my Mom and sister and Saturday, and my wedding shower on Sunday.

And I can proudly declare, I didn't sneak a single frame.

I wanted to enjoy some wedding related events as a GUEST, rather than a photo-journalist, and I have to say...it was great.

It was hard for me to resist getting my camera out to take a picture of the GORGEOUS cake my Aunt arranged for Sunday, but luckily there were a couple digital cameras in the room to document the day.


But this gets me to thinking...will I feel the urge to get out my camera on my wedding day? Oh right...NO, because I will have the most amazing wedding photographer there ;) 

engagement photographer | wedding photographer | portrait photographer

engagement photographer | wedding photographer | portrait photographer

Last week I opened up my comments to allow for tons of questions from YOU GUYS (my faithful blog readers and favourite people ever). I kept checking in throughout the day to read the questions because they were so great and I was super excited to put together a response.

The only thing was...how do I do it?

Copy and paste each answer in here and write a little blurb under each one? BO-ring. Right??

And thus, here I am with my first every video blog to show you (last week's bushleague video of Weezy and the hair dryer does NOT count. If you've seen it, you know the level of suckiness I'm trying to convey).

In this video, I cover a range of things from:
getting photos blog-ready (Blogstomp is the BOMB, seriously) to...
how much is too much when it comes to personal posts, to...
handling a potential bridezilla.

I hope you enjoy :)


Thoughts:
That was a lot harder than I expected.
I say umm a lot. I should work on that.
It's a really long process to do one of these videos! I did the shooting in one take, but uploading it for edit, adding titles, exporting it, uploading it for viewing online, it all takes so much time! I've said it before but I'll say it again...videographers...you amaze me. 

Also...that was really long. In the future, I'll probably limit my FAQ videos to 5 questions or so!

P.S...how stoked am I in that thumbnail? Too intense.

engagement photographer | wedding photographer | portrait photographer

I sat down for drinks with a lovely wedding planner and her assistant about a month ago, at the Mill St. Pub off Wellington. And the three of us wedding professionals took a look around talked about how it would be the perfect place to have photos done.

That night, I touched base with Sasha and Jason just to see if they would humour me, and plan to meet at Mill Street for their engagement session! Sasha was all "wherever you want, girl!"

Here are some of my favourites of Sasha and Jason:

engagement photographer | wedding photographer | portrait photographer

I've learned so much. Both about myself as a person, and as a business owner. And it only took skipping town for 3 days to figure it out...

I like working.

I work too much, but I like it. And I feel more of a vacation when my work is done and I'm idly working, than I do when I stow my laptop and try to push the work from my mind.

I also discovered that being busy, is all relative. Example: a year ago, being busy would have been working 8am-4pm, getting home, and having to empty the dishwasher. This year, being busy is having 3 shoots a day, 12 shoots waiting for edit, 32 emails to answer, and a personal life to try and maintain. So when I woke up and read "VACATION" on my calendar last Thursday, I didn't really know what to do with myself.

So, I took on a major, multi-day project, in the form of a complete office makeover. Much more on that later...since it's at least a week from being ready for a blog reader's eyes.

And the other thing I learned, is that it only takes 3 days of being away to go into serious internet withdrawl. I had so many blogs to read this morning, it was out. of. control.

Here's a glimpse of my mid-week weekend with Beans and Weezy at the cottage:

engagement photographer | wedding photographer | portrait photographer

I am packing my bags and skipping town with Beans and Weezy! 

We will be spending a couple days at the Kelly Cabin, and then I'm planning to have quite the exciting staycation on the other days. Lots of romcoms, lots of reading, lots of browsing the internet for FUN. 

I plan on getting a couple things done on my list of 101 in 1001 too...like:

#76 Find myself with nothing to do
#91 Make Nana-K's coffee cake recipe again
#96 Watch the sunrise and the sunset in the same day


On a side note...who PLANS on finding themselves with nothing to do?