Palm Desert + Vegas

California is an amazing state. It's easily my favourite place besides BC… I may even dare to say it's tied with BC. When I was really young my family picked up and moved down to Palm Desert for my dads business. We lived there for a few years and returned back to BC but those few years in Palm Desert made a huge impact on all of us. We go back as often as we can and this year was no exception. Erin and I worked our butts off to finish a bunch of projects ahead of schedule so we could spend 3 glorious weeks in the desert. We had tons of fun and it was just what we needed to gear up for the upcoming wedding season. Check out some instagram snapshots of our trip below.

1. This is what most of our days looked like. Not bad eh?

2. The nightly view

3. I could honestly eat Chipotle everyday and never get tired of it. Maybe mixed with a little In N Out too

4. The office

5. Our adorable niece Sally

6. En route to Vegas

7. The view from Treasure Island - super bummed we couldn't time our Vegas trip with NAB or WPPI... maybe next year?

8. The valley from the top of one of our hikes

9. My brother-in-law's mean swing

We have some really cool projects that we're shooting this month and then May is the kick off to our busiest season yet. Can't wait to share :)

-Mac

natasha + jon || that's my girl

You ever meet those people who instantly make you feel so comfortable? Like too comfortable? Like you start calling them by nicknames you were never given permission to call them? Jon and Tash are those people. They are good people. They are funny people. They are generous people. People who take their cinematographers and photographers out for wine and cheese at the reception venue a couple weeks before the wedding just so they could all meet and get on the same page. My favourite kind of people. When we first met Jon and Tash about a year ago, Tash was… a little stressed about the wedding. I immediately loved and understood Tash (planning your own wedding compared to shooting other peoples? Not at ALL the same. Planning is the worst!). BUT you would never have known on the day that Tash had stressed for a second - it was perfect! Both the ceremony and reception were held at Brix Restaurant in Yaletown - the ceremony in the courtyard and the reception inside. Bea-utiful decor, awesome food, solid dance crowd. Nuff said. This wedding was FU-UN!

We love love loved this couple and had the most fun shooting their wedding day. These two have so much heart and are madly in love, as their film shows.

Thank you Jon and Tash so much - we had an amazing time and hope you find your wedding film captures just how beautiful and fun your wedding was.

P.S. thanks for the wine and cheese :)

We had the best time working with the lovely women of Sweet Heirloom Photography. Check out their site! Also Fairy God Mother Weddings knows how to throw a party. They did an amazing job planning and coordinating the wedding. Loved working with Kate! Take a look at their site too!

Rebecca + Geoff || I'm The Lucky One

They met at university where they were both in engineering. Geoff is a lucky man. He found the most beautiful female engineering student in the whole school and kept her forever. Rebecca is lucky too, Geoff is an awesome guy who completely adores her. Mac and I are big fans of these two. This wedding was something else. Exactly what I imagine Beauty and the Beast's future wedding to be (after the Beast changed back into a man of course). The ceremony and reception were both at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, and the reception was in the big ballroom, the one I already refer to as the Beauty-and-the-Beast room - and so it begins.

Everything about Rebecca was Belle-like to me: her hair, her face, her dress and her flowers (red roses). Also Belle and (Man)Beast-like was this couple's ability to dance. Amazing! They made a new years resolution last year to learn to dance and man oh man did they do that. It was really beautiful. I would never have guessed they hadn't been ballroom dancing their whole lives.

The ceremony was really personalized which I LOVE. They said their own vows and included a number of Jewish traditions (Rebecca is Jewish)- like the glass breaking! The best part was just watching these two, it was as if no one else was there but them. That's the very best kind of ceremony.

The reception (besides being held in my favorite ballroom in all of Vancouver) was decorated beautifully! Red roses, candles, mirrors, open bar... Good wedding!

My favorite part of the whole day was 12:00am. At that time the couple was being lifted up on chairs, as per the Jewish wedding tradition, while everyone was dancing and wearing new years hats and crowns - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We were so lucky to be able to work with the lovely Michele Davidson of Modern Celebrant who created a custom ceremony for Rebecca and Geoff. So awesome!

Also we had a blast shooting with Scott of Contrast Studios. Be sure to check out his work!

Yellowknife is cold...

I am in Yellowknife. It is freezing. It is -30 C today. When I left Vancouver on Thursday it was -1 C and I was freezing then. I am such a baby up here. A baby and the biggest, most shameless tourist! I'm up here to visit my favorite (and only!) cousins on my moms side, but between visiting time they are graciously driving me all over town to see everything, and so far I've seen: the ice road (SO cool); a man dogsledding; a man kite skiing (FYI i saw all of that while driving on the ice road); a FOX and the highest point in the city (pretty but not overly impressive if you're from Vancouver). They also took me on a snow mobile ride across a frozen lake where we tobogganed and made a fire (I contributed one piece of cardboard to that fire). I am having the best time! Last thing on my list is to see the northern lights but so far no dice...

I have learned a couple of very important things while up here in the north and I feel I should share them just in case any of you decide to visit one day:

1. You can't just quickly run outside in your normal clothes- you might die.

2. Bring a real camera not an iPhone because if you leave your mittens off for more than a few seconds your hands will hurt like never before and will probably lose them.

3. Most of the time it looks like dusk or night. Enjoy day while you can.

4. Don't try and be fashionable when you go outside- don't leave your parka open a little so your scarf looks cooler or insist on not wearing a touque so you don't mess up your hair. Trust me just DON'T.

5. Coke in a can outside turns to slush and then ice AND your tongue gets stuck to the can.

And finally: 6. Marshmallows taste different when roasted and eaten in the cold. They taste better!

Here are a few instagrams from the trip...

-Erin