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This holidays we’ve been inspired by Giving is Awesome dot com to put up $800 in photography for one needy family or person. And the person who nominates the winning family will receive a $250 credit with Unique Images Photography!

Do you know someone who’s experienced a tragedy, is struggling to stay afloat, is raising kids while holding down more than one job, or is volunteering selflessly despite extenuating personal circumstances? I am sure we all do know someone like this. Send me an email at mark at uniqueimagesphotography dot ca and tell me who they are and why you think they should have the prize.

The rules:

* You cannot nominate yourself, and the person nominated must sincerely be in a position of financial need. If you know someone who is an awesome person and volunteers all of their free time to charity but owns a million-dollar home, well, they would be people we’d love to take photos of any other time, but they’re not people you should nominate. Whoever you nominate should be unable to afford custom portraiture.

* The nominee must reside in Lethbridge or Calgary. Please include a way to contact both your nominee and yourself as well.

* You must email me the reasons and not just send a name.

The winner will be announced on April the 16th 2009, so get nominating! I can’t wait to read all of your entries.

I think this was the first time a man has ever brought me flowers.

We were just chosen for CKVN radio station’s business of the month and DJ Mike LeBlanc came around and presented me with some nice gifts including the basket of teas and coffees you can see in the photo below, which I took on our dining room table.  We also won several other cool things that you can read about over on their site (click here to visit the link).

CKVN is the Christian radio station here in Lethbridge and they’ve done some great things with the station in the year or so that they’ve been running.  So thanks to CKVN—and to the other businesses in town who gave us our prizes. Now Sherri and I will have to arm-wrestle over who gets the hour-long massage. Uh-oh.

Ah, what a wedding! What a great couple. This was definitely one of the most emotional weddings we’ve been to. I think the speeches at the reception will stay in my memory forever. Even when Jen gave her speech to Yuki’s mother in Japanese I had tears in my eyes—and I didn’t have a clue what she was saying! But it was such a powerful moment. All of the speeches were very touching and the atmosphere in the room was incredible. And, yes, that is a real samurai sword during the cutting of the first cake!

Yuki and Jen showed so much love and laughter during the day, it was awesome; this is what weddings are all about! Yuki has a great sense of humour and was constantly joking around. He was bold and irreverent and I liked him immediately. How many grooms, during their photo session, ask to pose with a vacuum cleaner? “This is what my life is like”, he sighed, pushing it over the carpet in the hotel’s hallway.

Jen is a perfect match for Yuki; they compliment each other so well. She is so incredibly sweet. There are always little things that don’t go perfectly during a wedding day and Jen dealt with them with patience and was just so nice. And she looked absolutely amazing.

Yuki and Jen both bought gifts for each other, from Tiffany’s and I-Prima. They both showed me what they’d bought and then told me not to tell. Their rings were from Tiffany’s and were simply beautiful, as you would expect.

Their wedding took place in St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church here in Lethbridge. I just love the wood in this church, and the stained glass window over the altar area has to be the largest one in Lethbridge. It’s a deep blue and compliments the wood perfectly. Erin Phillips, the minister, was very nice. We were not allowed to use flash during the service and we had to stay in one spot until the very end, rather than move around, but Erin didn’t mind me moving a couple of feet and we were still able to record the ceremony without trouble.

During the reception we walked through the University to get some more portrait images and there was a basketball game going on, so Jen and Yuki sat and watched while I took photos of them in the stands. That’s a first for me at a wedding!

Yuki and Jen had asked that we get fun photos during the day and Yuki’s off-the-wall personality combined with mine to lead to some of the strange poses you’ll see below. It was all fun though. I think this is the first time I’ve had a groom who may be even crazier than me. Please click on the slideshow below to see an excerpt of their wedding.

Congrats to Murray and Lorna-Lee!  We had the pleasure of photographing their wedding here in Lethbridge right at the end of autumn.  The leaves had fallen, but down near the river they were still fairly colourful and the red bridesmaid’s dresses looked really good with the natural fall colours.  Their wedding colours were red and black, which is unusual, but they worked really well together and looked quite classy.

Lorna-Lee was bubbly and cheerful right from the time we started at the hair salon and she was still laughing and having fun when we left their reception late that night.  Murray was great to work with as well and he helped keep everyone organised during the photo session, which was cool.  He surprised Lorna-Lee in the morning with a secret delivery of jewelry for her.  Tip to all you grooms out there: thoughtful gifts score major points! Lorna-Lee was crying as she put them on and even her bridesmaids were tearing up.

Sherri and I wish them all the best and here are a random handful of images from their wedding day:

Kara and Jay got married at Pine Lake, Alberta, which is roughly halfway between Calgary and Edmonton.  It’s a really beautiful and peaceful place.  Kara was a bridesmaid at her sister Kristi’s wedding last year and Kara was the one who spotted our website in the first place and recommended us to her sister.  We also saw some familiar faces at Brock and Janna’s wedding earlier this year and we did a family session for them as well.  So it was great to see them all again!  :)

Kara was an easy-going and gorgeous bride and Jay has been easy to get along with each time I’ve met him and their wedding day was no exception.  Not a lot of guys can be that laid back and confident on their wedding day.  He is the most relaxed drummer I’ve ever met.  ;)

Kara’s bridesmaids were her beautiful sisters and Jay’s daughter, who is a bit shy but a really sweet person.  You can really see the family resemblance between Kara and her sisters in that shot of them in front of the green wall.  Oh, and they do all have their dresses on in that shot.  ;)

Jay’s groomsmen were a tough-looking bunch, but they were really cool guys and I had a lot of fun taking photos of them.  I guess I scared them into behaving.  ;)

They had a tree-planting ceremony instead of the usual unity candle lighting or sand-pouring ceremony, which was unique for us; we’ve never seen anyone do that before.  One thing that stood out to me that day, apart from the people, was the bright colours.  I’m such a fan of colour and it was everywhere!  Their cabins had these awesome colourful walls and their reception room did as well.  Their decorations were nice and bright and the whole event stands out to me as just having this fresh feeling to it.  

They had a band later on in the evening at the reception, though unfortunately we had to leave before they started, but the reception speeches were lit by the lights for the band.  You can see the bass player setting them up in the photos below.  Then you can see the resulting effect on the MC in the next shot, who looks like he’s possessed by something from an 80s music video.  ;)  Of course, we are no slaves to bad lighting and I took that shot to show how things were just for fun before I settled on a more flattering version of the lighting for most of the rest of the night.  :)

There was also a fire-spinning performance by the water under a full moon by one of the guests, sparklers on the beach and lots of happy tears during the night.  We loved our time with Jay and Kara and wish them all the best in their marriage.  Enjoy the pics.

We first met Corey and Chelsea last winter when we did their engagement session and I’m going to post one photo from that session below, followed by one from their wedding day. I think the contrast in the seasons between their engagement and their wedding is cool.  :) There is also a short slideshow below the two images, so make sure you take a look at that as well.

Corey and Chelsea were married at the beautiful Norland bed and breakfast here in Lethbridge. It was cloudy before the ceremony and there were a few spots of rain just before Chelsea walked down the aisle, but thankfully the weather cleared up. Corey and Chelsea and their wedding party were a really easy-going and up-for-anything group and we did a lot of random fun stuff for the photos.  Actually, from the stories at the reception, these guys really have some wild moments.  We didn’t do anything crazy for the photos, though you should see the jumping-in-the-air shot in the slideshow.  I haven’t done this shot very often, because I like to try new things as much as possible, but Chelsea requested it.  And, man, they really got into it!  This is what a jump shot should look like.  :)

The reception was over at the Italian-Canadian club and their speeches were funny and touching, with a lot of past stories revealed.  Sometimes I laughed so much I had to make sure my shutter speed was fast enough to stop the camera shaking.  All the best to Corey and Chelsea!  Enjoy the photos.  :)

Congrats to Mark and Whitney!  They were married recently at the River of Life church here in Lethbridge.  Mark is from London and several people from his family and his friends flew out from England to be here on his wedding day, which was very cool.  Oh, and the speeches were hilarious!  It’s hard to beat the British sense of humour when it comes to reception speeches.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  The day started for us at the hair salon with Whitney and her bridesmaids—and her eight flower girls!  Yes, eight!  I’ve never seen so many at a wedding.  They were all very cute.  :)

Their wedding ceremony was quiet and authentic, starting with worship music—that bit wasn’t quiet!—and including our first ever foot-washing ceremony.  Well, not ours, per se; Mark demonstrated his love of Whitney and willingness to serve her needs by washing her feet.  It was, like the rest of the service, a sincere and open showing of their love.

The reception at the Galt museum was amazing!  The tables were decorated with large ice sculptures and the cake was incredible.  It was a very elegant occasion for sure.  And, of course, there is the great view through the huge windows all around the room.  Check out the images toward the end of the slideshow below to see what I mean.  The speeches were both heart-felt and funny.  We have so many photos of people laughing at the speeches toasting the groom, poor Mark.  Whitney’s dad—also named Mark—and Mark the groom gave two touching speeches at the end.  It was an honour to shoot their wedding and we wish Mark and Whitney the best in their marriage. You can see a short slideshow of their wedding below.

Do you know what makes the difference between a good wedding and a not-so-good wedding?  It’s not the venue.  It’s not the weather or the catering or the dress or any of that stuff; it’s the people.  And Brock and Janna’s wedding was awesome!

Ok, so their venue and other stuff was nice, too, but that’s just a bonus.  :)

We first met the happy couple last year at another wedding where we were the photographers and they were in the wedding party as bridesmaid and groomsman.  That was a cool wedding as well (we have another wedding to blog with a couple from that wedding too) and it’s always good to see familiar faces.  When they booked us Brock told me that they had basically planned the day around the photos to make sure that they got the best coverage they could.  Sounds good to me!  It is fantastic to work with people who are so excited about their photos.  They were excited about their wedding day, about each other, about the photos, about their guests—how could we go wrong?  :)  Actually, what was funny was that Brock and I came up with a bunch of the same ideas.  He’d say, “Hey, Mark, I thought we could do this idea.”  And I’d look at him and reply, “I was going to suggest that!”

It was a beautiful, bright sunny day up in Rocky Mountain House for the day of their wedding.  Which reminds me; Brock, do you realise how long it takes to Photoshop away sunglasses tan from several hundred images?  That will be, like, a million bucks.  Leave it in a black duffle bag on the step and I’ll get to work.  ;)  Anyways, the guys played golf in the morning and Brock shot 70—that’s 2 under par!  (Clearly it was going to be a very special day).  Brock and Janna both worked at Pine Hills golf club and they really love the place and had chosen it for their wedding day.  It is a beautiful course.  

The guys got ready at the club house while Janna and the girls headed out to a cabin by the lake.  That was a beautiful place, too!  It’s very peaceful there.  Janna had included her brother, Brett, in her wedding party as a bridesman.  We’ve seen people do that a few times before and usually they get mildly teased by the groomsmen during the day.  This wedding was no exception, but Brett took it well.

The wedding ceremony took place on the tenth hole, if I remember correctly, and it was a fun and moving ceremony.  Tears and laughter came freely from everyone.  Sherri and I wish them all the best and I’m looking forward to building the album from this wedding! 

Corrick and Katherine were married in Waterton on a beautiful Alberta day.  It was amazing how well the weather and other things worked out for us; we had breeze when we wanted it and no breeze when it would have been a problem.  

This was a sort of destination wedding.  :)  That is, it was a destination wedding for many of the guests, who flew in from England and New Zealand to be with Corrick and Katherine.  Sometimes it seemed like Sherri was the only person with a regular Canadian accent!  

Corrick and Katherine were both wonderful people, happy and not afraid to express their feelings.  We have lots of photos of them with their emotions written clearly on their faces and there were tears from both of them before the end of the day.  When I was taking photos of Corrick right after he was ready I asked to do one of him looking serious.  ”Don’t smile”, I said.  ”Just look at me with a relaxed, neutral expression”.  Corrick looked up and grinned.  ”Umm, can you try for a more serious expression?  Not smiling this time.”  Corrick looked down and composed himself.  Then he looked up at me and you will see his not-smiling, serious expression in the images below.  ;)

They had awesome wedding rings, too!  The rings were custom made for them by the same company that made the actual rings for The Lord of the Rings movies in New Zealand.  There were many other cool things throughout the day that reflected their unique personalities. 

The atmosphere of the day was full of celebration and the reception was one of the less formal ones we’ve been to, in the sense that it felt as though everyone in the whole room was involved and not just sitting and listening from a distance.  

Sherri and I wish the happy couple all the best and I’m hoping that now that Corrick is living closer to Katherine’s parents, Bert will one day perfect his English accent.

With Sean, Miranda and their cute daughter, Ellie!

Before I go on I’m just going to quickly say that I’ve been naughty for not updating the blog regularly, but I’ll be playing catch up this week and will have more posts than usual.  Now back to the main post!

This family were a wonderful bunch, easy to work with, fun and relaxed in front of the camera.  Actually, a bit of a secret is that you don’t have to be someone who is relaxed in front of cameras.  If you are relaxed with each other, that is the main thing, and the images take themselves.  And that’s how it was with Miranda and Sean.  They clearly loved being with each other and their love and openness comes out so well in the session.

After a few quick photos in their house we went to Nicholas Sheran lake on the west side of Lethbridge for the rest of the session.  The weather was good and everything was nice and green.

Ellie was a really good-natured kid and extremely patient during the session.  Well, other than when we tried to get a shot of them lying down.  She didn’t want to lie down for anyone!  Lol!  It’s funny how different kids have such clearly differing personalities.  Obviously adults do, too, but with kids it’s so clear (adults rarely cry when you ask them to pose a certain way).  Ellie was happiest when she was doing something.  As long as she had her hands full or was reading, playing or being tossed in the air, she was bright and full of smiles.  Just don’t ask her to sit still for too long!  To be honest, I can relate to that.  ;)