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Welcome to our blog!

Bonjour! We are Mélanie and Justin Driedger and we are wedding & portrait photographers based out of Guelph, Ontario.  We love meeting new people and working with them to create crisp, clean, and creative images.  If you like what you see and think "I love Mel and Justin's style"... then you should contact us on the contact form above or visit our website to see more of our passion. 

This blog is where we'll post photos from recent work, share fun experiences we have while shooting, and of course share thoughts about our lives, Mel's cat...and WHATEVER else we think is interesting :).

If you want to be notified when a new post is up, suscribe to our RSS feed. Also, you can find us on  facebook! We'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Guelph Baby Photography | Cute little Olivia

March 12, 2010

I think it’s baby season because I’m surrounded by pregnant women and/or babies… I’m loving it, for many reasons, but I especially love that I’m getting all this ‘baby-picture-taking’ practice before our little guy Eli makes his debut on our blog!!

Back in January we were hanging out with Aaron & Kariann watching the superbowl with some of our old school wedding clients and friends Jesse & Sarah (well THEY are NOT old-school, but we’ve known them for a long time now :) ).  Of course, Olivia was so small and only 2 months.  Sarah talked to me then about setting up a time to take some beautiful photos of their first child.  So last night, Olivia arrived awake and ready with her big smile and blue eyes.  She did wonderfully, as you can see from the following photos!

I love when babies are cute :)


oh oh… I see a few tears!!

I SO love father-daughter photos!

And now, they’re 3

definitely a few of my favourites!

there are NO WORDS… :)

The first few months of a baby’s life are so precious… Thanks Sarah & Jesse for trusting me with capturing some memories of Olivia!

Posted in little ones | Tags: * * * *

by Mélanie

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jennifer fitch - WHAT AN ALBUM! She is the cutest baby ever!(Since mine anyway...)WOW! Excellent work Mel!! Pictures 4 and 5 are my total faves!!March 12, 2010 - 4:50 pm

Our Gender Reveal Party | It’s a BOY!!!

February 22, 2010

FINALLY…. the wait is over!  We now know that in approximately 16 weeks, there will be a little boy who’s added to our family and Justin & I are SO excited :)

I had many people questioning why I wanted to throw the party or why I’d want to even know the sex of our baby.  ”Keep it a surprise!” they said.  But… there’s something in me that really wanted to know and to prepare.  And so we asked some of our friends and family to join us for a GENDER REVEAL party on Saturday.  There were a few steps that had to be taken to keep it a secret (mostly from ourselves).  Here’s what we did:

Step 1: At 19 weeks, I had an ultrasound and the technician sent the important information to my midwife.

Step 2: My midwife put the gender of the baby in a SEALED envelope.  (It was so hard not to look in the envelope… but I knew it would ruin the whole surprise!)

Step 3: I then gave the sealed envelope to Diane Tavares from Have Your Cake and Eat it Too.  Her job was the most important… she had to make a FABULOUS cake, and the icing INSIDE the cake would be the colour of the gender of our baby (pink or blue).

Step 4: We invited all of our amazing friends and family.  But no big deal if you couldn’t make it, because Justin setup a LIVE feed which streamed during the night so that our far away friends and family could be part of the surprise too!

Step 5: PARTY TIME!!  Everyone who was invited came dressed in blue or pink, depending if they thought we were having a girl or a boy.  Justin & I both thought we were having a boy… so we dressed in blue!  (I’m still shocked that we were right!)

Step 6: CUT THE CAKE :)

We had the best night ever.  We didn’t know whether it would be as exciting as we had hoped… but it was.  And everyone who was there made it so special for us!  THANKS AGAIN!  Here are some photos of the night:

The main event: Our CAKE!

Ustreaming LIVE to friends all over including my sister Amy in Australia!

The ICING was BLUE!!!!! It was such an amazing moment :)

Justin & I just minutes after finding out we were having a BOY!

Photobooth FUN times…

My crazy dad and lovely mom (drove all the way from Timmins to find out with us!!)

Here’s a familiar face… Christine & I holding our baby colours.

Me and some lovely ladies… and I’m the only one who’s actually preggo!

Suggestion:  If you’re wanting to find out the sex of your baby, but would still LOVE to make it special…. Consider having one of these parties.  SO FUN!

Posted in misc, my life, news

by Mélanie

7 comments

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Roxanne - I would of LOVED to do that!! I had never heard of such a thing until recently when the Duggars (19 kids and counting) did the same thing :) So much fun and something you will remember forever. These are moments to be treasured....I will never forget those days leading up to Kimmy's birth...nothing compares! ENJOY AND CONGRATS.February 23, 2010 - 12:08 pm

petehewy - awesome!! if it was a girl what would you have named her? this is exciting! boy oh boyFebruary 22, 2010 - 5:53 pm

Justin Driedger - So much fun....glad you could all come. We have great friends!February 22, 2010 - 5:39 pm

Alicia Hughes - EEEEEK CONGRATULATIONS Mel & Justin!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so happy for you both. A little boy... praise God! Blessings to you and your little man :) xoxoFebruary 22, 2010 - 5:16 pm

Will Natividad - BAHH! I love all the pictures! Especially the youth one! HAHAHA. Oh man so funny. CONGRATS AGAIN FOR THE BOY! Eli... never saw that coming!February 22, 2010 - 4:42 pm

Jo Smith - Mel!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So COMPLETELY stoked with you guys!! Congrats - I actually got teary eyed!!! What a crazy excellent idea to have that type of party!!! You're amazing mama!!! Jo xoFebruary 22, 2010 - 4:22 pm

Geoff Heith - Hahaha..okay I almost had a heart attack when I saw Psegga with a belly...helps to read first I guess!!February 22, 2010 - 4:01 pm

Guelph Maternity Photography | Alicia, Dylan & Ellie

February 18, 2010

I have a friend, her name is Alicia.  She has a beautiful family and is expecting again (another girl!!).  She wanted to have some photos done this time around, since she hadn’t had the chance last time in her pregnancy with Ellie.  Sooooo, of course I was up for a lovely shoot.  We definitely caught some amazing glowing moments of Alicia… as well as some beautiful family shots!  And obviously we had to give little Miss Ellie her time to shine too!  She’s such a sweetie with a personality as big as the sun!

Thanks Alicia & Dylan for trusting me with some important family memories!

They were so brave for bracing the COLD!

Ellie didn’t mind the weather so much, she was having a blast!

Alicia and her gorgeous preggo self!


LOVE this series of shots!



Enough of Mom… now it’s Ellie’s turn :)  She’s a princess with her “real princess crown”

Look at these three… can’t wait to meet the fourth!


Ellie made us laugh with her lovely dance moves!


My favourite of the day.  Hands down.
After some hot chocolate, we headed to the studio for a few more shots.  Thanks to Ellie for helping me test my lights :)

beautiful moment

Loveliness.

Many blessings in the final stretch of this pregnancy!!  Can’t wait to meet Aralyn :) xox

Posted in maternity, portraits | Tags: * * * *

by Mélanie

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Alicia - Thanks so much Mel!!! This was so much fun and you did a beautiful job. There are a few of these especially that I can't WAIT to get my hands on. The first one is one of my faves!!!!!!! Do I get to see the rest too??February 18, 2010 - 11:38 pm

Olympics: Bringing the country together!

February 16, 2010

As the days go on in these Olympic games, I continue to ask myself “Why am I NOT in Vancouver?”  Dang.  I’m feeling the PATRIOTISM more than ever before… always wanting my TV to be tuned into the games – as I’m sure you are too.  I so wish I could be out west!

Call me sappy (or maybe it’s the hormones from the pregnancy! ha!), but every time I see a montage of medal deserving clips to the tune of “I Believe”, or see an athlete succeed in the sport they’ve been training in — SO many emotions well-up inside!!!  I think it’s the fact that the medals they’re collecting for themselves are a part of our Canadian heritage as well.  And it’s also the inspiration these athletes give because they are so EXCELLENT in their sport. This is their thing.  This is what they’ll be known for.  It makes me think of what I will be known for…

Anyway, this afternoon as I spent the day on my computer in front of the TV watching the ladies’ snowboard cross qualifications through to the GOLD medal winnings of Maëlle Ricker… I couldn’t help myself but yell ALOUD.  Mr. Reu freaked a little, I may have shocked myself as well :) but I couldn’t help it!  I have a hunch that as these Olympic days continue, my Canadian PRIDE may get out of control :)

GO CANADA GO!

Posted in misc, my life, news | Tags: * * * * * *

by Mélanie

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Cuba Maternity Shoot | Chris & Christine

February 3, 2010

Just a few days ago, Justin & I were living ‘la vida loca’ (well it was more like ‘la vida relajada’) on the beaches of Cayo Guillermo in Cuba.  I don’t think I’ve ever taken a trip where I just sat around and did NOTHING!

We had a super fun time with our friends Chris & Christine… since we’re both expecting babies in the next 5 months (and our lives to change drastically), we figured that we would have one last “baby-less” trip :)  But I guess I’ll stop rubbing that in!

On another note, if you’re in the Kitchener-Waterloo area and you’re an engaged couple looking for a wedding planner, you’ve probably heard of Christine Martin from Pure Potential Weddings.  If you haven’t heard of her you may want to head to her website.  She’s usually the one behind the scenes making everything run smoothly for you… But this time around, it was her time to be in front of the camera.

One late afternoon, just before the sun went down, we headed down to the windy beach and took some beautiful maternity shots of her and hubby.  I hope you enjoy them because these two look super fab!!!

There are so many from this series.  I couldn’t narrow it down!!

On our way to the beach, I found this row of small houses.  And it so happened to be an awesome location!



LOVE it!

so fun!

As we headed towards the beach, the wind got FIERCE… so we used it to create some fun shots!

I over exposed this shot and they both really loved it!

Chris really enjoyed fishing off of this pier!


After our ‘a la carte’ dinner, we took a few more night shots to end the session!

If you’re looking to have some casual maternity shots done similar to these, send me an email!

Posted in destinations, maternity, portraits | Tags: * * *

by Mélanie

5 comments

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Anne Warren - Wow!!! These are gorgeous!!February 5, 2010 - 12:06 am

Ange Hewett - I couldn't decide which one I liked the best they are all sooo beautiful... You do such an amazing job Mel....February 3, 2010 - 11:08 am

Christine Martin - Mel! You did such a fabulous job on these! Thanks again for taking them for us! It was such a fun trip and a of course, a fabulous experience working with you guys! We love you and wish for nothing but the best!!! Here's to the next 6 months of craziness!!!February 3, 2010 - 8:35 am

Geoff - These are so great!!...Love the one where they're sitting against the fence...love the colors!February 3, 2010 - 12:30 am

Our Gender Reveal Party | It’s a BOY!!! | Mélanie Driedger Photography - [...] a familiar face… Christine & I holding our baby [...]February 22, 2010 - 3:53 pm