Mélanie Driedger Photography

You better believe this is sweet NEWS when I START USING CAPS TO EXPRESS MY EXCITEMENT!!! ha!  Well, let’s get right to it:

We have our own APP… and it’s free!! Justin & I have been working on this for awhile now because we wanted all of our iphone / ipod touch clients to be able to download this app so that you can share our photography with your friends and family.  I’m sure you’ll find yourself somewhere on the app… which makes this such a convenient way for you to show off your sweet photos

Let me share a few photos of the actual app.

1. this is my iphone with our app on the first page … When you open it, you’ll see the HOME page.

2. I am so happy with our PHOTO page.  The people at SMUGMUG really help make this page GREAT! …. And the BLOG page (so you can read our posts on the GO).

3. There’s also a VIDEO page & a MORE page (which includes our twitter feed and facebook fanpage).  You can download it to see more of those

4.  And here’s a screenshot of the itunes store… (you’ll notice that I only have $0.01 in my account, but that’s OK, the app’s FREE!) ** You can click on the image and download yours today **

Lastly I must thank 2 people: Justin (myownphotoapp.com) and Adrian (Visual Though Communication).

Of course this was Justin’s idea (from last APRIL), but he couldn’t have done it without our developers at Visual Thought Communications, especially Adrian.  So THANK YOU!

** Also for you PHOTOGRAPHERS out there, Justin & Adrian worked really hard to make this app customizable for any other photographer who would like to have their own app for their clients to share with their sphere of people (at a way lower price than it would to have yours done on your own = sweet).  Head on over to myownphotoapp.com, where you’ll find more info on how to do that!

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!

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!

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

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!