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!

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

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!

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!

#1 Simple Pleasure of the week: I can’t get enough of Cherry Blossoms… I don’t know another soul who likes these as much as I do… but I don’t care.  (I’ve eaten 4 this week!!)

Are there any other Cherry Blossom lovers out there?  I. love. cherries.

#2 Simple Pleasure of the week: Malcolm Gladwell’s book “BLINK”.  I loved  Outliers so much that I asked for his other two books for Christmas.

Tell me you’ve read his stuff.  If you haven’t… I’ll let you in on a secret.  It’s shameful for me to share.  I feel like people judge me when I tell them.  So I hate saying it… I don’t like to read.  Almost ever.  I mean, I read my Bible… and blogs…………. but other than that, I have a hard time sitting down with a book to read.  BUT if you give me something by Malcolm Gladwell or Donald Miller, I’m usually loving my life (because I’m actually reading).

#3 Simple Pleasure of the week:  And with this, I digress  Thanks to my lovely mother who showed me how to play Bubble Pop on her phone.  I quickly found a similar app for my iphone and I’m hooked.  I’m laughing out loud thinking about last week when my mom was visiting and wanted to go to Square One.  So Justin and I went with her… except I didn’t shop at all.  I was like a total guy, sitting outside the stores on the nearest bench and playing Bubble Pop.  My mom (and Justin) were stunned at my lack of shopping interest.  They wanted to have a Bubble Pop intervention for me… but I didn’t want anything to do with that

So I guess I have no complaints for this week.  I mean, really, I don’t think I’m allowed to complain… It’s been good.   There’s obviously a lot going on in the world and so I sit here and I just feel blessed wondering what can be done for some of those Haitians who will never have the chance to experience some of our simple pleasures.

But amazingly enough, I’ve been overwhelmed at how people are coming together to give…. generously.  AWESOME.  I love it.

I hope you have a pleasing weekend enjoying some of your simple pleasures

Mel

What a better way to start the year than with a beautiful winter wedding!  Justin and I headed up to Kettleby to photograph Victoria & Brett – a lovely couple!  We connected with these two through the gorgeous Renee (Brett’s soon-to-be sister in law) who I’ve known for several years now.  As Victoria shared the vision of her wedding, I was excited to use some of the christmasy decor in their shots!  But of course with very cold weather, my eyes eagerly searched for great light since we stayed indoors the entire day…

As I went through their photos today, I couldn’t help but smile at both Brett & Victoria’s beautiful smiles.  I know you’ll enjoy these as much as I did!

such a funny moment… something “borrowed”!!

Victoria’s niece being a very big help

While I was with the ladies, Justin was taking some great shots of Brett and his guys

One of my favourites!

love love love the sparkling lights behind them!!

Cheers to the two of you… beautiful people with great hearts!

I’m proud to say that he did it all himself with no help from me.  We had such a great time… It had been awhile since I had a party because my birthday is pretty close to Christmas which means most people are either all partied out or busy with other things. Of course all you December babies know how it feels… right?! But this year I think Justin felt bad for me since I’ve been so MIGHTY SICK with this little baby growing inside of me!

Anyway, I had to share a few photos that he took of me, my sweet cake, and some of my silly friends  ENJOY!

Soooo there’s this woman, Diane, who goes to my church and she makes these amazing cakes.

I don’t think she’s been doing it long…but MAN DOES THIS CAKE ROCK or WHAT?!!!

Yep, it’s true, I’m 27…

When most of the people had left… it was pretty late and Justin & Nathan dragged us all to the studio to take some of the silliest photos I’ve ever seen of my friends.

(Here’s hoping they’re still my friends after they see that I’ve posted these

Gotta love Value Village!

Nathan & Jenn

Sooooooo funny & yucky… Sarah found some old tissues in the pockets of these old shorts!!! LOL!!

THANKS hun for all of the effort that you put into my birthday!  Love you!

Having talked to Joanne the day before, I could tell by her voice how excited she was to have some photos taken of her and Sye and of their family.  I’m  always so happy and honoured to be chosen to capture such special, intimate moments between a couple.

I hope you enjoy these memories!!

Oh my, I couldn’t get enough of their girls

Now for some mommy and daddy time

I love everything about this photo…

Definitely my favourite wall in Guelph!

These two are such lovely people!

Here’s to many years of happiness for you two and your family!

That’s it.  Really… it’s that easy.  If you want to be one of my wedding couples next summer, I’m sending you a little early Christmas gift by giving you 15% off (but only to the first 5 to email me).  Promotion deadline is December 1st. I have only a few select dates still available so contact me soon!

That’s pretty exciting, I’d say.   So if you were sitting on the fence deciding when or if to book… jump right off and send me an email!

And now….. for some photos.  I had the privilege of doing a very last minute wedding ceremony for a lovely couple this past weekend.  When Afzia from Style & Elegance Wedding and Event Coordination emailed me on Monday desperate for help… I was glad to be available.  I had never been part of a traditional muslim ceremony before, and needless to say I learned a lot about Qayum & CJ’s family and culture in just a few short hours.  Even after the ceremony was over, Qayum’s parents insisted that Justin & I stayed for some (very spicy) indian food After every bite, I was looked at for approval “out of 1-10, how would you say you liked it?” asked his father! HA!

Thanks Afzia for the oppurtunity!  Here’s a few of my favourites of the couple:

CJ was stunning in her pink dress!

the handsome groom – Qayum

Before the bride joins the groom at the front of the room, she sits at the back with some of the women.  Then the groom brings her up the aisle.

I still can’t believe these were taken in the basement of a house.  We managed to get a really dramatic look with the little light we had!

Congratulations again to you two and your new family!

You all know I’m a big fan of SHARP, COLOURFUL photos… and this wedding had a whole of that. The light, colours, landscape, and details made my job really fun that day!  I hope all the best for Ainsley & Matt and in their marriage!  Having spent the day with them and their family… there’s no doubt that they have the support from everyone around them and that’s a great way to start their journey together.

Here’s Ainsley & her sisters looking stunning!

Minutes before Matt gets to see his bride…

They decided to have a first look before the ceremony so we could get all of the photos we needed.  I love the photos from this series… LOVE!

“how do I look?”… Matt’s face says it all!!

this shot is SOOTC (straight out of the camera).  the colours that come out of my Mark III 1Ds is unreal!

my favourite

It’s official!

After the ceremony we took a few more shots with the gorgeous light and I couldn’t decide which I liked better… so I put them both

A few details I really loved from their wedding

The first dance always gets to me… weird maybe?  but I just love that moment… *sigh*

Another moment I loved between Ainsley & her dad

Justin’s shot of the Golf Club as we were leaving…

Much love to both of your on this new journey as husband & wife!!!!