musquash, nb engagement: curtis and mandy

we read about them as little girls and as daydreaming young women.... you know the stories that begin with we've been together for eleven years... we've known each other since we were children.... Curtis was my paper boy.

last week i met up with curtis and mandy in musquash to take some engagement photos. we began with some photos in their beautiful backyard before heading on down the road to a beautiful little beach with an abandoned wharf and an old, long forgotten staircase. and ended the session with a covered bridge!! )i am fast discovering that there is so much of the bay of fundy that i have yet to discover, and cannot wait to get our there to take more photos with beautiful scenery and beautiful people!)

it was a lovely golden evening and i enjoyed the hour half walking around with curtis and mandy, getting to know them a little better. during our time together i discovered they embody so much of what i love about people in the maritimes: love of family and community, and the important presence that these play in our lives.

as curtis and mandy prepare for their  backyard august wedding they are busy getting things done around their, which just so happens to be in the same neighborhood where they grew up, where their families still live and where perhaps someday their children will play and  another fairytale story about love will begin.

curtis and mandy, thank you so much for choosing me to photograph your wedding and tell the story of your big day!! i cannot wait until august!

here are a few photos from our time together. for more pictures, don't forget to click on the link below for the slideshow!

to see more photos you'll have to watch the slideshow, so click here!

love and sunshine,
shannon-may

oh, heavenly day.

i was so pleased to wake up to sunshine this morning. the grey weather over the weekend was beginning to drag me down and i was really hoping for warm dry weather so i could take my breakfast and morning coffee out on the patio. this is a little routine that i have come to enjoy and very much look forward to and depend on. each day that begins this way is a heavenly day!

i've not always been one to enjoy eating outside, what with all the bugs and all!! however, my the manager of the apartment building i live in has given me full use of the patio just outside my apartment, making it off limits to other tenants - one of the perks to living in a teeny bachelorette apartment! this has motivated me to make full use of the patio, setting it up as an outdoor living space!

it's quite lively. large enough for a table, chairs and BBQ, and a container garden!! i am still working towards furnishing the patio (i found a great little table but must use my camping chairs until i find the perfect chairs!) but i have been busy learning about and planting some container gardens!

when i returned from my trip to bc, i went straight to work to figure out how many plants and planters i could manage, which plants i wanted to grow and how best to set this up. i found heaps of help and advice from a couple of ladies at the garden departments of superstore and kent in saint stephen, and i am very excited about the results... and i cannot wait to see the little plants flourish into a bountiful crop!

basil!

tomatoes, bell peppers and borage... yum!

sister planting... check it out!

a bowl full of salad greens!

the beauty of using containers is that i can pull the pots into the sun when it is bright and warm and beautiful, and then pull them back under the patio roof when there is excessive rain! 

now, i am not much of a green thumb, and i really don't like to have my hands dirty, but putting these containers together was really exciting, and i felt... awesome. digging with my hands deep into the soil, making sure the plants would take root well was exhilarating!

i am sure i will be sharing some bits about my gardening journey as the weeks and months go on, and the plants begin to produce their bounty!

love & sunshine,
shannon-may

sneak peak: mandy and curtis's engagement session

this past wednesday was the perfect evening to drive up to musquash and spend time with mandy and curtis, and explore the area while taking engagement photos!! we started out at their home and then drove down the road to this lovely beach location with an old wharf. wild flowers were abundant and so were the smiles and laughter! can't wait to go through all the images and pick the best ones to share with everyone!!

until then, here is a little sneak peak of the beauty that is love!

love & sunshine,
shannon-may

wedding (vancouver, bc): daniel and mari

he felt a tap on the shoulder, and then heard this sweet little voice. he turned around and saw the most beautiful women he had ever seen. this was how daniel began the story of how he and mari more than five years ago in japan while waiting around for a U2 concert to begin... later when i asked mari what her first impression was of daniel - this boisterous, sarcastic canadian that had swept her off her feet, she replied wow, what a great sense of humour. she has never stopped laughing (at him? or with him? :)

this past november (2010) daniel and mari were officially married in japan and a few weeks ago they celebrated with family and friends in vancouver, bc - daniel's hometown. i lept at the chance to come home to photograph daniel and mari's wedding celebration! especially since daniel is my cousin and i wouldn't miss celebrating with our family! and i would get a chance to visit with family and friends while in town!!

the reception was help at stanley park's fish house, a lovely locale for a celebration such as this! the weather was beautiful, and the food was divine. my aunt - who planned and hosted the event, loves that there is cultural diversity in her family (she is irish, her husband was ukrainian, and two of her son's have married women with strong ties to their own cultural heritage) therefore she sought to include a few small details that would highlight some of this diversity.

after the reception, daniel, mari and i drove around stanley park for a bit and found a lovely spot to take a few pictures. here is a sampling.

love & sunshine,
shannon-may

 

to see more from daniel and mari's wedding reception you'll have to watch the slideshow! click here.