Packing Boxes, Mailboxes and Paper Moons

This week marks a big changes for me. Really big! I don't think I'll really know the brevity of this change until a few months from now, or perhaps even a year.

After living nearly two years in a very small and confined bachelor apartment where there is no separation from sleep, work and cooking space, which is really no more than a room with a walk in closet and bathroom, I am moving in to a larger space! This little bit of home in St. Stephen has served me well over the last twenty-two months. The sacrifices I made to this space home made it possible for me to start my business and to invest everything into it. At times I thought I could live here long term, especially on the days where I spent time dreaming about having my own studio space where I could invite my Brides and Grooms to for coffee. But this past fall it became clear that my business and I have outgrown this space and it is time to move into something bigger where I could spread out a little more and have a larger space devoted to my office. So as I sit here at my desk I am surround by moving boxes waiting to be filled and on my desk sits a set of mailbox keys for my postal box.

There are tons of things I am looking forward to with this move. Firstly, I will officially be a Saint Andrews NB resident!! This became even more real when I picked up the key to my postal box this morning (everyone living in Saint Andrews has a postal box - how cool is that!). Other things I am looking forward to: organizing and decorating a new home - I have tons of Pinterest ideas just waiting to be tried; buying new furniture; cooking in a real kitchen again and inviting friends over for dinner parties; being within walking distance to Honeybeans and the beach; standing on my teeny little deck and seeing ocean; having enough floor space for morning stretches, floor exercises and five minute dance parties when I can't sit at my desk any longer!! But I think the most important thing I am looking forward to: the positive long term impact this will have my business as it moves me closer to my goals.

And speaking of Saint Andrews and goals... I am so thrilled to have wedding featured on an online publication!!! Keisha and Andrew's beautiful Saint Andrews wedding has been featured on Paper Moon Weddings... check it out!

ENGAGED | Rosie & Raymond

It has been 3 years to the day since Raymond first declared his "like" for Rosie. After spending much of the fall and early winter working together on a theatre production at their university a mutual affection and adoration for one another began to blossom and Raymond chose Valentine's Day to let Rosie know that he thought she was pretty great! 

I think anyone who knows and loves Rosie and Raymond were just as eager for their engagement as they were! These are two pretty special people who are absolutely perfect together (as perfect as two people can be, anyway!). So when Raymond proposed on Christmas Eve it was no great surprise, only a sigh of great Joy!! While on a walk at Ganong Nature Park Raymond found a way to get Rosie away from the group of friends they were with. He lead her down to the beach where he had a little book of sketches and a little ring box he had made from white birch. After presenting her with the sketches he had drawn of places that were important and meaningful to them, Raymond presented her with the ring and asked her to be his wife. Tucked away in the trees were their friends snapping photos of the happy moment!! (Side note: I was shocked when I heard only because it was only one night before that I had teasingly asked Raymond when he was going to finally propose!! Perhaps I am a little prophetic?).

I know Rosie's patient nature and Raymond's contemplative way about things will lead them to great adventures, investing their lives into each other, into their community, into art and into a simply beautiful life. They have shared some crazy awesome times and some crazy difficult times together and this has only made their love and commitment to one another stronger - what an amazing foundation they have for their marriage. 

I am so looking forward to photographing their wedding day this August in Alberta!! Rosie and Raymond both have great style and their wedding photography is super important to them so I know we are going to have fun creating some beautiful images together! But I am mostly excited about watching my two great friends become Married!!

Love & Sunshine,
Shannon-May

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS: The winner of the Love Anytime Couple's Photo Session is... Jessica Gaudett!!! Can't wait to meet you and capture your love!!

Love and Valentines

This Thursday is Valentines Day. You know the day I am talking about. The one wear guys are expected to send flowers or candy to their ladies, kids exchange Valentines at school with their friends and secret crushes, and many couples try to be intentional about going out on a date. And I am pretty sure if I looked up the statistics, February 14th is a pretty popular date for engagements, weddings and conceptions :)

It is also the one where singles moan and complain about being single and in some cases, such as in the movie Valentines Day, throw anti-Valentines Day parties! And the day that many chastise and boycott because they believe it to be a Hallmark invention or just another day for businesses to make money. However history, legend and the romantic in all of us dictates a very different story.

Valentine's Day has it roots in Christian Feast Days, which celebrated the lives of many Saints by the name Valentine, and the earliest associations between February 14th and romantic love dates back to the fourteenth century in a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer and in the following century the celebration of Valentines Day as a day for lovers began to spread. And while Hallmark is generally toted as inventing Valentines cards,  this custom of exchanging cards and love notes began in the nineteenth century, long before Hallmark began its business in the early twentieth century. Additionally, legend tells us about one Saint Valentine who believed in love so much that he risked his life to marry, in secret, soldiers who had been forbidden from marriage. Many of the symbols we associate with Valentines emerged from it's sorted history and legend.

Regardless of its origins and whether it is a tradition that need be perpetuated, the romantic in me (and in many others I assume) is grateful for this day that is set aside once a year to reflect on Love - whether it be romantic love or just the love of family, friends and life! This emotion, this choice, this concept, which seems to be desired by all and for which many of us get out of bed in the morning to experience, is what gives us life, affirms our humanity and makes life worth the struggles and pain. 

So, since I am such a lover of Love and still riding the creative high from Rosie and Raymond's engagement session yesterday I want to celebrate Valentine's Day with you in two different ways...

Firstly, for the rest of the month I am offering a special on "Anytime Love" Sessions in Saint Andrews and surrounding area!! $250, for a one hour photo session, one location/two outfits, a DVD of High Resolution images and a print release and an 8x10 print of your favourite image. Book before February 28th for a session date in February, March and April. Whether you are dating, engaged, newly married or about to celebrate 50 years of marriage, I would love to document your love!

The other way I wish to celebrate Love this month is to give away an "Anytime Love" session to one lucky couple. 

All you have to do is "Like" my Facebook Page, leave a comment on my page and then email your love story to shannon@shannonmayphotography.com (it can be in essay or video format; please write "love story contest" in the subject line of your email).  The winner will be chosen at random* (I'll have a friend of mine pull the name of the luck couple from a hat!!!).  I will announce the winning couple by posting their story to my blog and Facebook page on Valentines Day.** Be sure to share this with your friends!!!

*Participants must be over the age of 19 to enter.

**Winning session must take place in Saint Andrews or surrounding area.

If you have any questions please email me at shannon@shannonmayphotography.com

Love & Sunshine,

Shannon-May

Wedding Dress Shopping with Candice

Candice and I have been friends since we first met in grade six at Willoughby Elementary. And sometime in the last ten years we realized that we had been friends for more than half our lives. We have grown up together through the awkward years of adolescense, through post-high school directionless-ness, through rough patches as we outgrew our friendship in out early twenties, and through the rebuilding of our friendship as we let go of the twenty-something angst and entered our (ahem) thirties with maturity. And although we live on different sides of the country Candice holds much of my past and our friendship is one of the relationships I treasure most. She is apart of my family - the sister I always wanted but never had -  and one of the first people I call when I book my tickets home to BC; she is often making plans for my trips home before I have even had a chance to update my calender with my travel dates! 

Last year Candice became engaged and this year she is finally beginning to plan her 2014 nuptials to her man Michael, so when I told her of my travel dates home she immediately went into planning mode and booked a wedding dress appointment so I could be there when she tried on dresses for the first time! The night before her appointment I texted her with excitement... and the morning of her appointment I texted her again :) 

You see, other than my sister-in-law's wedding dress appointment wherein she tried on for us the dress she had already decided upon, I have never been to a wedding dress appointment before! Can you believe that!!?? Me, a wedding photographer and lover of all things wedding!! So, I was eagerly looking forward to Candice's turn to try on dresses and to experience with her the joy and delight of trying on the dress that girls always dream about wearing. I was also looking forward to the overall experience of seeing my friend be pampered and waited on, as all Bride's deserve when trying on The Dress. 

Candice made her appointment at David's Bridal, and aside from seeing her in some stunning dresses and having a few laughs at ones that were so not stunning, the salon experience was... a let down. While I love that David's Bridal offers designer gowns at more affordable prices, it is not without cost. 

As a friend of the Bride there to support her and share in the experience I was disappointed that they offered a regular retail experience with multiple dressing rooms barely large enough for the bride and a dressing helper, limited guest seating (we even one of our chairs taken away) and little attention from the guest associate, other than fetching dresses and helping Candice in and out of her gowns. There was no attention paid to selecting silhouettes that would best suit Candice's frame or time given to seek out different dresses; the guest associate simply worked off a list of style numbers Candice had prepared at the suggestion of the store. There was nothing personal about the experience. 

As a business owner I could not help but make observations and judgements about the experience that David's Bridal offered. Even though they are a chain store and offer afforadbly priced bridal gowns and bridesmaids dresses, women are likely still investing a great deal more money into the dress than any other garment they regularly purchase and therefore I feel as though they should be offered an experience that differs from regular retail. Wedding dress shopping (in my humble opinion) should be a wonderful experience where the guest associate helps her Bride find a dress that not only fits her budget and body but also suits the vision of her wedding, and to do this she must take a personal interest in her Bride. The Bride should be served champagne and her guests should be seated in an area large enough for to see her reflection in the mirror without being hindered and where she can twirl and show off the gowns she tries on! And whether or not she finds her dress and says "yes" her guest associate should be attentive to her Bride until the very end of her appointment instead of moving on to another Bride.

(The Vera Wang that Candice is modelling above was by far my most favourite and the most stunning on her frame however is still wasn't the dress!).

Perhaps I am expecting too much. I tend to have rather high expectations and standards, and I am sure watching "Say Yes To The Dress" doesn't help matters! However the process of planning a wedding and preparing for marriage is one of the most important seasons in one's life and often comes with a large investment, thus I believe they should be treated with care and extra support during this time. I believe they should be encouraged and lifted up and that we in the wedding industry should make it our mission to ensure that Brides and Grooms have extra special experiences when planning their special day.  

In the end Candice did not find her dress but the day was still wonderful. She was able to see which silhouettes, necklines, fabrics and shade of white will suit her silhouette and personal style best; she had all her bridesmaids and BFF's together for the first time; and I took away an reminder that client experience is as important as the product or service one provides! 

Love & Sunshine,

Shannon-May