Every time we pick up our cameras to photograph a wedding we are charged with capturing the memories of a couple and of a family that will be cherished and looked at for years to come. These are the images that will be carefully tucked away to be shown to children, to grandchildren. We aren’t just creating art for today - we are entrusted to document events which will be looked at by the families of our clients 50 or 100 years from now.

When I look through the images that have been proudly displayed and those that have been carefully tucked away and stored for so many years in my own family, I get a glimpse of the lives of my loved ones that I never had the ability to see. When people look at our photos years from now, I want them to see not only how everyone looked but to also get a feel for who they were then - whether they were wonderfully quiet and introspective with a wedding draped in elegance or if they were outgoing with a flair for being different, that’s what I want them to see.

If anyone was ever the quintessential big sister, it was me. No matter how old he gets, my little brother will always be my little brother. For those that know Roy, you know that unique hardly describes him, and the concept of marriage and wedding would stun and surprise almost anyone who has met him. For me, having gotten to know Tara when they were inseparable in junior high and high school years ago, it caused a chuckle but no real surprise when they not only had found each other again in this crazy world of ours but when they told us that they had eloped, knowing they didn’t ever want to lose each other again.

Of course, to elope means no wedding and celebration for the family, so in just 3 short weeks a party was thrown together so we could all get together and raise a glass to Roy & Tara. As the big sister who demands only the best, I was the remote wedding coordinator and day of decorator, I was the queen of seeking out the most perfect desserts, I was the MC, and I was the photographer, too, along with Reilly (so, although we got married 6 years ago, I have recent experience in what all all of you planning weddings are going through!). The focus was the party and that’s what we put on, and it was wonderful.

And, for once, instead of documenting the memories for everyone else, we got to turn the cameras on our own family and record our own.

My brother, the Groom

My Mom

The Dance

The Day After - The Graveyard

The Day After - The RollerCoaster

The Day After - The Swings

The Day After - The Snow
(and for those of you in Vancouver, this was real Albertan snow - and it was about 24 below at the time. Needless to say, this was a bride determined to get snow angel pictures out of her wedding dress purchase!)

Love to you both, Roy & Tara!

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Linda and Paul were married in one of our favourite places on earth last weekend - Tofino. We were excited to be able to visit our fav bed & breakfast while celebrating with them and their families.

The weather on Saturday was amazing and their beach wedding went off without a hitch.

A plan had been hatched on Saturday to officially trash the dress (you’re not going to wear it again anyway!) by running into the water first thing Sunday morning. Morning came and it was POURING - there were wind and wave warnings from environment canada and it wasn’t looking promising. We were game but weren’t sure if minds might have changed from the day before…

We knocked on the door as planned at 8:30 in the morning and Linda answered the door in her wedding dress with hair still done from the day before completely ready to go. We were on!

It was probably the quickest session we’ve ever done - maybe 10 minutes total - due to a tight timeline and the drenching downpour. It turns out, though, that the rain doesn’t seem so cold after you’ve run up to your waist in jeans into the ocean!

We’ll share more when we’ve gone through them all, but here’s a taste of the fun we had. I love shooting with weatherproof gear that allows us to do stuff like this (thanks to Canon), and I love any couple who is willing to run into the ocean or any similar craziness in the interests of capturing some great images. I can’t wait to finish these!

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Gotta love technology issues! We’ve had lots of problems this year with our webhost and in the last couple weeks we’ve started having major problems with our email. We’re in the process of moving everything over to a new host, but in the meantime if you get a bounced message or if you emailed us and haven’t heard from us, you can get a hold of us at blueolivephoto@gmail.com - that’s sure to be more reliable until things are back to normal!

We’ll be blogging our recent weddings in the coming days and I can’t wait to share them with you! The highlight of late was a literal romp in the ocean in Tofino with our eager bride and groom and Reilly and I with our thankfully weatherproof equipment - can’t wait to share those!

Cheers!

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One word: Stunning.

That’s how best to describe Salima over the course of her 4 day wedding to Hafiz earlier this month. She was simply radiant in each of her many delicious outfits.

This wedding was an absolute treat for us. After having photographed a few weddings and engagement dinners within the family and their (very large!) circle of friends over the past year and a half, the wedding was as much a reunion for us as for all of the friends and family there to celebrate with them. It’s so cool to see small kids grow up, to get to see previous clients and their families, and to be so welcomed into the festivities as we were here with them. So, right off the bat, a great big THANK YOU to Hafiz & Salima and their families for welcoming us in with such open arms!

There are so many images and we’re still very much in the middle of sorting them, but we wanted to share just a few to showcase some of the colour and just what we mean when we say STUNNING. Enjoy!

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We just got back into town after a whirlwind 4 day East Indian wedding in Alberta. I can’t wait to sort some of the pictures and show you what we got. The wedding was wonderful and the outfits as usual were to die for. Pictures soon!

In other news, I am so excited to share with you that we’re moving! As of September 1st our studio will be located in an amazing commercial loft in a historic building in the heart of Gastown. This move will give us a lot more space for displaying and sharing our work with everyone, for our client meetings, and for all the production work we do to put the final touches on each individual image. With tasty hardwood floors, wood beams, an original brick exterior wall, and views of the ocean and mountains, it will be a much nicer place for our clients to visit, too. Plans are also already in the works to bring people in for our first Blue Olive appreciation party at the end of the year! Stay tuned for details and we’ll look forward to welcoming you into our new studio starting in September.

On that note, we anticipate no major interruptions in our availability over the next few weeks and will continue meeting with clients through the transition to our new space. Of course, we’ll have to ask that you excuse any boxes during the move!

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Zaheeda & Hussein were married in a whirlwind 4 day affair two weeks ago. After we photographed the wedding of good friends of theirs last year, these two took one look at the album we had done and knew they wanted to bring us to Edmonton for their wedding.

And what a treat it was! Their families welcomed us in as though we had always been there. By the end of the weekend I found myself tearing up right along with Zaheeda’s mom as the final ceremonies were performed and Zaheeda left the home of her parents for good with her new husband.

And, of course, the colour. Every outfit was stunning, but the turquoise lengha she wore for the reception on the third day and the matching outfit donned by Hussein was incredible. I can’t wait to share more.

And, on that note, with literally thousands of images captured from this event we’ve hardly had a chance to even begin to sort! With so much going on and so many great moments captured, I can’t wait to share the rest with all of you. For now, I pulled a couple images from the third day to give a taste of just what the weekend held.

Enjoy!

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On May 23 Rosemary & David eloped and were married on Salt Spring Island. What an amazing day! The stop to be wed was in the middle of a 16 day sail on their prized sailboat. The spot they chose couldn’t have been more perfect, and what a better way to spend the evening than to go for a short cruise?

Congrats again guys!

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When you spend a week at a workshop and come home, you get asked constantly about how it went and what you learned.

When you attend a normal business type workshop, you come away with specific changes you will make or investigate for your business - new software, a better way to do something you’re already doing, a neat new marketing tip. You have tangibles.

The focus of FW4 was to get the participants to think differently… to see differently. I’m pretty sure they accomplished just that.

But, what specifically did I learn? What tangible things did I walk away with?

I can’t tell you. I just know… it was good. Really good.

Everything is so abstract… I walked away with a number of mantras and vague concepts, things I can’t articulate and that my right brain is still digesting, but stuff I know I’ll have running through my head from now on whenever I pick up my camera or edit a shoot. Shoot and move, shoot and move. Watch for secondary subject matter. Anticipate the moment, as in, REALLY anticipate it. When you think you’ve nailed it, work it some more. And more. And again. You might surprise yourself. No tilty, tilty; no funky, funky. When it’s a good time to get that SCREAMING TIGHT SHOT (and why I’d better ensure that shot is horizontal when I grab it). There’s so much more…

Part of our week had us out on assignment, assignments that revolved around anything but weddings. I spent time with a family of 4 - Alex, Rob, Max (5), and Nia (3). We shot during the day, painfully edited and critiqued the shoot at night, and did it again the next day. I’ve been home for 4 days and was only there for 5 and I’m still playing catch up on my sleep.

Click to View Slideshow

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What an amazing week.

There’s so much to say and so much to write about, but I’m still in catch-up mode trying to get everything done that I missed while I was away.

I’m working on a slideshow of the images I created and I can’t wait to share them, along with more of the story!

Chat soon!

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I leave early tomorrow morning for photography boot camp FW4.

I’ve been waiting for almost a year for this - I’ll be hanging out with, learning from, and working with a group of AMAZING wedding photographers, some of whom I consider to be among the best in the world.

There should be high speed at the hotel I’ll be at so I hope to blog from there at least once or twice. I should be able to stay on top of email and such as well, so don’t hesitate to drop us a line. I’ve been setting up consultations for Saturday and Sunday next weekend for after I get back (25th/26th), if you’d like to get together to chat about your wedding plans and have a look at what we do, give me a shout!

Cheers!

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