Well I am back into wedding season for another year, and am looking forward to meeting all of my 2010 brides and grooms.  Meaghan and Matt’s wedding, known affectionately as M & M, was a great way to kick off 2010.   You know that a wedding reception that starts off with a shot of Newfoundland Screech after greeting the bride and groom is going to be a good time.

The bride’s dress was a beautiful shade of blue.

Meaghan and Matt had planned to get married in Our Lady of Mercy Church in Port aux Port, but due to furnace troubles had to change to another location.  However we were still able to enter the church for a few formals.

I am sure anyone from the West Coast would recognize the tasty treats above, and anyone from away would put Danny’s Bakery in Stephenville on their list of places to go while visiting home.    The bridal party was in for a treat this day as they made their visit to Danny’s for a Napoleon and an pic.

With desert in belly, the next stop was Domino’s Pizza House ( not to be confused with the national chain, but a local and VERY delicious pizza house across the street from Danny’s, and equally as popular).  It took every bit of will power I had to decline their offer to have a piece of pizza.

Then on to the reception….. M & M’s anyone?

The reception was lovely, complete with a little mock moose hunt to get the bride and groom to kiss, a perfectly choreographed first dance, and an invitation for all the guest to join the bridal party on the dance floor.  I love it when this happens, as it gets everyone in the mood to dance, AND it makes for a great photo opportunity.

Enjoy your sneak peek Matt and Meaghan!  And thank you for asking me to be a part of your special day.

Uh, I think it was a shot of screech….. not the bottle!

The best part about my job as a photographer is capturing special moments for people.  I love the everyday moments that often occur at my sessions, but I especially love when I am asked to be a part of a special family occasion.   When I first arrived at this home, the children thought nothing more than that I was there for a photo session with them.  However, the biggest surprise was yet to come.  They were receiving a brand new puppy!  Capturing the looks on their faces when their mother walked in the door with their surprise was priceless.  The youngest just kept asking, “Is he our dog?”  Still unnamed at this time, the children temporairaly named him Walter, after a book series they enjoy entitled Walter the Farting Dog.  I haven’t heard yet if this name managed to stick! 

This first image was taken pre-puppy.

I was happy to have a few more mini sessions in early March, and this time I held them in my home studio, which has the most beautiful natural light.  I was excited when this family contacted me to photograph their new little girl, as they were wedding clients from a few years ago.  Going on three years now?  I kind of lose track!  I also had a mini session with baby M’s big cousin who was such a pleasure to photograph – they both were really, but I love when older children let their personality shine.

When the weather warms up, and if time allows I hope to have another mini session event before the busy wedding season starts all over again.

I am pleased to announce that I will be visiting the beautiful West Coast during the Easter Holidays, and have decided to have another mini session event during that time.  The last was was a great success, and although I was admittedly a little nervous that 15 minutes would not be enough time, I found it to be lots of time to capture a few sweet smiles and special family moments.  I even found myself editing a few more proofs than promised! The details are all listed below, and anyone interested in booking can email me at:  dawn.oldford@nf.sympatico.ca

I am also including a few of the photos from my first set of mini sessions.  They were a blast and I am very excited to be offering them again.

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet and photography baby Sydney at the tender age of four days.  She was an absolute dream to photograph, and the session came complete with two awesome assistants, a bit of chattering and lots of laughs.  Of course, baby had to take a few nutrition breaks, but that is to be expected when they are so new.    I jsut loved her snuggly sweetness so much I was trying to think of a way I could smuggle her home without her momma noticing.  That would not have been too easy, as I don’t think anyone wanted to give her up just yet.

Sweet little Spolie was born the day after Christmas and was my first newborn of 2010.  This is also my first sneak peek in a long time, as most of my blog posts are coming long after the galleries have been seen.

Sophie’s momma received a gift certificate from her sister for Christmas, and she made her appearance the very next day.  Coincidence?  I think Sophie was just excited for her first session in front of the camera.  I would swear at times that she was posing for me. 

At four weeks old, Sophie was a dream to photograph.  She was pleasant while she was awake, and easily drifted off to sleep when the time was right (and when the temperature in my house went up to 25 degrees!)  I just loved her pouty little lips and her bright blue eyes, and she seemed to be right at home on my brand new, never been used beanbag.

It has been almost two years since I first met Carol Ann.  She had contacted me wanting a maternity session, and was living in St. John’s at the time.  I was travelling to Florida for my brother’s wedding and literally got off the plane and met up with her and her hubby for their session.  A short while after that we met again to photograph Jack as a baby.  When she contacted me earlier this year to plan this session, I was instantly intrigued.  With her husband away for training, she wanted to surprise him halfway through with photos of her and Jack.  I was instantly touched by this beautiful idea, and could not wait to hear about his reaction.  We planned this session for December as it was hoped that there would be some snow on the ground.  We actually carried this session over two days, as the first day we got perhaps a little too much snow, and I am not sure Jack was too happy about the millions of flakes that continued to fall down upon him.  The next day the snow was still around, but no longer falling and the temperatures were very agreeable, allowing Jack to have lots of fun with his mommy in the snow.

Speaking of snow, there are still a couple of availalbe sessions for next weeks Winter mini sessions.  Scroll down through the last couple of blog posts to see the details.  These sessions are an incredible value and will only be offered on a limited basis.

Just a quick entry with a photo taken from our only sliding excursion of the season, while we still had snow (even if it was just barely covering the ground).  I am thankful for the beautiful “Spring” day we had today, but would like to see at least some snow so that my kiddies can have some more winter fun.  Poor William hasn’t gone sliding yet as he was not feeling well on this day.

Winter is one of my four favourite seasons of the year.  Oh wait, there are only 4 seasons in a year.  Well, I guess you could say I love seasons, and winter is no exception.  To celebrate the New Year, and to welcome winter (hopefully we will see more snow soon)  I am happy to offer for one day only, winter mini sessions.

These sessions will be held on February 6 2010.   They will last about 15 minutes and you will receive 5-10 proofs in an online gallery.  Included in your mini session is your choice of 2 options: 

• 1 11×14 print (unmounted)
• 2 8×10 prints
• 2 5×7 prints
• 8 wallets

OR

• 1 5×7 spiral bound book with 5-10 bordered session prints, and a custom designed cover.

The fee for these mini sessions is $125 and is due at the time of booking. 

You may also choose both option 1 and option 2 for $225.

The alternate date for these sessions, in the event of poor weather is Feb. 20th.

For further information, or to book one of these limited sessions, please email me at:  dawn.oldford@nf.sympatico.ca  You will be notified of the location and your session time upon booking.

Please note, other special offers/coupon can not be combined with mini session.  If, for some reason, you have to cancel your mini session, you will be given a credit toward a future sesion or mini session.

And because I can not post without a photo…. this is from one of first sessions of 2010, where we were able to get outdoors for some winter fun.  I will also continue to update with sessions from 2009/2010, so if you haven’t seen your blog post yet, I promise it is coming.

I am about two months late in capturing Philip as a two year old, but I grabbed my camera on my way out to play with him this morning in the hopes that I would capture a few moments of him being himself.  I already attempted this once during Christmas while the kids were all decorating their gingerbread house.  I grabbed the camera in hopes i would catch Philip unaware.  Well, I am not sure that is possible with a large SLR in your hands, to go unnoticed that is, and as soon as he saw me he started yelling, “no take picture me mommy…. I mack you” .  Note that mack is not a typo, but smack in his two year old english.  And when I didn’t put down the camera, smack me he did.

Today he started to protest his picture being taken again, but I did what any good mother would do in that situation….. I promised him candy!