I’ve known Gail since I was about twelve years old and am so happy to call her a friend. She’s just recently started up her own catering business and put on a yummy spread at a local church this past weekend…danishes, strawberries, tea…yum yum :)

Gail caters to wedding anniversary parties, bridal showers, baby showers, seminar snacks and lunches, open houses, corporate conference snacks and lunches, family reunions…you name it. If you need an event catered with refreshments, snacks, appetizers, or light meals, Gail provides the food, the flatware, and all the prep so that you can get out of the kitchen and can enjoy being with your guests. And she comes with the friendliest attitude and warmest smile, free of charge :)

Gail’s business is called Entertaining Made Easy, serving Burlington and the surrounding areas.

Here’s her website – http://www.entertainingmadeeasy.net/

Gail, you are going to do so well with your business! Here are some of my favourite shots from the morning:

Last weekend we took our friends down to the Beaches and despite the wind and cold we made some sweet sweet photos together. We love these guys.

These guys were Dave’s friends first and were one of the many benefits that came along with getting married to him, because soon they became my friends. They were also the first wedding I ever photographed in August 2008, so it was kinda neat to photograph them again, with Dave at my side, thinking about how far we’ve all come. The ways we’ve changed and grown and yet stayed the same.

Here are some of the shots we got…to me they say “a comfortable kind of love” which to me is Graeme and Sabrina’s relationship to a t, so I couldn’t be happier with the way they turned out. Hope you guys like them too. Happy Friday and have a great weekend everyone!

PS – You have no idea how long it took to get the last shot! Finally got it in the end :)

I just got news that this year’s sold out event – A Night in the Tropics – raised over $83,000 for the Mississauga Food Bank!

It was so great to be part of the evening and being asked to procure some photos for these guys. I must say I went into the evening a little nervous (as usual!) and tried to just tell myself to think of it as a wedding minus the bride, groom, and ceremony :) Hopefully I got some good shots of this very colourful evening…

The gala was held at the Mississauga Grand Banquet & Convention Centre to a sold out crowd…the room was filled with tables everywhere, people, good food, palm trees, pineapples, and tons of silent auction items. There were also tons of little cute plush monkey guys hanging from the palm trees that were being sold throughout the evening – the numbers got thrown in a raffle and the grand prize winner won a trip for two to anywhere WestJet flies! Seriously…how cool!

It was also an honour to meet and photograph the mayor Hazel McCallion, who has been mayor of Mississauga (where I grew up) since before I was even born. Seriously, everyone wanted a photo with the mayor…even the security guard!

Here are some of my favourite shots from the evening…

She celebrated her 89th birthday in February. She likes to bowl, use her exercise bike, and play ice hockey. She’s been the mayor of the city where I grew up for longer than I’ve been alive (first elected in 1978 – she’s now onto her eleventh term in office and has outlasted eight Prime Ministers). She – Hazel McCallion – was at an event we photographed last night for the Mississauga Food Bank…

“Is Hazel making a speech tonight?”

“You never know with Hazel. Probably. Be ready – she’ll likely just rush the stage.”

I hope I’m rushing stages when I’m 89.

You might remember Deanna & Craig from my first maternity shoot that I did last December…well, now that baby has come we thought it would be time for some photos of their bundle of joy! When I showed up at Deanna & Craig’s place on Sunday to take some shots of their expanding family, little Carson was wearing the cutest little shirt that said “flirt-in-training”. Aww…I loved it. He then proceeded to cover the entire front of the shirt in spit-up, hahaha. So, while I didn’t managed to get any shots in outfit number one of the day, Carson humoured this strange girl with the camera in front of her face while I got some cute photos of him and his doting parents that afternoon.

Deanna & Craig – I love your little family! Thank you again for welcoming me so graciously into your home and allowing me to continue documenting these milestones in your lives. With your wedding in August, I think we’ll have just about all the major milestones covered :) Here are some of my favourite shots…

So excited that these two are parents to a very happy and healthy baby boy and that I had the chance to snap some pics of the happy family this weekend…here’s just two for now, there will be more to follow later this week!

Snow covered the ground outside and the most gorgeous light poured into a warm room, where the centerpieces on the tables were pink balloons. The cake was set out on the table in the foyer and it had little ladybugs in the icing. And the guest of honour wore a big purple flower on her headband and a big smile on her face.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of photographing little miss Evie’s first birthday party with a great group of her family and friends and I had so much fun! Evie was simply the most adorable baby – flashing smiles at the camera, squealing with delight at the balloons, daintily dipping her fingers into her birthday cake…if ever I have a baby girl of my own, I just might have to steal the name in the hopes that she’ll be anything like this Evie. So. Cute.

The event was held at the lovely Sunnybrook Estates in Toronto in the McLean House. A few interesting facts: This was where the birthday girl’s parents got married. Also, if it looks a bit familiar, that’s because this was where the wedding scene in the movie The Time Traveler’s Wife was filmed (haven’t seen it – must rent it now!). What a dream it was to photograph there – I mean, just look at it. Gorgeous.

I have to say a huge thank you to Tari, Kady, Brodie, all their wonderful friends and family, and of course the birthday girl herself, miss Evie, for having me there capturing this milestone. Hope you enjoy the pics!

I’ve got a big smile on my face heading into the weekend after seeing my photo up on the Mississauga Food Bank’s website this morning!!

I’ve got to say a huge thank you to Meghan for inviting me in on this project…I grew up in Mississauga and the food bank was always one of those community ‘staples’ that I grew up always just knowing about, even went to volunteer a few times there, and so to have a photo up on their website is a bit surreal.

Check out their website here: http://www.mississaugafooddrive.org/ to see the videos that go along with the photo…I’ve been there a few times already this morning as there are three videos in total and it just seems to be random luck of the draw which one will pop up!

Last week I had an awesome opportunity to photograph some pure gorgeousness. Seriously, it was as if I had died and gone to the section of heaven reserved for photographers. I’m pretty sure this is what would be there.

I met up with my friend Andrea Williams a couple of weeks ago with the idea to liven up an otherwise dreary February with a burst of colours and a day of fun taking photos of her awesome floral designs for her portfolio. Andrea has recently taken some big steps in her floral design business by investing in her business full time and by recently earning her certificate as a professional florist by the Canadian Institute of Floral Design – and I couldn’t be more excited for her! It’s as though she is standing right on the brink, and despite all the risks and uncertainties that come with starting your own business, she’s diving in head first, into a career that she believes in and is super passionate about.

One of Andie’s main tenets when it comes to how she runs her business is working together with her clients. She prices each event individually and works with her clients to find designs that will fit their colour scheme, theme, and budget. Andie is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to flowers – I know next to nothing about flowers, and I was amazed as I randomly asked her throughout our afternoon together to tell me more about a particular kind of flower and without batting an eyelash she would describe to me everything about it – price, what seasons it was available, what other flowers or colours it would go well with, and oh, maybe I should try it with this colour ribbon tying it up! You can tell a person is passionate just by the way they talk, and Andie’s face just lights up when she’s talking flowers. You can tell that as she’s talking, she’s also constantly thinking up new ideas or designs that would look great.

Let’s get on to the photos! Here are some of Andie’s gorgeous bouquets:

How Dandie Andie Designs was born, in Andie’s words:

I’ve always loved flowers. Even when I was little I loved the fact that things growing out of dirt in the ground smelled good. I’ve also always enjoyed arranging flowers. My mom and my sister always said throughout high school I should be a florist.

Choosing the flowers for my June 2006 wedding was the most exciting part of my planning. That is where my love for flowers and floral design really developed. I first helped with some centre piece table top arrangements for a wedding in 2007 and I continued helping friends and friends of friends with wedding floral design. I began to get compliments on my work and I realized how much I enjoyed it. People started asking for me and so I started more seriously designing in Spring 2009 and launched my business in Fall 2009. I have always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, and with a little one on the way via adoption, it was a perfect fit! When I decided to make this my career, my sister and mom happily said “I told you so” about being a florist.

Some more awesome bouquets…

Andrea’s top three pieces of advice to couples just starting the process of choosing florals for their wedding day:

First of all, don’t be ashamed if you know nothing about flowers!  That’s what I am here for!  My advice is to have these 3 things ready:

1. Colour Scheme.  Have your colours picked out.  It is very helpful if you have already chosen bridesmaid/groomsmen colours along with the wedding dress so we can accompany colour and style of flowers to clothing.
2. Theme & Style.  Have some key words that describe the overall look you are going for with your wedding.  Modern, Woodsy, Laid-back Backyard Party, Simplistic, Clean, Romantic, Garden Party, Traditional, 40’s Glamour, Organic.
3. An approximate budget.  Floral design generally cost about 8-10% of a total wedding budget.  It good to have an approximate figure since working on $10000 floral design budget compared to a $1000 budget is much different!

And here are some lovely centerpieces…

And a few fun questions for Andie -

Five things you can’t live without:

1.Blistex Lip Balm (The medicated kind in the little blue pot.  I am very specific with my lip care)
2. Body Lotion
3. My MacBook
4. Ethiopian Food.  Once you’ve had it, you just couldn’t see yourself without it! – It is my favourite!  (Try out Queen of Sheba in Toronto or Wass Ethiopian in Hamilton)
5. Travelling.  I get antsy if I go too long without getting on airplane.  If it’s been a year, I start looking for flights.

You have 24 hours to go anywhere and do anything. What would you do?

My answer has always been get on a plane and go to a nice white sand beach where I can surf!

Where do you see yourself at this time next year?

I have a little one on the way via adoption and so I see myself as a momma with an expanding floral design business!

Andie, I wish you nothing but success with your business!

If you like what you see and are shopping around for a great florist, please check out Andrea’s website right here: Dandie Andie Designs.

(special thanks to Katya, Meghan, Brittany-Lyne, Jon, and Alex for their help in making this shoot possible!)