Wow, I don’t even think there are enough positive words out there to describe the past 12 months. Every moment of the business has been completely indescribably amazing!
We had set out a bunch of goals for 2015 including getting a certain number of weddings, styled shoots, wedding shows and donated session and every single one of our goals was blown out of the water! In fact, our original goals were met so early in the year that I ended up increasing them all substantially. And then they were then again exceeded!
We shot a record number of weddings and every single one was special in its own way. We were also lucky enough to hit record numbers for engagement and family sessions as well (with a few corporate sessions tossed in along the way). We delved further into wedding shows, learning more about what works in this sometimes overwhelming area. Dave and his dad built me a beautiful show booth (and hopefully I will find some time in the next year to share the details of it with all of you), and we upgraded a bit of our equipment (which is always super fun).
There is definitely still room to improve and lots of things to do yet, but I am really happy with the progress the business has made over the last year.
It was all so wonderful, and I have all of our past, current (and future) clients to thank for such a successful year.
So without further adieu, I present to you the top posts from the past year…
5. Ottawa Arc Hotel Wedding: Antonietta + Matt
Matt + T’s wedding day was part of the triple header long-weekend that started our season this past year. Three weddings in three days is rough and we were definitely feeling it when we headed out to Matt + T’s festitivites. Luckily for us, they and their friends and family are some of the funnest, most energetic, and absolute craziest people in this entire city, so they lifted us back up the second we started their coverage!! We had a blast with their evening wedding (and a private Escalade driving down the walkways around the canal was certainly a nice bonus), and their photobooth coverage during their reception was complete shenanigans!
4. Event Photography: Ottawa Conference & Event Centre: Make-A-Wish, 10th Annul 3 Wishes Gala
We loved every one of our weddings this year, but I think I speak for both Dave and myself when I say the personal highlights were the sessions we donated to Make-A-Wish Eastern Ontario. Not only are the employees and volunteers of the charity so wonderful, but the Wish Kids and their families are truly the salt of the earth. I know I mentioned it in nearly all of the posts, but we were so honoured to be a part of each of the events this past year. The 3 Wishes Gala was really great as it not only granted wishes and help support this amazing charity, but it recognized some of the spectacular people who make everything run so smoothly.
3. Westport Engagement Session: Erica + Ryan
We met Erica + Ryan at the Perth Wedding Show back in May. It was a kind of last minute addition to our Wedding Show rotation this year and I am so glad we decided to go as adding these two to our list of couples has been a joy. Their engagement session was scheduled and shot less than a week after we met them to try and accomodate their schedules (as well as our own), and it couldn’t have been a more lovely day. No seriously, it rained, we all got absolutely soaked and a little cold, and it was one of the best engagement sessions I have ever been a part of! And as an added bonus for everyone, their wedding is this Saturday (aka tomorrow)!!
2. Stylized Ottawa Wedding at Sidedoor Restaurant
We were lucky enough to do two Stylized Weddings with our good friends over at Opportunity Knocks Events. They put together two super-star teams of local vendors and came up with some really great sessions, including #2 on our list of Top 2015 Posts, our Stylized Session at Sidedoor Restaurant. It was a pretty great day complete with perfectly suited details from all of the other vendors. It was a pleasure to work with all of them and to get to shoot their works in a less rushed fashion than we normally do on a wedding day.
1. Event Photography at Chateau Montebello: Make-A-Wish, Griffin’s Wish
I have to be honest here, when I pulled up the stats to see what posts made the list, I definitely teared up when I saw this one on top. I mentioned before how honoured we were to be a part of so many wonderful Make-A-Wish events this year, but being a part of an actual Wish was actually pretty indescribable. Meeting all of these wonderful kids and their families, and seeing them enjoy Griffin’s day was something I will never forget. They were all so joyful and happy this day, and seeing them along with all of the other people who had donated their time and energy to help out was heart-warming.
Sadly, Griffin passed away just a little while ago, so being able to have captured these moments for his family is one of the greatest honours I think a photographer can receive and the experience is something I can’t quite put into words. I am so glad that this post beat out all of the others this year, if only so I could share this special astronaut’s celebration again with all of you.
Honourable Mentions go out to the two runner-ups:
Stylized Ottawa Wedding at Le Belvedere
Another Stylized Session with Opportunity Knocks Events, this day at Le Belvedere was full of colour, sunshine and so much laughter! The two Styled Sessions were definitely a great way for us to start off our 2015 season.
Jabulani Vineyard + Saunders Farm Wedding: Kristyn + Alistair
Kristyn + Alistair’s wedding was definitely one of my favourite weddings this past season. Not only was it one of my favourite colour pallettes, and in a stunning vineyard, with portraits at a location on my ‘to-shoot’ list, but these two are such fantastic people and true rock stars in-front of our cameras too!!
As record setting as 2015 was, 2016 is gearing up to destroy all of those fresh stats thanks to the amazing clients we have coming up. Our season this coming year starts right away with two lovely winter weddings so you won’t have to wait long to see more of our fantastic couples!!
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