Yesterday was December 12 - "11 days until Christmas!!!"  I had a joyful reminder from my daughter last night.  As I sit here writing down my "to do" list I am filled with anticipation and excitement.  Christmas is my favourite time of year.  I love Christmas; the music, the decorations, the generosity and the time that I get to spend with my family.  This time of year makes me feel warm and cozy inside.

Christmas is also a perfect time to reflect on the year as it comes to an end.

As I've mentioned in a previous blog entry, I cut down quite a bit on the number of weddings that I photographed this year.  These spirited, fun years of my daughters life can not be relived so I took on less photography work to spend much more time with her and my husband.  I have no regrets.  I will be doing the same this coming year as well.

That being said, Beyond The Window had a wonderful year even though my work load was far less.

The Trash The Dress events that I planned and photographed were successful and thrilling!  I hope to plan another Trash The Dress session for Spring or Summer in 2012.  Please get in touch with me if you would be interested in more information!

The weddings that I photographed this year were fun, beautiful and rewarding!  I must share this email that I received from a mother-of-the-bride just the other day.  Her daughter was married in the summer.

"Hi Jillian,

This is long overdue but I wanted to say a big thank you. I have seen a few of the pics from the wedding and they are spectacular and you captured the pure happiness in my Janelle’s heart that day.  I was impressed with the way you zipped in and out of people capturing expressions without them knowing it. I look forward to seeing her album on my next visit to Ontario. Your work is wonderful, creative, unique and your personality just complemented the day.

Thank you from the bottom of a mother’s heart for ensuring my daughter has fantastic memories of her special day.

Sincerely,

Marion

Mamma of the bride"

What a fabulous message and what a wonderful end to my 2011 season.

I want to say THANK YOU to all of my clients that I've had the pleasure of working with this year.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

10 days until Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all of you.  I wish you all the best in the New Year.

Goodbye 2011

I am thrilled to say that my last wedding of the 2011 year is now complete.  I have a bit of work left to do on their album before it is finished and ready for the printers.  I am thrilled to know that I will be done this album and it will be in the couples' hands well before Christmas!

I would like to thank everyone that I've worked with this year.  I thoroughly enjoyed working with all of you!

Next year will be a smaller year for Beyond The Window.  This is an intentional change.  As much as I enjoy photographing weddings I will be cutting back a fair bit in order to spend far more time with my daughter, my husband, my other family and my friends. 

I have worked almost every single weekend through the months of May through to November for the past  5 years, plus many evenings throughout the week to photograph engagement sessions and meet with couples to sort out their wedding photography needs.  It is time for a break!  :)

I'm still photographing weddings!  I still love the excitement and the beauty of wedding days.  

I'm simply cutting back so I can take part in the excitment and beauty of my own life. 

I introduce you to Mieke!  The third and final participant for the Trash The Dress For Breast Cancer fundraiser.  I think Mieke looks fabulous!!  I love Mieke's sense of adventure and her confidence.  Below are some of my favourite photos that I took of her inside the house.

Mieke spared no bravery as we ventured outside for some photos.  The temperature was 'only' -4 degrees so that wasn't too cold (but I was dressed in my winter coat!) but it could have been much worse.  In reality the weather was perfect.  The night before we had had a great snow fall which made the snow crisp and clean and bright.  Just right for outdoor photos.  My only regret is that I didn't spend more time with Mieke outside.  She had just the right spirit for the outdoor photos - fun, yet peaceful too.

 I love Mieke's smile.  It's so contagious!

Thank you Mieke for sharing your energy and beauty for this wonderful cause.

If you or anyone you know would be interested in taking part in a Trash The Dress session, please get in touch with me!  I have organized another Trash The Dress For Breast Cancer fundraiser this coming May.  The participants will be members of my own extended family!  It will be held at my Aunt and Uncle's property outside of Exeter, Ontario.  This session will be extremely meaningful to me since my Grandmother had breast Cancer when she was alive.  It should be a fun and creative event.  I'll make sure that I share those photos as well!

The location for our photos was perfect.  We were at the beautiful Touchstone Manor in Stratford, Ontario www.touchstone-manor.com.  The inside of this bed and breakfast was breath taking.  Every room was perfect; perfect bedding, perfect furniture, perfect decor - nothing was out of place.  I believe that the location was exactly what we needed for this event.  Yes, there was no chance of "trashing" anyone's dress here but that wasn't the focus for this photo shoot (maybe next time ;)

Here are my favourite photos from the 2nd bride that took part.  Her name is Tara and as you will see, she is beautiful.  Confident, happy and beautiful.  She might just have the prettiest colour of eyes I have ever seen!  Again, I hope that Tara loves her photos as much as I do!

thank you Tara!...thank you...thank you...thank you...thank you...thank you...thank you Tara!

Beyond The Window's fundraiser for Breast Cancer has come and gone and I am proud to say that it was a success!  We raised $597 for Breast Cancer which I think is a fantastic amount especially since this was my first attempt at a fundraiser!  Once again Carrie Tibbs of Beauty Marked applied all of the girls makeup.  We decided on a softer more elegant look this time around given the reason for the photo shoot and we knew it would tie in nicely with our environment.  Pink accessories were the way to go to bring more emphesis to Breast Cancer awareness and to add a level of unpredictability.

We had 3 brides take part and today I'm going to share photos from the first bride of the day, Melissa.  Melissa looks gorgeous - absolutely gorgeous.  I hope that she loves these photos as much as I do!

                                Melissa had the perfect mix of styles for her photo shoot; 

                                                     peaceful and stunning

                                             Thank you Melissa for taking part!

I have to say that October is normally the busiest month of the year for Beyond The Window.  This October was no exception.  Many families love to have their portraits taken in the fall because of the beautiful colours and texture of the leaves.  October is also a very popular month for engagement photos.  And of course, the lovely autumn weddings that seem to be booking up just as quickly as summer weddings now a days.

This Blog posting is a reminder to all brides and grooms that are interested in a September or October wedding, to investigate, inquiry and book your vendors now if you are getting married next fall.  Many vendors book a year to 15 months in advance so don't wait until the year of your wedding to begin the process of planning and booking. 

Don't forget about Friday weddings either!  Friday weddings are a great way to still get the time of year you want (if Saturdays are already booked for your ideal vendors) and it is a great way to save some money as well since many vendors, including Beyond The Window, offer a discount for Friday weddings.

Happy Fall :)

On Thanksgiving weekend I photographed some "pre-wedding" photos for a couple here in Kitchener.  In our email exchanges, the couple referred to the photos as "pre-wedding" photos so I assumed that they meant engagement photos.  I arrived at Victoria Park in Kitchener and expected to see a couple wearing their regular (perhaps a little more dressed up than normal), clothes.  Instead I saw a couple walking towards me wearing their wedding clothes.  The couple was getting married that day AFTER our photo session; hense the name "pre-wedding" photos.

The photos went very well and they took just over 1 hour.

I left the park LOVING the idea of "pre-wedding" photos.  I wanted to write about it on my Blog because I wanted to encourage others to consider this idea if it suits them.  Below are a few reasons that couples may want to book a small session like this, rather than a large amount of photography coverage on their wedding day.

* their budget is limited and they only want the most important photos captured (them together)

* they want to avoid family disagreements in regards to what photos should be taken

* they don't have a wedding party so extra time is not needed for these photos

* they don't like to get their photos taken, particularily around a large group of people, so a private photo session with just the photographer is a great way to avoid that uncomfortable feeling

I think that majority of couples will still want more aspects of their day photographed; getting ready, the ceremony, family photos, wedding party photos, the reception, etc, but this certainly proves that you can think outside of the box in regards to your wedding photos.  Quite often people get hung up on keeping things "normal" or "safe".  I also find myself feeling this way in my personal life sometimes.  It's difficult not to.  But if you are feeling confident and sure of what you really want, then I say go for it!  Whether you call them "pre-wedding" photos (I'd know what you're talking about this time around) or something completely different, contact me if this type of wedding photography interests you!

If you are lucky enough to be planning your wedding for November or December of 2010 or January, February or March of 2011, now is your time to save!!

I'm offering 30% off all wedding packages for weddings that fall within these months.  Here is a breakdown of the savings:

Bronze Package - regularily $1199 - now $835.  That's a savings of $364.

Silver Package - regularily $1399 - now $975.  That's a savings of $424.

Gold Package - regularily $1799 - now $1255.  That's a savings of $544.  PLUS if you remove the engagement session, you save an additional $300 off of the package price, which then gives you a total of $1049 before tax.

Platinum Package - regularily $1999 - now $1399.  That's a savings of $600.  PLUS if you remove the engagement session, you save an additional $300 off of the package price, which then gives you a total of $1189 before tax.

These prices are fantastic! 

These prices, however, can not be combined with any other sale or discount (eg.  the traditional 15% discount for November through to March weddings).  BUT at these prices, who needs a further discount? .... well, OK everyone would accept a further discount but I do need to make a living :)

If you need a photographer during these non-traditional wedding months, please contact me.  We can meet and discuss your day in greater detail to determine which package will best suit your needs and budget.

I hope to hear from you!

Let me start this Blog entry by simply saying, I love silhouettes.  I love looking at examples of silhouettes and I love photographing silhouettes.  As much as I love them, I rarely get to photograph them.  That is because most of the time I am photographing outside during the brightest part of the day and the space and location do not lend well to a silhouette.  However over the past month, I have had the creative pleasure of photographing 2 silhouettes at 2 different weddings.

Melissa and James were married in Stratford, Ontario.  This is a beautiful city for photography regardless of where you go!  We went to the Avon Theatre for about 20 minutes since it was a location that the couple really liked.  I saw the large windows, the red carpet and the pot lighting above.  I knew, by this point, that the wedding party were adventurous and fun so the location and subjects naturally made a great combination.  It took about 10 minutes to move furniture, spread out their bodies and get the right shot.  This is one of my favourite wedding party photos of the season so far.

David and Patricia were married in Kitchener.  They had a very close connection with their church and wanted to incorporate the beauty of their church into some fo their photos.  The church was really lovely.  There were many stain glass windows at this church and there was an interesting purple hue that lite up the church inside when all the lights were off.  I like how you can see the outline of the couple clearly but the window and surrounding architecture are captured as well.  I think this is a nice cozy photo of the couple which includes the stunning elements of the chuch in an interesting fashion.