In the spirit of not-quite Christmas, and the fact that I love my job and the chance it gives me to meet awesome people, I’m giving away a free engagement photo shoot to one lucky couple!

The prize includes a 2 hour engagement photo session, and a DVD with high res files, a value of $1000. Oooh!

Here’s the details, rules, how to enter, and all of that important stuff.

- You must be getting married in 2010 or 2011 to qualify.

- I’ll be the primary contest judge, but I’m also going to open this up to online voting for the 3 couples who are finalists. Woo!

- To enter, please email me with the following details by NOVEMBER 15, 2009 at midnight:

a) a clear photo of you two lovebirds together taken within the last year. It should be under 500kb in size. (If you don’t know how to re-size a photo, please click here for some information.)

b) your planned wedding date

c) a story (around 500 words or thereabouts) about you both, and what makes your relationship unique and awesome and/or quirky. Why should I choose you to be a finalist and not someone else? Why are you undoubtedly the coolest couple on the planet? What makes you tick? Maybe you met in some crazy way, or are having a wacky theme wedding – C’mon folks, I need you to sell it! If you go over the word count, no worries, as long as it’s an exciting story, I’ll keep on reading!

(and please note that my pet project is volunteering as an editor for a creative writing magazine, so I’ll award extra points for things like good grammar, captivating storytelling, etc. Unique and/or hilarious = awesome.)

- Also, if you’ve already had engagement photos taken by your wedding photographer, sorry, but you don’t qualify – this is for couples who haven’t yet had the opportunity for engagement photos, or whose wedding budget didn’t allow for them, etc.

- if you live outside of Edmonton, not a problem, you can still enter, but please note this prize doesn’t include travel expenses.

Any questions, please comment and let me know.

Also, I’ll be announcing the winners on my facebook group a few hours before I put ‘em up here on the blog, so if you’re a facebooky type, join the group here!

I’m in the Phoenix airport right now, a little sunburned and more than a little tired, grinning at my computer screen as I look over the photos with Melissa and Carlo over the past couple days. It’s pretty hard to pick a favorite, but here’s a definite contender:

Taken today at the Neon Museum in Vegas, under a balmy 44 degree desert morning.

I don’t even know how to begin to categorize this 3 day long photo extravaganza. We hit the Strip at night, wandered through a few gorgeous casinos, laughed our asses off at the truckers who honked at Melissa in her incredible outfit while we posed on the side of the interstate (I’ll be posting these ones soon! they’re pretty “wow”).

We drove down the most “Hills have eyes” road you’ve ever seen that wound directly through the desert, literally through the middle of no man’s land, to an amazing old gold mine/general store. I went for a nice swim in a pool with a resident black widow spider (not for the faint of heart), saw topless Cirque de Soleil, and basically filled every spare moment with awesome. It was a fair site more than an engagement session, so decided to dub this an “Awesomesauce Session.” Because it’s more than awesome, with a little somethin’ on the side.

More photos soon to come. Melissa and Carlo, I can’t wait for your wedding, and thank you SO MUCH for being so wonderful and hospitable. I hope you’re enjoying the rest of your vacation!

I was recently contacted by a popular wedding resource website bride.ca regarding a photo for their front page, and the bride.ca site revamp is live and looks AWESOME! This site is a great place for all you brides to find wedding vendors!

And special thanks to the Megan for being such a beautiful bride – I love the photo and I’m happy that so many people will be seeing it!

Intimate Weddings is a blog site which focuses on the logistics of smaller weddings. Read the article, and see a few select photos here from Scott and Leah’s beautiful and touching wedding last winter.

I love Leah’s quote:

“You’ll be surprised and amazed by what people remember and love about your wedding that have nothing to do with how much you spend. The things you’ll remember are the things that are off-script, the little things that go wrong that you laugh about the next day.”

I consider myself so fortunate and honored that I get to be a participant in such an important day for so many great couples. It’s a pretty cool job! I’ve seen it all – weddings with 800 guests, and weddings with as few as 16 guests, and both were fabulous in their own unique way. Just because you’re having a smaller-scale wedding doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be any less wonderful or memorable. And if you’re concerned about your budget, talk to your vendors, see what they can do for you – if a higher-end vendor can’t help you with your day, chances are they’ll be able to refer you to someone else who might fit your budget better.

Thanks, Leah and Scott!