Archive for September, 2009

Bridal Expo 2009

September 29, 2009

Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth at Bridal Expo this past Sunday at the Shaw! The turnout was amazing and we enjoyed chatting with everyone at our booth. Special thanks to Jasmine Lalli (jasmine_lalli@hotmail.com) and Shana Verma (shanaverma@yahoo.ca) for providing amazing free henna to people who came by our booth. Also special thanks to Shanna and Lindsay, who were on hand to talk about their experience with Shandro Photo. The beautiful flower arrangement was by La Piazza Dasee, another exhibitor at the show, and we couldn’t have done it without A Modern Proposal and Special Event Rentals. Thanks guys!

I love Michael for so many reasons. He’s my partner in life and business, and he makes me smile each and every day. Cheesy I know, but it’s true! One thing I love about him is how handy he is. He built this whole booth (I painted!), and I am so impressed at how it turned out. It was a tremendous amount of work, but totally worth it, and unlike anything we’ve seen in Edmonton.

We’re looking forward to meeting with many of you again soon!

We’ve had such an incredible response to this image. I love this huge canvas, and I love that we get to look at it every day. Sexy!!!

Welcome to the new look of Shandro Photo! We saved this amazing photo shoot for the launch of our new brand. We’ve worked really hard over the last several months to create a fresh new look for our company. We absolutely love what we do, and are so excited about the change.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about Stephanie & David, who are still on their 2 month Australian honeymoon (jealous!) Stephanie & David planned a day-after session when they first met with us about their wedding photography.  Stephanie knew she wanted to do something extraordinary, and we knew just the spot. They have been waiting to see these photos – we didn’t show them anything in the back of the camera during the shoot, and we saved them for the blog launch – so I know they’ll be excited to see them!  I’m going to let these images speak for themselves – I get goosebumps every time I look at them.

This amazing image it is officially my favourite image of the year – we have a huge canvas of it in our gallery.

This one is inspired by John Michael Cooper.

We promised Melissa & Sean that we would have a few photos up for them before they leave on their honeymoon. This was particularly important for us to do as they are leaving shortly on a 6 month honeymoon/volunteering mission through Europe and Africa! We don’t know when they’ll have reliable internet access so we wanted them to see these images before they left.

Melissa & Sean are both lawyers, they met at a Ukrainian New Year’s Eve party after some friends set them up because of their mutual interests, and it was love at first sight. They even have video evidence of the first time they met – how many couples have something as cool as that?

A special thanks to Julianne from A Modern Proposal for helping make sure the day ran smoothly!

We had a ton of fun with Melissa and her girls getting ready.

I love this one – Melissa & Sean had the cutest flower girls ever!

Melissa & Sean were married in the Hawrelak Park Amphitheatre – it isn’t available for very many dates during the year, and Melissa & Sean were lucky enough to get one of those dates. The location was particularly important to them – Melissa & Sean have a profound dedication to the environment and Hawrelak Park holds a lot of memories for them enjoying nature. Melissa’s amazing dress is from a sustainable designer in the US, and we admire her dedication to the world we live in.

My favourite part of the ceremony was when Shawn promised they would ’grow wrinkly together’.

This is a shot from one of our assistants, Brendan:

Remember the song at the end of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? ‘Oh Yeah’…. That’s what they walked down the aisle to. There were so many little touches to this wedding where their personalities shone through.

See what I mean? So adorable.

This staircase in Hawrelak Park is ‘their’ staircase. It was so special to do photos for them there.

Another location with a lot of meaning for them is the University of Alberta Law Centre, where they spent many, many hours studying together.

The reception was full of fun, including ‘Pin the Kubasa on the Perogy’. This guy…ummm…well, he missed.

Melissa & Sean’s first dance was AWESOME. A beautiful first dance, and then a rockin’ choreographed dance to ‘My Humps’ by the Black Eyed Peas! Not something you see at a typical wedding!

Melissa & Sean – it’ll be quite some time before we see each other again. We know you’ll have an incredible adventure over the next 6 months and we can’t wait to hear about everything you’ve accomplished when you return.

For the third time this month, we are very excited to have one of our weddings featured on another website. This time it’s David & Laura’s Valentine’s Day wedding and we’re super excited to have it featured on WeddingBells.ca!!! You can view their real wedding story here.  Their engagement story is incredible!

DLWBlog15

We are returning to Bridal Expo this year (September 27th – next weekend!), and our booth is going to be something to see!  We have a new sample album, new wall art, and some awesome surprises and prizes.  Anyone who stalks our blog closely (I know there are a lot of you out there!) will have seen a sneak peek of what we have coming up – it’s just the beginning.   

 

This is going to be a rare post without a photo because I don’t want to give too much away – just visit us at Bridal Expo on September 27th at the Shaw Conference Center, and make sure to visit our blog and/or the website on September 27th to find out what the big news is!  You’re going to love it.

 

- Michael & Haley

Our summer wedding season is winding down, and we’ve had some amazing weddings to finish up (don’t worry, we have much more to come in the winter!)

Carrie & Nick are so loved and supported by their family and friends, and it was heartwarming to watch everyone celebrate with them. When Carrie’s dad stepped to the podium to toast his daughter, I felt emotion welling up.  It was an awesome day.

This is SO Carrie.

And so is this. We had an awesome morning at Carrie’s parents’ house getting ready.

The ceremony was at St. Theresa’s Church.

Stylin’.

We had some really beautiful time alone with Carrie & Nick. So sweet together, and so happy to be married.

The reception at the Westin was STUNNING. Every detail was perfection, including the cupcakes by Fuss Cupcakes, and the amazing floral arrangements by Kate Ashton. We sat with Kelly from Kate Ashton at dinner and really enjoyed meeting her – I would recommend checking them out if you are in need of a florist! She even re-arranged the head table arrangement so we could get a better view of Carrie & Nick. That’s what I call service.

This is such a fun cake topper, again – SO Carrie.

Carrie & Nick shared a romantic first dance, complete with onlookers.

Congratulations Carrie & Nick!

Leanne & Brody are getting married in Kelowna next year, and it sounds like the wedding is going to be incredible. While the weather is still good and the leaves are still (mostly) green, Michael met them for some romantic engagement photos.

Cheryl & James had a beautiful wedding at two of the most gorgeous locations for weddings in Edmonton: St. Joachim Catholic Church, and the Hotel MacDonald.

During the ceremony, the priest sang the most beautiful song to Cheryl & James.  It was really touching.

Cheryl & James make a beautiful couple – the connection between them is tangible, they share a relaxed, easy love for each other.

The Hotel MacDonald never disappoints – amazing decor, wonderful food, and an elegant atmosphere. 

People ask us all the time how we could spend our weekends associating with people we don’t know, and if we find it hard to enjoy ourselves at the reception when we don’t know anyone.  Anyone who knows us knows it actually the opposite.  We LOVE meeting new people, and we generally find we are at the most fun table at the party.  It’s awesome! Special shout-out to table 20!!  Woot!

Cheryl & James changed into traditional Indian outfits later in the reception – I don’t think the Hotel Mac has seen such a loud and vibrant dance in a long time!

Congratulations, Cheryl & James!  Thank you so much for including us in your wedding.

Anna & Dave are so sweet, so gentle, so totally goofy. They are made for each other. Anna & Dave are good friends of Michael’s sister Alaina and we’ve really enjoyed getting to know them. We know their wedding next year is going to be amazing!

Michael’s family is huge, and growing all the time. The Baird/Harrisons are in Michael’s extended family, and he was very pleased when they asked him to do family photos. It was just before their daughter started kindergarten, a big milestone for this little family.