Gwyn and Brian thank you truly for including me in this magical day. Gwyn I have to say I am honestly flattered with how much you knew about my photography style!

I would like to thank Ebony at the Sooke Harbour House for being so so lovely to work with. It is an incredible venue and fabulous staff like you make it that much more wonderful.

Gwyn, you have some killer legs lady!

Shortly after the scheduled ceremony start time the marriage officiant was still no where to be found.  As guests waited patiently on the beach soaking in the beauty and gentle Hawaiian breeze we learned that the officiant would not be making the ceremony. Now, news like this would cause a wee bit of stress for the calmest of brides. But not Dana. She was cool as a cucumber and brushed off this ‘minor’ detail and quickly came up with a fantastic replacement officiant.  One of their friends would perform the ceremony and I have to say he did an amazing job!  I would have never guessed this wasn’t his actual profession! He nailed it. Potential crisis averted. I have the best clients and they have awesome friends

We shot until dark and the only light out was the moon.  I just couldn’t stop!  I had a hard time narrowing down the images for this post, so here are just some of my faves.

Dana and Adam thank you so much for including Darren and I in your fantastic wedding.  You treated us like one of your own guests and we truly appreciated it.  I hope these images convey the love and beauty of your amazing day.

I am sitting in my condo in Oahu listening to the waves crash on shore.  I can still feel the warmth of the day blowing in through our screen door.  Nibbling on some cookies and cream ice cream is helping cool me down

As another year comes to an end I feel so blessed to be spending the last day of 2010 with Adam and Dana for their wedding in this Hawaiian paradise.  I am a very very lucky lady.

Speaking of lucky, I have to say that I was honoured to find out that Dawn and Billy’s amazing destination wedding in Tulum was featured on the awesome blog Destination Inspirations.  You can see the feature here.

Looking forward to sharing some tropical images with you soon!

Dawn and Billy were married at the Dreams Resort in Tulum and it was the perfect setting for their elegant sunset wedding and week long celebration.  Their wedding was extra special to me as Dawn has been one of my dearest friends for years. So standing with her on that stunning white sand beach photographing her marrying the man of her dreams, meant more to me than words can express.  None of this could have been accomplished without Dawn’s amazing mom, Lynne.  If you missed the post about our BIG surprise and how we ended up in the Mayan Riviera you can read that here.

Now this post has been a long time coming and there will be more images to come.  But for now here is just a taste of the getting ready, some details, and the emotional “first look.”  I have never seen someone run so fast to her groom as Dawn did !!

Putting in her “something blue”.

]]> http://www.kimkalynphotographyblog.com/dawn-billy-mayan-riviera-destination-wedding-part-i/feed/ 8 http://www.kimkalynphotographyblog.com/me-and-my-big-baby-belly-in-action-ttd-video-by-billy-ives/ http://www.kimkalynphotographyblog.com/me-and-my-big-baby-belly-in-action-ttd-video-by-billy-ives/#comments Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:54:37 +0000 admin http://www.kimkalynphotographyblog.com/?p=2639 I am so excited about sharing the images from Dawn & Billy’s amazing destination wedding experience that I know my blog will soon be consumed with images from their incredible wedding.  But in the meantime I have to share this awesome video that the flipping talented & uber creative Mr. Billy Ives – groom to the gorgeous Mrs. Dawn Ives – put together from our “Trash the Dress” beach session.

Here is baby and I hard at work with the help of my fabulous and sexy assistant, my husband Darren

Billy you are amazing!  Thank you so much for sharing this with me.  Click on the link below to view the video.  And also, here are a couple more shots from the session.  Hope you enjoy

TTD Video

Billy is HUGE into kite surfing, so we had to get a few shots with his kite.

This surprise started way back in May.  Dawn and Billy had started planning their destination wedding in Tulum and had invited Darren and I to attend and also they had wanted to hire me as their wedding photographer.  Now as much as I soooo wanted to attend their wedding and be apart of their day creating beautiful photographs in the Mayan Riviera, Darren and I were hoping to be pregnant by May or June and depending on how that went I didn’t actually know if I would be able to fly and shoot their wedding come late November.

Now here is where it gets good, real good.  In the meantime, I was contacted by Dawn’s mom, the unbelievably awesome Lynne mentioned above, who had decided that for her wedding gift to Dawn and Billy that she wanted to secretly fly Darren and I down to have me shoot the wedding.  By this time Darren and I had found out we were indeed having a baby and that the timing would probably be perfect as I would just be six plus months come late November.  So Lynne and I tried to decide on a story to tell Dawn as to why I “couldn’t” shoot their wedding.  We decided to say that I wouldn’t be able to make it as I would be too far along at that point to fly.  Little white lie.  Sorry Dawn!!!  I felt like a horrible friend, but knew this surprise would be SO worth it.  So Lynne and I planned and schemed away and to make a long story short Darren and I were flown to Mexico to surprise these two lovebirds with some amazing wedding photography for their special day.  How amazing is that ?!  Such an fantastic wedding gift.

So as you read this I am probably lounging poolside sipping a delicious virgin lime margarita while basking my big baby belly in the fabulous sunshine.  Go ahead and hate, because when I left Victoria the weather forecast was calling for snow, so I feel bad for all of you, really I do

I can’t tell you how excited I am to shoot this wedding and to share the gorgeous images I know we will create.

No post is complete without pictures, so here are just a few snaps from my latest lovebird session with Terrill and Dan.  Enjoy!

Now I just hope that Lia and Bry just love them as much as I do

Darren and I like to pride ourselves on being relatively ‘green’.  I am a recycling guru and am always getting after him for putting anything that could be recycled into the garbage.  We use energy efficient lighting.  Un-plug any appliances when not in use (with the exception of our computers).  We keep our heat around 15 degrees and rarely use our electric fireplace.  All of our big appliances (stove, fridge, washer dryer etc) are all energy star rated.  I even compost for crying out loud !!  Sooooo I am baffled.  Unless Darren has a secret ‘grow-op’ that I am unaware of I am not sure what the heck is going on.  By the amount of type real estate and capital letters I have given to this topic I am sure you can tell I am a bit worked up about this.  So thank you for letting me vent

Now on to something much more exciting than my energy woes – more images from Lia and Bryan’s destination wedding in Mexico!!  I posted some teaser images for them a little while back, HERE.  But because I have fallen insanely in love with their wedding images, I decided to post some more.  In two parts as a matter of fact, as there is just that many images that I heart big time.

As you could probably tell from their teaser pictures that Lia and Bryan are not the most attractive people, in fact the camera really hated them.  Eeeeeeew – look at their perfect teeth, hair, complexions, smiles … YUCK!  Heee heee heeee  !!  I am being completely sarcastic !!  Lia and Bryan are a GORGEOUS couple, inside and out.  Anyone can tell from looking at these photos that I couldn’t have taken a bad picture of these two if I tried

Lia & Bryan decided to see each other before the wedding and do a “first look” which I am a HUGE fan of !! You can read more about ‘first looks’, HERE.  I will post images from their “first look” in Part 2 of this post.  Soooo cute !!  In this post I am just sticking to the getting ready shots as well as a few of the wedding party shots.

I’d love to know which shots are your favourites.  So feel free to leave me some comment love below.  Enjoy!

Lia you are the cutest !!!

Darren and I spent Christmas in Maui shooting Dave and Colleen’s dream wedding.  Their wedding took place on a secret beach, surrounded by some of their closest family and friends, complete with a beautiful guitar serenade and butterfly release.  Tropical leis and palms which were so loving placed by Colleen’s aunt framed the spot where they would say their vows and become husband and wife.  Now not that in itself wasn’t spectacular enough but during their traditional Hawaiian ceremony they had somehow arranged for grey whales to breech in the background !! I am not even freaking kidding !  Un-flipping-believeable.

For their formal photos we spent some time on the beach where they were married and then moved on to an equally breathtaking black sand beach that Darren and I had discovered a couple days prior.  After we had our fill of sand and sea we headed to the Wailea Golf Course where we were wined and dined in a stunning setting.  Of course I had to sneak a few more shots there as well.  I love me some photographic variety

Before I display their first teaser images below, I would like to take a moment to say thank you to all of those who participated in the “cans for comments” fundraiser I was participating in along with many other photographers.  You helped me more than DOUBLE my contribution from last year and I will be donating 63 cans of food to my local food bank on your behalf.  Thank you THANK YOU thank you for all of your support to this amazing cause.

The close family and friends who attended their fabulous wedding treated Darren and I like we were their own family.  They included us in everything they did and were so grateful and appreciative for us being there, which was just the sweetest.  Sometimes I just can’t get over how lucky I am.

On the day of the wedding I would describe Lia and Bryan as so completely content and calm and peaceful about the wonderful day ahead.  They definitely set this wonderful tone and their day unfolded in an amazing relaxed manner and it was such a pleasure to be apart of.  I am only posting a small teaser of some formals and a few from their trash the dress session and I promise there is much more to come.  I have to pack tonight as we fly out tomorrow for Dave and Colleen’s Maui wedding.

Lia and Bryan, I am so grateful that you chose me as your wedding photographer and that you allowed Darren and I to document your incredible wedding in paradise.  I hope these photos bring back some of the special memories of your day.

Lots of love,

Kim

It was our first time in Maui and won’t be our last!  We just loved it and I have been thinking about it non-stop for the past few days.  From the balcony of our condo we sat for hours and watched sea turtles swim in the ocean right in front of us!  We sat and sipped great Hawaiian coffee, ate delicious pineapple and soaked up some good Vitamin D.  Happy hour occurred everyday.  We enjoyed yummy lime and strawberry margaritas while we sat and read our books.  We spent hours and hours exploring the island in our rental car and saw some stunning scenery.

Here are a couple images from our trip that take me right back there.  May these pics brighten your day!

Matt this post is for you.  Hope you enjoy and have a great vacation

{Kim}