Some portraits of my sweet and talented Ryan. She is a fellow photographer network contributor, and one of my most inspiring friends.

Lisa and Iain were an exciting couple to photograph, because we’ve been talking about it for almost 3 years now! Lisa and I met a while back, and she’s had us hired for her wedding ever since. I’ve been hearing so much about Iain as well so it was wonderful to finally meet him. He definitely lived up to his reputation, both of them are such sweethearts. What I also loved about this shoot was the location. The photos were all taken on Iain’s family property in Saanich. I fall in love with Vancouver Island over and over all the time, and this was another one of those days for me. It was SUCH a beautiful property. What a dream. I’m so happy for Lisa and Iain, who will be living there after they get married.

I came home from yoga a couple nights ago to the results of the wedding photojournalist association’s 4th quarterly contest. There was a little treat in there for me.

Early last week Tristan and I decided that we would in fact head over to Vancouver and get a taste of the Olympic madness. We found out Christina Craft and her husband Cary were headed over at the same time, so at 4:30 monday morning the four of us met up and headed toward the ferries. Christina’s photos from the day are up on her blog. Over the next two days we did as much walking as possible. The city looked great and there was barely a soul not wearing Canadian olympic clothes. By the end of monday I thought my legs were going to fall off, but we still ran across half the city to find a screen that was playing Virtue and Moir’s gold medal skate (I knew they were going to win). We finally found it showing near Yaletown, and watched along with my sister in law and her boyfriend in a parking lot. I was so excited I barely noticed all the people behind us that were equally as thrilled. It was so much fun to be apart of the city during that time, and to be with a crowd as the skaters performed flawlessly. What a good decision it was to visit.

Sunday afternoon after Team Canada’s gold medal game, Tristan and I (along with plenty of others) filled the streets of downtown Victoria. It was an amazing experience to be apart of such a happy group of proud Canadians. I can imagine it was a small celebration compared to those in the big cities of this country, and it was wonderful to know that it wasn’t just Victoria. Cars were honking and people were screaming from coast to coast. One of our closest friends said she spend the afternoon with her head hanging out of the car window like a dog, screaming “sid the kid!” repeatedly. Such an experience. On top of all the excitement, we only had one camera between the two of us. This is another (good) experience in itself. Tristan’s shots to come on his blog soon. I will link to them so you can see what happened when I was left camera-less.

Yet again Veronique rolls out yet another successful girls night. This time however the guys were allowed to join at 10:30, and had arrived by 10:32! The Oswego hotel was the our new host and our ears were delighted with the sounds of Diane Pancel. At one point in the evening I heard someone say they were motivated about networking because it’s not just about selling yourself, but it’s also about finding what you need. If you want to be apart of the action, check out the group’s facebook page to be updated on the next event!

And last, a shot of my two cuties! (Ryan & Tristan)

Tristan and I have been working on our new site for a while now, and are happy to say that it has finally been “launched”. We’ve been working together for 3 years, and it started to seem silly that we didn’t have a joint site. Now that we’re married ‘Jenna & Tristan’ will be our new wedding business, and after much thought i’ve changed my name to take his. You’ll notice that I’ve changed my header to Jenna Shouldice, and I will eventually change my personal website/blog to that as well. Until then my blog will remain the same address, and you can head on over to Jenna & Tristan to see our new site, and our recent work : ) http://www.jennaandtristan.com

In the beginning of July, Tristan and I flew down to Aruba to photograph Mayra and Manny’s wedding at the RIU Palace. Their wedding was host to some of the most energetic and supportive friends and family we’ve ever seen. It was beautiful to witness the emotions their guests experienced throughout the day, and the laughter that always followed. Mayra was stunning, her smile so contagious. I love being around brides when they are so happy they can barely stand it, and that was definitely Mayra. Everyone loves these two and it’s obvious why. It was a wonderful wedding to be apart of!

This morning I woke up to a nice surprise. Junebug Weddings posted their choices for the best of the best wedding photos of 2009 and one of my photos was selected. Also on this list are many photographers that I admire, including the photographers who photographed our wedding, Ben Chrisman and Erin Reed. It is truly an honour to be included on a list with such wonderful names. This shot is from Jane and Roberts wedding on vancouver island in September.

Last night I attended another fabulous Girls Night Mixer, hosted by the beautiful Veronique Da Silva. One year ago Veronique held the first mixer in her own living room. The mixer quickly grew in numbers and is now held at the much loved Union Pacific, with 75 women attending! Last night’s anniversary mixer was the 4th gathering, and I think it was the best one yet. This time we even had some mini-networkers join us! I was more than happy to photograph the event again, and share with you what I got from the night.