2019 was a big year for me, in both business and my personal life. It’s the year we were married, bought our first home and found out we’re expecting our first baby girl in April 2020! In early August, just days after moving into our new home, we had to make the difficult decision to put our beautiful old lab Karma down. It was an incredibly hard decision and we miss her every day.
In February I travelled to California for the Click Away Conference, which I’d won a ticket to. However, that happened to be over the same weekend when snowpocalypse hit the lower mainland, Victoria and Seattle, causing crazy travel delays heading to and from California. Thankfully, I did make it to the conference and only missed the one day. Heading home took me two days of travel versus the 5 hours it should have been… but I made it home and then came more snow and the cold stretch that had the snow lasting close to a month! We made my horse Zappa a snowman for his paddock and were very thankful we’d bought a truck over new years with 4-wheel drive and good winter tires.
At the end of April, Bryan and I went on a what we decided to call a “pre-wedding honeymoon” (we didn’t end up doing an actual honeymoon so this really was it!) with his parents and one brother to French Polynesia. His brother captained the 40-foot catamaran we called home for 14 days of sailing around a few of the Polynesian islands—Bora Bora, Tahaa and Raitea. We had quite the adventure and somehow managed to survive the trip in the confined space without killing each other or losing anyone overboard (well, there was one unintentional splash into the water but that’s a whole other story!) I have a special talent for finding horses wherever I travel, and French Polynesia was no exception! I spent an afternoon riding and swimming with the horses in the ocean at Ranch Cadichon while the guys all went scuba diving with sharks.
June arrived quickly and wedding planning was in full swing. My bachelorette party was the weekend before the wedding and 18 of us girls descended on Sundance Guest Ranch in Ashcroft for a weekend of riding, eating, drinking, lounging by the pool and line dancing. The horses and guides were amazing, as was the food, and I highly recommend checking them out if you’re looking for a guest ranch vacation!
Our wedding was the best day ever! The sun came out in full force, everything went so smoothly, even riding in on Zappa which was my childhood dream come true. Thanks again to all those who were involved to make it so special for us.
Photography this year took me to Prince George for the first time for a few days of equestrian sessions. We lucked out and had great weather and a lot of fun. Thanks to Kim, Devin and Alivia for hosting me! In August I was off on my annual visit to NewView Stables just outside of Calgary for more equestrian sessions. The weather was more challenging with a lot of rain and thick, soupy fog, but in the end that helped to create some more dramatic images anyhow! Thanks to Ashleigh, Cory and Jaxson for having me out again.
I was very busy all year with photoshoots and writing two columns each month for Seaside Magazine here on the Saanich Peninsula. I’ve so enjoyed being a part of their team and it’s going to be hard to take a step back when I go on maternity leave in March 2020.
Speaking of maternity leave… many of you have been asking what next year will look like for me in terms of work and the short answer is I don’t really know! I’m planning to take a few months off from mid- March to the end of July. I will be photographing a limited number or weddings and taking on a select number of portrait sessions as well after that time.
As always, thank you to my incredible clients who every year continue to trust and support me and my photography. I hope you enjoy the selection of photos below—a few highlights from the year in no particular order!
Cheers to 2020 and the many more adventures to come!
[Special thanks to Tasha Cline Photography for our two wedding photos featured at the end of this post!]
