Now booking 2027 weddings!

Category: Behind the Scenes

Year in Review: 2020

I’m looking back on 2020 with so many mixed feelings…there was a lot of stress, uncertainty, fear. But there was also hope, love, and connection (even if it was through our saviour Zoom!)

This year in review post won’t be quite as in depth as it normally is with travel photos, tons of weddings, milestones and big events (see my 2019, 2018 and 2017 posts!) So unless you think you’d want to see a bunch of photos of Nick and I sitting in our backyard and Kitty sleeping in various spots, I’ll be keeping it short this year.

This year we didn’t leave Canada, didn’t even fly anywhere. We cottaged twice and camped once. But, we did get married. And that is certainly the highlight of the year for me. We went on our ‘mini moon’ to an incredibly beautiful Airbnb on Bay Lake, and also did some November camping for the first time ever.

I got to spend more time with Nick than ever, when we were both home during the lockdown in March and April. This gift of time together was such a treat, but it was also during the most stressful time I’ve ever had a business owner. Every time I opened my email inbox, I had to brace myself for yet another wedding postponement. My business, along with all of my other wedding industry friends, took a huge hit this year. I have never faced such uncertainty and stress, in the seven years that I’ve been running this show. I ended up letting go of any expectations for 2020, and once I did that, I felt like I could accept the situation and move forward, while still holding onto hope for a more ‘normal’ 2021. Now that we are here, I’m still not sure that 2021 will be the clean slate and new beginning we were hoping for, but at least this time, I won’t be surprised. Postponements, micro weddings, and contract addendums are now a part of my everyday vocabulary, whereas before these were things that almost never came out of my mouth. I feel so awful for all of my couples who had to make tough decisions regarding their wedding plans, and weren’t even able to be in control of when or how they made the decision. I was right there in it with them though, as our own wedding plans were sidelined for a year (we were able to have a super small micro wedding but moved our bigger celebration to 2021!) Several of my own best buds had their plans affected, and one managed to squeak in right in the nick of time (two days before lockdown!)

The seven weddings I was able to shoot in 2020, were very special and so unique. Going through so many changes regarding gathering restrictions, and different indoor/outdoor regulations was a lot for couples to keep up with, but in the end, all the weddings I was at were safe and super sweet.

The small upside to not having to shoot and edit my usual 25-30 weddings this year meant I could spend a lot of time outside during the summer! I did a ton of hiking in Hamilton this year, did my best in the garden, and also took my cooking game up to a whole new level. Sourdough was already in my repertoire pre-COVID, but I did revive my love for it again! Trying to avoid grocery shops closer than 1-2 weeks apart was tough, but it made me get even more creative. Want tacos for dinner but don’t have any taco shells? No problem, 2020 Jenn can whip up a batch of homemade tortillas! Grocery shopping has basically become a hobby these days.

Another bonus to having more time in my schedule was that I was able to document more families this year! I usually only offer mini sessions twice a year to my previous clients only, but this year I was able to host four mini sessions plus tree farm minis, and photograph some family and maternity photos on their own. I always have to turn down these sessions, since I try to maintain some semblance of a work-life balance and just weddings and engagement sessions keep me pretty busy. But this year I opened up my calendar to these bookings, and I really enjoyed them! I got to see some old friends, meet new families and spend lots of time goofing around with their kids and trying to make them laugh.

As promised, this is a short little post. I’ve gathered a few ‘highlights’ from my year, and popped them below. Our wedding photos by Tamara Lockwood are AMAZING and I think I’ll share some more here soon! Everything from the year is pretty much jumbled together below- bathroom reno updates, some sourdough shots, hikes, our minimoon, virtual costume parties, and our first every Christmas card.

Happy New Year!
xo Jenn

December 31, 2020
The Revel Sessions Workshop | Stationery + Flat Lay Styling

The Revel Sessions stationery and flat lay workshop was the very last project that I photographed before things really hit the fan with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was Wednesday, March 11th and things were just starting to get weird. I remember the days leading up to event date, thinking that we should probably refrain from shaking hands, hugging, etc and maybe establish some kind of other greeting. Ideas like placing your hands on your heart, or the elbow bump were floating around. Little did we know, that just five days later, we would be in full lockdown mode. Thankfully, everyone was mindful of what was going on and we were able to have an amazing day!

Laura of Laura Olsen Events and Krista of KJ & Co. launched The Revel Sessions as a series of practical and educational workshops that they saw were missing from the Canadian wedding industry. Their very first workshop focused on stationery planning and flat lay styling, featuring guest speakers Paper & Poste and Will Reid Photo.

Attendees spent the morning in the bright and beautiful atrium at Spencer’s At The Waterfront, learning from the guest speakers, and getting hands on with styling in the afternoon. Spencer’s, which is a Pearle Events venue, served up an incredible three-course lunch with wine pairing. My floral pal Quill + Oak rocked the flower bar, and my fave album company Dekora supplied some sweet styling boards! See below for a complete list of vendors.

The Revel Sessions has more incredible sounding workshops coming up, like Bubbly 101 (hello, sign me up!) with some dates TBD due to current gathering restrictions. Check out their workshop listings page to see what they have up their sleeves, and you can keep an eye on their Instagram to see when new ones are announced.

Hosts: The Revel Sessions, by KJ & Co. + Laura Olsen Events
Venue: Spencer’s at the Waterfront
Speakers: Paper & Poste and Will Reid Photo
Sponsors: Quill + Oak, Artisaire, Dekora, Simply Beautiful Decor, Stór by Margot, Locust Collection, Gather 33, The Dessert Room
Video: King of Hearts Media

September 3, 2020
Arizona Trip Part 1: Phoenix Engagement Session

As a wedding photographer, I’ve been lucky enough to go on some incredible adventures and travel to new places for destination weddings. One of my absolute faves was this Arizona elopement. Ontario couple Kathryn and Kyle hosted their immediate families (only 6 guests, plus Nick and I!) in a breathtaking Airbnb overlooking Page, Arizona and tied the knot on the ledge of Horseshoe Bend. Nick and I traveled to Arizona about a week beforehand, to do some road tripping and to also meet up with Kathryn and Kyle for their Phoenix engagement session!

Nick and I have done quite a few trips to the States, and we always have the best time! We’ve driven up and down almost all of the west coast, and our favourite way to explore is by hopping in a rental car, and just hitting the road! We’ve found that the best way to road trip is to not try to pack too much distance into one day, and to make sure that your itinerary doesn’t have you driving more than about 4 hours every day. We always stop so much along the way, to hike, sightsee, and check out restaurants, and we know that the feeling of having to ‘make good time’ and get to a new destination by a certain time can be stressful. Arriving at Airbnbs after dark can be challenging for parking and checking in, and I always feel better when I know what our surroundings look and feel like.

For this particular trip, we actually did a loop from Las Vegas because of where we needed to be and when, so we flew in and out of there. We didn’t spend any time in Vegas though, as we’d both been there before and didn’t feel the need to hit it up again. We drove straight to the Grand Canyon from the airport, and got to see it bathed in beautiful golden sunlight before the sun set! Because we were there in late afternoon/early evening on a weekday, we were able to find parking super easily and got to enjoy the views with almost no one around. After a one night stay in Flagstaff, we headed right down towards Phoenix, with a quick detour through Sedona! We hit up a baseball game in the city with Kat and Kyle, and stayed in Old Town Scottsdale, which is where I would definitely recommend staying. Tons of great restaurants and bars, and just a really great vibe overall.

The next day, we headed out to Usery Mountain Regional Park to photograph the session that you’ll see below! I had digitally scouted this place out before we even left home, with the help of Google Maps and Instagram! The mix of huge cacti, sandy trails, and peaks in the distance were exactly what we were all hoping for. To me it felt like such a classic AZ look and I’m so glad it worked out.

After our time in Scottsdale, we headed back up to Sedona where we spent my birthday weekend at the most gorgeous horse ranch. The views were incredible, with the red rocks practically towering over us ! We went horseback riding, and hiked the Devil’s Bridge at sunrise, where we witnessed a proposal! After that, it was time to head up to Page to prepare for Kat and Kyle’s elopement, which I’ll be sharing in my next blog post, Part 2!

Enjoy!
xo Jenn

February 27, 2020
Year in Review: 2019

New Years Eve has snuck up on us again, so that means it’s time for my yearly ‘Year in Review’ blog post! This is such a great way to reflect on the year I’ve had. Last year I started off this blog post by saying that I didn’t feel like I did much in 2018, and didn’t really celebrate any milestones. WELL. 2019 is a different story friends! I certainly did get to celebrate a few milestones, the most exciting of which was my engagement! Nick surprised me in February on bended knee (scroll to see!) and then I proceeded to spend the rest of the year taking every photo on his left side. I’m that girl now and I’m okay with it. We welcomed THREE more nephews into our family, we kept on exploring and enjoying everything Hamilton has to offer, and also got to celebrate the engagements of many of our close friends. I read 45 books (10 more than my goal of 35, and 15 more than last year!) and upheld my vow to not purchase any books. I rocked my library holds hard this year and saved a ton of money in the process.

2019 brought me 28 amazing couples who celebrated their wedding days with love. I photographed 15 engagement sessions, and 13 mini sessions. It is SO difficult to choose photos for this, especially choosing just one from each wedding.

This year I worked with many incredible friends and vendors, and occasionally it was documented.

Our TuesdaysTogether Hamilton group met up faithfully on the second Tuesday of the month, and we sometimes remember to take a group photo! I’m super grateful to have this community here.

January’s highlights included: volunteering at the Wed Well Showcase, a now annual wedding show that my pal KJ&Co hosts. I was featured on the Social Project podcast alongside my pal Hattie, where we chatted about biz, cuddled puppies, and make french onion soup together. I hosted my first of many mentor sessions at my house, helping other photographers learn new ways of doing things in their business!

February’s biggest event was our engagement on Valentines Day! It was an amazing weekend- since Valentine’s Day was on a Thursday, Nick and I spent the whole weekend visiting as many friends and family members as we could, sharing our exciting news in person. It was also the Family Day long weekend, AND Nicks birthday, so it was a full weekend indeed! Other highlights this month were attending the Love Actually gallery again, photographing a gorgeous styled shoot at the Art Gallery of Hamilton (and it was featured on Weddingbells!) I did a paint workshop, participated in the CrossFit 2019 Open, Nick passed his carpentry Red Seal exam, and a group of photography pals threw a midweek bachelorette spa day for our pal Kayla Yestal.

March looks like a lot of baking! I made an extremely labour intensive unicorn cake for my niece’s 5th birthday, and my girl Deanne taught me how to make sourdough at home. Oh, and we booked our wedding venue!

April brought along TWO destination weddings, which was incredible and a very welcome escape from a lingering winter. Nick came along to Mexico with me, and my friend Kei (our wedding florist!) accompanied me to the Dominican.

May brought along an epic adventure, which was a bit of a fluke but it all worked out in the end! My friend Tamara hooked me up with an amazing elopement with two of the coolest people around, so Nick and I tacked on a 9 day road trip on top of photographing Kat and Kyle’s elopement in Arizona. If you’ve never been to this state, you have to go. It’s incredible- one of our favourite spots in the US for sure! I celebrated my birthday on this trip, and finally got to go horseback riding, after writing it on my yearly ‘to do’ list for practically the past 10 years. The day after we flew home, we headed up to Algonquin for our annual May long weekend camping trip, and we patiently awaited the arrival of our twin nephews! I joined a gorgeous co-working space at the end of my street, which was fantastic for hosting my client meetings!

June brought the arrival of my sweet twin nephews. I photographed my spring mini sessions and wedding season moved into high gear!

In July, I got to spend Canada Day with my oldest pal who was visiting from the US. Nick and I spent a great weekend in Port Elgin, and I also attended my 4th Rising Tide Leaders retreat, which was hosted in Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota.

In August, Nick and I celebrated our 7th anniversary, and we spent the long weekend locally for once! I attended a super sweet floral crown dinner with some amazing women, and we snuck away to Almonte for a weekend to hang out with my sister and her family.

September was our 3rd ‘housiversary’ and if you haven’t noticed by now, I like to celebrate even the smallest of things! We’ve been in Hamilton for three years now and are still loving exploring new places here! Hiking and trying new restaurants are some of our favourite things to do! At the end of the month, we rented a 60 foot houseboat for my Dad’s 60th birthday, and wore nautical stripes and pirate paraphernalia all weekend.

October was a whirlwind of a month, which was full of engagement sessions and tons of wedding editing. We managed to find a day to have our own engagement session done, and we are so thankful to Deanne MacRae for taking the time to make these beautiful photos for us! I photographed my last wedding of the year this month!

November was a month spent editing wedding photos, but also finally having some free time on the weekends to see my friends! Summer gets away from me so quickly while shooting weddings, so November was a great month to resurface. I took a train to Montreal to celebrate my girl Jacqueline’s bachelorette weekend and we had the best time! We headed to the Kawarthas to a friend’s cottage, where we played games and stayed cozy by the fire. Also I put my Christmas tree up extremely early and enjoyed the lights every single day.

December was full of fun and parties! I attended a launch party for a new venue in Hamilton, went to my first drag show, threw a potluck Christmas party at my house for my TuesdaysTogether group and went to our annual Kris Kringle friends Christmas party. Tons of time with family and friends, holiday tunes and warm magical Christmas lights is all I need from this month!

I put this together rather quickly today, as I’m heading out to a New Years Eve party very shortly but wanted to make sure I got this finished before the year was out! Thanks for making it this far along, and I hope your 2019 was one you can look back on fondly. Cheers to 2020!
xo Jenn

December 31, 2019
Two Weeks in Italy: Venice, Florence, Tuscany + Amalfi

Two weeks in Italy, somehow didn’t feel like enough time. The most beautiful country, with the best food and a great philosophy in life. It was a trip that I’d been talking about for a very long time with one of my oldest pals, Jacqueline, and I’m so happy we finally made the trip. I know I’ll be back again!

We went in early spring, right at the end of April and into early May. I’m pretty sure we couldn’t have picked a better time to visit. The weather was so gorgeous (probably too hot already for some travellers, but I love the heat). We were lucky to enjoy 30 degree sun filled days, while at the same time welcoming spring with tons of flowers and beautiful plants spilling over the balconies lining the piazzas and alleyways. We also visited right before the summer tourists were out in full force, although everywhere we went was pretty busy so I can’t imagine going in the heat of the summer with even more tourists. We stayed exclusively in Airbnbs, which I always highly recommend.

I’m not going to post a super detailed itinerary and all the ‘can’t miss spots’, since truthfully, that’s not the kind of traveller I am. But I will share a rough outline of what we did and some cool spots along the way! We practically skipped Rome, in favour of somewhat smaller cities, didn’t wait in line for one tourist spot and didn’t hit up any museums. My favourite way to explore new places is to spend time outside, walking absolutely everywhere, tasting food and drinks along the way. For most the the trip, we were hitting about 30,000 steps a day (close to 20km) and ending the day with sore feet and happy hearts.

You might be surprised to hear that I don’t bring my camera everywhere (I brought it out for one day in each spot). But I thought I’d share just a few of the photos I did take (the rest are cell phone photos of plates of gnocchi).

Rome

Day 1: We flew overnight to Rome and took the first train out of the city, up to Venice.

Venice

Days 2-3: Two days was plenty here. We stayed in the Cannaregio area, which I would recommend. Pack your running shoes- everyone here wears ’em (and somehow manage to make it look cute!) Walking is your only choice, other than paying for water taxis, which we managed to avoid. Hit up the Jewish Ghetto for pre-dinner drinks (a rare find in Italy) and just get lost in the endless alleys.

Florence

Days 4-5: Hopped on a high speed train to Florence and once again, did tons of walking. The duomo in the center of the city is hard to miss and is absolutely beautiful. My fave day here was walking up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, which overlooks the city and surrounding area. Tons of gorgeous gardens and pathways kept us busy for a few hours. We had a great dinner at Osteria Cinghiale Bianco (thanks to Ramon for the recommendation!) which is located just over the famed Ponte Vecchio.

Tuscany

Days 6-8: We rented a car to drive to and from Tuscany (we opted to rent near the Florence airport, to avoid driving through busy downtown Florence. The jury is out if that actually helped or not!) Three things that were lifesavers: spending the extra money to rent an automatic car since neither of us can drive stick shift, making sure the car had a GPS unit (don’t even bother trying to screenshot phone directions or anything like that) and having my passenger paying attention to the drive as well (who doesn’t want an extra confirmation on a roundabout in a foreign country?!) Tuscany was probably my favourite spot. The drives alone are absolutely gorgeous and make the trip worth it, up on top of winding hills with views that stretch as far as the eye can see.

We stayed in Castel San Gimignano, at an Airbnb with an amazing pool and even better views. There was very little English spoken out that way but we got by just fine without it! We checked out the surrounding hill towns, took drives, visited wineries, searched for the perfect row of cypress trees, ate tons of pizza, and enjoyed wine at sunset overlooking the rolling hills. Our hosts had a family restaurant around the corner, and it was the perfect dinner spot!

Amalfi

Days 9-13: Alright, I’m going to just say it. Amalfi was cool to see, but we spent way too much time here and honestly, most of the spots I wouldn’t need to go to again. Before you light your torches and run me out of Italy, hear me out! The Amalfi Coast is not an easy place to get around. We ended up staying right in Amalfi, but there are other spots I would likely pick now to stay (we booked a little late and couldn’t find anything affordable/in a good spot in Positano). However, Amalfi is a bus and ferry hub so it was easier to get to and from here than it would have been from smaller towns. From Amalfi, we took day trips all over the coast and back, and got to know the area pretty well. All of these little towns are suuuuuper touristy- the main stretch of them all sell the same things, all have expensive Americanized restaurants, etc. However- go deeper into the alleys and find the spots serving authentic Italian food (and even better, the seafood!) and spend time on your own exploring, instead of hitting up the overpriced tours.

My favourite day was the hike we did on Jacqueline’s 30th birthday. The Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei, or sometimes called the Walk of the Gods) is SO worth it, however you find your way up to the top. Because of a holiday, buses that are normally tricky to catch up to Bomerano became impossible to concur on our chosen hike day, so we ended up forking up the money for a private ride up to the starting point of the hike. The views are incredible, and it’s all downhill and is quite a manageable hike. You have the option to stop your hike part way down, but we decided to walk all the way down into Positano and were rewarded with the best view of the iconic seaside town (plenty of photos of that below!)

I personally feel like Sorrento would be a skip (we went, you might like it if you’re into shopping) and Capri wasn’t my fave either. Positano is a must see from the coast. My other absolute favourite spot along the coast was Furore beach (or Canyon of Furore), a small secluded beach that is too picturesque to put into words. I found it on Pinterest before our trip and it was so easy to get to and well worth the wait for bus ride home!

Rome (again)

Day 14: We got to Rome after taking a train from Salerno, checked into our Airbnb and did a whirlwind four hour walk to hit up as many of the major spots as we could on our last afternoon, just so we can say we did! The Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Trevi fountain, and the Spanish steps all got a walk by.

Overall: Italy is a wonderful spot and I can’t wait to go back again soon. If you are planning a trip and have any questions please feel free to reach out and I’d be happy to share anything I can remember. Eat a gelato every day, slow down your pace, and enjoy the view!

Enjoy!
xo Jenn

Canals in Venice, by Jenn Kavanagh Photography

Venetian Doorway, by Jenn Kavanagh Photography

Wisteria in Venice by Jenn Kavanagh Photography

Canals in Venice by Jenn Kavanagh Photography

Overlooking Florence, Italy by Jenn Kavanagh Photography

View from Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence, Italy by Jenn Kavanagh Photography

Castel San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy

Airbnb in Castel San Gimignano, Tuscany

Airbnb in Castel San Gimignano, Tuscany

Airbnb in Castel San Gimignano, Tuscany

Airbnb in Castel San Gimignano, Tuscany

View from Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence

View from Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence, Italy

Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence, Italy

Spring in Italy

San Gimignano, Tuscany

San Gimignano, Tuscany

San Gimignano, Tuscany

San Gimignano, Tuscany

San Gimignano, Tuscany

San Gimignano, Tuscany

Castel San Gimignano, Tuscany

Castel San Gimignano, Tuscany

Perfect Cypress Trees in Tuscany

Cypress Trees in Tuscany

Positano, view from the Path of the Gods

Positano, view from the Path of the Gods

Positano, view from the Path of the Gods

Gorgeous architecture in Capri

Fiordo di Furore, Amalfi Coast

The best beach in Amalfi, Fiordo di Furore, Amalfi Coast

February 12, 2019
Year in Review: 2018

I was thinking about this post earlier today and chatting with Nick, saying how it kind of felt like I didn’t do much this year and wasn’t sure if I would even post a year in review. Then I sat down and wrote out all the highlights, the new places I’d been and the celebrations for others that I’d been a part of. I quickly realized that even though I didn’t personally celebrated any major life milestones (other than turning 30!) it was still a very full year and there is a lot to look back on and be grateful for. I’m not the best at posting personal photos online, or even remembering to take them, but luckily others are so between my photos and others’, I’ve put together a little highlight reel from 2018! This is more for myself to look back on year after year, but I thought I’d share it here since I don’t manage to get up many blog posts that are non-wedding related!

My 25 weddings this I photographed this year!

Most of my typical day to day routines involves working from home, heading to CrossFit midday (I managed to get myself there 135 days this year!) cooking dinner with Nick and relaxing with Kitty for the evening. I set a goal of reading 18 books this year but surpassed that by reading 30! We started a vegetable garden and it outgrew our space almost immediately (hehe) and we learned that 4 kale plants is 3 too many. I spent time with my growing family, and hosted TuesdaysTogether every month. Some days are more special than others and these are the ones I want to remember!

January: I kicked the New Year off with a trip to New Orleans for our annual TuesdaysTogether leaders retreat! In other years we have gone to Charleston, SC and San Fran- so it’s always a nice surprise to head somewhere new! I split an amazing Airbnb with my pal Shaunea, ate more beignets than necessary, and literally felt sick listening to creepy stories on a ghost walk. I also got to connect with leaders from all over, soak up inspiration from the many incredible speakers we had, and explore everything this historic city has to offer (including Coconut La Croix).

February: The biggest highlight from this month was my new website launch! This was a huge accomplishment for me and something that had been stuck on the back burner for ages. It feels so good to have an online space now that really reflects myself and my brand. February also brought Nick’s birthday and a very snowy beer fest at Steamwhistle, followed by a 30th birthday dinner for my girl Kayla!

March: I had the pleasure to participate in a styled shoot with many talented bossbabes, and we welcomed yet another nephew into the family, baby Jack!

April: At the beginning of the month, I attended the grand opening of Modern Bride in Guelph, the most beautiful bridal shop there is! But the most exciting part of this month was travelling to Italy with one of my best gal pals Jacqueline. It’s a trip we’ve talked about for years and years and we finally did it. Two full weeks of soaking up the gorgeous views, all the gnocchi possible, and walking 30,000 steps a day. We also celebrated Jack’s 30th birthday here (and celebrated Laura’s over FaceTime!) I still have plans to post my photos from Italy on the blog- hopefully in January!

Photo by: 1486 Photography

May: After coming home from Italy at the beginning of May, I did some laundry and repacked my bags for Nikki and Adam’s wedding in Cancun, Mexico! Another new place to visit! I celebrated my 30th birthday on May 12th with Nick, some bubbly, and reading by pool and soaking up the sun. After we came home, we did repacked our bags again and headed up to Algonquin for our 11th annual May long weekend camping trip. At the end of the month, I photographed my spring mini sessions.

June: June was a busy month with 6 weddings and 6 engagement sessions, but luckily I had the first weekend off and was able to attend the cutest surprise 30th party for my pal Lindsay.

July: To celebrate Canada Day, my sister and brother in law hosted a big pool party and I spent the next day by the pool again with my pal Laura who was visiting from the States. Floaties and cold drinks for the win! The week after, my fave girl Tamara married her love Brent and I was so happy to be there (as a guest!) to witness it. At the end of the month, Nick and I had two more getaways planned. I always keep the last weekend of July off and the August long weekend, as kind of a mid-season break to look forward to. We headed up to Tobermory camping with our pals Iain and Alison, a spot I have somehow never been to!

August: Nick and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary, and then jetted off to Philadelphia for the weekend to hang with my pal Laura. The rest of the month was a whirlwind of editing my summer weddings and shooting 4 more. Nick stood as a groomsmen at the best farm wedding ever, and I was happy to be able to join them later in the evening after photographing another beautiful wedding.

September: My biz bestie buddy Deanne married Rob and I was so happy to photograph the day for them. I also got to witness my gorgeous gal Danielle from The White Book marry her love Carm, on the windiest but most perfect day ever. We snuck away for a midweek cottage break near Perth and met up with my sister and brother in law for lunch! I had 6 weddings this month again and photographed my Fall mini sessions.

October: We celebrated Thanksgiving with our families in London and Lake Erie. I had only one wedding in October to photograph, but it was epic enough to fill me up for the month. We went on a helicopter! A week later, with teary eyes and a full heart, I was watching my future brother-in-law marry his wife, Naomi. We had an awesome dance party and celebrated into the night. The next week I finally got to spend some time with friends after busy season came to a slow, which included a Dwayne Gretzy show and watching some legendary Canadian figure skaters perform on their tour.

Photo by: Sarah Andrews Photography

Once in a while I get to photograph my girl Kei’s ‘leftovers’ from her floral biz, Quill + Oak.

November: I photographed my very last wedding of 2018, and came home to pop some bubbly and celebrate another successful season! I immediately put my newly free weekends to good use and headed up to our friends’ cottage for a weekend of games, hottubbing and cozy hangouts. We caught the Holiday Train as it passed through Hamilton and went to see Nick’s cousin’s band play, the Fast Romantics. I also celebrated 5 years as a full time wedding photographer!

December: This month I was focusing on making sure that all of my couples had their wedding images by the holidays, so they could enjoy and share with their families. I was also looking forward to taking some time off to enjoy the festive season! December was full of plans. We went to see Home Alone with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (again), had dinner out with some of my fave GTA photographers, had friends over in Hamilton, celebrated Christmas earlier in the month with both sides of my family and our 12th Annual Kris Kringle Katastrophe party.

I just posted my Best Nine on Instagram this afternoon. Some of my favourite images of the year were also yours too!

Happy New Year, friends. Hope 2019 is magical!

December 31, 2018
Year in Review: 2017

I try to post a ‘Year in Review’ post each year, as a way of looking back and reflecting on how many wonderful things can happen in just 365 days! Some years have more ‘epic’ moments than others (huge trips, buying a home, birth of yet another nibling), but even the small moments and achievements should still be celebrated. I went on some smaller trips this year, had a wonderful wedding season with a lot of great couples, worked on updating the look of my business with some new branding, and kept on painting this house white and adding plants!

So grateful to Caitlin Free Photography for capturing so many sweet moments of me and my family at my pals Sarah & Greg’s wedding this summer!

Behind The Scenes: Snippets and Highlights!

-Went to San Francisco for the 2017 Rising Tide Society Leaders retreat! We are gathering again in one month for the 2018 retreat which is in New Orleans this time. I can’t wait!

Photo by: Laura & Rachel Photography

-Went on a long awaited family vacation to Cuba! Nothing out of the ordinary, just a week hanging by the pool, reading books, indulging in some drinks, and hanging out with all my siblings and niblings (the official term for nieces and nephews, in case you didn’t know!)

-I transitioned from the TuesdaysTogether leader of GTA West to finally lead a chapter in the city I live in, Hamilton! Hosting closer to home and getting to know the creative business owners in this area has been so rewarding. Plus, I get to co-lead with my biz bestie Christine!

-Went on a branding journey with EM Branding + PR! In the process, I learned a lot about myself and my business, and that I really, really like pink. So much so that I have THREE versions of pink in my new branding colours. I haven’t released much of this yet but in the new year, I certainly will be. Here is a sneak peek- check out a snippet of my brand style board!

I got to stand beside TWO of my BFFs on their wedding days! Putting down the camera and being in the moment for an entire wedding day was so refreshing. Two of my talented pals were in charge of capturing the day so I could rest easy! Thank you Caitlin Free and Christine W Photography for taking all of these wonderful shots of my besties and also so many of me. Ha!

Nick and I celebrated our FIVE year anniversary (holy cow, where does the time go!) and our first full year in our #littlewhitehamblyhouse. Still no major renos, but we did make some small improvements and tried to learn how to keep our front lawn alive (and failed miserably, if you must know). The garden did amazing and my indoor plants are still alive, hooray!

We finally got something up in that big empty space above the couch! @sonderwood made these simple butternut shelves with IKEA brackets. And now I have all the room for plants 🌱🍃🌿 just need some prints to fill these frames! (Ps @christine_w_photography your little plant is doing a-okay. One week down!)

A post shared by jenn kavanagh photography (@jennkavs) on Dec 20, 2017 at 7:07am PST

✨ 1000th post! ✨ This weekend we are celebrating one year as homeowners! I can’t believe how quickly this year flew by but we are still smitten with #hamont and all the exciting changes that are happening here. Our #littlewhitehamblyhouse is looking very bright and clean today so I thought I’d share some before and afters! This house is full of hand me downs from our parents and grandmothers, IKEA decor and lots and lots of white paint. We haven’t really renovated much yet, just took down all the fluffy curtains (I literally spent my first 10 minutes in this house doing that) and did A LOT of painting. It has a ways to go, including getting rid of an unholy amount of old, mismatched and hideous tiling (not shown 😂) and perhaps a kitchen that wasn’t built in the 1950s. We’ll get there 🙈 @sonderwood time flies heh? 💕

A post shared by jenn kavanagh photography (@jennkavs) on Sep 15, 2017 at 8:35am PDT

Flip through to see some drastic before and afters. All you need is a little paint and less curtains!

-Nick and I travelled down to Jamaica, Vermont to witness one of Nick’s best friends Curtis marry his love Tessa. I photographed the day and Nick actually officiated the celebration (legally!) There were 11 of us there, and we spent the week hiking, cooking and cooling off in the river (it was that week in September that was like 40 degrees!)

-Spent some time (but not as much as I would have liked!) with my business besties. These ladies are so important to me (although we are missing a few faces here) and I value their friendship and guidance so much.

Best Nine

As always, I share so much of my work on Instagram, as well as a decent amount of behind the scenes insights and the occasional food photo. Here is my #bestnine for 2017!

Year in Review: Weddings

Another awesome year full of sweet, supportive couples! I value nothing greater than having clients who fully trust in my vision and know that I’m always looking out for what’s best for them with their photos and their wedding experience. This year, I was lucky enough to welcome 24 couples into the Jenn Kavanagh Photography family, and each one was beautful and meaningful in their own way. I shot 21 engagement sessions, some for folks who are getting married in 2018, and a few who already walked down the aisle later in the year!

I thought I would feature a few more aspects of my work this year, including some of my favourite parts of wedding days!

Bridal Portraits

I try to get these timeless photos of every bride, and thought I would feature my fave of every bride I photographed this year. I imagine her granddaughter in years to come having this framed in her house, and cherishing it.

Bridal Party

Here are the best of the best. I love how many photos I have of groomsmen laughing- I tend to love those more than the standard ‘standing in a line’ shot!

And of course, I always have such a soft spot for bridesmaids photos. I spend way more time with the ladies on a wedding day than I do with the guys (since I’m with the bride in the morning during her prep). So many beautifully supportive women stood beside their BFFS and sisters this year.

Florals

Where do I even begin…florals add SO much to wedding photography. Before I became a wedding photographer, I thought flowers were a waste and never thought I’d be interested in them. But here we are, I’m a floral fangirl and I know how much time and knowledge went into these bouquets by all the wonderful florists I have the pleasure of working with! A few of my faves from this year.

First Looks

These are some of the best reactions and photos of my couples seeing each other for the first time! Melts my heart every time.

Second Shooters!

So thankful to the incredible women who work alongside me at weddings! Deanne, my main squeeze! We can communicate with just crazy eyes and I’m so grateful I got to spend so many weddings days with you this year! Jacqueline, Caitlin, Allison and Brittany – you are all sweethearts and I appreciate you loving my clients and putting so much care into your work. And thank you for grabbing these behind the scenes shots of me working! Many crazy faces and double chins were sifted through to find a few keepers, haha!

And thats a wrap! I’m looking forward to spending the next week with Nick and our families, and then ringing in the New Year and looking ahead to 2018! Time to start thinking about those goals!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to anyone who has made it this far down this post.
I appreciate you reading and each and every loving comment is read with a smile on my face!

Cheers,
xo Jenn

December 21, 2017
TuesdaysTogether Toronto – January Meetup

This morning we had our January TuesdaysTogether Toronto meetup at Le Dolci bakery! We sipped on coffee, had some delicious treats (cupcakes and macarons for the win!) and chatted about everything to do with goals. Danielle from The White Book Wedding Co shared her philosophies on living your life to the fullest and settings goals based on how you want to feel everyday and throughout your entire life. Grouping those feelings together into larger ideas and words will help get you to where you want to be (i.e if feeling like a girl boss, independent, powerful and feminine all make the list, you want to focus on what steps you need to take to make yourself feel that way every single day).

If you’re not sure what the heck I’m talking about, TuesdaysTogether is an initiative that was started by the Rising Tide Society in the early months of 2015 (Check out my explanation from our June meetup!) As a part of this group, are encouraging creative entrepreneurs to get together once a month to foster a supportive community! Our meetups happen all over the world and are united by hashtags (follow along #tuesdaystogether and our local meetings at #risingtideyyz and #tuesdaystogethertoronto)

Thanks again to Le Dolci for graciously hosting us and feel free to contact me if you are a Toronto creativepreneur looking to join us!

xo Jenn

January 20, 2016
Year in Review: 2015 Behind the Scenes

Finally, the third and final Year in Review blog post! This time I’ll be shedding some light on all that goes on behind the scenes…when I’m not photographing weddings and being a #girlboss! Read last year’s recap here! This year brought many new wonderful opportunities and challenges, and while it’s so hard to sum up an entire year in just a few sentences and some collages, I’ll do my best!

California
First off, early in the year I headed to Ben Sasso’s FOSTER workshop in California! I met a lot of great people, learned a lot, and became very envious of California’s light and landscape. View that blog post here!

Thanks to Tamara Lockwood, Ben Sasso and Benj Haisch for the shots of me! And Ryan Longnecker for the group shot!

After the workshop, I met Nick at LAX in our big campervan rental and headed up the coast through Big Sur to San Fran. We camped along the way and hugged the coast for a good week and a half before ending up in San Fran. My pal Sarah and her ‘fiance/husband’ Brad showed us the ropes and gave us a place to stay, and in exchange I photographed some engagement photos for them! See their session here!

Part way up the coast, I hooked up with Monika Greenaway in Carmel and we did some photos of each other. Such a sweetheart and I’ll cherish these shots forever! View more of my photos from that session here!

Orchard Row Styled Shoot
The day after my birthday, I photographed this incredibly beautiful wedding inspiration shoot. I can’t even express how blown away I was by the talent of all the vendors involved. It was published on the Ruffled blog and it’s something I am still so proud of. See my blog post about it here!

Aisle Academy
Later in the year I was super honoured to be featured in the Aisle Academy’s newsletter! This year I really embraced being a creativepreneur and small business owner, and I’ve enjoy sharing my learnings and advice for up and coming wedding industry folks. My feature can be seen here!

Thanks to Christine W Photography for my new headshots (and for being such a wicked person in general).

Rising Tide Society
One of the biggest shakeups this year was the arrival of the Rising Tide Society in my life. This movement was born in May, and by June I was appointed the Toronto leader for TuesdaysTogether, and welcomed over 50 creative entrepreneurs to our very first meetup. Since then, we now have over 200 members in our Toronto group and the Rising Tide Society is home for more than 13,000 members. Interacting with such like-minded people who thrive in the spirit of community over competition has changed the way I run my business day to day and how I interact with other wedding professionals in my area (a.k.a I have a lot of new and amazing friends!)

Thank you Sara Monika for capturing our June meetup!

lululemon Ambassador Photos
One piece of my business is very near and dear to my heart, and it’s one that I don’t share about too often. I am an approved photographer for lululemon’s ambassador photoshoots, and this means I get to hang out with more like-minded folks who love to sweat and have smiles on their faces most of the time. I love being a part of these shoots because it’s so different from my typical wedding or engagement shoot, and it’s usually an activity I’m passionate about (yoga and CrossFit…) These are some of my faves from later this year with Upper Canada Mall!

Sonderwood
Nick has started building me photo boxes this year, and I’m so proud of him and how far he has come in such a short amount of time. Glue and tung oil practically run from his veins at this point but his final products just feel so amazing and are a great combo for storing prints and USBs. Today we finally shared this on Instagram (follow him @Sonderwood!) and he is hoping to start offering this to other photographers in Canada. I’m adding these boxes + prints to my 2017 wedding packages and they’ll be available for 2016 wedding clients a la carte. Aren’t they beautiful?!

Behind the Scenes
As always, I love including some behind the scenes shots of me from weddings! I had some incredible second shooters this year, who captured these moments and many more. Thank you to Caitlin, Steph, Christine, Kayla, Alana, Noelle, Janna and Cari!

Creating for Creation’s Sake
After wedding season wrapped up and I finished editing my final wedding edit, I decided to shoot something just for the purpose of creating. My pal Ashley is always up for shooting with me and has a killer wardrobe, so she was my go to! I had some techniques and posing ideas that I wanted to try out, and I’m so happy with the shots we got!

Family
I’ve also officially become that Aunt from that Buzzfeed video, who doesn’t have any kids of her own but is obsessed with her niece and nephew, and talks about them like they are her own. Abby and our newest arrival Hank are my favourite people! So much of my free time is spent hanging out with them and Facetiming daily. #obsessed

Instagram
Best nine on Instagram this year! I share a pretty good mix of my wedding work as well as behind the scenes photos here- follow along @jennkavs!

A snapshot of what 2015 looked like on Instagram!

December 31, 2015
Year in Review: 2015 Wedding Photos

I spent some time today going through all of my favourite 2015 wedding photos and it’s been SO hard to choose just one or two from each day! I had 26 amazing couples this year, and I wish I could’ve shared 10 from each wedding day! I shot weddings all the way from Owen Sound to the Dominican Republic and I’m so grateful for each one.
Christmas has come and gone but I’m still in holiday mode! Staying cozy, watching Netflix with Nick, and ‘thinking about’ heading back to the gym are the plan for this week, with some low key New Years eve celebrations. On New Years Eve I’ll be opening my ‘2015: Jar of Wonderful Things’ and reflecting on all of the big goals and accomplishments from this past year. I’ll also be posting some behind the scenes photos from this year, so stay tuned!

And without further adieu, here are some shots from each and every wedding I had the incredible opportunity to document this year!
xo Jenn

I kicked off the year at Hockley Valley with Jenn and Greg- who are now expecting! Couldn’t be happier for these two!

Such a fun couple to hang out with and I loved their non-traditional cocktail style wedding at Twist Art Gallery!

Dan brought some of his British flair to his and Sarah’s big day- love this carefree shot!

Gorgeous couple, inside and out. Jeanine and Danny’s beautiful spring wedding was one for the books.

I can’t get enough of cherry blossoms! I always try taking advantage of these for the short time they are out.

I photographed this very tiny and intimate ceremony for Nikita and Jarrel on my birthday and I wouldn’t have had it any other way! They flew down to the Domican the next day to celebrate with a big group of family and friends!

Katrina and Aron’s rustic glam wedding was just so beautiful and they were all smiles, all day!

So much happiness! The rain barely stayed away for this ceremony at Knollwood Golf Course but I’m glad it did!

Champagne toasts and snuggles were on the bill for this June wedding with Erin and Paul.

I always enjoy photographing Glencairn Golf Club weddings!

Brit and Kyle were regular celebrities with the Say Yes to the Dress film crew following them around all day! It was the fairy tale day they had always dreamed of.

Kerry was beaming this entire day!

The willow trees on Bear Estate are the perfect backdrop for afternoon weddings!

Just the cutest couple with impeccable style. Glad to be a part of this day!

Million dollar smiles, all day!

Coming back down the aisle shots are always my favourites from every wedding day. So much pure joy and candid emotion!

These cats from ‘Berta knew how to throw a party!

We did a church ceremony on Friday and a beautiful backyard reception, and then the next morning…

We all flew to the Dominican to have a week long celebration!

Moments after their very sweet first look. Jon may or may not have shed a few tears…I’ll never tell!

Am I allowed to say #worththedrive? Cobble Beach was stunning, and the water looked so inviting!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, BEST. GROOM. REACTION. EVER.

Laura was my rocker bride and I loved her incredibly laid back and trusting nature. Her Mom officiated the ceremony and the two of them danced down the aisle together!

Even though I chose some black and whites to showcase here, this was the most colourful wedding of the year! KJ and Co did a stellar job bringing Linda and Rory’s vision to life and Blush and Bloom nailed it with their florals.

My laid back and relaxed couple, who had one of the most touching ceremonies all year. Strolling around the Royal Botanical Gardens with this group after the ceremony was a blast! I love how they are such a great group of friends.

We couldn’t have been any luckier with the timing of the rain on this day! Just enough time to get lots of pre-ceremony photos with Karen and her family, and then it completely downpoured. But it stopped raining just in time for our portrait session!

My neighbours (practically!) We live so close to each other that I get to hand deliver every piece of mail or prints that I have for them, and it’s a nice way to pop by and say hello!

Jess and I joke that we are kindred spirits and also pen pals…what a couple of sweethearts! Such a stunning Old Mill wedding.

Oh what a day- this DIY wedding was executed flawlessly and these two had one of the cutest first looks EVER! Plus…Caitlin’s dimples are basically the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

Laura and Nick were ahead of the Pantone 2016 game! Periwinkle looks good on these girls!

My last wedding of 2015…and even though it was wet and rainy, we were prepared with a plan and some umbrellas and I loved this wrap up to my season!

December 30, 2015