Edmonton Wedding & Portrait Photography | Don't Say Cheese - Photography by Rhiannon Risidore

I love what I do. I know you may hear that a lot from photographers, but it’s true. I get a front row seat to some of life’s most exciting and important moments. Amanda + Chris aren’t new to me, or new to my blog. They were one of my couples who got married last year, and they just had a beautiful baby girl!

Meet Alyce. She was in such a rush to meet her parents, that they weren’t sure they would make it to the hospital in time.

I didn’t.

I was supposed to have a front row seat to her entrance into this world, but she came so fast, that I got a text saying she had already arrived when I was 5 minutes away from getting there myself. I went anyways, because even though I couldn’t be there during the labour and delivery for photos, I wanted to grab a few “after” pictures anyways.

Big brother, Kinder, wasn’t totally sure about his sister, but was pretty happy to see his mom and dad and give her the flowers and presents he picked out with Grandma. I’m sure he’ll be absolutely in love with her soon enough :)

I can’t wait to see them again soon for their formal newborn / family session.

So. I’m still on the hunt for someone who would like to have a photographer present during their own labour and delivery in St. Albert or Edmonton. If you know anyone interested in this, please send them my way!

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Rhiannon Risidore | 780-708-4497 | rhiannon@dontsaycheese.ca

Tomorrow my boy turns 5. I’m a little sad that it has happened so quickly. I’m pretty sure that the last 5 years have gone by faster than any other year before that. Right now, he’s obsessed with guns, superheroes, wrestling with his dad, and just about all things “boy”. He’s also in his last few weeks of playschool, and then it’s on to a busy, fun filled summer and Kindergarten. Gasp, I have to get up early every day! I’m going to enjoy every minute of the “dog days of summer” for sure!!

Originally, I had planned on doing an ice cream sundae bar as the theme for his party, but after reading an awesome blog where they featured a camping theme, I was sold. We took the kids on a short, one night camping trip for the first time last summer, and they fell in love. We can’t wait to do it again this summer. I decided to change to a camping theme.

I had featured a few different things, one of them being a build your own trail mix table. Kids were given a jar and could fill it with a variety of different things to make their own snack. 

The kids were all given bug nets and magnifying glasses and could go on a bug hunt (I put out a bunch of rubber bugs around the yard)

I also had my father-in-law turn my firepit into a s’more making station (which got rained out and not used, sadly) with tree stumps for seating and giant marshmallows.

Like I did for Madelyn’s 2nd birthday party, I had another dessert buffet. This time I was smarter though. With Madelyn, I laid out all of the food at the same time, lunch and dessert. If you were a kid, which would you go for? Well, this time I made sure to keep it aside until lunch was over and then brought it out. On the dessert table I had: s’more pops (marshmallows dipped in chocolate and rolled in graham crumbs), dirt & worm cups, bug bark, bug and rock candy, and the cake was a s’more cupcake (graham cracker crust, a piece of chocolate covered in chocolate cake and topped with a toasted “marshmallow” icing).

Finally, I bought every kid a small birdhouse to paint at the party and take home. 

Everything went way better than I could of hoped for, and my favourite quote of the day came from my little friend, Ava, who said “mom, it’s just like we’re camping!” … love it. While Madelyn’s Dr. Seuss birthday party was awesome (and my favourite at the time), this one has moved into the top spot for me :)

Here’s wishing Logan (the best boy in the world) a very happy 5th birthday!

xo

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Rhiannon Risidore | 780-708-4497 | rhiannon@dontsaycheese.ca

This was our life last week …

But now, the sun is out, and it looks like (fingers crossed) winter is on her way out! My kids have been living outside all weekend and I’m not ready to send Logan back to school tomorrow after enjoying a wonderful spring break.

Annnnnd … Don’t Say Cheese Photography is turning 2!! So, I figured what better way to celebrate than with a sale and a contest. This is the perfect opportunity to book your spring portraits.

[ The Sale ] 

Enjoy 25% off! Take 25% off your session fee, and enjoy 25% off your digital collections as well. Sale starts on Monday, April 4 and runs until Friday, April 8 at midnight (MST)

[ The Contest ]

The prize - a free session with me! 

Step 1. Leave me a comment on this blog post telling me what you’re looking forward to most after this long winter. Is it summer holidays? Gardening? A special event or trip? (1 comment = 1 entry)

Step 2. If you haven’t already been there, come over and “like” me on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/dontsaycheese) (1 like = 1 more entry) … if you’re already there, then you automatically get the extra entry (and high fives to you!) and if you join, please let me know in your comment.

Step 3. Book a session that happens sometime before June 30, 2011, and you’ll get 3 more entries (session must be booked and deposit paid)

That’s a total of 5 entries!!

Contest starts on Monday, April 4 and runs until Friday, April 15 at midnight (MST)

[ The Fine Print ]

- winner of the contest will receive a free portrait session and $250 product credit. If a session is already booked, then you will receive a refund of the original session deposit.

- type of session you can redeem this for: family (up to 4 people), maternity, newborn, engagement, couples. Does not apply towards weddings.

- free session is transferable, has no cash value, and must be redeemed before Dec 31, 2011. Session booking date is subject to availability.

- Vancouver / Abbotsford friends - don’t feel left out, you can enter too! I will be definitely making at least one trip out there this year, so you can still win!!

Good luck everyone!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

[ Winner!! ]

So, everyone who commented is also a fan on my page, so … everyone gets 2 numbers (1st person to comment was #1, and so on down the list. Then I started over. 1st person to comment was also #18, and so on)

The winner was …

comment #24 (which was actually comment #7), Stephanie, who said “I’m looking forward to the snow being gone so that my 8 month old son (who is already trying to walk!) can take a few steps outside in the grass! Every time I open the door to let our miniature dachshund out, my son gets so excited and tries to crawl out the door! It’s actually pretty funny, especially since he can only crawl backwards..! We (my husband included) love taking walks outside (our dog gets wet while walking and then hops into the basket under the stroller in this weather.. little princess!) our son thinks it’s pretty funny and feeds her cheerios from above. We can’t wait to go out in the sun and enjoy it as much as possible!”

Congratulations to Stephanie (and Stephanie, if you could pop me an email at rhiannon@dontsaycheese.ca, so we can chat), and I loved reading all of your entries (it makes me want Spring that much more)! Thanks for helping me celebrate my upcoming 2nd birthday :)

This is it. I photographed 22 amazing weddings in 2010 (20 of my own, and 2 that I was the second shooter), and this is the last one I have left to blog. What an unbelievable year I had. I learned so much and got to meet a lot of pretty awesome people. Including these two :)

Noele + Sheldon got married at the Faculty Club at the U of A last November. After a pretty mild fall, they were given some snow for their big day. My favourite part? When the best man performed for their first dance. So awesome!

I can’t wait for my 2011 wedding season to start! I’m itching for the weather to warm up so I can get back outside. I do have a few spots left for this year if you haven’t booked your photographer yet (including 1 spot each in July and August), and I am taking bookings for 2012 now as well.

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Rhiannon Risidore | 780-708-4497 | rhiannon@dontsaycheese.ca

Natasha + Keith are getting married this May in Valleyview, and came down to Edmonton for the weekend, so we finally got the chance to meet and get some engagement pictures. Sadly, we got the one cold weekend that was sandwiched between two beautiful ones, so we got some indoor shots at the Art Gallery and the Citadel.

I’m really looking forward to shooting their wedding in a couple of months!

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Rhiannon Risidore | 780-708-4497 | rhiannon@dontsaycheese.ca

If you live in Edmonton, you probably know all about the annual Hair Massacure. But, if not - here’s the low down. Every year, participants dye their hair pink, raise money through donations and then shave it all off to feel one small part of what it’s like to live like a person going through cancer. It’s a great cause, and 2 of my good little friends took part again (along with about 1500 others), for the second year in a row. Check out the website for more information on the cause and the story.

Evan and Kieran aren’t new to my blog, and I was super happy to join them yesterday to grab photos of their big shave. Together, they raised over $1500!! That’s amazing, and I’m pretty proud of them both :) My little guy, Logan got to come too, and now he’s talking about joining them next year.

Kieran has been growing out his hair for the longest time in anticipation of this, and Evan was sporting a big mohawk that he named on the way to the mall yesterday:

First name: So Long

Last name: Sucker. 

Love those kids :)

Some of the free swag for the participants, and below that is their little sister, Sadie getting her nails painted pink (and yes, that is her dad in the next picture getting his done too … like I said, real men wear pink :)

The after picture :)

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Rhiannon Risidore | 780-708-4497 | rhiannon@dontsaycheese.ca

I jumped on the opportunity to work with the lovely Andrea from .pink sugar. again. Along with checking out my shots, make sure you visit her view from Michelle + Eric’s awesome, awesome Country Lodge wedding that had me on the verge of tears during the reception (quite possibly, a first for me).

Kirstin and Jeff are all kinds of awesome. They got married on their one-year anniversary, and Kirstin being the crafty chick that she is, did an amazing job of decorating the whole event, and instead of wedding cake, they had wedding pie! I loved to see the family and friends who came from all over, even as far as Japan just to celebrate with them. Amazing!

It was my first time working with Michaela from Flair Occasions, and she did a great job! 

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Rhiannon Risidore | 780-708-4497 | rhiannon@dontsaycheese.ca

I’ve known Crystal since our boys were babies. We used to run a mom’s group together, she’s a super awesome photographer herself (at www.crystallanephotography.com) and has taken our maternity and family photos on more than one occasion.

You can see that because of the light clothing and lack of snow, that this session was done a while ago. We got out on Thanksgiving weekend, and I had a great time - Nicholas kept smiling the whole time :)

It’s not too early to book your own family session, spring is coming!!

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Rhiannon Risidore | 780-708-4497 | rhiannon@dontsaycheese.ca

Bride? Check. Groom? Check. 2 Witnesses? Check. Marriage Commissioner? Check. What more do you really need? 

Cheryl + Jamie got married last month at the Citadel (tucked away, upstairs in the treed area). There was only 6 of us in attendance, and it was perfect! They whisked away to Mexico shortly after to celebrate with some more family & friends, but I was really happy to be a part of it :)

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Rhiannon Risidore | 780-708-4497 | rhiannon@dontsaycheese.ca