New Blog!!

I've decided to say goodbye to this blog, I've had it for ages and am starting to get a little bored with it :) Now I have a new, prettier-looking blog, with bigger photos and I love it!

Check it out at http://www.alanacouch.com/blog/

Happy New Year!!

It's been an incredible year.. We worked with so many awesome couples who we've had a ton of fun with. It's always kinda sad when it's time for them to pick up their final albums, knowing that our work for them is done (well, until they start having babies, of course :P But I know we will keep in touch with many of them..

We're about halfway booked up for 2009 and already have some amazing weddings to look forward to - I can't wait!!

Maybe in 2009 we will combine our love for travel with our love for photographing weddings, here are a few places we would love to photograph weddings this year!:

1. in a European Castle
2. in a Tuscan winery
3. on the beaches of Mexico
4. on the top of a mountain, arriving by helicopter, hot air balloon or any other interesting flying device :)

Although really, anywhere will do :)

Happy New Year!

Cans Donated

Thank-you to all of you who posted comments this past week I will be donating 26 cans of food to my local food bank this weekend!!

Brides Against Breast Cancer

If hanging onto your wedding dress is not something that is a necessity to you then I recommend checking out Brides Against Breast Cancer. They're an organization that accepts bridal gown donations either from brides or bridal shops, and the dresses are sold at their fund-raising events. Proceeds from these events are used to "make wishes and dreams come true for women and men who are losing their fight against breast cancer."

Sounds like a great cause to me and I will definitely be shipping off my dress once I'm done with it

http://www.bridesagainstbreastcancer.org/

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We were very well-fed this weekend, two Thanksgiving dinners AND we celebrated our 4-year anniversary on Friday by going to dinner at Guu.. We love trying out new restaurants and had heard great things about it so we decided to check it out - it did not disappoint!! I guess this will be our last year of celebrating our anniversary from when we first started dating since we will instead have our wedding anniversary.. (or it could just be another good excuse to go out for a nice meal :)

Anyways, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Inspirational Video

This isn't at all related to weddings or photography, but it's just so heartwarming that I had to post it..

Be a fan!

I resisted joining facebook for ages, but finally joined a few months ago and found it to be so great to keep in touch with people I meet, and it's also put me back in contact with people I haven't spoken to in years!..

So I decided it was time for Alana Couch Photography to be on facebook too!!

To check out the page or become a fan: click here

To become a friend of mine: click here

:)

April 15!

Yesterday was my birthday!! I'm 26.. getting old :P It's been a great year, they just seem to keep getting better and better!!.. and it was nice to just have a relaxing night last night too (dinner out and a movie) since things have been crazy busy the past few weeks..

Rowing!

I'm not a huge fan of the gym and prefer to exercise by being outdoors and doing something fun.. That way I don't even notice I'm exercising! I'm a huge fan of the water, especially the ocean, and have always loved kayaking and other water sports. So this week I started rowing lessons with my good friend Jessy. We haven't quite made it off the dock yet (it turns out theres a lot to learn first to make sure we don't tip the boat!) but I already know I'll love it!..

The 100 Mile Diet

I read this great book while I was in Asia, called "100 Mile Diet" which I really really recommend.. Nothing to do with dieting, it's the one-year diary of a Vancouver couple who vow to only eat food that is from within 100 miles of their home... It's funny and interesting, and it really makes you think about how much of a 'carbon footprint' that we leave, and especially by eating food that is imported... We've always been good about recycling, not using too much energy, etc, but this really gave me a good push to do more. anyways I won't get too much into it but it's definately a great read!

Almost booked up..

It doesn't happen all the time, but every once in a while there will be two couples interested in the same wedding date at once. I always wind up feeling terrible that as much as I would love to be able to do both events I just cannot and someone always winds up disappointed.

On that note I am just about fully booked for the year, and then I will no longer be accepting bookings for 2008, so it's definately a good idea to book soon if you are interested..

off to Asia!!

We're just about off for Asia! I can't WAIT! So far the plan is to start off in Singapore (where Jin is from to visit with family) then to Cambodia and Thailand before returning to Singapore for a final couple days and returning home...!!

I will do my very best to keep the blog semi-updated while I'm gone, and at the very least will add a ton of photos at the end of it all!.. so stay tuned :)

We're going to miss our dog Dekker (our baby!) while we're gone, he hasn't been away from us for more than a day since we've gotten him but we're guessing he will completely forget about us the minute we're gone because of all the long walks he'll be getting :)

I will still be checking email while I'm there if anyone needs to reach me, but it may take me a day or two to get back to you..

2008!!!

2007 has overall been an incredible year. I've always been very lucky in that I've had so many amazing couples that I've worked with (and not a single bridezilla :) Between all of you, your wedding parties, and your families, I've met some wonderful people and I can't wait to see what 2008 will bring!!

One of my many goals for the new year is to be much more 'green', both in my personal life and with my business. We've always been pretty conscious about our impact on the environment, but I would really like to increase my efforts for 2008. One of the books I bought to read on our trip next month (that's another of my resolutions, to find more time to read!) is the "Hundred Mile Diet", which from what I've heard is about only buying food that was grown within a 100 mile radius to reduce impacts from importing and to support local businesses, etc. So hopefully that will also give me more ideas about what I can do!

I wish everyone all the best in the new year..

Happy Holidays!

We went ice skating last night, for a fun winter activity.. I admit I took a good fall while goofing off and trying to do a 'spin' :P I think the last time I went skating was back in high school when I'd go to the 'teen skate' with all my friends and they would turn down the lights, the disco ball would be on and they'd play loud music while everyone skated.. so fun..

another thing I would love to try this winter is snowshoeing, I've never done it but have always wanted to....

I hope everyone has a wonderful holidays.. family, friends, tasty food.. enjoy it all!

-Alana

new toys!

I just picked up a couple new lenses today, the 50mm 1.4 and the 28mm 2.8.. I can't wait to use them! In the meantime I took some photos around here just for fun..

I love prime lenses because they're SO fast and sharp and they really let me move around and be creative.. Also I'm going to Asia soon and I know that wandering around with my big zoom lenses will just scream 'rob me'!..

Get-together

Last night there was a get-together at Blue Olive for wedding photographers from all over the city which was a blast! Lots of drinks, tasty food, and I met a ton of great people!! I get together with other wedding photographers fairly often and always love talking shop and just getting out to socialize, so this was especially fun as there were so many of us..

Joyriding..

It's time for me to get a new car. We've been looking online over the different models for a while, and whenever we're out taking Dekker for a walk we always watch out for the ones I'm interested in.. So today we went around to a few dealerships to do some test driving! It was very fun but exhausting! I'm still not completely decided but it's come down to the Honda Civic and the Honda Fit. I enjoyed driving them both and they both seem like great cars that I would be happy with, but now it's just making the decision of which....

I'm so lucky...

I would have to say that one of my MOST favourite things about being a photographer is afterwards once all the photos have already been taken and seeing just how happy I have made people! I always get giddy after meeting with a client and seeing how excited they were over their prints/albums/whatever.. Or having a mother tell me she was bawling while going through the photos of her child.. How much more fulfilling could this possibly get?!

Legally Argentine!

I met up with the Consul of Argentina today to sign the papers to become an Argentine citizen (my dad is Argentine).. I even got a new birth certificate, although I'm not sure how that works..? When I started the paperwork for this I was told it would take about 6-8 months and 3 years later it was finally ready! The Argentines loooove their red-tape :) I applied for it after being deported from Brasil a few years back (through no fault of my own, the man at the border crossing put the wrong stamp in my passport) and I thought it would come in handy for travelling in the area..

I haven't been back to Argentina in almost two years now, but hopefully I'll have another chance to go sometime soon.. If ever you get the chance I highly recommend it!

2007 season coming to a close...

My 2007 wedding season is starting to slow down, just one more wedding left to photograph (check back this weekend for Alyssa & Lara!) and a ton of wedding albums to work on. It's been such a fabulous season!! So far dates are booking up quickly for 2008, I'm almost halfway booked for the year, and am already fully booked for August. Looking at all the great couples that I already have booked for next year, it looks like 2008 will be just as much fun as 2007!