.pink sugar photography blog.

.a fresh start.

you guys, it's finally here.

after an amazing eight years photographing hundreds of weddings and families as pink sugar photography, it's time i step out from behind the brand and just be me.

i'm so excited to introduce my new branding, my new website, and myself. (hi! i'm andrea.) same person, same crazy love of photography, but now you can find everything i love all in one place -- my portfolio, tons of new content, my blog for client sessions and my personal blog featuring daily-ish photographs of my little family, our adventures, and our favourite things. grab a drink, get comfortable and take a peek around; there's so much to see! (and don't forget to enter to win a family session including digital files while you're there!)

thank you so much to all of you who have supported me, followed along with my work and family, and trusted me with your beautiful weddings and amazing families over the past eight years; i am so excited to share this new chapter with you. xox, andrea

(brand and site design by the lovely ladies over at gimme that it!)

.introducing.

the pink sugar family has officially grown by one :)

so so so happy to introduce you to cole henry hanki.

eight pounds and four ounces of pure awesome, born early yesterday morning.

more info on my maternity leave, and plenty more photos to come soon.

in the meantime, a quick iphone snap of cole around ten hours new.

we are so very in love.

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i have a number of posts lined up from earlier in the season, so please enjoy those for the next little while as we spend some time together as a family :) xox, andrea.

.april... and a winner!.

after one hundred and seven unique entries (i seriously loved reading every single one!) and a total of two hundred fifty one entries when all the extras were totalled up, the contest winner is the writer of the following comment (#36)*:

Aww, what a great little contest, Andrea. I have many treasured family memories
from you and I am crazy overdue for a beautiful pink sugar session! My immediate family is
teeny tiny, just us two... or can I count my fav Teddy, Hughbert? Would looove for you to
capture our new and upcoming memories!

congratulations christine. i'm so excited to get to work with your family again! please contact me within the next three days (before bedtime on may 7th) to arrange your session.

thank you sooo much to everybody else who entered -- it really was a privilege to get a little peek into your lives and what makes each of your families special. i'm looking so forward to working with many of you in the coming months and hopefully even more of you next season!! xox.

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that out of the way, onto april :)

i know this post is a few days late, but i'm in a wee bit of denial that it is already may! this past month we had five (!) sets of out of town visitors stay with us and the time passed way too quickly. on top of that, now that the snow has (finally!!) melted, i've been shooting tons again, which has been awesome, but again, has helped the time fly by.

we had a lovely, but rather uneventful easter long weekend. made a quick trip out to red deer for easter dinner with mark's family, and otherwise stuck around home. i did a couple of quick crafts with miss li -- did you know paper bag easter bunnies favourite foods are dry grass and people?! two year olds have the best imaginations, haha -- but left the mantle alone this time. (i've had a few emails from people excited to see what i came up with, sorry to let you all down ;) i do plan on sprucing it up for the spring/summer season now that we are starting to see some green around here, so perhaps there will be another crafty/decorating post sometime soon. in the meantime, here's lila with her easter bunny puppet and ears (made from pipecleaner and fabric scraps!).

we had our own family portraits taken this past weekend, and afterwards decided to try to get our monthly family photo for the blog. (yes, it was may 1st, so technically no longer april, but i'm hoping no one will hold that against me -- as i keep saying, the month went so fast!). anyways, it turns out that the trick to getting lila interested in having her photo taken is using a tripod! she's usually pretty disinterested in the camera (very likely a product of seeing it ever. single. day.) but absolutely loved getting to push the shutter and run back to mommy and daddy in time (or almost in time) for the photo. she even hugged the tripod at the end and exclaimed that she loved the camera. so funny!

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i realize this has been a pretty sad excuse for a monthly post, but i promise to make up for it next month -- today i have birthday cake waiting ;) may the fourth be with you. xox, andrea.

 

*comments were entered into a spreadsheet in chronological order, followed by facebook "likes" in chronological order, followed by facebook comments in chronological order, followed by two entries for each person who booked a session in the order their sessions were booked. i used a random number generator from random.org to choose a number between 1 and 251. 36 was the winning number.

.i want to shoot your family::a spring sale and contest.

the snow has almost melted (again... and hopefully for the last time for at least a few months) -- yay! in celebration of that lovely fact (but mostly just because i want to) i'm having a sale -- double yay :)

 

the sale

last fall i ended up having to turn away a whole bunch of awesome families because there just wasn't enough time to fit everyone in before the snow fell. so this year, i'm here to encourage you all to think ahead :) spring and summer are just as awesome as the fall for a photo session, and booking well in advance in the best way to guarantee yourself a spot in the 2011 pink sugar calendar. at this point, october is fully booked, there is one available session remaining in may, and only a couple left in july, so the season is filling up quite quickly.

I'm offering all clients who book between now and may 3rd, 2011 a $100 discount off of my creative fees.

this means that for $400 (instead of the regular $500), you'll get a custom photography session with pink sugar AND a $200 credit toward purchasing goodies after your session.

to get in on the deal, simply email me ([email protected]) and mention this post!

 

the contest

the prize: one free maternity, newborn or family session to take place between may 1st and september 30th of this year.

to enter: easy :) just leave a comment below with one (or more) little facts about your family (ie. your youngest loves mudpies, you have six kids, your son's favourite food is sardines, daddy is a ballerina, anything goes!!). i love families, and one of the things i love most about photographing them is finding out the little bits and quirks that make each one unique. share a little or share a lot, but know that if you win, you'll be sharing much much more with me as i love getting to know my families as best i can!

for up to four additional entries after you've entered here:

- purchase a session (on sale) before may 4th for two additional entries. (any clients who already have a qualifying session booked between now and october will also receive these two additional entries if they enter the contest.)

- leave a comment on the pink sugar facebook page wall -- you can say whatever you want, just be sure to say something :).

- "like" this blog post on the facebook page.

 

the fine print

the sale can not be combined with any other discount or offer.

qualifying sessions include maternity, newborn and family sessions for one immediate family.

prize winner must contact me within three days of being notified, or another name will be drawn.

prize covers creative fees only. prints, albums, digital files and other products will be available for purchase after the session.

prize has no cash value and expires if not redeemed prior to october 1, 2011.

if you win the contest and have already purchased a session, you will be refunded the creative fees.

contest and sale close may 3, 2011 at 9pm MDT.

contest winner will be announced on my birthday, may 4th!

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best of luck! i'm excited to learn more about your families :) xox, andrea.

.lazy saturday.

how we spent our morning.

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just popping in to say hi and to share a little pink sugar update! the blog is going to be fairly slow this month as we wait out the rest of the winter and i prepare for the busy portrait and wedding seasons (which will be underway very soon). i'm so excited to be working with a whole bunch of amazing clients this year and can't wait to share their photos with you all, so please hang tight while i'm working behind the scenes for the next few weeks.

i'm also going to be doing a fair bit of travelling over the spring and summer and am thinking about fitting a few sessions into my travel plans so if you live outside of the edmonton area and have been interested in booking a session, please let me know! i will be in victoria, penticton, prince george, calgary, canmore and drumheller for sure and am also considering a trip to vancouver and perhaps also heading somewhere in the states... the calendar (as you can imagine with all of that travel) is filling up pretty quickly this year, so whether you're located outside of edmonton or here at home, definitely get in touch soon if you'd like to book a session! i would absolutely love to work with you :)

on another note, don't mind the bruises -- this kiddo likes to play hard :) besides the banged up legs, there are usually a few scrapes here and there, and she's just getting over her second fat lip in as many months. it's a good thing she's tough!

hope you're having a wonderful weekend! xox, andrea

.and the winner is.

okay so, first of all. i'm so blown away at the awesome entries that were submitted to the contest. thanks so much to all of you who took the time to go through the sites and choose an image for me. it's been really fun going through the entries and reading your feedback!

because the response was so great and you all are so fabulous, i've decided i'm going to give away TWO sessions. and i'm not stopping there either, every single one of you who entered is going to receive something special! i'll be sending out emails to everybody who entered over the next week to let you know all the details, but in the mean time, the winners of a pink sugar lifestyle session are...

michelle b and veronica b who chose the following images as their favourites.

and just for fun -- these next two images were the two that were chosen most often.

eta: i drew three more names for a second prize and the winners are sally p, kat g and jenny d. you three get half off your session fee ($250 value) when you book a session with pink sugar! (details to come by email)

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thanks so much to everyone for joining in on the fun, and i am looking forward to getting a bunch of you in front of my camera in the next few months :) happy friday the thirteenth! xox, andrea

.a note.

just popping in with a quick note regarding the contest.

firstly, thanks to everyone who has entered so far! it's so great to hear what specific images are making you think and feel :)

that out of the way... i've had a few emails from people telling me they have entered; however, i am not seeing their entries on the blog. please double check that your comment appears after you enter it (there is a teeny tiny pink arrow at the bottom of the screen to get to the next page of comments). feel free to email me to double check that i have received your entry if you are unsure.

and while you're waiting for a 'real' blog post (lots of awesomeness coming very soon -- i pinky swear!), here's a quickie from last night :)

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off to the spray park with lila and her pals for some fun in the sun! happy wednesday :) xox, andrea

.yay! a free session.

i have a confession to make.

sometimes, i procrastinate.

the important things always get done on time, but once in a while, something on the to do list gets pushed to the end of the list again and again and again... today, for the first time since january of 2008 (ridiculous, i know), i've updated the images on my website!

and to celebrate -- i'm giving away a free session! YAY!

....................................

entering the contest is easy:

- head over to the newly renovated wedding and portrait sites, check out the galleries, and choose a favourite image. then come back here and leave a comment telling me why you love it! any reason is fine by me, i'm just interested to see what other people think :) (and if you live in a land far far away and want to take part in the fun without entering the contest, just mention that in your comment and you won't be entered into the draw.)

- for an additional contest entry, join the fun on facebook by "liking" the pink sugar page. (make sure you mention this in your comment so i know to enter your name twice!)

- and lastly, for three more entries, just send me an email and finalize a session booking before the contest ends!

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fine print

 the winner will receive one free lifestyle session including a $200 product credit. if the winner already has a session booked, they will instead receive a $500 product credit.

contest winner can choose from the following sessions (maternity, newborn, child, immediate family, individual, or couple). contest does not apply to weddings, events or extended family sessions.

the session must be booked within one week of notification and must take place between september 1, 2010 and april 30, 2011.

contest closes august 8, 2010.

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and just because i'm in a sharing kind of mood (did you notice all of the words up there?? ha!), here are some fun images of lila and her pal tess from an afternoon at pigeon lake earlier this month :)

 

 

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xox, andrea

.the birthday sale.

it's that time of year again! it’s my birthday. it’s pink sugar’s birthday. and for the second year in a row, there’s a ginormous two day sale for my lovely clients and clients-to-be. yippeeee!

why?
because i’m turning twenty six today. because pink sugar is turning three today. because spring makes me happy and i want to spread some of that happiness around. because i love my clients. because i can.

what?
all digital portrait collections are twenty five (yes you read that right... twenty five!) percent off today and tomorrow! that’s a savings of anywhere between two hundred-ish and nine hundred-ish dollars!

who?
any of my portrait clients who have a session booked in 2010. any of my wedding clients for 2010 and 2011 who’d like to get hooked up with some goodies from their engagement sessions. any clients-to-be who finalize their 2010 session booking with me in the next little bit here. and last but not least, any past clients who'd like to get their hands on their digital files.

how?
easy as pie. send an email to [email protected] today (may 4th 2010) or tomorrow (may 5th 2010) and mention this sale. i will get back to you with all the pertinent info.

and because what's a photoblog without photos, here is a new fave of the little miss from our [awesome] trip to california last week! make sure to look really closely or you might not spot her -- she's getting pretty good at hiding these days.

may the fourth be with you ;)

xox, andrea

.famous.

that's what four of my awesome couples have recently become!

- amanda and dave's wedding has been featured on wedding obsesssion, an awesome blog that shares a ton of inspiring ideas for canadian brides and is based right here in edmonton.
- allison and jon's wedding is in the spotlight over at elizabeth anne designs, another wedding inspiration blog that specializes in the gorgeous details that make each wedding unique.
- susie and mike's 2008 wedding has been included in local wedding magazine, something blue, put out by one of the best wedding dress stores i've visited in edmonton, the bridal house.
- and last but not least, weddingbells has a little snippet on pink sugar in the 25th anniversary edition of their magazine featuring an image of olga and alex!

 

 

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big huge thanks to melissa, ami, weddingbells and the bridal house for taking the time to get in touch with me to feature my work in your publications! i highly recommend all of my brides (and anyone else interested!) take a few hours minutes to check out the wedding obsesssion and elizabeth anne designs blogs -- prepare to be blown away by all of the amazing inspiration to be found there! then, head out to the bridal house for your FREE issue of something blue, and pick up a copy of weddingbells pretty much anywhere that books and magazines are sold! xox, andrea