February 14th

GORGEOUS WHIMSICAL + ROMANTIC, PINK AND RED VALENTINE’S DAY SHOOT

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY EVERYONE!!!!

We’re having a great day over here sharing love with our loved ones (especially our littlest Valentine). We’ve been busy putting up hearts around the house, sending love messages, plastering cards in sparkly stickers and eating some treats. And of course making sure to head outside and enjoy this gorgeous sunshine – it’s been best next to the ocean so far. Feels like love and hugs from the sun.

To help celebrate this special day and send all of you some love, I wanted to FINALLY share this GORGEOUS Valentine’s Inspired shoot that was amazingly produced and styled by the amazing and talented ladies at SMITTEN EVENTS. All the details were so well executed and collaborated with by such a great team. Balloons and the balloon heart were by the fun (and patient) FRANKIE + CO SHOP, the gorgeous flowers were created by NICOLA ADAM FLORAL, the ‘t00-pretty-to-eat’ cookies were by HELLO HOOPLA COOKIES and the gorgeous chairs were by LONSDALE EVENT RENTALS. All the details came together so well with the ideas really spear headed by Jordan and Devon at Smitten. And when it came to loading in and putting it all together it was a great collaborative effort to get all the details just right.

This fun and gorgeous shoot was a dream and felt like some serious playtime. I mean you can’t get any better than a relaxed time being creative with lovely people and drinking champagne (although we wont’ talk about me spilling a whole glass of champagne because I was so excited to take a photo). So if you’re still looking for some Valentine’s Day inspiration for your loved ones tonight, maybe this will spark some ideas. Otherwise just enjoy all the love and eye candy. HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY LOVELY!!!

ENJOY!!!!

And yes, the cookies tasted even better than they looked ;P

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October 6th

Feeling Thankful!!!

Well, it’s that time of the year again. The leaves are changing colour and falling off the trees, the air is colder and the rain is coming. And it’s Thanksgiving. It’s amazing how fast the time is going and it just seems to come around faster and faster every year.

Thanksgiving has often been the least of the holidays for me. Not exactly sure why. In the years previous we’ve always had big dinners with family and I always feel thankful but it also feels busy. Over the last few years we’ve had it our house and I feel pretttttttty good about making the turkey. The most stressful part of the turkey is just making sure it’s thawed in time. But this year… this year feels different. I feel there’s more weight around this holiday this year. It has just been a crazy year, hasn’t it. Personally we’ve had lots of joys and triumphs and though there is struggle there is so much to be thankful for. We’ve watched family members and friends, and even friend’s kids struggle with cancer, we’ve heard of young friends suddenly passing and then there are all the global events and political issues of the year, terrorist attacks and the recent Vegas shooting and it all has just felt like so much. So I guess it just feels so nice, in an extra special way this year, that we get to all be together.

I’ve also felt like I’ve finally found words for why I love decorating and having holiday dinners, for setting up the table and fussing over flowers. It’s because I love making our home feel special and welcoming when we’re hosting for the holidays. Making it an event that lets the people in our lives know how special they are. And so we’ll set out pumpkins and copper toned candles, fall greenery and flowers. We’ll eat lots of good food and lots of bad food. Drink wine. Make the turkey from the family recipe and just be thankful that at this moment we’re all here together. Then we’ll probably all slump on the couch from eating too much.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Thanksgiving.

This year I found a lot of white and copper fall decor items that I just loved. I don’t often decorate other than real white pumpkins and flowers because I haven’t found items I liked. If you’re wondering, I found the Copper Acorn Illume Candle and the Copper Apple Illume Candle at The Cross Decor and Design. I found the Copper Pumpkin Illume candle at Indigo-Chapters. (You can find the acorn and apple ones at Indigo as well). I found the white pumpkins with the Copper stems and leaves at Winners. The Rose Gold Candle holders are from Simons. The Wooden leaf garland is from Michaels craft store. The mini ghost pumpkins are from Superstore and flowers and greenery are from Whole Foods. Happy Decorating.

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May 18th

FAVE 16 IMAGES OF 2016

Well, I know it’s a tad late to do the annual “Top images of the year” post. But we’re heading out to our first wedding of the season this weekend so I thought I could squeeze it in to help celebrate the kick off of a new season. We’ve already had a great start to 2017 with amazing family sessions (like some of the best ones we’ve ever had). So it’s going to be a good year 🙂 And that’s not to diminish 2016 because it was ahhhhhmazing!!! So it feels impossible trying to pick out “favourite” images from a whole year of shooting. I easily picked a few hundred initially 🙁 And taking out images feels like cutting off limbs. So I decided to pick just my fave 16 of ’16 or else this post would be HUGE!!! So in a way, this doesn’t feel complete to say my only Favourites, it’s just the “best” favourites.

There are still lots and lots of weddings from the vault to share and of course more complete posts of these weddings and shoots are still to come. But since I’m slow with blogging these days let’s just start with these ones shall we.

A HUGE HUGE HUUUUUUGE thank you to all of the wonderful people who trusted us and choose us to capture their memories last year. It was such a wonderful year getting to know everyone and of course making pretty images for you to cherish.

So these aren’t in any ranking order… but we will start off with one that is near and dear to my heart. This first image is a fave FOR SURE simply because it’s of my sister and her husband 🙂 They got married last summer and it was such a lovely day. I didn’t actually take the pics on the wedding day because I wanted to be there to enjoy it, experience it and help her out. But she’s so beautiful and has the best smile so this image I took during their engagement will always melt my heart.

This image – GAH – makes my heart swoon

THESE SHOOOOOEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

And last but certainly not least, this image, I LOVE IT, I ADORE IT, MY HEART SKIPS A BEAT!!! And I have no idea why but to me it’s perfection.

TO ANOTHER YEAR…

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May 1st

MOTHER’S DAY GIVEAWAY CLOSED

ATTENTION ALL BEAUTIFUL MOMMAS!!!!

Mother’s day is coming!!! And I’m so grateful for all the wonderful moms I have in my life. I’ve met so many wonderful ladies in the community either as clients who have already trusted me to capture memories of their family or just from being out and about and meeting awesome mommas as we navigate this journey of parenthood. So we want to give back and celebrate all of you. Especially those who are in the thick of raising the little ones. So I’m soooooooooooooooo excited to announce that this year I’m teaming up with the amazing Kristin at Posy here in North Van and we are giving away the loveliest mother’s day gift!!!

ENTER TO WIN A ONE HOUR FAMILY SESSION WITH JENN BEST AND A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS FROM POSY!!!

PRIZE VALUED AT ($550)

HOW IT WORKS

RULES:

WE LOVE ALL MOMMA’S AND BIG KIDS AND SMALL KIDS. BUT FOR THIS GIVEAWAY PLEASE ENTER A MOMMA WHOSE CHILD(REN) IS/ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 12 (You can enter yourself)**
SESSION IS INTENDED FOR THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY OF THE WINNING MOMMA (MOMMA WITH HER KIDS AND SPOUSE/PARTNER)
SESSION WON INCLUDES A ONE HOUR ON LOCATION SESSION WITH JENN BEST AND A FINISHED COLLECTION OF 50-70 EDITED DIGITAL IMAGES TO BE DELIVERED IN AN ONLINE GALLERY (VALUED AT $500)
NO PHYSICAL PRINTED IMAGES ARE INCLUDED
SESSION MUST TAKE PLACE WITHIN THE LOWER MAINLAND BEFORE AUGUST 31, 2017*
PRIZE ALSO INCLUDES A FLORAL BOUQUET FROM POSY (BOUQUET MAY DIFFER FROM ONE SHOWN) TO BE PICKED UP FROM THE POSY BOUTIQUE IN NORTH VANCOUVER BY CLOSING ON SUNDAY MAY 14, 2017
WINNER MUST SIGN A MODEL RELEASE ALLOWING IMAGES TO BE USED BY JENNBEST PHOTOGRAPHY AND POSY ON INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, WEBSITE AND BLOG POSTS
PRIZE IS NOT EXCHANGEABLE FOR CASH VALUE OR TRANSFERABLE TO ANOTHER PERSON

HOW TO ENTER:

CHOOSE ONE OR UP TO ALL SIX METHODS TO ENTER.

You can enter as many mommas with kids under 12 as you would like (So you can enter yourself and all your best momma friends – BE SURE TO ENTER YOURSELF)**. If you are entering more than one momma, EACH momma can be entered through all six options.

LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW WITH THE MOMMA’S NAME AND WHAT YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT HER OR MEMORIES WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE CAPTURED
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AT https://www.instagram.com/jennbestphotography/ and leave a comment on a giveaway post. Leave the momma’s name, or your own name, (better yet, tag her or yourself) and tell me what you love about her, your journey as a mother or memories that would be amazing to have captured.
FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK AT https://www.facebook.com/JennBestPhotography/ and leave a comment on a giveaway post. Leave the momma’s name, or your own name, (better yet, tag her or yourself) and tell me what you love about her, your journey as a mother or memories that would be amazing to have captured.
FOLLOW POSY ON INSTAGRAM AT https://www.instagram.com/posyhome/ and leave a comment on a giveaway post. Leave the momma’s name, or your own name, (better yet, tag her or yourself) and tell me what you love about her, your journey as a mother or memories that would be amazing to have captured.
FOLLLOW POSY ON FACEBOOK AT https://www.facebook.com/Posyflowers/ and leave a comment on a giveaway post. Leave the momma’s name, or your own name, (better yet, tag her or yourself) and tell me what you love about her, your journey as a mother or memories that would be amazing to have captured.
BUY A ONE HOUR FAMILY SESSION FOR THE MOMMA YOU LOVE FROM JENN BEST BY EMAILING JENN@JENNBEST.CA AND YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE ENTERED TO WIN YOUR SESSION AND YOUR FEE WILL BE REIMBURSED SHOULD YOU WIN

WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED THE MORNING OF FRIDAY MAY 12, 2017 – THE FRIDAY BEFORE MOTHER’S DAY. WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON JENN BEST PHOTOGRAPHY’S INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT, FACEBOOK PAGE AND THIS BLOG POST. THE WINNER HAS 48 HOURS TO CONTACT JENN BEST TO CLAIM THE PRIZE OR A NEW WINNER WILL BE DRAWN.

AND IF YOU NEED LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY FLOWERS FOR MOTHER’S DAY – CONTACT THE LOVELY LADIES AT POSY. SUCH A GREAT FLORAL BOUTIQUE HERE IN THE HEART OF LYNN VALLEY. THEY ALSO SELL BEAUTIFUL GIFTS AND YUMMY TREATS. SO PICK UP SOMETHING LOVELY FOR YOUR MOMMA!!!

PLEASE SHARE AND TELL ALL THE AWESOME MOMMA’S YOU KNOW SO THEY CAN ENTER AND HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN!!!

AND HAPPY EARLY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL YOU LOVELY MOMMA’S YOUNG AND OLD, WITH LITTLES AND BIG LITTLES TOO, TO THOSE WHO ARE SURROGATE MOMMAS, WANTING TO BE MOMMAS, HAVE LOST LITTLES AND WILL ALWAYS BE MOMMAS AND TO ALL WHO LOVE – WE’RE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

*Session will be scheduled within the availability of JENNBEST PHOTOGRAPHY. Many dates may be unavailable due to pre-booked weddings, sessions and events. Session availability can occur on weekdays or weekends. There is the possibility (BUT NO GUARANTEE) that the winning session could take place in Victoria or the Greater Victoria area if the session can occur on select dates when travel to the area is already scheduled. Otherwise if a session cannot occur on those select dates than the session must take place in the Greater Vancouver Area.
**No previous purchase necessary. And if you are already a member of the JENNBEST PHOTOGRAPHY family, please feel free to enter. Even if you’ve had a session recently. We would love to see you again and update and add to your family memories. SO ENTER ENTER ENTER one and all (with little kids :P)

EDITED TO ADD CONTEST CLOSED

A big, big, big thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter and leave comments. It was so lovely to see so many of the wonderful momma’s who are already a part of the Jenn Best Photography family be entered or enter themselves. And I feel like I especially want to thank the mom’s who entered themselves. You don’t need to feel self conscious about that at all, I wish more mom’s did enter themselves. I believe photos are so important and they serve as memories and stories for our children. I know that I love to look back at pictures from my childhood and see photos of my mom. Especially now that I’m a mom. So please, if you entered and didn’t win, or even if you didn’t get the chance to enter, please contact us to do a session because having photos WITH YOU IN THEM is so so so sooooo important for you and your children. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY EVERYONE!!!!!!! I hope it’s a beautiful day for you where you feel loved and know how special you are to your children. LOVE YOU MOM!!!

DRUMROLLLLLLLLLLLL… And the winner is…. Chandra Widman!!! Yipeeeee!!!!! There will be a lovely bouquet and card waiting for you at Posy here in Lynn Valley in North Vancouver.

And if you need to pick out some gorgeous flowers for mom for mothers day – be sure to go to Posy if you’re in North Vancouver. They have sooooo many gorgeous things not just flowers.

And if you want to check out our tiny assistant drawing the winning name check out our instagram stories.

Show Hide 14 comments

Bonnie Rumley - I’m putting forward Casey Rumley. What I love most about her is her ability to be so strong under almost any circumstance. Of late her week spent with her new born baby boy in hospital while he fought high jaundice levels, lethargy and a cold. She was by Maverick’s side the whole week and still managed to be a loving and strong mother to little Linden who remained at home with his father. Most of us would have crumbled under the stress but Casey was a pillar of strength. I tip my hat to this very strong woman. ReplyCancel
- jenn@jennbest.ca - Casey you are AMAZING!!! Sending love to you, little M and the family ReplyCancel
Bonnie Rumley - My second nomination is my daughter-in-law Cathy Castro. What I admire the most about Cathy is her ability to work full time at a very demanding job and still manage to raise my wonderful grandson Nico. He is a bright, well adjusted 5yr old. It’s not easy to work full time and still have the energy left to be a loving, attentive mother. Taking him to all his extra curricular activites and be on the soccer field with him on weekends. She is supported by a loving, caring husband that supports her so that she is able to do all these things. ReplyCancel
- jenn@jennbest.ca - Happy Mother’s Day Cathy!!!! You sound like the most amazing Momma!!! Bonnie – you are the most amazing momma too!!! Good luck to everyone, I wish I was able to give you all a session. ReplyCancel
Arpan Aulakh - I’m nominating my big sister, Reggie Aulakh. Her daughter, Reya, is turning one this month and this year has been the most transformative yet for my sister. She has always been the smartest and most genuinely good person I’ve known; I’ve seen this up close because she helped raise me. But I’ve watched this past year as she quickly centered her whole life around her daughter, devoting every waking moment (and there are a lot of those with a new baby) to Reya. She is a working mom who is able to balance providing for her daughter with making every minute count when she is with her. I hope that I will be half the mother she is and I believe very strongly that she deserves this amazing gift.ReplyCancel
- jenn@jennbest.ca - You are also the best little sister and I’m sure the best auntie ever!!! Love hearing how much you love your sister – because I definitely see it 🙂 Good luck Reg!!!ReplyCancel
Robyn Faraone - I would love to enter Andrea Foster. She is an amazing mom who is expecting baby number two in September. I love how thoughtful and kind she is and that she’s always thinking of others, despite the fact that her family has had a very difficult year.
I would love for her and her wonderful husband to have memories of their adorable daughter at this age (2) and also how gorgeous she is while she’s pregnant!ReplyCancel
- jenn@jennbest.ca - Good luck Andrea!!! And best of luck with baby #2. How exciting! I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes super well and that we get to meet all of you as well 🙂ReplyCancel
Robyn Faraone - I would love for Jennifer Scott and her family to win this giveaway! She is a strong and dedicated mom who together with her husband is raising 2 amazing girls! I feel so fortunate that our girls have connected with them and have discovered endless giggles and adventures together. I would love for her family to have a session with you as a way to make memories that will bring them joy for years to come.ReplyCancel
- jenn@jennbest.ca - Well I feel like the name Jennifer Scott is an automatic win ;P HA HA!!! Good luck, Jenn you sound like an amazing woman raising wonderful little women. I hope we get to meet all of you!ReplyCancel
Jennifer Breckon - I am going to enter me. I have virtually no photos of myself with my son Sam who is 5…come to think of it we only have one family photo of all three of us (including Daddy). It would be really nice to have some photos of us as a family…our little team. :)Thanks. ReplyCancel
- jenn@jennbest.ca - Oh Man Jenn!!!! Yes, yes, yes, you NNNEEEEEDDDD to have family photos!!! Okay, Good luck, I seriously wish we could give one to everybody. Hopefully we get to meet you 🙂ReplyCancel
Chandra Widman - I would first like to nominate myself! We haven’t had a family photo session in a year and a half and my little guy has changed so much since then! I take tons of photos of him but don’t have very many of us as a family. I realize how important this really is. Our kids grow so fast right before our eyes. One minute they are crawling, then walking, then running, then joining in a conversation with you. It’s pretty amazing and all of these moments deserve to be capture before they slip away. Being a mom has taught me a lot. To appreciate the simple things in life. To spend less time on my phone and pay attention to what’s happening in front of me. To just have fun, everything can be an adventure! We came very close to losing our little guy when he was 4 days old. I never take a day with him for granted! Even when he’s testing my patience, I’m happy to be his momma! ReplyCancel
Katherine - I would love to nominate myself. I am the memory-keeper for our family, and so am often behind the camera instead of in the frame with my little loves. I would love to add some pictures that capture the love and connection between me and my crew to our family’s story. With our youngest reaching the one-year milestone recently and our girls discovering more and more independence every day, I’m truly realizing how fast this time of adventuring, new learning, and wild laughter passes. I’m eager to document every precious moment of it before we are onto the next phase. ReplyCancel

December 22nd

Our Cozy Christmas Home

It’s just a few days until Christmas and I’m feeling lucky that we’ve gotten most of our preparations, shopping and decorating all ready. Although we still have to visit Santa. Unfortunately Hubs and I are both under the weather. Baby was sick last week and now she’s passed it on to us. One of those Christmas presents that keeps on giving over Christmas. SIGH!!! But the good thing is that it’s forcing us to rest more and take it easy. So we’re getting to enjoy our cozy Christmas atmosphere in our little pad. I just love all the twinkling sparkling lights!

Just thought I’d share a few shots of our cozy Christmas in case anyone wants some last minute inspiration.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Everyone!!!

(Mirrored Star, beaded letter ornaments and feather wreath from West Elm / Gold pillow, star string lights, grey faux fur stocking, wooden letter ornaments and white faux fur blanket from Chapters-Indigo / Polar Bear stocking and sparkly picture ornament from Pottery Barn Kids / Diamond string lights from The Cross Design and Decor / Wooden snow flake decor item from Winners / wooden snowflake ornaments from Anthropologie / sparkly gold star ornament from Crate and Barrel / Letter Balloon ornament from Urban Outfitters / Wooden star garland and Illume Candle from Posy Home)