{Originally posted on Jennifer Kirk Photography}

I’ll forever remember Paolina as the bride who hugged me after our first meeting. She and John told me about how they met and how quickly they fell in love… and they made my eyes well up!

They held the ceremony at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Vancouver, and reception on Granville Island. After a quick stop at Spanish Banks beach, we ran all over Granville Island to create some unique images… hitting our shoot locations at perfect timing for some great light!

Thanks Paolina and John, I had a blast. It’s always extra awesome to photograph two warm and generous people who are a lot of fun to hang out with!

Originally Published on Dutch Blitz

I was a “big girl” growing up.

I was not comfortable in this body of mine. Yes, it was my body, but I felt as though it did not belong to me. I struggled with the fact that friends of mine could eat McDonald’s, and candy, and wear skinny acid-washed jeans. I would hang with them and curse my chubby thighs and flabby arms. I would shake my fist and silently scream, “It’s not FAIR!”

I resigned myself to the fact that I was destined to be BIG. My friends had flat stomachs and no inner thigh to speak of and it was so foreign to me. My thighs rubbed together as I walked and would get red from the friction.

There were a couple of stints where I got skinny. Because I did not eat. I remember when I was in grade eleven, I ran into an old friend from out of town. She praised me with those words I longed to hear. “You are so SKINNY!” And I told her (innocently) that I had not eaten in forty-eight hours.

That would be TWO DAYS.

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