the blog

Back in November 2022, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to AUSTRALIA for the first time – crossing off a major item on my bucket list! Growing up, I always have had a huge passion for travel, new cultures, animals, geography + more. Naturally, the Discovery channel was often my channel of choice as a young girl and I quickly found myself obsessed with The Crocodile Hunter (RIP Steve Irwin). My admiration for the show & wildlife work they were doing stretched so far that as a 7 year old I remember carefully crafting an email to Steve and diligently sending it off to their zoo’s head office. Surprisingly enough, I received a response back and it made my year – I wish I still had that email! As you can imagine, I was devastated by Irwin’s death years later and have always held a strong desire to come to Australia. Throughout my teen years, my father would end up frequently making annual business trips to Australia and together we would plan scheme plot and hope for him to one day share this country with me. While we haven’t made it to this continent together yet, I hope to one day in the future.

While this was always a goal of mine, I probably never would have followed through on making it a reality until much later in life if fate had not intervened. You see, cut to 2012 and a young naive me walked into a pet store in Kelowna on a whim to hand in a resume for a job. The manager, Michelle, was incredibly enthusiastic, warm, and receptive. We immediately hit it off and I soon found myself rushing home to change and come right back to start at my new job. Michelle & I quickly found out that we were kindred spirits – two peas in a pod we might as well be related. More often than not (okay more like 99.9% of the time), we were on EXACTLY the same page – food cravings, what we were doing, feeling, thinking, etc. You can imagine how devastated we both were 4 years later when we both found our personal lives crumbling, causing us both to have to start over on our own, move cities (& in Michelle’s case – move countries back to her home country of Australia). I feared I may never see her again in person yet we both knew we could not and would not let that happen. And then the pandemic hit.

As COVID-19 closed borders and cancelled plans, we Facetimed and waited. Waited for restrictions to lift, for a flight deal, for vacation time at my office job, & for fate to intervene once more for us. By 2022, Australia had just opened up it’s borders and I coincidentally had everything fall perfectly into place on my end. Before I knew it, a roundtrip ticket had been bought and this trip of a lifetime was officially happening.

While I couldn’t stay as long as I would have liked, this first trip was my first taste of Australia and of course I have entirely fallen in love with New South Wales. There’s so much more to see of this beautiful country, and more visits & hugs to be had with Michelle. It’s safe to say I will hopefully be back again very soon. Until then, here’s a look at just some of my favourite shots wandering around New South Wales…

All Photos here by Meg Kristina Photography 

authentic joyful adventurous 

www.megkristina.com

Now Booking 2023 Weddings & beyond.. 

This Burnaby Lake Rowing Pavilion Wedding was the most perfect warm sunny mid-summer day. These two lovebirds have been together through the ups and downs of both life & the recent pandemic. They deserved the best wedding celebration possible. After being together for over 10 years after meeting at work, these two have stood the test of time and shown true commitment and loyalty to growing in life together. They faced multiple postponements of their wedding date with ever-changing restrictions, so it was the celebration of the summer for these two to come together and finally make it official! Catch up on their engagement session at Pitt Lake over here.

When I asked them what is their dream for their future together, they said it was to travel the world and build a family together. I am so excited for them to do just that! It was an absolute pleasure & privilege to capture this day for these two amazing people.

Burnaby Lake Rowing Pavilion Wedding Gallery:

Here’s a curated selection of favourite moments from F&A’s Burnaby Lake wedding day from last summer… (You’ll definitely want to stick around to see their sunset portraits at the end, some of my favs from the day!)

First Look & Portraits:

Ceremony:

Reception:

All Photos here by Meg Kristina Photography 

authentic joyful adventurous 

www.megkristina.com

Now Booking 2023 Weddings & beyond.. 

Loved this summer wedding? You’re absolutely going to love this wedding at the Secret Garden at Ripples Winery.

See this sweet Tulip festival engagement gallery here!  

VENDOR LOVE FOR THIS BURNABY LAKE ROWING PAVILION WEDDING:

Wedding Planner: Amanda Marie Events

Venue: Burnaby Lake Rowing Pavillion

Decor/Rentals: Elegant Decor Rentals

Florals: Brides N’ Blossoms Florist

Catering: Catering Visions

DJ/Music: DJ LV

Dress: Debonair Formal Wear

Second Shooter/Assistant: Marvin Herrera Photography

More familiar faces on the blog tonight with this sweet family maternity session in Burnaby from back in the fall! If these two look familiar to you, it’s because I had the privilege of capturing B&M’s engagement photos and wedding at Manning Park over 6 years ago now! I love these two. We had so much fun during their wedding day with portraits! I’ve been lucky to bump into them over the years at friends’ weddings that I ended up photographing. Fast forward 6 years from 2016 to this last summer at another wedding, we were all brought together once again. I was elated to hear that their family was growing from 3 to 4 soon and we quickly arranged for a session for them.

After I delivered the gallery for their family maternity session to these two, B was kind enough to leave an awesome review on Google for our business page. As a small business owner being primarily referral based, it means the WORLD when clients leave us a positive review. I couldn’t help but share his kind words here:

Family Maternity Session Gallery:

Here are some of my favourite images from the W’s family maternity session at Barnet Marine Park a few months ago…

All Photos here by Meg Kristina Photography.

Check out our Family & Lifestyle Page here: http://lifestyle.megkristina.com

Click here to view this sweet summer sunset maternity session.

authentic joyful adventurous 

www.megkristina.com

Books Open for 2023

We have two familiar faces on The Blog today! If you are familiar with us here at MKP, Hannah & Tyler will look like old friends to you by now! If you aren’t caught up, Hannah & I have worked together in the photography industry for over 7 years now. We take turns shooting for each other under our business names. She is someone I’m so grateful to have in my life.

Over the years, I’ve witnessed the start of H&T’s relationship, to capturing their engagement session, wedding, and now their maternity session!! EEEEE! I am so excited for these two in this next stage in life. Hannah has always been great with kids (actually, she’s SOO good with the little ones). I am so happy to see her in this chapter. Ironically enough, their little one made their arrival into the world on the same September day that I delivered this gallery to them. Talk about cutting it close!

A Beautiful Mud Bay Maternity Gallery

Mud Bay is a great location for photoshoots. You get a little bit of everything – greenery, oceanside, windswept moments. It’s perfect. Here are some of my favourite moments from H&T’s sunset Mud Bay maternity session from last summer…

All Photos here by Meg Kristina Photography.

Check out our Family & Lifestyle Page

Click here to see this sweet in-home lifestyle newborn session.

authentic joyful adventurous 

www.megkristina.com

Books Open for 2023