Editor's note: A celebration of life for Cat Pennenga will be held on Thursday, July 27, from 6:30-9 p.m. in Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium's New Pass Room at 1599 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota. The event is open to all, but an RSVP is required by July 2023. Click here for more information.

The first thing you noticed about longtime wedding photographer Cat Pennenga was her shock of red hair. The second was her huge smile.

A Sarasota native and enthusiastic member of the local creative community, Pennenga documented major life milestones for thousands of clients, from engagements to weddings to maternity shoots. She passed away on June 27 shortly after being diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. She was 47 years old.

After the news of her death, hundreds of family members, friends and past clients took to social media to share memories of Pennenga.

“I can’t imagine a world without her in it,” one friend wrote on Facebook. “She was an amazing person and a brilliant artist,” wrote another. "'Heartbroken’ is too small a word,” wrote another.

“She was this beautiful, magnetic person,” says Juliana Montane, a local wedding photographer and longtime friend and colleague of Pennenga’s. Montane calls Pennenga her “soul sister” and credits Pennenga with teaching her how to start her own photography business. Montane also helped organize a GoFundMe to help offset Pennenga’s medical expenses, a campaign that has raised more than $40,000 since it went live in mid-June.

“She was so thoughtful about everything she did,” Montane says. “She wanted every wedding and every photo shoot to feel like it was the only one she’d had in her entire life. That’s how you build relationships. She loved so many people she worked with.”

Nicole Kaney, owner of NK Productions, a wedding- and event-planning company, echoes Montane’s sentiments.

“Cat always promoted positivity for our industry," she says. "She delivered on her promises every time, for everyone. We had so many good times together professionally—attending events and conferences together—and what started off as a business relationship turned into a friendship.

“She became a constant in my life and photographed some of my most special memories, including my maternity photos, birthday parties and family celebrations," she continues. "The loss of such a great friend weighs heavily on me, but the loss for our community is a void that cannot be filled."

I have my own special memories with Pennenga. When my husband Rob and I got married in January 2016, she was the only photographer we wanted to shoot our wedding and the first vendor we booked. Her style, with its warm, generous light, felt perfect for us, and when we got the photos back, they affirmed our decision. She and I kept in touch over the years, and when I shared her GoFundMe on my personal Instagram account, she DMed me and said, “Thank you, friend.” She’d just been admitted to the hospital.

“We are thinking of you all the time,” I wrote back.

“That means everything!” she replied. I had no idea that it would be the last exchange we’d have.

“She was an artist and her medium was photography,” Greg says. “She loved love, and she loved her couples. She was also organized, detail-oriented and a planner. All of us should be as well-placed in our careers as Cat Pennenga.”

Her illness, Greg says, was “very, very fast, but we had the mentality that at some point, she’d turn a corner. By the end, there was no turning it around, but we probably had the right mentality. We were never looking at the end. That would have ruined the last days we had together.”

A visitation for Pennenga will take place from 10 to 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 6, at Robert Toale and Sons Funeral Home at Palms Memorial Park, 170 Honore Ave., Sarasota. A funeral service will follow from 11 a.m. to noon. In the meantime, social media tributes and remembrances continue to pour in.

“My heart’s had to grow 10 sizes to receive all this love and support,” Greg says. “I hope everyone who knew her uses her loss as an impetus to better themselves. She was so great, and we are greater for having known her. We should use the cost paid here to try to be better and better.”

For more information about Pennenga’s service, click here. To donate to her GoFundMe, click here.