One of my smaller and more intimate weddings this year was the lovely wedding of Rachel and Nick. Their ceremony was held at Goldwater Estate, and there were only 26 guests. The day had a effortless and relaxed atmosphere, with the bride and groom and their guests relaxing in the sun and drinking the great award winning Goldwater wine on another stunning Waiheke day! Ah, it’s tough working on a beautiful island…. not.

Rachel and Nick’s beautiful flowers were created by Vicki at Wildflower

I have just returned from a fabulous 5 days at the NZIPP (New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography) INFOCUS Print Judging and Convention. The judging this year was really tough, with only 12 golds being awarded over 7 categories, so I was delighted to be awarded a silver award and 2 bronze awards for some of my wedding and portrait work this year. There were over 1,100 prints judged over two and a half days from 290 different photographers from within NZ and Australia. There were some great speakers at the convention, including NZ photographic icon Marti Freidlander, and I have returned feeling very inspired with lots of ideas bouncing around my head!

Silver Award Winning photo taken at The Chateau, Tongariro. The couple were a delightful bride and groom who walked the length of the golf course for me to get this image! Their wedding was such a magical day, with most of their friends and family travelling great distances to be there. I will post more images from their wedding later – there were so many beautiful shots.

_

The above tongue in cheek photo received a bronze award. They were the last shots taken after a creative session down at Sandy Bay here on Waiheke Island. As if often the case on a wedding day, the bride was totally into the concept of doing something out of the ordinary, but the groom was a little less enthusiastic! (Really, can you tell? )They were a great, full of laughs, fun couple who eloped to Waiheke from the UK, and I felt really honoured to be a part of their wedding day.

_

This image received a bronze award, and is of my daughter Jessie. The shots both before and after this rather dark expression show her as the sunny little sweetheart she really is, but this little gem was well worth getting to keep a balanced historical record, as any mother of a four year old will be able to tell you! It’s going to be worth pure gold at her 21st!