Congrats to Trinity, the gorgeous and fun winner of our Waiheke Island School Fair giveaway this year.  Her mum opted to go for one of my ‘Rockstars’ shoots and I am so pleased she did because Trin is a natural Rockstar!

Schools out!  Happy Holidays to all the school kids out there and good luck to all the parents… remember, rockstar shoots are a GREAT school holiday activity and a fun way to capture your little darlings youthful enthusiasm.

Liesl and Dan were married on a super dooper hot and sunny magical Waiheke day… it felt like high summer even though it was only late November.  A PERFECT day for a wedding and especially perfect for Liesl’s wedding which had gorgeous light and breezy touches all through out the day; yellow was the colour theme with lots of lovely bright flowers and casually curled hairdos adding to the summery vibe.

From the moment I stepped into the boys ‘getting ready’ apartment at The Sands in Onetangi I knew these lads would be good for a laugh – hmmm, could it be the lined up mini bottles of Jagermeister and ‘themed’ cufflinks which gave me the impression that these boys could be trouble? 

Meanwhile, the girls were relaxing next door in the second of The Sands’ penthouse apartments.  Hair and make up was created by Red Amber and Liesl’s gorgeous flowers were brought over from Auckland.

Liesl looked completely stunning…

Dan and Liesl were having most of their photos before their ceremony to make the most of our photo time together (love it when that happens!) so they had a ‘first look’ down by Onetangi beach.

And then we were into the photos;  our session started at Onetangi beach and then we headed to Cathedral walk to get out of the heat (and glare) of the day

Look at that cheeky face… I told ya, Trouble.

Cable Bay was the location of their wedding ceremony and it looked just beautiful with clear blue skies and stunning views.  Liesl arrived in style in an orange rotary vehicle that could be heard from a wee distance.  Quite nice to have some warning that the bride is about to arrive…

I always love it when my B&Gs are really into their wedding photos as it means that I can ask them to go to great lengths, like… for instance, walking down and up this really far away vineyard slope.  You can see the scale in Lance’s photo below -  yep, that little speck of white is Liesl and Dan.  Now that’s commitment!

We were shooting this ring shot and I say to Dan, ‘just give her a little kiss’ and he starts leaning over to kiss Liesl (I assume from what I can see in my view finder) but then I hear these gales of laughter from the collected bridal party and see that he has innocently ‘misinterpreted’ the ‘her’ in my comment to mean his bottle of beer!  Lance caught this shot… too funny!

Back to Cable Bay Vineyard for a few shots down in the cellar before being welcomed back by their guests and that ends our coverage of this gorgeous wedding.  Thanks for making it so easy Liesl and Dan – it was a beautiful wedding and a lot of fun to be part of. xx

Siwan and Elfyn had a very personal and intimate ceremony at Water’s Edge (represented by Waiheke Holiday Homes).  It was so personal and intimate that I was a one of the witnesses!  I always act very cool when I am asked to be a witness at a wedding by my lovely clients but secretly I LOVE it!  It’s a little bit of a thrill to have an official role every now and then.  Even though it was just the two of them (all their family are back home in Wales), Siwan had made sure that every little detail was perfect with loads of lovely little touches to make their wedding extra special.  Everything about this wedding was completely beautiful…

We started the day with brilliant and scorching hot sunshine and ended it with a brief but pretty heavy downpour!  One of those crazy weather days we get every now and then which are always fun to shoot in.  Righto, on with the show…

The ceremony was made extra intimate by the fact that all their vows were in Welsh so neither myself or Irene Armstrong (their lovely celebrant who by-the-by is getting married herself this month… congrats Irene!) had any idea what was said!  Sounded really nice though.

We went wandering around the gorgeous grounds at Water’s Edge; up a few hills and and down to the private beach for a wee while before heading down to Oneroa Beach and then on to the cathedral walk (although this was the time of the big downpour so we didn’t stay long there).

GREAT jumping!

Thanks Siwan and Elfyn… what a gorgeous gorgeous wedding; I was honoured to be a part of your day!