I have been very excited about Fran and Hamish’s wedding ever since they booked AGES ago because it is the first celebration ever held at a new wedding venue on Waiheke, Poderi Crisci, a stunning new spot in Awaawaroa Bay.  It’s just lovely out there; a family owned vineyard, it has the personal touch and a wonderful Tuscan feel to the decor and environment.  It’s only a hop skip and a jump from Onetangi but it feels like another world.  I love that about Waiheke Island – there’s such a great range of different and wonderful wedding venues over here.  Something for every style of wedding – no wonder Waiheke is becoming known as a bit of a ‘wedding mecca’.

We started our day in Onetangi with Hamish and his lovely laid-back family and groomsmen chilling out by the beach (great jumping lads!) before heading around the loop road to join Fran in her getting ready preparations…  I am a little late with this post (sorry Fran and Hamish’s family – I know you are eagerly waiting!!) so I will keep the comments short and let the images speak for themselves…

Hamish had a little …ah, mishap with the trimmer on the morning of the wedding but luckily his sister has mad skills with an eyeliner pencil!

Fran and her bridesmaids were being attended to by two of Waiheke’s finest, Hannah Bylo (hair) and Chloe Delamore (make up).

I love it when the excitement starts to build up – too cute!

Fran looked so beautiful and was such a relaxed and happy bride – love it!!

The ceremony was a very heartfelt affair with a few tears shed and some great expressions from our gorgeous bride when Hamish’s ring decided to be a bit tricky in the sweltering heat of the day.

The day was super hot so we spent most of our photography time in the shade if we could, including using the wonderfully cool cellar area at Poderi Crisci…

I adore the gentle feel of these shots…

Thanks Fran and Hamish – I LOVED being part of your wedding day – such a great day with an abundance of love and happiness flowing.   Hope you enjoy your preview peek!! xx

I always have what I like to think of as ‘healthy nerves’ when I leave for a wedding but I was especially edgey the morning of Olivia and Johnny’s wedding day… mostly because Olivia and Johnny are the wonderful and creative duo that head Lavender Weddings,  contemporary wedding videos for modern bride and grooms.  But I also felt very honoured to be entrusted with their wedding day and was excited because I knew that having been to so many weddings themselves, their wedding day would be relaxed, wonderful and effortlessly stylish (and that my nerves would disappear as soon as I got the camera out).  And it was. (And they did).  They were married in the private residence of sculptor and artist Pamela Howard-Smith, which was a glorious location and a veritable treasure trove of exceptional works of art; everywhere you turned there was another quirky piece of brilliance on display.  I was a very happy photographer.

As well as us, there was also a video crew doing their thing and as part of it, they were doing interviews with family members at the getting ready stage of the day.  During one of these interviews Johnny’s sister was asked what was so important about family.  She replied simply, ‘Family is Everything.’  Love it.  So without further ado…

Guests were welcomed by a bagpiper…

Olivia looked gorgeous with her hair done by Frances and make up by Bianca (both from Auckland).  Flowers by the lovely Vicki from Wildflower.  Olivia’s stunning Pronovias dress looked just amazing on her.

The ceremony site was gorgeous and overlooked a private bay.  I adore the looks Olivia and Johnny are giving each other in these following shots.

Following the ceremony guests lay about on the grass and chatted in a relaxed fashion while we took some photos around the grounds.

A beautiful photo by my second shooter extraordinaire, Lance.

I’m sure that bank didn’t look that steep in real life!! (oops, sorry Olivia!)

Johnny’s fun-loving brothers kept the laughs flowing during the photo session… more evidence to follow!

They make me laugh!! There were actually a couple of slightly more risque ones but we wont go there, will we boys!

Great cake!!  A profiterole tower/ramp jam packed with yumminess and fresh strawbs. MMMMMMmmmm.  My kind of wedding cake!  Very cool.  Thanks Olivia and Johnny for inviting us to be part of your big day.  I don’t think I have laughed so hard as with your bridal party photos – those men are dangerous!!

Is there a hint of panic in that laugh, Emma?   A great, fun wedding coming your way after the weekend…

Well, it seems like it has been a little while since I have done a Trash the Dress session, a couple of years in fact!  Actually these days these sessions have many names… trash the dress, drown the gown, love the dress, cherish the gown and of course the very self explanatory ‘post wedding day shoot’.  At the end of the day what they are about is getting another chance to put on your beautiful (and rather expensive) gown and feel like a glamour queen… again.  But without the pressure of the wedding day.  They are kinda like a modeling session for couples in love.  And they are FUN!!!  Lot’s of fun!

I didn’t take Sonia and Tim’s actual wedding day photos – they were married over in Auckland on the same weekend as Sylvie and Luke from the last post but they were having their honeymoon on Waiheke so Sonya contacted me about a TTD session.  YAY!!!  I love them of course because it’s not often in the wedding game that you get to play for an extended period of time with a beautiful chick in a white dress and no time pressure.  Nice.

We started on the watertank of Sonia’s family bach in Blackpool and then went on from there to Little Oneroa, the Tahi Rd industrial area and finally Whakanepha Regional Park at sundown.  Mostly the shoot was for and of Sonia but we managed to sneak in a few images of Tim as well, albeit not in his wedding attire but still look casually dashing!   There are probably far too many photos in this post but I love them all so I’ll get on with it… Enjoy!

While I use flash as and where I need to in my photos, I am really a natural light photographer at heart.  For our last set of images in the water I did some off camera flash as well and while I can definitely appreciate the added drama of the off-camera flash ones, I really do love the natural light ones more; they are so soft and delicate.

Sonia and Tim – you two are super-stars!  Thanks for making my job easy. 

When someone has been planning and dreaming about their wedding since they were young I always know it’s going to be an elegant and very beautiful wedding day.  And Sylvie’s wedding was just that – absolutely gorgeous!  The weather was gloriously hot with blue sky for miles and their wedding venue, The Estate, looked stunning as always.  It’s also an added bonus when the various members of the bridal party are wearing named T-shirts so we know who’s who.  Very important!

Our handsome groom, Luke reads the card Sylvie gave him.

… and also manages to squeeze in the time old tradition of nervous pacing, captured by Lance.

I adore this connection as the excitement of getting dressed begins.  Sylvie had told me that she always wanted to have a flower girl and beautiful Brooke was absolutely perfect on the day.

Stunning!  What amazing eyes…

I really like this shot of Luke as Sylvie comes up the aisle because I feel like I can almost hear him saying a soft ‘phwoar’ under his breath; a ‘cat with the cream’ expression if ever I saw one!

The guests were given white parasols to protect them from the heat which was a GREAT idea because it was soooooooo hot.  Sylvie’s brother Edward sang a beautiful opera song during the signing of the register which brought goosebumps to most of the audience (or maybe it was just me and Lance, but either way it was some mighty fine singing!)

The hill at The Estate really does cry out for this photo – and Sylvie and Luke did it so well… although the shot below does make me wonder if my communication skills may need a little work! LOL!

After some phototime down at Oneroa Beach we headed back to the Estate for a few more photos around their gorgeous grounds.  Everyone piled into the car and found that the battery was dead.  Hmmmm.  Not good.  Luckily, it was nothing that a quick jumpstart couldn’t fix and it made for a pretty unique photo – I think this is the first time I have photographed a bridal party pushing a car up the beach!

Thanks Sylvie and Luke for inviting us into your lovely and very elegant wedding day.  It was a beautiful wedding – hope you enjoy your sneaky peek!