What a great way to spend Easter Saturday!  We were on hand to capture the stylish and very fun wedding day of Pepita and Ben which they celebrated at Mudbrick Vineyard, one of Waiheke Island’s finest wedding venues.  Pretty much all of their guests had traveled from afar to share their day with them and spirits were high and happy, helped along by a glorious blue sky day which came in the middle of some pretty foul and COLD weather.  Jan from Waiheke Island Weddings helped Pepita and Ben to co-ordinate the day which began for Ben and the boys at Kiwi View Cottage in Blackpool.

Pepita and the girls were getting ready at the lovely Lavender Hill in Church Bay.  The flowers were by Iain Stephens Floral Design and Pepita’s gorgeous hair and make up was the work of the ever-fabulous Auckland make up artist Sharon Kenny.

Stunning!  Pepita’s gorgeous dress was a Vera Wang creation and looked awesome on her…

Ben gets ready for his ‘first look’ meeting…

LOVE shooting at Lavender Hill!

This shot below is one of Lance’s great captures from the day…

And our nod to Easter…  a little silly I grant you but I’m that sort of girl!  After we had taken a shot or two with the paws up I said to Ben, “Actually, I might get you to just put your hands down for a few shots” and one of his groomsmen quipped, “Yeah Ben, because it looks really silly with the hands up.”  OK, OK, point taken – I’m sorry I made you wear a bunny mask although I thought you both looked quite cute to tell you the truth.  I’m having a little chuckle as I write this post – it’s the paws that get me! LOL

We swung by Kennedy Point Vineyard for a few shots there – Pepita’s grandparents had a home around this area when she was growing up and she had helped to put the tree house in the grand pohutukawa on the hill.  Between that and the rolling grasses and groovy sculpture, my little photographers heart was happily skipping along until we saw the big BULLS in the field… BIG bulls. with. really. big. horns.  OK, change of plan!!

I adore these shots, the light was amazing in the olive grove

Pepita and Ben had a sunset ceremony at Mudbrick Vineyard, very gorgeous.

They choose to book us to stay on and cover their reception and they included a photobooth as well which was great fun as you will see later.  One particularly lovely touch at their reception was that instead of giving a wedding favour to each of their guests they made a donation on their behalf to the cancer society and provided each guest with a pink ribbon to wear through out the night.

Fun after dark!  Below is our ‘sphere of light’ attempt which I think looks a bit more like a ball of wool – I should have asked one of the bridal party to draw in a big kitten on the other side!!  That would have been a cool shot!

The reception was filled with very moving speeches and lots of lovely moments of laughter…

We had a photobooth open up on Mudbrick’s mezzanine floor for a couple of hours through-out the night which was manned by Lance.  A  photo-booth like this one is a great way to capture fun images of your guests and can be booked with us as an add on to your reception coverage.  In this case, Pepita provided a backdrop of her choice but we have a plain white one available as part of the set up…  there were some good laughs, my personal favourite being the shot of the grandmothers carrying the signs ‘CHEEKY’ and “OOH” – too funny!

Well, we couldn’t let an photobooth opportunity slip by could we!!  Thanks so much Pepita and Ben for a fun and fabulous day with you and your lovely guests – it was a pleasure being part of your wedding day. xx