Ingrid and Shaun got married last summer at The Estate in Church Bay so this is a bit of a late post (understatement) but… better late than never, right?!

They had a vintage-y themed wedding with many personal touches which made their wedding day unique.  Ingrid handcrafted her invites along with some help from her friends and also individually made the very crafty ‘button’ buttonholes for the boys to wear.  She describes her flowers as, “a mismatch of  wild, country flowers, that were as fragrant as they were pretty, and tied with raffia. I wanted flowers that looked as if they were straight out of a field. “.  Mmmm-mm, this is my type of bride!!

The handsome groom…

Ingrid and Shaun live in Bondi (Shaun is a surfer) and she kept all details about her dress under wraps until the big day.  She said that one of her favourite moments was seeing the looks on the faces of her family when she first came out in her finery…

Ingrid looked amazing with softly curled hair and the longest lashes in the known world.  The ceremony was held on the front helicopter pad at The Estate which is a stunning spot that overlooks Auckland City from one direction and has a background of hills and vines in another direction.  Their celebrant was local Waihekian Rosemareyn van der Sluis.

A quick run up the hill at The Estate before we headed down to Oneroa Beach for a few laughs along with their excellent, fun bridal party…

Pick the groom…

OK, this next shot probably needs an explanation!! A year or two ago Shaun and Ingrid were featured in a book called Faces of Bondi by photographer Ursula Hechenberger and in the book there is great shot of Shaun putting Ingrid in a headlock so we thought it only right to replicate this image on their wedding day… except that we also shot a second image with Shaun in the headlock!! LOL. The reproduction of Ursula’s photo below is from a little booklet that Ingrid made for her guests called ‘from then to now’ which told the story of their blossoming love.  Too cute!

This next series of shots cracks me up…

Laid back kiwis at the beach vibe as evidenced by the jandals… or maybe it should be ‘thongs’.

Another of the lovely little touches Ingrid and Shaun had at their wedding was a selection of various lollies in jars for their guests to make up their own lolly mixtures… a bit of a trip down memory lane there but I would just like to assure you that I was the soul of discretion and only sneaked a couple of milk bottles.  I’m sure no one saw.

Thanks Ingrid and Shaun – we loved being part of your wedding day and you are quite right… Love is sweet.

I have been waiting very excitedly for this little book to arrive.  It features the work of over 60 international wedding photographers collated together by UK photographer David Pearce and designed to be an inspirational guide for other wedding photographers, keen amateurs and maybe even the odd enthusiastic bride! 

In David’s words, he “spent weeks searching for talent that was not yet globally known” and I feel very honoured to be included in that number.  As far as I am aware, I am the only New Zealand Photographer represented within the pages.  COOL!

And the images which were selected to appear in the book…

Thanks to all my lovely brides and grooms who were happy to be published in this photography book – Rachael and Stuart,  Andy and Fraser, Mon-Wei and Blair, Jodi and Matt, Tania and Robin, and Nikki and Nick.  You guys are fabulous!  (Keep an eye on your letter boxes for your copy which will be posted out to you later this week)

If anyone is interested in getting a copy of this book or any of the other titles in David’s Invest In Knowledge series, click HERE.

Well, I have finally signed up for the Facebook ‘thang’. Feel free to click on thru HERE and ‘Like’ me if the mood so takes you… (must confess that I have the Cheap Trick tune ‘I Want You to Want Me’ running through my head right now with up-dated lyrics.. “I’d liiiike you to LIKE me.”)

Go on, make my day and like me.

You know you want to.

Bec and Scott were one of my January weddings earlier on in 2010.  They had originally opted out of being blogged but changed their mind after enjoying seeing so many people they knew sharing their photos on Weddings on Waiheke. 

YAY!  I was delighted that they changed their mind because I LOVED their wedding day.  It was such a great day; just magical.  They live in the UK and returned home for the wedding celebrations which included a gorgeous, relaxed and personal ceremony at the western end of Onetangi Beach complete with a rousing rendition by EVERYONE at the wedding of the Beatles classic All You Need is Love. 

Bec had four bridesmaids who all looked gorgeous in green dresses of differing styles designed to flatter their shape.  Bec’s dress was a shimmering metallic silvery-blue gown with an oversheath of spidery lace – it was VERY cool and she looked just stunning!   She had her dreadlocked hair put into an up-do by her hairdresser in town and her make up done by Waiheke make up artist Charlotte Edwardes from Island Beauty.   Bec got ready for the ceremony at her
parent’s stunning bach overlooking Onetangi Beach.  Her flowers were by Vicki from Wildflower. 

Bec reminds me of a greek goddess in the shot above!  

Great white festival flags marked the way for guests to the wedding location which was tucked around some rocks out of the way of the main bustle that is Onetangi Beach in the height of summer.  It was a great location with only a few passersby stopping to have a ‘sticky-beak’.  Bec’s twin brother sang a beautiful rendition of the kiwi classic ‘Anchor Me’ as she approached her groom on the arms of her proud parents…

The western end of Onetangi is a beautiful spot but can be a little tricky during the middle of the day as it directly faces our harsh NZ sun.  Luckily for us, it clouded over almost on cue and gave us some gorgeous soft light to play with.  Scott and Bec had a bit of a vintage theme going on, so I pulled out the trusty Holga camera for a few shots to add to the old school feel and cross-processed some expired slide film for good measure – I love the resulting cyan cast!

As Bec and Scott are living away from New Zealand we stopped off at one of Waiheke’s many spectacular bush walks to add even more of a kiwi landscape feel to the shots before heading on to Mudbrick Vineyard where the reception was to take place. 

Deep breath in.  Ahhhh (contented sigh), it’s so nice to go back and re-live such a lovely wedding.  Thanks Scott and Bec for letting me share your pics with the blogiverse!  (There were SO many more that I wanted to include!) 

The gorgeous wedding of Bec and Scott… a real beauty from earlier on in the year.

Well, it is a well-known old wives tale that rain on your wedding day is a harbinger of a good marriage but Monica and Dwayne were probably a little sick of being told that because they got married on the first of the ‘weather bomb’ days to hit NZ over the last couple of weeks! It was wet. Very wet. Indeed.

All the day before the wedding and all through the night heavy downpours were followed by even heavier downpours and when I woke up on the morning of their wedding, ALL I could think about was Monica and how devastated she was going to be.  So, I turned up to Te Toki Retreat where Monica and Dwayne were getting ready for the big day with my heavy-duty umbrella and my wonderful husband/second shooter/umbrella holder extraordinaire not quite knowing if I was going to find a little stress bunny bouncing up and down in the make-up chair where my chilled out bride should be!

But after all these years I really should have known better than to think that a bride as fabulous as Monica would let a little rain ruin her day! I knocked on the door and shook the raindrops off to see Monica and the girls happily being pampered by the un-stressable Ashlee Kellett and one of her team, Lexie.  Champagne was being supped, music was playing and Te Toki Retreat exuded the warm welcoming glow of love and happiness.  My bride was as cool as a cucumber.  And I was happy.

Monica looked absolutely stunning.

Over at the boys house, the handsome groom Dwayne was… well,  grooming.

Monica and Dwayne chose to do their photos before the ceremony so they had a ‘first look’ which was set up by their wedding planners, the lovely Jenny and Jan from Waiheke Island Weddings  -  I love those first look moments!   

Before we headed out into the elements for our shoot we did a couple of shots in some of the indoor areas at Te Toki Retreat.  It had been a couple of years since I had photographed a wedding there and I had forgotten how gorgeous it is.  (We have a few weddings booked at Te Toki next season so I am really looking forward to shooting in their stunning outside spaces as well.  Minus the rain.)

We headed to the Historical Village along the Onetangi Straight to start our shoot before carrying on to the Onetangi Sports ground.  Am totally digging the brown boots!

Weather Bomb?!  What Weather Bomb?

Dwayne and his brothers were completely classic – what a laugh. 

Taking the golf course flag captive – I mean, if you can’t play golf on your wedding day then when can you??  These guys were laugh out loud funny!  That golf course photo cracks me up every time I see it!

Getting some air…

Bad photographer moment ahead…  I had bought some new umbrellas for the day to add to my kit – some nice translucent white ones, you understand, but unfortunately just failed to notice that they were minuscule!  Fit for a five year old!  Hmmmm, bit of an oversight there, Emma.  Smooth.

OK, enough messing around – onto the serious stuff… 

Rawr!

This shot below is our waiting for the bus shot (she says as if that’s a set shot!) – I love how completely cute Monica looks while Dwayne is Mr Serious.

I’m not sure if you are meant to fall in love with your own photographs but this image really flips my switch…

So all the while we were shooting, the weather has been getting improving little by little until we get to the ceremony AND THE SUN COMES OUT!  Talk about a Crazy Weather Day!  Mudbrick Vineyard was looking it’s lovely self, still wet with raindrops glistening everywhere.  Monica and Dwayne had their ceremony down in the Potager’s Bistro – it was a loving, funny and emotional ceremony; a delight to witness.

We had just enough light left after the ceremony for a few more shots around the Mudbrick grounds.  This one below was meant to be an ‘off with their heads’ shot but I liked Monica’s beautiful expression too much.

Check out that blue sky!

Thanks Monica and Dwayne for being SO cool, calm and collected on your wet wedding day.  You and your bridal party were so much fun to photograph – we had a ball!  Wishing you much success and happiness for your future together… xx