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.

There are more to see on my Facebook page so head on over, fan me and take a look – HERE

Laurence and Alison are two such people.  They were one of my first Waiheke Island wedding clients when I moved my business here several years ago and although they live in Wellington, we still keep in touch.  When we visit Wellington we have an open invitation to dinner which is always excellent (thanks Ali) and complemented with a selection of expertly chosen wines (thanks Laurence!).  I tell you;  perks to this job or WHAT!?

As they were from the pre-blog era, here are a couple of shots from their wedding…

Anyway… Laurence is a published author and decided to use one of my photos on the cover of his new book called The Seer.  [Ahem.. blurb alert...] Set in Wellington, The Seer chronicles the life and times of Richard Grimm, destined from birth to become a seer, a man who can predict the future with startling accuracy.  The book follows him from early fame in New Zealand, through the USA and on to disaster in Europe. On his return to Wellington, a chain of events is started that will involve murder and betrayal. It will lead to love…

Book Launch this Thursday 29th July, 7:30 at Jetty Cafe in Petone… all welcome!  (Yes I know that is tonight - I am a couple of days behind myself at the moment!!)

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.

Go on, make my day and like me.

You know you want to.

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!)