Stamford Grand Glenelg Wedding – Tamika & Blake
It was a wet and windy day for Tamika and Blake’s wedding at the Stamford Grand Glenelg, but it certainly didn’t dampen the celebrations! Due to the weather, the plan for the day had to be changed slightly. The original plan was to take advantage of the famous Glenelg foreshore for Tamika and Blake’s wedding ceremony, but due to the weather, their ceremony took place in one of the Grand’s Banquet halls. The weather was typical of the recent wild weather we’ve had in Adelaide over the last few weeks, as only the day before I was the wedding photographer at another Glenelg wedding and it was sunny. Despite the weather though, Tamika and Blake made the most of it and we took some neat photos in the rain.
Preparation
Blake was prepared at a house in Noarlunga Downs, the atmosphere was cool and relaxed with the boys simply waiting to be told to get dressed :). I was actually half expecting to be accosted by snakes and other reptiles, as Tamika and Blake own a reptile house in the south. One of the things they asked me at our meeting before the wedding was if I was ok around reptiles as they were going to integrate them into their ceremony. I think due to the weather they abandoned that idea though. Blake and his boys had a bit of fun posing in front of some mean looking machinery in the shed out back and they look great!
Tamika was prepared in a hotel room within the Stamford Grand Glenelg, along with quite a few family members and well wishers. The small little room became quite cramped very quickly! Once the room cleared out though, the atmosphere was faily relaxed with only a little touch of nerves creeping in 🙂
Stamford Grand Glenelg Wedding Ceremony
As I stated earlier, the Plan B for bad weather on the day was to hold the wedding ceremony within one of the Ballrooms of the Stamford Grand Glenelg. The room was large enough to accommodate all the guests with room left over, and the altar was backdropped by glorious arched windows overlooking the Glenelg foreshore. A unique aspect of Tamika and Blake’s wedding was the inclusion of a ‘lock’ ceremony where bother bride and groom lock together ceremonial padlocks and make the keys float away on balloons. While the balloons were a nice idea, they didn’t float away as expected so instead we threw away the keys from the Jetty.
The Stamford Grand Glenelg itself was originally built in 1856 and was a lot smaller than the building standing today. Tt was the first building built at Moseley Square, Glenelg and was originally named the ‘Pier Hotel’ to accommodate tourists attracted by the, what was then, grand pier complete with shops and amusements. It was then removed and replaced by a 3 storey building in 1912, and again in 1990 when the current Stamford Grand was built.
Glamour Shots
As the weather wasn’t ideal we tried to keep the glamour shoot short and sweet. We walked around Glenelg’s Moseley Square and made use of the famous Glenelg Jetty for a bit of photoshop fun 🙂
Stamford Grand Glenelg Wedding Reception
Tamika and Blake’s wedding reception took place only a few doors down from where their ceremony took place, within another of the Grand’s function rooms. Guests were well spread out around the room providing ample space for dancing and walking about. Their DJ made use of one of my most favourite props for a first dance as a wedding photographer, a dry ice smoke maker! It adds such a great atmosphere to first dance photos, love it.
During the night, we also suck out to take advantage of the weather. Rain in wedding photos at night really adds something a little different to typical wedding photos and I feel as though we got some good shots with a little help from photoshop 😉
I really hope Tamika and Blake enjoy their wedding photos as much as I enjoyed being a part of their special, loved filled day. Beautiful family and I wish them the very best!