Pantone colour of the year 2017 has been announced

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Each year, Pantone – a company that has more to do with colour definitions and ink production than any other – introduces their colour for the year, and the Pantone colour of the year 2017 is… Greenery!

The reason why this is so important in regards to weddings is that, as with last year’s Pantone colour of the year, fashion designers and those who have power in the wedding world pay very close attention to what Pantone believes to be  the next big trend. It’s rather interesting in a way, first how an ink making company can dictate such wide-reaching colour trends in fashion, and another in why people pay attention to it. But they do if last year’s colour’s of Rose Quartz and Serenity are to go by. Almost every wedding I was a wedding photographer at during the year had a very similar colour scheme, including my own!

The colour of the year is actually chosen by combining the colours that Pantone work with all throughout the previous year and is supposed to be an amalgamation of all fashion trends. So it’s not as if some random guy is sitting in front of a colour wheel with a dart when selecting their new colour.

Pantone colour of the year 2017

Pantone colour of the year 2017

The Pantone colour of the year 2017

The colour ‘greenery as the Pantone colour of the year 2017 is supposed to evoke a feeling of the first day’s of Spring where a sense of renewal and the reinvigorating sense of hope fills the air. Goodness knows after the turmoil that we have seen in 2016 we might need such a pick-me-up. The Pantone website includes a number of colour swatches that might be useful if you’d be looking into using this uplifting colour for your wedding.

I have to say I personally quite like the colour, it’s got a happy-go-lucky vibe that last year’s colour missed and I’m looking forward to seeing it in use!

Bridesmaid gift ideas

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As a wedding photographer, I’ve been privvy to a vast variety of different bridesmaid gift ideas, so I thought I might make a list of some of the more thoughtful bridesmaid gift ideas that I’ve come across at my weddings. Giving your bridesmaids a gift before your wedding ceremony is a modern traditions and is seen today as a way for the bride to thank her entourage on a personal level for helping her plan and put together her big day.

Bride and Bridesmaids looking at ring

Bridesmaid gift ideas

Jewellery

The most common of bridesmaid gifts are pieces of jewellery. Usually given to accentuate what the bridesmaids are wearing on the day, and also to give a bit of uniformity between the bridesmaids – if that’s the style you’re going for at your wedding. Jewellery can also be very personal, it’s usually small and easy to package as a gift. Generally jewellery gifted in this way should be something you’d know your bridesmaids would like to wear and enjoy after the day itself.

Personalised gowns

During your wedding preparation with your bridesmaids, it’s fun to dress up in matching gowns that have been embroiled with either their names, or fun monikers, such as ‘bridesmaid #2’ or even ‘bride’s b****’, depending on your personality 🙂 There are a number of different ideas when it comes to this sort of thing and while the gowns are personalised specifically for this one wedding, they can be used at home for lazy days also.

Gowns

A services gift certificate

Here’s one that’s not directly related to your wedding! How about gifting your bridesmaids a gift certificate for a massage, or a beauty treatment, or even a portraiture sitting with a professional photographer? This can be a great idea to allow your bridesmaids to pamper themselves after your wedding day and to show them that you think they are all beautiful and care about them outside the sphere that was your wedding day.

Personalised items

One common gift I’ve been seeing lately are personalised items such as wine glasses to drink from at the reception, or even clothes hangers to hang dresses on. These are easy, simple gifts people are bound to use more than once, or at least put them someplace in their home so that they will be reminded about your wonderful day and the role they had to play in it.

Wedding reception

Personal artwork

This one may not be to everyone’s taste, but if your the artsy type, one of the most personal bridesmaid gift ideas I’ve ever seen was a personalised piece of art drawn and painted by the bride herself. This is heartfelt, personal and cheap! And it’s something that your bridesmaids will no doubt put on display once they get home. Failing that I’ve also seen professional artists at weddings where they would hand out quickly drawn caricatures of guests at your wedding reception, but this really falls more into the reception souvenir category along with photobooth photos.

Clothing

Be it shoes, a bag, or even her dress, having a formal dress for each girl at a wedding can get expensive, so many brides opt to make this their bridesmaid’s gift. It’s practical too in many ways, as if it’s the type of dress that would not look out of place at a club, or even at work it may get quite a bit of wear out of it. This goes for shoes also, and you can never have too many clutch purses to choose from can you?

Bridal Party Dresses

There are of course a thousand other ideas for bridesmaid gift ideas, just to list a few other ideas – body products, candy, movie tickets, etc. But really whatever you decide to give, or not give your bridesmaids, I’m sure they’ll love you just the same 🙂

Bridgewater Mill Wedding – Anna & Jeremy

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  • ANNA & JEREMY

    Bridgewater Mill Wedding

    Through the foliage at Bridgewater Mill

It was a very warm day in January when I was lucky enough to cover Anna and Jeremy’s Bridgewater Mill wedding as their wedding photographer. So much so that unfortunately the original plan of holding the ceremony on the newly renovated decking at the Mill was replaced with the indoor area. Thankfully the cloud cover kept much of the heat away and everyone had a wonderful time 🙂

Preparation photos

Anna and Jeremy were prepared in separate rooms of the Manna Hotel in Hahndorf with me starting off with Anna and her bridal party just to say hello before heading over to the boys then heading back to the girls. Both Anna and Jeremy were fairly laid back in the morning, and the nerves were well hidden – but occasionally showed!  The natural happenings during preparation allowed me to capture some wonderfully candid photos of all the participants before heading outside for a bit of a walk around the local area. They both werent overly keen on heading out into the heat, but thankfully I could coerce them as we got some nice shots.

Jeremy and his groomsmen
Wedding rings
Getting ready in the mirror
Jeremy and his groomsmen
Putting on flowers
Buttoning up vest
Getting ready in the mirror
Putting on jacket
Heading out the door
Running kids
Engagement ring
Putting on shoes
Bridal Party
Smiling bride
On the streets of Hahndorf
Smiling bride
Stealing jelly beans
Putting flowers in hair
Flower girl

Bridgewater Mill wedding ceremony

The Bridgewater Mill is a historic Flour Mill built in the 1860s to take advantage of  the nearby stream that now runs through a nearby park. This incredible location provides a picturesque backdrop for wedding photos due to it’s old-world charm and unique water wheel which still turns. Unfortunately this wedding season the wheel is cordoned off for renovations, and also as the ceremony was held indoors, I couldn’t get it in any photo :(. That being said though, the area is still an amazing place to walk about and take photos. The ceremony location was lined with a fairly modern looking wood and glass interior which provided a ton of light while still having a homely atmosphere.

Anna and Jeremy opted to have a sand-pouring ceremony, which after a bit of shyness overcoming the flower girl as she walked down the aisle, she joined in happily. It’s always a lovely ceremony to have when joining two families together, particularly with kids involved. The coming together of the three different sands in the same vase represents the impossible nature of separating the family ever again.

Sand ceremony
Wedding sign
Group photo inside Bridgewater Mill
Exchanging wedding rings
Walking back down aisle
Groom and groomsmen at altar
Sand ceremony
Together holding hands
First kiss
Bridgewater Mill wedding ceremony

Glamour photos

After the ceremony was over, and after I broke out my drone for a few overhead photos, we went for a bit of a walk around the nearby park. The park was quite busy as we had to unfortunately remove a family of frolicking kids playing in the water of the stream to take the photos I wanted, but they were kind enough about it 🙂

Bridgewater Mill wedding
Through the foliage
Through the foliage at Bridgewater Mill
Genderbender wedding shot
Bride and groom on stone wall
On the wall of Bridgewater Mill
Bride and groom holding one another
Kiss with the bridal party in the background
Wedding rings
In a doorway on Bridgewater mill
Playing on the playground
Drone love heart
On the wall of Bridgewater Mill

The Haus wedding reception

We headed back to Hahndorf for the wedding reception held at The Haus Hahndorf. The Haus is famed for it’s wonderful selection of dishes made from primarily local ingredients.  Anna and Jeremy’s reception was a cocktail/buffet style evening with waiters walking about serving guests with platters of food or drink, along with a nearby self-serve buffet. As they had quite a few ties with the music industry, the DJ’s setup was quite impressive with a number of the guests also bringing their acoustic guitars. The entire evening was a joy to be a part of with all the guests contributing to the wonderfully jovial atmosphere.

Hugs on the dancefloor
Cutting the Cake
Groom’s speech
Reception entrance
Victuals!
First dance
First dance
Wedding Cake
Speech
Kisses after speech

I’d like to thank Anna and Jeremy for having me as part of their wedding as their wedding photographer, and I very much hope they enjoy their photos as much as I enjoyed taking them! 😀

Some of my favourite photos from 2016

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I’ve put together a bit of a video showcasing some of my favourite photos from 2016. These photos have all been taken at weddings SvenStudios has covered during 2016, and put into a bit of a slideshow. I went through each of the 21 weddings covered in 2016 and picked out one or two of my favourite photos in each one. I thought it would be a nice little warm up to the 2016 iteration of the Seven Studios wedding photograph of the year contest which I will be launching very soon. The difference being that this video showcases some of my favourite photos from 2016, where as the contest will showcase the favourite photos of the brides and grooms we have taken photos for.

I put together a slideshow like this about once every 6 months in order to refresh the video offering on the SvenStudios homepage, while also serving as a vehicle to promote some of my best work. throughout that period. The slideshow I put together for the first half of 2016 can be viewed here.

It’s always interesting to look back at the weddings I have covered in the past year and reflect on how much I have improved and what I’m doing differently at weddings now. A year is a long time in development, especially when I’m increasing my experience reservoir by 21 weddings in that time. It’s also a big reason why I run my little People’s choice contest at the end of each year so that I can see what others see in my photography, and not just my own perspective. Last year’s People’s choice contest was run a little differently than it will this year, so look out for that announcement very soon to lock in your vote! 🙂

Some of my favourite photos from 2016

Adelaide CBD Engagement Shoot – Avery & Matt

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Avery and Matt had me shoot some pre-wedding shots in and around the Adelaide CBD with the distinct aim of incorporating as many Adelaide landmarks as possible. Being from Taiwan and with Matt continually travelling due to his work, they were keen on having photos from around Adelaide they could show off to friends and family overseas. At the time of publishing this preview, Avery and Matt should already have been married at the Adelaide Registry office last Thursday, so I’m thinking congratulations are in order! 🙂

It’s a bit of a tradition in Asian countries, not just Taiwan, to have their wedding photos done on a day other than the actual wedding day – thereby allowing more time on the actual day for celebrations. I feel this tradition is most obvious in Hawaii where on any given day there will be dozens of bridal couples along the beach of Waikiki along with crews of photographers and fleets of drones taking photos.

Adelaide CBD Engagement Shoot

Our day started quite early to try and avoid shoppers taking advantage of the new year’s stocktake sales around the Mall’s Balls with the aim of then using the top floor of Adelaide Arcade, then heading towards the Torrens. However the Adelaide arcade was not yet open so after taking some shots at the Mall’s Balls we headed over to North Terrace and Adelaide University before visiting the Torrens footbridge. We finished off the session by wandering over to the Elder Park Rotunda and Government House before heading back to Adelaide Arcade.

Out the front of Adelaide Museum
In the walkways of Adelaide University
Under a weeping willow
In the walkways of Adelaide University
Behind the Adelaide Museum
Being silly with photobooth props
Bonython Hall
Adelaide Arcade
In the walkways of Adelaide University
Couple at Mall’s Balls Adelaide
Smiling
Under a tree on North Terrace
Walking around Adelaide University
Bonython Hall
Adelaide CBD Engagement shoot
On the steps of Government House
Reflection in the Mall’s Balls
On the steps of Government House
Lensflare kiss
Smiling
Door way of Adelaide University
Under a tree on North Terrace
Couple at Mall’s Balls Adelaide
Couple at Mall’s Balls Adelaide
In the walkways of Adelaide University
Out the front of Adelaide Museum
in the old Police Barracks

I feel as though we managed to cover all that is Adelaide on our little tour of the Adelaide CBD, covering all of the major landmarks in around 2 hours. I wish Avery and Matt all the best in their globe trotting adventures and of course in married life! 🙂