After having been their wedding photographer at their wedding in Renmark back in October, 2017 – I was privileged to recently head to the Belair National Park to conduct a bit of a maternity shoot for them before their new bundle of joy comes along later this year. I was looking forward to using the sun shining through the trees of the National Park as I had so often done before for wedding shoots, however the day turned out to be rather miserable in the afternoon, but this turned out to be pretty advantageous, allowing for some soft, dreamy scenes throughout the forest.
Libby and Simon returned form their home in Texas, USA to celebrate their wedding day at the Chateau Tanunda with friends and family living in South Australia. Both their families were spread out around the globe, so it was wonderful to witness the coming together of these two lovely families 🙂 I was asked to be their wedding photographer for the majority of their day, seeing me at Libby’s place of preparation, through to the first dance at their reception.
Preparation
I was asked to start the day with Libby and her bridal party preparation at a nearby bed and breakfast in Tanunda. All morning there was the bustle of activity as each bridesmaid, flower girl and a few other family members all used the large, old cottage as a base of operations 🙂 The house featured a large, open lounge room, complete with a wonderful bay window, perfect for bridal preparation photos.
An interesting side not for the day was that I was contacted by Raw Cotton Collection, a clutch bag manufacturer based in Perth, through Instagram to give Libby and her flowergirls a free clutch and bags in exchange for some photos with the girls, was a fun little side note 🙂
Lacing up
Lacing up
Flower Girl helping out
Engagement ring
Getting Ready
Wedding Dress
Having fun in the veil
Flower Girl
Flower Girl in Window
Bride and flower girl
Bride at front door
Chateau Tanunda Wedding Ceremony
The Chateau Tanunda has been a feature of the Barossa Valley since the 1880s, being built near vineyards that were planted in 1840s, it’s a historic place that makes for a wonderful backdrop for a wedding! Libby and Simon’s wedding ceremony took place in a long, thin function hall/chapel on the far left of the Chateau which featured some wonderful wooden slat ceilings and large windows overlooking a grassy croquet field.
Chateau Tanunda
Hugs
Flower girls
First Kiss
Bored flower girl
Groom’s First look
Bride in Mirror
Chateau Tanunda Wedding
At the altar
Wedding Ceremony
Holding hands together
Holding hands together
Bride walking down aisle
Holding hands together
Glamour Photos
Directly after the ceremony, Libby, Simon and I escaped in their MG getaway car and used the surrounding beauty that is the Chateau Tanunda grounds. First making use of the picturesque driveway through the vineyards towards the Chateau, then behind the building in a small park situated beyond a disused train line. The sun was setting beautifully for some nice sun flare coming through the trees. We were also lucky enough to utilise the wine barrels in the large tasting room for the winery.
Bride and Groom together in front of Chateau Tanunda
Walking together
Walking on the disused train line
Walking through the trees
Driving toward Chateau Tanunda
Kiss in the vines
Ivy
Wedding rings on railway
Together in the trees
Flower girls running about
Laughing couple
Running through the vines
Together in the trees
Together in the sunset
Happy groom
Together in the wine barrels
Chateau Tanunda
Getaway car
Doorway
Together in the wine barrels
Chateau Tanunda Wedding Reception
The venue boasts a huge reception hall, big enough for Libby and Simon’s wedding reception guests twice over, which made the dance floor quite large! As it was a chilly night, being the beginning of May, their were plenty of gas-fired heaters throughout the room to keep guests warm.
First Dance
Speech
First Dance
Speech
Cutting the cake
Mingling
Chateau Tanunda Wedding Reception
Wedding Cake
Thank you so much Libby and Simon for having me be your wedding photographer, I hope you enjoy your photos! 😀
Ruth and James held both their wedding ceremony and reception at The Jade pub in the city for a lovely night-time wedding in late April. I was recommended to them as their wedding photographer from one of the groomsmen at a wedding I covered in Darwin which is great as I know I’m doing something right! 🙂 So I was asked to capture their wedding photography for 3 hours, while Ruth and James also had my Photobooth set up for their reception.
Before the Wedding
Having arrived a little early to set up the photobooth, I was able to observe the setup of Ruth and James’ wedding. The whole area was set up with a lovely, simple vibe, complete with cheese platters and hanging fairy lights over the beer garden.
Wedding Cake
The Jade’s stage
Smiling couple
Bridal transport
Smiling guests
Cheese
Smiling guests
The Jade Wedding Ceremony
Ruth and James made use of the cozy live-music venue and beer garden just off to the side of the main bar at The Jade for their ceremony and party, and also held it fairly late, so the sun had well and truly gone by the time their ceremony took place. As a result, their entire wedding ceremony was artificially lit by stage lights. Made it a bit of a challenge to shoot and get natural skin tones – but I made it work! 😀 The virtual reality video I put together for them turned out great in this sort of setting!
First kiss
On the stage together
Mobile phone
Vows
Celebrate
Holding hands
Smiling groom
Celebrant
Together
Bridal entrance at The Jade
Glamour Photos
We had around 30-40 minutes to walk about for some glamour photos, as as it was well and truly night time, I made use of some of my portable lights, and any artificial lighting we could find – such as the lighting within the nearby carpark and the doorway of the church next door! 🙂 I was aiming for more of a different look at Ruth and Jame’s wedding to a more traditional setting, as the venue and backdrops I was working with certainly weren’t traditional! I particularly enjoyed shooting in the carpark, it made for some grungy, and very different wedding photos.
Carpark
Arriving back
Carpark
Sign out the front
Kiss on the road
Carpark
In the stairwell
Church door
The Jade Wedding Reception
Ruth and James’ wedding reception was a laid back affair, with not too many speeches, more just mingling and enjoying the night, both in a leisurely fashion in the beer garden and on the dance floor. Food was served by chefs in a buffet style on a biug long table. There was more than enough food for everyone, and quite a mixture of cuisine too!
Dancing guests
Chef
Guests serving themselves
Drinking is a hobby
First dance
Guests
hey guys!
Twirl
Smiles all round
Food
The Jade Wedding First dance
Using the photo booth
Thanks so much for having me as your wedding photographer Ruth and James, I had a blast at your wedding and I hope you enjoy your photos! 🙂
Lucy and Callum’s historic Golden Grove Uniting Church wedding was on a rather wet and windy day in April, but the weather certainly did not hamper any celebrations! I was asked to be Lucy and Callum’s wedding photographer for their entire day, so this saw me at both of their preparation locations, through to the end of their reception at the Palais, Semaphore. Lucy and Callum got onto be as I was recommended by a wedded couple whom I covered their wedding for several years prior – Bron and Robert. It’s always great to find out that I was recommended due to my prior work! 😀
Preparation
Callum and his entourage were being prepared at the awesome Largs Pier hotel, so we were able to make use of the historic surrounds for some of their photos! The weather was horrible while they were being prepared, but the rain held up enough for us to venture outside for a bit before I head off to Lucy’s place of preparation.
Getting ready
Tying ties
Boys walking together
Strut
Getting Ready
Boys walking together
On the balcony
Wedding Rings
Dad helping out
Groom
Putting on flower
Lucy and her bridal party were being prepared at their house, closer to Golden Grove. I arrived just as their makeup was just getting finished so this allowed me to take a few shots of them finishing up before putting on her dress and looking awesome in front of their large window. The overall atmosphere was one of fun and laughter, if there were any nerves Lucy hid them well! 😀
Smiles all round
Engagement ring
Preparing wedding dress
Bridal affects
Putting on dress
Putting on garter
Flowing gown
0 days to go!
Looking pretty
Smiling
Makeup
Smiling bride
Looking out door
Looking in mirror
Golden Grove Uniting Church Wedding Ceremony
Lucy was all smiles as soon as she arrived for her Golden Grove Uniting Church Wedding. Thankfully the weather had changed for the better by then and the church was packed with family and friends ready to celebrate Lucy and Callum’s wedding!
The Golden Grove Uniting Church is a pretty, historic church built to serve the Golden Grove area back in 1866 with the aim to be more practical, rather than ornamental. With this mindset, the church was built to be quite humble, but because of this the present day church oozes old-world charm and simplistic beauty. The back of the church has some more modern facilities like a meeting hall, but the original church out the front is untouched.
Lucy and Callum’s wedding ceremony was full of hymn and personalised bible readings which made for a beautifully intimate wedding ceremony.
Out the front with the cars
Smiling bride
Bridal car
Grooms first look
Celebrate!
Leaving the church
Bride
Together in car
Bridal entry
Exchanging wedding rings
Arriving bride
Smiling
First kiss
Golden Grove Uniting Church Wedding
Out the front of the church
Glamour Photos
After the ground photos and some shots fo the cars in front of the Golden Grove Uniting Church, we head off to a nearby park, complete with some awesome gum trees and a pretty little pond we made use of to get some great reflections shots. We then head off to the Largs Bay pier for some shots along the jetty. The first head to the Semaphore jetty, only to find that the weather was causing waves to crest over the jetty itself, so we head to the Largs Pier as it’s taller. The wind and rain was fun to battle against as we walked together taking shots, but sometimes the bad weather creates some awesome unique wedding photography.
Garden pond
Lightning
Walking on sand dunes
Australiana
Expert help
Australiana
Under the jetty
Under the jetty
Bridal party walking together
sunset
On the sand dunes
Palais Wedding Reception
The Palais at Semaphore was the venue for Lucy and Callum’s wedding reception. They have a purpose-built contained tent-like structure built out the back of the establishment that makes for a private, intimate venue, perfect for weddings.
Menu
YEAH
Sexy
Kisses
Speech
First dance
Having fun
Singing
Grabbing the garter
Photos
MC
Speech
wedding cake
Entry
Bouquet toss
Dancing
Crowd surfing
Air guitar
Cutting the cake
Selecting food
Drinking is a hobby
Smiles
Thanks so much to Lucy and Callum for having me as their wedding photographer! I had a heap of fun and I hope you enjoy your photos.
I can never stress enough how important it is for everyone to print and frame your wedding photography! It’s so sad that in modern society we place so much importance on simply having the photos in a digital medium, to perhaps share on social media, or to occasionally flip though on your computer foir no good reason! The truth of the matter is that, if you print and frame the photos from your wedding day, it simply looks so much better! This isn’t only because I want to sell more prints, but it’s very true – let me explain!
rame your wedding photography
Warning! Boring number stuff!
(skip the next paragraph if numbers and sciency stuff bore you)
The average dpi (dots per inch) or more accurately ppi (pixels per inch) of your average monitor on a computer is somewhere between 72 and 130. This means that a wedding photo displayed on your screen is made up of 72-130 ‘dot’s of little colours so close together they create an image.
The more ‘dots’ the better as this makes an image clearer – it’s the reason why 4k TV looks so much better than full HD TV, which looks so much better than standard definition TV as they cram more ‘dots’ into the same space. When printing your photos on paper with a high resolution printer, the print resolution is usually around 300 dpi – if not higher, which makes a quality print around 3 time better quality than what you view on your screen.
Just as a side note the ppi for a 40″ 4k TV is 110, and Full HD, 55 which is the reason why you can sit close to a computer monitor, but not your TV, and also my computer monitors tend to be more expensive than a similar sized TV.
Frame your wedding photography!
As a result of the recent ending of the SvenStudios people’s choice wedding photo of the year contest for 2017, our winner was Milena and Steven from their wedding at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens! The framed print above was produced as their prize. Their framed print was worth $419, and looks absolutely incredible printed on fine art paper and framed professionally. As a wedding photographer, this is so much better than just looking at it on a screen!
MilenaSteven
I feel as though people who do not print and frame their wedding photos are put off by it’s perceived cost – and also the idea that anyone is able to print off their photos at places like Officeworks for far cheaper. The fact of the matter is that those cheaper, wholesale places just don’t compare with the quality and feel a proper print has, and the framing options they offer just aren’t great.
It’s like buying a car, but being content with a 1986 Barina, when you could have an Audi A6. I mean, yes there is a price difference, and I mean the Barina does fit the bill, it’ll get me from A to B, but the Audi makes me feel awesome doing it. It depends on what that awesome feeling is worth to you!
Displaying photos from your special day also has huge health benefits to people who live at your home. These precious photos of your big day can transport you back to the time you felt the most joyuous and can overcome any momentary dark feelings you might feel in the moment whenevr you walk by those favourite memories hanging in your living room!
Having family photos prominently displayed in your home canalso be beneficial to the development of healthy levels of self-esteem in your children. It gives them the opportunity to acknowledge the fact that they belong and that they are valuable to the group.
Psychologists are of the opinion that images might communicate to the child’s brain the message that they are an essential part of a family unit. Even when they are in their teenage years, your child will benefit tremendously from the presence of these precious photos, which provide an excellent contribution to your child’s growth and development.
