Chelsea & Nathan
St Francis Winery Wedding

It was a stunning day in amongst some rather ordinary weather for Chelsea and Nathan’s St Francis Winery Wedding at the beginning of September. It’s rather exciting to head to weddings like ths as I knew form the outset that Chelsea and Nathan were excellent dancers so I knew their reception was going to be a blast! I was lucky enough to be asked to be their wedding photographer all day and we managed to make most use of the time without the day seeming too rushed.

Preparation Photos

I was asked to begin the day with Chelsea’s preparation photos at the St Francis Winery room where she was being prepared, but I felt as though Nathan was missing out a bit so I head around to the nearby house he was getting ready at for about 10 minutes also – just to grab a shot of the rings and other small things lying about the place.

Engagement ring

Getting ready

Wedding rings

Getting ready

Wedding dress

Through the makeup light

First Look

The preparation phtos wasn’t a huge deal to Chelsea and Nathan, but what was exciting was they opted to have their main ‘glamour’ photo shoot done before their wedding ceremony in what’s known as a ‘first look’ where the groom and bride meet each other before the ceremony away from prying eyes and the nerves that would otherwise accompany the usual tradtional ‘first look’ as the bride walks down the aisle.

One of the Nathan’s groomsmen was a good sport here as Chelsea had secretly dressed him up in a stunning dress to play a bit of a prank on Nathan before she arrived for the real first look! 🙂

Groom walking about

Groom and groomsmen

The beautiful bride approaches

Surprise

Hugs

The actual bride approaches

Hugs

Glamour Photos

After the first look we had a good amount of time to use the St Francis Winery grounds and surrounds for some glamour photos. This time of year the weeping willows surrounding the pond on the grounds was just starting to turn green again which always makes for a lovely backdrop – particularly on sunny days where the sun flares through the foliage. We also head out for a bit to the nearby bike track which I knew – having lived in the area for quite a while – made for a lovely backdrop wth it’s arching tall trees either side. This made for a little diversity in their photos.

walking together

inside the St Francis winery wedding reception area

Walking amongst the forest

inside the St Francis winery wedding reception area

under the weeping willow

Bridal party

under the weeping willow

Chilling on the cart

Under a tree

Holding bouquet

On the bike path

Standing together

Under the trees

Wedding rings

Under a tree

In front of the cellar doors

Smiles under the trees

On the bike path

Walking together

Walking amongst the forest

inside

Together in front of the flowers

Near the cart

St Francis Winery Wedding Ceremony

Chelsea and Nathan’s actual wedding ceremony was a lovely simple affair which, after the music had been fixed at the begining went off quite well 🙂 Unfortunately their music had been set up with the bridal party walking down together holding flash cards as a bit of an inside joke, but diddnt work out so well 😛 Diddnt put a dampener on anyone’s mood though!

wedding sign

Groom waiting patiently

Bridal approach

Smiling groom

Smiling father of bride

St Francis winery wedding ceremony

Smiling bride

St Francis winery wedding ceremony

together out the front

Nerves

Vows

Listening

Smiles

Celebrant

Exchanging wedding rings

First kiss

Celebrate!

Checking out ring

Congregation

St Francis Winery Wedding Reception

As I mentioned before I knew Chalsea ad Nathan were pretty good dancers as their circle of friends happened to be the same as a wedding I covered several years ago where the bride and groom attended the same dance club. I also knew that many of the same dance club would be there than night, so the dance floor was always in action this night, and not just with people swaying and bopping, actual proper dancing! It was great to witness 🙂