Jess & Chris
St Francis Winery Wedding

Jess and Chris held their lovely St Francis Winery wedding on a lovely day in early October. While the sun wasn’t out, the temperature was warm and everyone had a wonderful time. I was asked to be Jess and Chris’ wedding photographer after having covered Kate and Callan’s wedding at Peacock Farm a few years prior. Callan happened to be one of the groom’s men for Chris 🙂 It’s always nice to be recommended by previous bridal couples, makes me feel that I’m doing something right! haha

Preparation

I started the day at Jess and Chris’ house, south of Adelaide which was where Chris and his groomsmen were getting ready. I arrived just as an incredible breakfast was being served to each of the boys, a full stack of wonderful looking pancakes that make me want to sit down and join them! They looked pretty good… Callan then got onto the ironing, as was tradition, and the boys got dressed. It was nice that Chris’ mother came to join them just before I was to leave to visit Jess and her girls getting ready at St Francis winery.

putting on tie

groom almost ready

groom ironing

putting on flower

getting ready

The girls were getting ready in the usual room that is generally reserved for brides getting ready on wedding days at St Francis winery. The room is usually used as it has some nice natural light and large windows available for some nice shots. The girsl were fairly laid back while they were being prepared, and they even had enough time to wander through the reception area and view the ceremony spot on the St Francis winery lawn before putting on the wedding dress and heading out.

bride looking in mirror

putting on dress

bride getting ready

bride looking at bouquet

pretty bride

St Francis Winery Wedding Ceremony

St Francis winery has several different spots where a wedding ceremony can be set up. The majority of ceremonies I’ve covered here have overlooked the pond, however Jess was concerned with the possibility of it being a sunny day and the sun shing in their eyes while they stood there, she also diddn’t like the idea of having the nearby supermarket in the background of her photos. So to avoid these issues, Jess set up her ceremony facing the St Francis Winery buildings, which allowed for the lovely foliage from the trees and interesting architecture from the buildings to be in the backdrop. As the day was fairly overcast, the guests were pretty comfortable out on the grassy area and the ceremony worked out quite well.

grooms first look

bride waiting

waiting groom

wedding sign

st francis winery wedding ceremony

proud mumma

st francis winery wedding ceremony

bridal exit at st francis winery

together

best man

smiling groom

Glamour photos

After the ceremony, I got out the drone and had a big group photo done on the grassy area in front of the lake, and had smaller group photos done in front of the weeping willows and love sign. Jess, Chris and their bridal party then went for a little walk around the St Francis winery lake to make use of the broken down carts, and wonderful weeping willow trees for photos. We then had a little break to grab a drink before going for a short drive to the nearby bike track which I knew had some awesome arching trees that I could use as a backdrop. The lack of sun really worked to my advantage, limiting the amount of harsh shadows and made for some awesome shots!

floating veil

bridal party amongst trees

bridal party near cart

passion

kisses

flowing veil

veil flowing amongst the trees

happy couple

St Francis Winery Wedding Reception

Jess and Chris’ reception was a fun little party, punctuated by heading out for some photos under the lit up willow trees at night, and in front of the lit love sign which I believe Jess had won in a competition leading up to her big day. They had the reception hall decked out really nicely with floral arrangements and a beautiful abckdrop behind the bridal table, and their first dance was complete with smoke machine. It was all pretty neat!

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