Botanic Park Wedding – Rose & Simon

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  • Rose & Simon

    Botanic Park Wedding

    bride and groom at Adelaide University

Rose and Simon chose to hold their wedding in the wonderful surrounds of the Adelaide Botanic Park – right next to the gates of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. The appeal of the Botanic park is that it’s wide and open, complete with magnificent Moreton Bay Fig trees that provide for marvellous backdrops to photos. It was a lovely sunny day, which unfortunately meant that plenty of other people had the same idea to head to the Botanic Park for picnics and family gatherings, but we worked around it as best we could 🙂

Preparation

Simon was being prepared in a room in the Holiday Inn Express Hotel, on Hindley street, which allowed us to go for a little walk once all the boys were dressed along Hindley and also the front of Parliament house for some photos. I think the walk was a little theraputic for Simon, to get over his nerves a little better, and loosen him up a bit for his big day 🙂

Wedding rings on shoes
Tieing tie
Tieing tie in front of window
Best man helping out
Putting on flowers
Groom and his groomsmen hanging out
Groom and groomsmen walking in Adelaide
Groom and groomsmen out the front of parliament house
Groom checking time in front of parliament house
Groom in front of Parliament house
Groom and groomsmen in doorway

Rose and her bridal party was being prepared at their house north of the city. When I arrived the first thing I saw was an enourmous cheese and finger food platter that I was amazed to hear that Rose had just ‘whipped up’ for the occasion. It was honestly very impressive! The atmosphere was fairly jovial, with not too many nerves showing, all the girls were in good spirits!

 

Engagement ring in bouquet
Wedding shoes
Wedding dress
Bride and bridesmaids in kimonos
Getting ready
bridesmaids
Bride getting ready
Bridesmaids helping out
Bridesmaids helping Bride out
Tieing up wedding dress
smiling bride
Bride almost ready
Bride looking pretty
Bride looking pretty walking out door
bride and bridesmaids together

Botanic Park Wedding Ceremony

Due to the fact that the Botanic Park had become a fairly popular spot on their day, unfortunately they had to make the snap decision to set up their ceremony in a different position so as to not get any picnicing families in the background of their photos. This also meant that the glaring sun was right in front of them for their whole ceremony, which wasnt ideal – but other than that their ceremony went off very well with Rose’s son walking her down the aisle and emotion showing on Simon’s face 🙂

Guests lining up for espresso martinis in Botanic Park
bridal motorcade
Bride arriving
Bridal approach
Groom looking on
Holding hands
Botanic Park wedding ceremony
Celebrant talking
Botanic Park wedding ceremony with trees in background
Botanic Park wedding
Vows
Listening to vows
Exchanging wedding rings
First kiss

Botanic Park Glamour Photos

Rose had unfortunately hurt her foot a few weeks prior to their wedding day so as it was encased in a moonboot under her dress, I was mindful of the fact that she wouldn’t want to walk too far for photos, so we made use of the Moreton Bay fig trees directly surrounding where they held their ceremony, and it also allowed Rose and Simon to maintain social contact with their guests while we were taking photos. The group family photos were also quite easy to organise because of this. We diddn’t spend too long walking about for photos – just enough time to grab a few nice shots before heading back to the expresso martini van they had set up for their guests! On the way back tot he Intercontinental Hotel for their wedding reception, we stopped off at the famed pillared walkway in the Adelaide University for a few photos there too.

bride and Groom in Botanic park
bouquet
Walking together near trees
Walking into the Botanic Park Trees
Adelaide Botanic Park tree
Surprise!
Together in a Botanic Park tree
Heads together
Bridal party in Botanic Park
Bride and bridesmaids in botanic Park tree
Groom and groomsmen in Botanic Park tree
Bridal party infront of motorcade
bride and groom at Adelaide University
bride and groom in Adelaide University
Holding one another

Intercontinental Hotel Wedding Reception

The main ballroom within the Adelaide Intercontinental Hotel was the setting for Rose and Simon’s opulent wedding reception, with an incredible vista set up for their huge wedding cake! Their head table was backdropped with a lovely white sheet sparkling with led lights, while their table settings were complete with a little bottle of port for each guest. With a live band playing, and a laid back atmosphere, the night was fun to be a part of and the jovial guests made my job easy 🙂

Intercontinental Hotel wedding table
Individual setup
Bride and groom standing in the Intercontinental Hotel
Bride and groom Intercontinental Hotel
Mr and Mrs
Wedding cake
Bride and groom entrance
Cutting the cake
Head table at the Intercontinental Hotel
Groom speech
First dance
Dancing guests
Dancing about
Guests
Dessert

Thanks go out to Rose and Simon for having me on their special day and I hope they enjoy their photos! Was a great day to be a part of 😀

Wedding Photography Equipment – what I use

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Wedding Photography Equipment – what I use

I’ve been a professional wedding photographer for almost 10 years now, with 2 of those years being full time. Those of you who I’ve met would know that Im a bit of a gear head – I love upgrading my cameras and getting my hands on the newest little toys about to better aid me in creating my art. I figured I’d do a little run down of all the wedding photography equipment I might take with me to cover a wedding. This illustrates the kind of investment needed and expertise needed to be a successful wedding photographer.

Wedding Photography Equipment

Wedding Photography Equipment – what I use

1. USB charger

To make sure things like my phone (which I use to pilot my drone), 360 camera and osmo pocket hold enough juice to get through the day

2. Spare batteries

Spare batteries for my Nikon, Fuji and flashes. This isn’t an accurate depiction of all the spare batteries I carry 🙂

3. Camera strap

Back in the day I would carry my two main camera bodies around on each shoulder using the camera straps they come with. This resulted in a bad back after a full day’s wedding coverage so I now use a much more ergonomic strap system that allows my two main camera bodies to hang either side of my body, and also allows me to walk about hands free.

4. DJI Ronin SC Gimbal and Fuji XT-3 Mirrorless camera with 18-55mm lens

For when I’m asked to cover a wedding as a videographer, or create a short highlight film I’ll have this on me along with my little osmo pocket to create very high quality, stabilised footage.

5. DJI Osmo Pocket

A tiny little stabilised by gimbal video camera that I use to produce simple short videos for social media. The quality of this little thing is phenomenal too! Just not too great in low light situations.

6. Remote Controclled timelapse tripod head

A simple tripod head for use with my phone to create simple timelapse video footage.

7. Insta 350 oneX video camera

I use this at every wedding to produce the most incredible 360 degree virtual reality footage of the wedding ceremonies I cover. This is so that the bride and groom can attend their own wedding as a guest!

8. 2x H1n Zoom audio recorders

To record the vows and audio during a wedding ceremony that I’ll then use in any video I produce. Not pictured are the microphones and cables.

9. Nikon D850 Camera body with Nikkor 70-200mm lens

The most expensive part of my wedding photography equipment is this camera and lens. This camera is absolutely amazing!

10. Nikon D810 Camera body with Sigma 24-70 ART lens

The workhorse camera body which I use to shoot the majority of my wedding photography with due mainly to it’s more diverse lens I tend to have on it. As far as wedding photography equipment goes, this is what I would be using the most, and the body certainly shows signs of use!

11. 2x Yongnuo YN660 IV strobe flashes

2 simple on camera strobe flashes – I tend to have only one connected to my Nikon D810 during the day, but I alsways have a second as backup. These things tend to break fairly often, and it’s not because of the brand, I’ve actually gone through more Nikon branded flashes than any other.

12. DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone

My fun little toy which I use for video and still photos. As a photographer having a drone and being an accredited and insured operator is a wonderful point of differance between myself and other photographers about. It also allows me to create some wonderful shots from vantage points that would be impossible otherwise.

13. Manfrotto befree GT tripod

A nice light little professional standard tripod which goes with me wherever I go, although I tend not to use it much at weddings. it’s great on hikes thougfh, small, lightweight and supports larger cameras.

14. Mono pole for 360 camera

This is what I set up my 360 virtual reality camera on to capture a wedding ceremony.

15. Drone alternate pole

A 4m long extendable pole I use in instances where I would like drone footage but am otherwaise unable to fly in the area due to either being illegal or unsafe. This is a fun thing to have, as out of all my wedding photography equipment, this is what gets the most quizzical looks when I bust it out and wave it around with a camera on top!

16. Chasing Innovation Gladius Mini UAV (Underwater drone) with tether

For all the underwater weddings I cover! (duh!)

17. Little bag

This is what I carry my backup stuff in. My 50mm lens, backup batteries, cables, flash, 360 camera, etc. Not pictured is a a backpack I sometimes use when I need more carrying space.

Marriages Registration Office Wedding – Maryanne & Chris

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  • Maryanne & Chris

    Marriages Registration Office Wedding

    Laying down together

Maryanne and Chris were wed on a magnificently sunny day in mid October, making use of the Adelaide Marriages Registration Office as the backdrop for their ceremony. After which they had their photos along North Terrace before hosting their friends and family at an intimate backyard reception. I was asked to be their wedding photographer for the entire day while also putting together a short highlight video for them!

Preparation

I began the day at the couple’s house in Paralowie to grab some shots of the bridal affects before they were put on. I also followed Maryanne and her bridesmaids to a nearby salon where they had their hair and makeup done. Their backyard had been set up in preparation for the night’s shenanegans, decorated with West Ham United paraphenalia in homage to Chris’ affinity for the club, and of course other wedding decorations.

Engagement ring
Happy bride
Bride at the salon
Bride looking pretty
little girl
Helping little girl
Bride standing in the light
wedding shoes
laughing bride
Bridal kimono
smirking bride
bouquet

Inbetween the photos of Maryanne at the salon, and having her put on her wedding dress, I head across the highway to the Highway 1 Tourist Park for some shots of Chris and his groomsmen getting ready in a cabin there. Was a bit of fun where we made use of Chris’ affinity for Dragon Ball Z, and photoshopping some silly explosions behind the boys walking 🙂

Groomsmen walking away from explosion
ring on shoe
mens wedding shoes
Groom getting ready
tieing the tie
Getting ready
Groomsmen
laughing groom
Groom looking pensive

Marriages Registration Office Wedding Ceremony

The Adelaide Marriages Registration Office is located within a building on Grote street, just across from the end of the Adelaide Arcade. The ‘cahpel’ space where ceremonies are held is a dark little room off the the side of the building that serves as a simple, but functional space for small to medium weddings.

Maryanne and Chris’ ceremony was a short and simple affair, punctuated by a tearjerking moment where Maryanne’s wheelchair-bound gandfather walked her down the aisle.

Bride sneaking up on groom
bridal entrance
Bride helping pops up
Holding hands
Exchanging wedding rings
Marriages registration office wedding ceremony
Getting rings from best man
Marriages registration office
first kiss
Holding certificate in the Marriages registration office

Glamour Photos

The original plan after completing the Marriages Registration Office ceremony was to head down to the banks fo the Torrens to make use of the famed Eldar Park Rotunda for family photos, however as it was a Thursday wedding, traffic within the city was less than pleasant and many of the family had already head out for the Paralowie reception. As a result we changed plans on the fly and head to Bonython Hall and the other pretty buildings along North Terrace for photos. We also made use of a small park nearby Maryanne and Chris’ house.

Out the front of Bonython Hall
wedding couple out the front of Bonython Hall
Laying down together
Under trees
Out the front of Adelaide university
Bride and groom on north terrace
North terrace wedding shoot
Holding hands
Kisses
under the trees kissing
Bridal portrait

Backyard wedding reception

Maryanne and Chris held their wedding reception in the backyard, and had a caterer come in to provide a buffet style dinner and a photobooth in the corner to entertain their guests. The night was a quiet, intimate affair, complete with friendly banter and people having fun 🙂

guys enjoying themselves
shots
Drinking
grooms speech
listening bride
speech
groomsman speech
cake
close dancing
backyard first dance
West Ham wedding shirts
wedding cake

Thanks go out to Maryanne and Chris for having me as your wedding photographer!

Arkapena Station Wedding – Wilpenda Pound

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  • Arkapena Station Wedding

    Wilpena Pound

    Arkapena Station from the sky

Ok, this year has been absolutely crazy for some of the locations I’ve visted when covering weddings. So far this year I’ve covered a wedding in Greece, several in Darwin, and then of course some spectacular spots around Adelaide! But I’m going to have to say that Arkapena Station, right next to Wilpena Pound would have to be the most ‘remote’ and specatularly beautiful in a way that only outback Australia can be! I was super excited to head out this way as visiting Wilpena Pound had always been on my bucketlist as a keen landscape photographer, but never really had the chance or the reason to venture out there until now.

All that being said though, I’m sure you’re keen to see some amazing photos from this spectaular corner of South Australia, but the bride and groom has requested that no images that can identify them be placed online – which means that some of their amazing wedding photographs are not here. Oonly shots from behind their heads, or simply landscape shots of Arkapena Stations and the nearby Rawnsley Park Station, where they held their reception. Occasionally some couples I shoot have requests like this and I’m more than happy to oblige – it just means that many of their amazing photos I can’t show you guys! 🙁

Arkapena Station

The bride and groom generously put me up in accomodation along side many of their guests in the nearby Rawnsley Park Station, where they were also to hold their reception later that night. I began the day quite early as I was keen to get shots of the famous Cazneaux Tree at sunrise before heading to the Woolshed restaurant on site and had the most amazing ‘big breakfast’ and coffee for a very reasonable price. Sorry I dont usually write about what breakfast i had on the day of a wedding – but it was just too good not to mention! 🙂

The bride was being prepared across the road in the house on Arkapena Station, a short walk away from the ceremony location. The whole scene was backdropped by an amazing vista of the side of Wilpena Pound. Was an amazingly Australian setup, complete with dust, flies and jaw-dropping beauty. I ate at least 2 flies.

Engagement ring
Bride getting ready in Arkapena station
Wedding shoes on tree
Wedding dress hanging in Arkapena Station
Bride getting ready
Wedding Dress hanging infront of Wilpena Pound
Wedding signs

In order to cut down on nerves and make things a little more intimate, the bride and groom opted to have a bit of a family gathering out the back of the Arkapena Station homestead and have the first look surrounded by close family members. Another reason why they did this was that they were both going to arrive together via helicopter to the ceremony proper later on.

Before heading away on their helicopter flight though, we used the Arkapena Station scenery for a bit of a photoshoot.

Helicopter taking off
Bride and groom walking towards Wilpena Pound
Helicopter and homemade pinata
Bride and groom walking along creek on Arkapena Station
Wilpena Pound from Arkapena Station

Arkapena Station Wedding Ceremony

The ceremony location as I mentioned before was backdropped by the most gorgeous vista of Wilpena Pound, framed by giant gum trees that really made me think of Hans Heyson’s paintings – it was beautifully scenic and a joy to be a part of – the only draw back were the persistant flies… You wouldnt believe how many I had to photoshop out of their photos!

Wedding set up at Arkapena Station

After the ceremony, the entire congregation retired to the homestead for a short little ‘warm up’ reception complete with icecream van and plenty of refreshments to combat the heat. The bride had constructed a wonderful loveheart pinata for the kids, and the rest enjoyed their icecream and drinks surrounded by the wonderful views.

Arkapena Station from the sky
Arkapena Station Homestead

Rawnsley Park Station at Wilpena Pound

Inbetween heading from the Arkapena Station homestead, and the reception location at Rawnsley Park Station, we made the use of the setting sun a bit with more of the amazing scenery for some more landscapey photos.

Bride and groom walking along driveway
Bride and groom walking
Bride and groom walking with wilp[ena pound in the background
walking toward wilpena pound
Wilpena Pound wedding
Arkapena station wedding
Rawnsley Park Station

In case you havent noticed, I had a ball of a time photographing this amazing place and this wonderful couple! 😀