Announcing the 2021 Wedding Photo of the year contest

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  • Sarah Ricardo

 

2021 Wedding Photo of the year contest

Each and every year I run a little bit of a contest for all the married couples I covered their wedding for in the previous year. I ask for each couple I was their wedding photographer for to select a single favourite photo from all of the wedding photos I took on their day and put them up for vote to win the title of ‘SvenStudios 2021 wedding photo of the year’.

Usually I try to run this contest much earlier in the year – and certainly not mid year, however this past 6 months have been absolutely insane in the wedding service industry – I personally have covered as many weddings as I would usually have had in a whole 12 months! This was of course all due to the roll-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing everyone to postpone their weddings to around the same time as everyone else! As a result I’ve been lagging behind a bit with editing, not just the weddings I covered at the end of 2020, but also the 2021 weddings I had to edit and get back as fast as I could.

As with any of my wedding photo of the year contests, I always keep completely hands off with selecting any of the images, allowing my wedded couples to select their own personal favourite photos, or none at all! This means that these images are not necessarily the same images I would have chosen if I were to do the same thing when looking at their images. If you were interested in what images I would have chosen however I’ve put together a simple slideshow video of some of my favourite images from each of the weddings I have covered in 2020.

To entice as many people to vote as possible, I also always offer a AU$100 cash prize to one random voter chosen once voting has ended. I record and vette each vote as they come in and have a rather sophisticated anti-duplicate detection system in place so as to deter any cheating or duplicate voting to keep things fair. To make things a little more interesting this year, I’m also going to add an additional entry into this $100 draw for each person who shares their vote on their social media!

Keep in mind you do not need to share on your social media in order to submit a vote as not everyone has social media accounts.

The owner of the winning photo will recieve a large framed print or perspex mounted print of their image – of if they have already had one printed of their favourite image – of another of their choice.

In past contests, and I’m sure it will be the same in the 2021 wedding photo of the year contest, the winning image has been not only the most voted on, but also the most shared on social media – remember every individual vote, and sharing individual that is recorded goes into the draw to win a simple $100, so after voting, share your favourite photo on facebook to support it as much as possible!

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Click here to vote and win $100!

Voting opens 1/7/2021

 

2021 Wedding Photo of the year contest entries

Jenna John
Paula Andrew
Nikki Trenton
Letichia Carrie
Kasia ben
Jayne Pete
Sarah Ricardo
Monique Anthony
Alice Dion
Passionate kiss in between wedding cars
Kate John
Kirsty Andrew
Andrae Gerry
Georgia Nick
Anna Isuru

The Advertiser wedding of the week

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This week I was awarded the ‘Advertiser wedding of the week’ from the Adelaide-based Newspaper The Advertiser. Published on page 30 of the Weddings section in the Monday 27th October edition of the newspaper, the Advertiser wedding of the week was actually a wedding I had shot almost 2 months prior.

Renae and Craig’s wedding was held at the Coriole Vineyards in Mclaren Vale and was a wedding that took advantage of my flexible hourly-based wedding package so to be awarded the Advertiser wedding of the week was quite a surprise as I did not have shots of the groom’s preparation, nor most of the reception. Renae and Craig said that the Advertiser had been in contact with them looking to use their photos for a feature in their paper, but I did not expect to be the Advertiser wedding of the week.

Advertiser wedding of the week

Advertiser wedding of the week

If the font is too small and hard to read in the image above, here is the writeup-

FOR Craig and Renae, when it comes to sentimental proposal locations, Devil’s Peak, in the Flinders Ranges, ticked all the boxes. After all, it was where the couple – who met through a friend – had their first date and lived for a year. So it was fitting then for Craig to ask Renae that life-changing question during a picturesque location.

For the happy duo, creating a relaxed atmosphere at their wedding was first and foremost. They chose McLaren Vale venue, Coriole Vineyards, to host both ceremony and reception. Family and friends travelled from near and far for the occasion, including guests from as far as Hong Kong. The reception venue was dressed in a rustic theme, and guests were treated to a Bracegirdle’s chocolate fountain and a candy bar. But when Then by Brad Paisley began to softly play, it was time for the bride and groom’s first dance as husband and wife.

Renae said the day was filled with highlights from start to finish. “But the standout moment would have to be dancing the night away with family and friends,” she said. The bridal party included Rebecca Scully, Belinda Kelly, Jodie Grimm, Michel Smale, Tim Brice and Hamish Smith. Pageboy was the couple’s son Rily Watson. Renae, 31, is the daughter of Francis and Ellen Watson of Marino. Craig, 36, is the son of Chris Ranger, of Glengowrie, and the late Mike Ranger.

Article by Roxanne Allan of Advertiser Weddings

SA ABIA 2020 Wedding Awards Results

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ABIA-Logo
ABIA-Logo

SA ABIA 2020 Wedding Awards

On the 9th of December, the SA ABIA 2020 Wedding Awards were announced, and I’m happy to say SvenStudios has once again come out as one of the best wedding suppliers in South Australia! SvenStudios has come runner up in both the wedding photography and photobooth supplier categories, meaning that as judged by our delightful bridal couples throughout the last year – we were just pipped at the post in attaining the title of wedding phtogroapher and photobooth supplier of the year!

2020AbiaRunnerup
2020AbiaRunnerupPbooth

The ABIA awards are a nationally-run organisation that give awards to wedding vendors a little differently than many other awards organisations. As a photographer I tend to take the AIPP photography awards quite seriously as that organisation awards the technical prowess of a photographer in capturing a scene – where as ABIA awards wedding vendors based directly on the feedback of a business’ every day clients.

One is judged by professionals based on technical ability, where as the other is based on the personal experience that a client has had directly with the business.

As a result my previous year’s wedded couples rated their customer satisfaction with me at a whopping 99.8% which has ranked me as the runner-up at the SA ABIA 2020 Wedding Awards. I’ts a little bit dissapointing to miss out on top spot by such a small margin, but that’s just the way it goes I guess!

Thank you so much to all my wedded couples who took the time to register their recommendation and reviews! It always helps out a lot!

Winner of the 2020 Wedding Photo of the year!

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Winner of the 2020 Wedding Photo of the year!

I’d like to thank once again all my couples I covered as their wedding photographer in 2019, and all those who submitted their favourite photo for my little annual wedding photo of the year contest! It’s always a little bit of fun to run this contest each year as I get to reconnect with all the couples I spent their wedding day with throughout this contest and find out which of the photos I took were their favourite. This in turn helps me in the future to be a better photographer!

So without further ado, here is the winner of the 2020 Wedding Photo of the year with 100 votes!

Winner of the 2020 Wedding Photo of the year!

Congratulations Leah and Jarron in receiving the most votes on their favourite photo from their wedding at Kuitpo Hall. I’ll get in contact soon to discuss details of your prize of a large framed print! They were lagging the photo from Hailey & Brad’s big day at Al-Ru Farm for quite a while, but a surge of Leah and Jarron voters last night put them over the line in a frantic finish hailey and Brad ended with 67 votes! There were also quite a few voters for Astrid and Corey and Chelsea and Nathan online last night, but unfortunately not enough 🙁 Chelsea and Nathan’s wedding at St Francis Winery came in third place with 55 votes.

Photo of the year contest HaileyBrad
Photo of the year contest ChealseaNathan

In all, this year’s contest, with 22 weddings entering recieved a total of 581 votes which is more than any of the previous 4 years in which I have run this contest, so that is an awesome turnout! Hopefully there will be even more in next year’s edition – providing of course I get out and shoot more weddings this year! There were a significant number more in total votes, however some people like to think I can’t detect those of you who try to vote twice or more by using different devices, emails addresses, etc 🙂

Winner of the $100 cash prize for voting

I also like to give away $100 cash to a random voter simply for casting their vote, so if your name is the one below, check your emails as I’ve sent you an email asking for your bank account details 🙂

Jasmine P.

Once again thanks to everyone who participated and congratulations to those who won! 😀 Looking forward to when the world returns to normal after all this COVID-19 stuff :/

Two Bright Lights 2020 Editors Choice Award Winner

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  • Bride and groom sillouette

Two Bright Lights 2020 Editors Choice Award Winner

I like to be in the habit of helping all the wedding vendors involved with the weddings I cover as a wedding photographer, and as such I like to share some of the photos I take with them. Much of the time vendors like makeup artists, or dress designers never get to see the fruits of their labour, as they arent usually on site when the ‘magic happens’ on a wedding day. So I like to share my photos with them! One way I do this is through Two Bright Lights which is a distribution network for wedding photographers to submit and share their work with vendors and wedding blogs worldwide.

I’m happy to announce that I have been awarded a 2020 editors choice award through Two Bright Lights for being consistantly published on wedding blogs aorund the world with my work.

TBL Editors Choice 2020

Some of my published weddings

Kerri & Tony’s wedding in Santorini

Covering Kerri and Tony’s wedding on the Greek Island of Santorini would have to be a highlight of my wedding photography career so far, and the media seem to love it also. Their wedding has been published on multiple online blogs, including Polkadot Bride and Easy Weddings.

Walk ways of Thera, Santorini
Santorini wedding photography
Santorini Wedding

Lucy and Callum’s Uniting Church wedding

Lucy and Callum’s wedding at the Golden Grove Uniting Church has garnered some attention in wedding magazines in the past due to their photos we took in the rather horrible weather they had on their day. Their wedding was published in the Layers of Luxe wedding magazine as a feature last October.

Lightning
Under the jetty
Australiana

Libby and Simon’s Chateau Tanunda Wedding

Libby and Simon’s wedding at Chateau Tanunda was picked up by the Brides and Weddings Magazine, Tacari Weddings and Every Bride due largely in part to the fact they travelled from the United States to have their wedding here in South Australia, and also because their photos turned out gorgeous!

Walking through the trees
Kiss in the vines
Driving toward Chateau Tanunda

Emily and Angel’s Sailing Club Wedding

Emily and Angel held their wedding at the intimate Cruising Yacht Club of SA and has been picked up by the prestigious LTBG wedding blog Equally Wed. Which was really cool as it was the first same sex wedding I had covered since the Australian plebicite on same sex marriages. 🙂 They were also featured in the Gay Weddings Magazine.

Walking together under Grange jetty
brides on the beach together
Brides standing together in sand dunes

Jane and David’s Engagement and Wedding

Jane and David held their wedding at the St Mary’s Cathedral in Darwin and has been published in the Trends Wedding and Lifestyle Magazine, but the really exciting one that was published was their engagement on the Tiwi Islands where there were living. Their engagement shoot was picked up by the How they Asked blog which are curated by the prestigious ‘The knot’ wedding blog.

Darwin wedding sunset
Tiwi Islands Engagement
Tiwi Islands Sunrise

Leah & Jarron’s Wedding at Kuitpo Hall

Leah and Jarron;s Kuitpo Hall wedding was picked up by the rather large wedding blog Rustic Wedding Chic due to the incredible photos we got in the nearby Kuitpo Forrest as the sun was setting.

Holding one another
Amongst the trees
Amongst the trees

Kelli and Ben’s Ekhidna Winery Wedding

Kelli and Ben’s Ekhidna Winery wedding turned out to be a wonderful wedding, not just for their photos but also due to the number of bridal couples who have cited their wedding as the reason why they’d want me to be their wedding photographer! 🙂 Their wedding has been published on Tacari weddings and Everybride.

Amongst the olive trees
Through the vines
Walking amongst the Ekhidna Winery vines

This list is far from an exhaustive list of weddings I’ve covered being published around the internet, but are the first that comes to mind when thinking of this 2020 Editors Choice Award and where they are 🙂 It’s rather excitingt o have my photos published aorund the world in large wedding blogs like these, and it’s also a bit of fun for my wedding couples to have a little bit of fame out there! 😀 but these are examples of the published weddings that have helped me become a Two Bright Lights 2020 Editors Choice Award Winner!