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Jervois Park Wedding – Darwin – Kate & Dylan

August 18, 2021/0 Comments/in Wedding preview, Wedding /by Steven Duncan

Kate & Dylan
Darwin’s Jervois Park Wedding

I have never before seen such impeccable timing than Kate and Dylan’s wedding where they timed their big day the day before a major COVID lockdown in Darwin. The day itself was a typical stunnly sunny Darwin day that made their Jervois Park wedding – just south of the Darwin CBD such a wonderful experience!

Kate and Dylan’s big day was full of family fueled fun, joy and beautiful moments I was so glad to capture with both photography and videography!

Preparation

Both Kate and Dylan were prepared nearby their Jervois Park wedding venue, with Dylan in a bed and breakfast I had shot in before, and Kate in a hotel room within the CBD.

As per usual on a wedding day, small things often go wrong that just cannont be helped – in the case of Dylan’s preparation, unfortunately one of his groomsmen got on the wrong end of a chainsaw only days before the wedding was to take place! Thankfully the injury wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and he was certainly a champ powering through the rest of his mate’s big day!

The morning was fun filled, and the guys had the usual trouble tieing their ties before Mr. Youtube came along to help! A troup of male strippers also made an appearance! – More of Dylan’s mates trying to create some silly photos 🙂

Wedding rings resting on white tie

Wedding stubbie holder

Engagement ring in between grooms shoes

Groom tieing tie surrounded by windows

Father helping tie tie

Groomsman tieing tie

Groomsman putting on socks

Groomsmen gathered around groom

Groom putting on jacket

Smiling groom looking at camera

Groom at the top of the stairway

Groomsmen at top of staircase

groomsmen in front of pool

Kate and her bridal party had a slightly more straightforward preparation, with plenty of makeup and hair to sort out before the ceremony. The ladies were all in good spirits and were obviously having a great time!

A highlight of the morning with the bridal party for me was the arrival of Kate’s father where we set up a bit of a first look for him seeing Kate in her dress for the first time. Always a crowd pleasing moment!

Wedding dress hanging from roof

Bridal shoes with bouquet

bridal makeup

bridesmaids reaching for dresses

bride and bridesmaids in doorway

Bride sitting in makeup chair

Bride and bridesmaids with gowns

Bride and bridesmaids having fun under veil on bed

bride looking back

Bride being preparaed

bride looking at bridesmaid while being prepared

Bride standing alone in living area

bridesmaids looking at bride

Fathers first look

Bride and Dad

Bride and bridal party

Bridal party on balcony

Jervois Park Wedding Ceremony

Kate and Dylan’s Jervois Park Wedding Ceremony took place inbetween a few trees, providing shade to the majority of their congregation while looking out over Darwin Harbour as a backdrop. It’s a pretty nice spot to hold a wedding ceremony – with quite a bit of parking space for guests, reasonably isolated from passers by, and still being in the center of the city!

Kate and her bridal party arrived in huge all terrain vehicles, which spoke to their affinity for the outdoors, and the ceremony itself was a simple affair with Kate and Dylan sharing personal vows, before breaking off to celebrate with guests and have family photos done.

Jervois Park wedding sign

Arriving parent

Groom standing around

Guests mingling

Bride getting out of car

bride arriving with Father

Groom smiling at bride in jarvois Park

Smiling groom during Jervois Park Wedding

Jervois Park Wedding Ceremony

Holding hands during Jervois Park Wedding Ceremony

Smiling bride during her wedding ceremony in Darwin

Groom listening to his bride’s vows

Exchanging wedding rings under arbour

Closeup of wedding rings exchange

First Kiss at Darwins Jervois Park

bride and groom holding one another after the ceremony

Glamour Photos

For glamour photos, one of the main spots Kate wanted to head to were the marvellous trees located in Garden’s Park, just in front of the Darwin Botanic Gardens. The area in there provides for some stunning shots – particularly later in the day with the sun lowering and gleaming through the foliage, or the trunks of the huge trees growing here.

We then head to one of my favourite spots in Darwin for wedding photos – the East Point cliffs. Us along with 2 other wedding parties who also had the same idea! Thankfully we arrived just as one party was finishing up, so we managed to get the prime spot out on the ‘pride rock’ rock formation in time for the sunset. Unfortunately for the couple arriving after us they kind of missed out! Very popular spot!

Bride and groom in front of wedding 4WD

Bride and groom in green foliage

Bride and groom amongst the green trees

Bride and groom framed by the green foliage

bridal party in the large trees

bride and groom walking between the trees of Darwin’s Botanic Park

Wedding Photo in front of Darwin’s Botanic Gardens

Gardens Park wedding Photo

Gardens Park wedding party Photo

Bridal party at East Point

Bridal party at East Point together

bride and groom out on pride rock

East Point Wedding Photo

Darwins East Point Wedding Photo

East Point in Darwin wedding photography

East Point Bride and groom

Bride and groom Darwin sunset

bride and groom looking out at the sunset

wedding couple looking out at the sunset

Private Property Wedding Reception

Kate and Dylan then had a bit of a drive out to their wedding reception which was held on a pricate property out by Howard Springs. The front yard of a house was decorated with a beautiful display of fairy lights covering all the tables for guests which had also been set up.

What I found most striking from their reception setup was the beautiful tiki torches lining the entrance to the reception – really made the whole setting quite intimate and glamourous, despite the bobcat holding the drinks in it’s digger!

bride and groom arriving at reception

Bobcat holding drinks

Guests selecting drinks

Maid of honour speech

Hugs after speech

Wedding cake on display in circle

Cutting the wedding cake as husband and wife

Dad and daughter dance

Happy bride in first dance

Smiling groom during first dance

Bride sitting on grooms knee

Dancing guests at the reception

Guests on swing

Table setting

Shoe game under the lights

Bride and groom kissing on the dance floor

Dance floor

bride and groom between the tiki torches

Cooling off in the pool

Bride dancing on the dancefloor

Dancing guests

Kate and Dylan, I’m so glad you guys got to celebrate your big day before COVID decided to ruin anything! Thanks so much for having me as your wedding photographer at your Jervois Park wedding!

Santorini Wedding – Greece – Kerri & Tony

July 10, 2019/0 Comments/in Wedding preview, Travel, Wedding /by Steven Duncan

Kerri & Tony
Santorini Wedding – Greece

Heading over to the Greek islands to cover Kerri and Tony’s Santorini wedding has got to be one of the highlights in my wedding photography career so far! The picturesque sights available in the town of Thera, nestled high amongst the cliffs surrounding the caldera of Santorini is an absolute dream to photograph, and it makes it so much easier when I have and amazing couple as Kerri and Tony as subjects! Both Kerri and Tony live in Adelaide, South Australia, but chose to hold a destination Santorini wedding in order to head around Europe on honeymoon. Another reason was that Kerri and Tony met in Canada, where Tony lived, so in order to make the wedding fair to both families they held it somewhere in between the two countries!

Preparation

While shooting a Santorini wedding is an absolute blast and pretty much a wedding photographer’s dream location to shoot at, walking inbetween locations in the height of the Greek summer was no easy task! Thera is a town located right at the top of the cliffs, so walking anywhere really takes it’s toll on your thighs! I mention this as Tony and Kerri were both prepared at different locations a good walk away form one another – good thing I’m fit! 😛

I started the day with Tony and his family, with his groomsmen who all travelled out from Canada for the big day. After getting in a bit of trouble splashing a bit of water out from the pool in order to get a shot of the boys jumping in, I took photos of them all getting ready. It was a fairly laid back affair with Tony showing little to no signs of nerves, and more keen on having a good time with his mates.

Jumping int he pool

Swimming

Bow Tie

Wedding Shoes

Putting on shirt

Doing up tie

Groom and his groomsmen

Walking down the road

Kerri and her bridal party were the same, laughing and joking about whilst occasionally doing little dances all around the rooms and making funny faces in front of the camera. Perhaps the only difference was that everyone got ready inside so as to avoid the beating heat of the lovely sunny day. Kerri’s paresnts and flower girl dropped in for a visit just as she was about to leave which was nice as we got to have some family photos done before walking up to the ceremony at Dana Villas.

Wedding dress

Looking in mirror

Getting dressed

Putting on bracelet

Engagement ring

Laughing in mirror

Standing in doorway

Getting ready

Dancing about

Dad looking on

Flower girl

Walking up stairs

Playing with flowers

Bridal crew

Dana Villas, Santorini Wedding Ceremony

The Dana Villas wedding ceremony location is a wonderul vantage point, overlooking the entirety of the Santorini caldera – caused by an ancient volcanic eruption. There is a purpose built wooden arbour that covers where the bride and groom stand while having a stunning viewpoint to the waters below. It’s conveniently located amongst some of the more upper scale hotel accomodations available on the island, and also withing short walking distance to the center of the town of Thera.

Kerri and Tony’s wedding ceremony was officiated by a friend of theirs using some personal injokes and personalised vows that made sure their congregation were chuckling throughout. They even went as far as incororate their mutal love of board games by having the rule book of ‘Settlers of Catan‘ as their marriage registry book. As everyopne had travelled, both from Canada and Australia the congregation was a rather intimate affair with no more than 40-50 people in attandance.

Groom looking for bride

Bridal arrival

Smiling bride

Dana Villas Wedding Ceremony Location

Santorini Wedding Ceremony

Standing together

Reading vows

Smiling bride

Exchaning vows

Laughing

Smiling groom

Santorini wedding ceremony

Exchaning rings

First kiss

Smiles

Exit

Thera, Santorini Wedding Glamour Photos

As Kerri and Tony werent overly keen on the idea of spending too long having glamour photos taken, I had spent the previous few days I had in the island scouting out spots on the walk in between Dana Villas and the Apelos cafe – where their reception was taking place. The aim being that I could utilise the wonderous views of Thera on Santorini, without taking up too much time before entering their reception and starting the party 🙂 A goal of mine before heading out to Santorini was to find a spot to capture the iconic blue domed church and three bell arch that’s symbolic of the Greek isles – luckily I found a spot in Thera for just that purpose and it wasn’t too crowded with tourists for us to use. For other shots I simply used the stairways and wonderful vistas the island naturally provides.

Just a tip for anyone out there planning a Santorini Wedding – try to book your day during a period where there are few cruise ships in port, as the island tends to fill up with tourists in no time when there are 3-5 cruise ships in town and some of the best spots for photo taking just get swamped!

Looking over the caldera of Santorini

Walking through the streets of Thera

Putting on jacket

Skipping down the steps

Kisses

Sitting together

Bride and her girls

Kiss on the cheek

Bridal party

Santorini Wedding

Under a lamp post

Silly faces

Lovey dovey

Bridal party walking together in Thera, Santorini

Bride and her bridal aprty

Bride and groom in front of blue domed church

Santorini wedding photography

infront of flowers

Walk ways of Thera, Santorini

Thera, Santorini Wedding

Apelos Wedding Reception

The Ampelos cafe in the middle of the city of Thera is a wonderful little cafe situated on the rooftop overlooking the caldera of Santorini. It’s located right on the main pedestrian strip of the city where at sunset it gets super crowded with tourists, so being above everyone in the rooftop space was great for uninterrupted views of the world-reknowned sunset.

On one side of the reception space theres a magnificent white domed church which made for a beautiful backdrop for Kerri and Tony’s head table, while the guests tables were situated under the roofing, surrounding the dance floor. It was a beautiful spot to end what was an absolutely stunning day!

Entry to Reception

Guests

Laughing groom

The last supper

Bride looking out over Santorini’s Caldera

Laughing bride

Speeches

Santorini Sunset

Speech

Wedding cake

First dance

Flower girl cuddles

Bouquet toss

Cruising Yacht Club of SA Wedding – Emily & Angel

December 28, 2019/1 Comment/in Wedding preview, Wedding /by Steven Duncan

Emily & Angel
Cruising Yacht Club of SA Wedding

Emily and Angel held their lovely intimate wedding ceremony at the the Cruising Yacht Club of SA. The prestige of this venue is apparent as soon as you arrive as you’re surrounded by multi million dollar yachts in a stunning location! I was asked to be their wedding photographer for a few hours, seeing me with them for their preparation, through to the first parts of their early reception dinner.

Preparation

Emily and Angel chose to be prepared on the same location, together at a property not far from the Cruising Yacht Club. The atmosphere was reasonably laid back with family and freinds also on site fussing about, preparing lunch, or getting ready while watching a Chinese action movie on the TV in the background. I was treated to some scrumptous home made food while there, and it was very much appreciated!

As Emily and Angel were being prepared at the same lcoation they could share makeup artists and hairdressers, without having them travel to multiple locations in the morning – this made everything run much smoother than what I have experienced in the past, and everyone was ready to leave, and head to the ceremony quite early.

Looking pretty

Putting on necklace

putting on makeup

Emily and Angel before their ceremony

Both brides sitting in makeup chairs

Holding hands

Close up of wedding shoes

Standing next to painting

Playing with veil

Smiling

Putting on earrings

Wedding ring box

Girls looking on

Looking out window

bride looking out windows

Smiling brides

Cruising Yacht Club of SA Wedding Ceremony

The Cruising Yacht club of SA is a well kept secret of Adelaide wedding venues, nestled along the shores of the north-western Adelaide beaches, the marina and club rooms are hard to spot unless you are looking out for the venue as you drive past. The main draw of the venue for weddings would be the views of the marina and exclusivity of the space provided – including gated car parking and a hidden wedding ceremony spot.

The wedding ceremony location set up at the Cruising Yacht Club of SA is a small, dedicated area set off to the side of the marina, shaded by cloth sails and headlined by an impressive concrete circular station where the bridal couple stands during the ceremony. Emily and Angel’s wedding ceremony was held bilingually in both English and Chinese for the benefit of all those in attendance and made everyone smile with it’s innate sweetness and beauty.

Wedding sign

Brides arriving

Brides approaching altar

Under the Cruising yacht club of SA’s wedding circle

Cruising Tacht Club of SA wedding

Standing together in front of family and friends

Wedding ceremony at Cruising Yacht Club of SA

Smiling brides

Ring bearer

Exchanging wedding bands

First kiss at Cruising Yacht CLub of SA

Wedding ceremony ending

Bridal exit

Glamour Photos

After the ceremony and family photos which we held just behind where the wedding ceremony took place, we first used the Cruising Yacht Club of SA’s lovely marina lined with huge yachts to take some glamour photos. Emily and Angel had even arranged to use the bow of one of the yachts to have photos done, which was wonderfully unique. We then went on a short drive to Grange beach where we used the lovely sand dunes and jetty for more shots, while also making use of the large kites that were being flown that day as a backdrop.

Heading towards the yachts

In the Cruising Yacht club of SA’s marinia

Hugging brides

brides on yacht

Cruising yacht club of SA marina

Bouquet in sand

brides on the beach together

Brides standing together in sand dunes

Together under Grange Jetty

Walking together under Grange jetty

Celebrating under Grange Jetty

Married couple

Cruising Yacht Club of SA Wedding Reception

The Cruising Yacht club of SA has a number of different function rooms to choose from when holding a wedding ceremony. As Emily and Angel’s wedding party wasn’t on the large side, they opted to make use of the smaller of the available areas for their wedding reception. It was a nice space that boasted sweeping views of the marina and all the boats. The highlight of their party I feel was their duel bouquet toss, where they both threw their bouquet at the same time. it’s always fun when everyone joins in for that! WHile I wasn’t there for their entire reception, the atmosphere was friendly, laid back and felt very family friendly, with evertyone enjoying themselves and listening to speeches.

Wedding decor

One of the Cruising Yacht Club of SA’s function rooms

Table center piece

Wedding cake

Wedding favours

Cutting the cake together

Before the double bouquet toss

Bouquet toss

Flower girl

Emily and Angel together

Bridal party at the head table

Thanks go out ot Emily and Angel for having me as their wedding photographer!

Woodstock Winery Wedding – Michelle & Ryan

January 25, 2020/1 Comment/in Wedding preview, Wedding /by Steven Duncan

Michelle & Ryan
Woodstock Winery Wedding

It was a stunningly sunny day for Michelle and Ryan’s Woodstock winery wedding, just out of Mclaren Vale. I was asked to be their wedding photographer from their ceremony through to their first dance at their reception, whith photos in between down at Maslin Beach and of course using the vineyards about Woodstock winery.

Woodstock Winery Wedding Ceremony

The main appeal of having a Woodstock winery wedding in my book would have to be the beautiful picturesque, but still private surrounds of the winery. There is a large, open grassy area out the back of the main restaurant, lined by gum trees, bushes and of course the Woodstock winery’s vineyards nearby. Michelle and Ryan chose to set up their wedding ceremony so that the vineyards were the backdrop to their arbour.

The sun was out in full force throughout their ceremony, causing some rather harsh light shining on poor Michelle’s face, but thankfully the ceremony wasnt overly long and it also wasn’t so hot that it got uncomfortable – but the guests quickly found some shade before and after the ceremony.

The highlight of the ceremony would have to have been the moment when the exchanging of the rings was held up by Ryan and his best man’s antics where they faked forgetting the rings, only to reveal that their little dog was waiting in the wings with the rings tied around it’s collar.

wedding sign

Groom waiting patiently

Bride hiding behind the wall

Waiting out the front

Bride walking towards ceremony

Grooms first look of bride

Dad giving away bride

Together under the arbour

Wedding ceremony at Woodstock winery

Woodstock winery wedding ceremony

smiling bride during ceremony

Groom reading vows

Dog ring bearer

Woodstock winery wedding ceremony under the gum trees

exchanging the wedding rings

first kiss under the arbour

Woodstock winery wedding ceremony exit

Glamour Photos

What was a little different to most other weddings, was that directly after the Woodstock winery wedding ceremony, we immediately jumped into a bus waiting to take us down to the beach for the glamour photos – forgoing the usual family group photos that usually follow a ceremony. Michelle and Ryan had purposefully planned it this way so as to have a more relaxed, leasurely time down at the beach and to make sure they got all the photos they wanted.

I was quite excited by the copious number of flying seagulls in the air during Michelle and Ryan’s photoshoot on the beach, that it made it that much easier to have them smiling in their photos as they were laughing at my own antics being excited about the birds. Thankfully they held their distance away from us, along with another nearby wedding ceremony that was taking place a top the cliffs – nothing worse than gate crashing another wedding, but the birds made for an awesome backdrop in many of their photos!

After having photos on the beach, and posing for a Starwars themed photo, we then head back to Woodstock winery and used some lovely trees they have in their car park before being announced at the reception. During the reception, we head out for the family photos and used the dying sun for some photos amongst the nearby vineyards.