I was super excited to cover Geri and Ashwin’s Santorini Couple PhotoShoot as I happened to be on the Greek island of Santorini for Kerri and Tony’s wedding for which they were guests to! Geri’s choice of dress was amazing as the red of her dress really stood out amongst the typical blue and white for which the island of Santorini is famous for. Both Geri and Ashwin were quite natural in front of a camera also, making for some wonderful scenes without much effort, and while surrounded by the sun parched surrounds of Thera on Santorini, it made for some lovely scenes.
I said it before and I’ll say it again, shooting in Santorini and expecting to be surrounded by pristine stairways and white buildings is fine, but you also need to be prepared for throngs of tourists also getting in the way! Leading up to Kerri and Tony’s wedding photo shoot I had scouted out certain spots around the city that seemed to have fewer tourists than others, while still looking awesome.
So I took Geri and Ashwin to all the same spots as I took Kerri and Tony, with a few other spots thrown in. As the time of the day was very different between Kerri and Tony’s shoot and Geri and Ashwins, it was quite interesting to visit the same areas and work with the different light.
There’s nothing better than travelling up to Darwin for a wedding during the winter months, getting away from the cold weather in Adelaide during this time of year! these past few months have been full of travel for me, having covered a wedding in Santorini, Greece just a few weeks prior to Jane and David’s wedding at the St Mary’s Cathedral in Darwin! It was so awesome to be a part of as I knew Jane and David were wonderful people last time I met up with them on the remote Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin for an engagement shoot.
I went up there for a few days camping and exploring the remote island where Jane and David live amongst the local Tiwi islander community. It also happens to be the location of the wedding featured in the recent blockbuster ‘Top end wedding‘, which was pretty neat!
Preparation
David was being prepared with his groomsmen in an apartment overlooking the Darwin waterfront precinct. The atmosphere was laid back and easygoing and it all went pretty smoothly until I apparently interrupted a crossfit competition when we were waling about for photos on the beachfront.. sorry about that! Diddn’t seem to interrupt much as I diddnt even notice until after when someone mentiuoned it to me.. haha.
Getting ready
Getting ready
Wedding rings
Getting ready
Getting ready
Getting ready
Socks
Wedding rings
Getting ready
Walking along the beach
Close up of flower
Jane and her bridesmaids were being prepared in a rather lavish bed and breakfast overlooking the Darwin skyline. The house featured a 3 story long single stairway which I was super keen on utilising for photos! 🙂 Similar to the guys, the girls were super laid back and if there were any nerves, Jane was hiding it well 🙂
Smiles
Wedding dress
Buttoning up dress
Jane and Mum
Engagement ring
Ready to leave
Champaigne
Putting on dress
Wedding dress
Everybody helping
Engagement ring in shoes
Girls together
Sitting around
Putting in earrings
St Mary’s Cathedral Wedding Ceremony
St Mary’s Cathedral, or ‘Star of the Sea’ Cathedral is located fairly central to the darwin CBD and features a rather unique arch design right throughout it’s main chamber. The Cathedral is lined with local indigenous artwork which was quite important to Jane and David having strong connections with the local Tiwi islander community where they live and work. In the days leading up to the wedding day, jane was keen to point them out to me and tell me the meaning behind it all. It was facinating to learn about!
The Cathedral was built after the war in 1962, with it’s first tone taken from the first uranium mine built in the Northern Territory. As a result, it’s arather modern cathedral with ample natural lighting and wide open spaces in order to move about without getting in anyone’s way while taking photos 🙂
Jane and David’s wedding ceremony was a traditional Catholic affair, complete with readings and full mass service, and even the ex-bishop of Darwin was in attendance which was quite the surpise to Jane and David! The main thng that really made Jane and David’s service stand out though was the wonderful performance from the local Tiwi islanders who had made the trip out to Darwin to celebrate Jane and David’s wedding with them.
Wedding sign
Bridal entrance
Grooms first look
Smiling bride
Holding hands
Holding hands
Everyone out the front
Smiles
Groom
Inside St Mary’s Cathedral
Standing together
Holding hands
priest
Sitting together
under the arch
Ring bearer
First kiss
Celebrations!
Mass
Sitting together
Signing the registry
Smiling at one another
Dancers
Dancing bride and groom
Guitar player
Dancing back down the aisle
Glamour Photos
After family photos and more Tiwi islander dancing out the front of St Mary’s Cathedral, we head out for the glamour photos. We first made use of the wonderful trees out the front of the Darwin Botanical park, before heading over towards Lake Alexander and East Point for photos amongst the wonderful red rocks and cliffs along the beach. jane and david were keen on having photos done similar to what they would have had done in the Tiwi Islands so I suggested heading around here. We also made use of a small park nearby the Darwin Surf Club before heading in for their reception.
Amongst the trees
Under the veil
bridal party
Under the veil
Walking along the beach
Pride rock
Pride rock
Pride rock
Walking along the beach
Out on the water
Under the sun
Pride rock
We head into the Darwin Surf Club for the beginning of their wedding reception only to leave about 20 minutes later to drive to the Nightcliff area for some sunset photos. I’m glad we did too as it was a spectacular sunset and I was about to angle myself in order to make the sun look larger than it actually is. It’s great when that’s possible with a sunset like this!
Darwin wedding sunset
Nightcliff wedding sunset
Sunset photo
Sillouette
yay!
Watching the sunset
Darwin Surf Club Wedding Reception
As is usally the case in Darwin during the dry season, the temperature during the night was absolutely perfect for a night time reception out on the lawn, and the great thing about the Darwin Surf Club is that the sun sets right over the beautiful beach lining the venue. The entire guest list were certainly there to have a good time and I was so pleased to see so many people up on the dance floor! Even David serenaded jane during the night with his newly gained guitar skills! It was such a fun night to be a part of which even featured a gelato bar!
Table settings
Gift box
Wedding cake
At the bar
Conga line
Laughing at speeches
Centre piece
On the dance floor
Exit
Smiling groom
Dancing together
Entrance dancing
First dance
Entrance dancing
Selfies
First dance
Having fun
Entrance dancing
In the bar together
Darwin Surf Club
Musician
Wedding art
Speech
Dancing
Cutting the cake
Darwin Surf Club Wedding Reception
Entrance dancing
First dance
Thanks so much to Jane and David for having me not only at your wedding, but also in your home and town on the Tiwi islands!
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 destination weddings in Santorini is an absolute blast and pretty much a wedding photographer’s dream, walking inbetween wedding venues 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 to any wedding venue 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
Putting on shirt
Doing up tie
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
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
The Dana Villas ceremony location is a one of those Santorini wedding venues that you recognise straight away – even if you’ve never visited Santorini. Overlooking the entirety of the Santorini caldera – caused by an ancient volcanic eruption, the romantic setting of the Dana Villas wedding terrace is the setting of any dream wedding ceremony, and in my opinion would have to be one of the best wedding venues on the island.
There is a purpose built wooden arbour that covers where the bride and groom stand during wedding ceremones, 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. The space allows for an intimate wedding ceremony with no compromise.
Kerri and Tony’s intimate Santorini wedding 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 incorporate their mutal love of board games by having the rule book of ‘Settlers of Catan‘ as their marriage registry book.
As everyone had travelled for this destination wedding, 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
Bridal arrival
Smiling bride
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 much time on their wedding day having glamour photos taken, I had spent the previous few days I had in the island scouting out spots on the walk in between the 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 backdropped by the agean sea – 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
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
Entry to Reception
Guests
Laughing groom
The last supper
Bride looking out over Santorini’s Caldera
Laughing bride
Speeches
Santorini Sunset
Santorini Sunset
Speech
Speech
Wedding cake
First dance
First dance
Flower girl cuddles
Bouquet toss
I’d be super keen to head back for any other Santorini weddings that you might have planned! Get in touch as I’d go out of my way to be const effective and my usual super awesome self! Or If you’d just like to have a chat about wedding venues in Santorini, I’m your guy!
As some of you may know, I’ve just got back from Greece to cover a destination wedding on the lovely island of Santorini, complete with iconic blue domed churches and blindingly white architecture on the top of cliffs surrounding a caldera of an anciently erupted volcano.
It’s obvious why the bridal couple selected such a spot for their wedding ceremony, despite the fact they had to travel halfway around the globe to hold it! Hosting a destination wedding like this simply allows you to hold your wedding in your perfect location, and not having to settle for something mediocre by comparison.
It’s usually not a cheap exercise however and should only be contemplated by those super keen on hosting the most perfect wedding ever! Which is why I’m writing this article about why you should bring your photographer with you to your destination wedding.
Santorini destination wedding
Think about it, you’re hoping to host the wedding of the century in such a stunning location, and you’re willing to trust your photos and/or video to someone your wedding venue sorted for you? One of the drawbacks of hosting a destination wedding is that many venues or local wedding planners would bundle people like your wedding photographer or videographer in with the package deals they present you, meaning they are looking to make as much profit as possible.
It’s sometimes the case that they will find local ‘friends with a camera’ or cheap photographers to save themselves as much money as possible when sorting out your wedding.
If you can’t control other aspects of your wedding, at the very least try to control the one thing that will remain after the day is over – your photography and/or video, which is why you should bring your photographer with you to your destination wedding!
No wedding ever goes off without some small hitch or problem. There’s just so many things being organised and planned, it’s only natural for some small issue to arise. This is magnified when you’re hosting a destination wedding where you’ll be placing your faith in the venue or wedding planner to handle all of your vendors and set up for the most part.
Some things are definitely minor and able to get over them quickly – like the flowers being the wrong shade, or the chairs being a few short, but your photography? That’s not getting done again and is why you should use someone you trust, despite having to fly them around the world to your destination wedding!
Santorini destination wedding
Why you should bring your photographer with you to your destination wedding
Bringing your own photographer to your destination wedding offers you assurance of being able to research and select the exact photographer you want! You can perfectly link their style, personality, experience and packages to what you like, rather than relying on what your venue or planner say you want 🙂 Then the photos you that they capture from your day will be as memorable as you hope them to be.
As you probably know, your photographer and videographer (if you choose to have one) will be spending more time with you on your big day than anyone else; it’s important to select someone you know will do a good job on your day. This is true for any wedding, but especially true for a destination wedding – any wedding photographer that travels for destination weddings are super passionate in what they do and will go above and beyond to capture the day in a way they are sure you’ll enjoy while also being a huge opportunity for them to travel and see the world – which as being a photographer that’s pretty much our thing!
Photographers that you bring with you will most likely offer an uninterrupted full days coverage (not so with most resort photo packages) – although I do this anyway.
You may be reading this and agreeing with my points, but also in the back of your mind you’d be thinking the cost of bringing someone with you would include airfares, accomodation and then the usual rate your photographer charges so wouldn’t be overly cost effective – which to be honest would be mostly true, but hopefully the understanding and trust you have with the photographer you’ve brought would stretch beyond the cost.
That said however, if you love a photographer you have found and what them, and only them to travel with you to cover your wedding, much of the time they will cut a deal just for the opportunity.
For example in my case, the recent wedding I covered in Santorini, I covered in exchange for a lovely holiday – and yet another wedding I’m covering in Fiji next year I wanted to have in my portfolio, so I made my rates similar to what a local photographer would charge. Chances are bringing your own photographer could be more cost effective than you think! Another reason why you should bring your photographer with you to your destination wedding.
Santorini destination wedding
When it comes right down to it, planning and pulling off a destination wedding takes a lot of time, effort, money and stress – much like any wedding really, but when you hold it overseas or someplace your guests usually can’t access easily, it makes it even more so! It makes sense to surround yourself with vendors you trust, however the cake, flowers, DJ etc. will be gone… great photographs will always be there offering you a return to that special time in that amazing setting!
