Tag Archive for: ideas

,

4 benefits to choosing live music for your wedding

One of the toughest decisions couples have to make when planning their wedding is whether to book a DJ or live musicians. Naturally, much of the weight of the decision will come down to your budget and personal preferences. But whilst hiring a live band is certainly more expensive than hiring a DJ, live music adds an ambience to your big day that often makes the investment worthwhile.

To help you decide, here are four benefits to choosing live music for your wedding.

Groom chair dance

1. A live band generates energy and excitement

Weddings are day-long affairs and by the time the dancing portion of the night kicks off, it’s common for guests to be feeling low in energy. When you hire a live band to handle your music, you create an event within an event. The sense of anticipation grows as the band sets up, and the energy in the room is always raised when the musicians start playing. Live music is often more thrilling and engaging than recorded music, and it can generate an exciting atmosphere that is hard to match with a streamed playlist or DJ.

Groom dancing with guests

2. Live background music creates ambience

Not only can live music get people up and dancing, but it can also set the tone during the quieter portions of your wedding, such as during your drinks reception or throughout the wedding banquet. Live music such as a string quartet or solo violinist can create an elegant ambience, and make your big day feel extra special and romantic.

Dancefloor fun

3. Live performers deliver a one-of-a-kind experience

Live music can make your wedding truly unique. The very nature of live music is that no two performances are ever exactly the same. Plus, you can work closely with the band to come up with a custom setlist that perfectly encompasses your unique love story.

Sometimes bands are open to customising song lyrics to suit the happy couple. You might even be lucky enough to find a musician willing to write a unique love song just for your big day. Or why not learn a choreographed first dance to wow your guests? There are lots of  fun ways to use live music to create that unique experience that will cement your big day in the minds of your guests for years to come.

String band with bride and groom

4. Live bands bring quality and professionalism

Experienced wedding bands bring professionalism to your big day to ensure the musical aspects of your wedding run without a hitch. They know how weddings typically flow and how to set up without any stress or interruptions. With high quality equipment to ensure perfect sound quality, and their already established connections with wedding venues, photographers and other key parties, it can be surprisingly easy to arrange logistics. Plus, they know how to read the energy and atmosphere of a room and adjust their performance to keep guests entertained and having fun.

Guests dancing the night away

Choosing live music for your wedding

With 53% of wedding guests reporting that the reception is their favourite part of a wedding day, it’s wise to go all out to make your wedding reception special. When you choose live music, you’re bound to give your guests the most incredible experience and enjoy a fabulous party atmosphere to celebrate your big day.

Live music has the power to elevate your wedding reception to extraordinary heights. By opting for live musicians, you create an immersive and unforgettable atmosphere that will leave a lasting impression on your guests. Unlike recorded music or a DJ, live performances bring a vibrant energy that is infectious and captivating.

The skillful musicianship, the infectious beats, and the raw talent all combine to create a sensory experience that simply cannot be replicated! So hopefully this has convinced you into choosing live music for your wedding!

,

Barbershop gazebo Wedding, Botanic Gardens – Helen & John

Helen and John’s Barbershop Gazebo Wedding in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens was wonderful to be a part of! Despite the rain, the couple tied the knot in front of family and friends, with bagpipes filling the air as Helen made her entrance.

As the sounds of the haunting bagpipes echoed through the gardens, it was hard not to feel transported to Scotland. We were thrilled to be asked to cover their special day as both their wedding photographer and videographer, capturing every moment of their memorable celebration.

Barbershop gazebo Wedding Ceremony

The Barbershop Gazebo is one of only two of the nine wedding ceremony locations in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens that is completely undercover, providing much-needed protection from the elements. Given the current unpredictable weather in Adelaide, it was certainly a stroke of luck that Helen and John had chosen this spot for their wedding ceremony.

Not only did it provide a stunning and unique backdrop for their special day, but it also ensured that the rain didn’t put a damper on their celebrations. The Barbershop Gazebo is a truly special and versatile location that is perfect for any couple looking for a unique and intimate wedding ceremony venue in Adelaide.

One of the highlights of the ceremony was their celebrant, who kept everyone laughing with jokes about being compared to the Bagginses from Lord of the Rings. The couple also wrote their own vows in what’s known as “ninja vows,” which had everyone in stitches. Before their first kiss, they held a traditional tying the knot ceremony, which was a beautiful and meaningful addition to their wedding ceremony.

After the ceremony, guests were treated to a small pop-up bar on the nearby lawns while the couple, along with us, headed off for some glamour shots around the gardens. Even with the rain, the gardens were a stunning backdrop for their wedding photos.

Groom chatting to the celebrant
Bride being escorted by bagpiper
Bride spotting camera on walk in
Groom’s first look at Barbershop Gazebo wedding
Celebrant beginning cermeony
Bride laughing during vows
Groom listening to vows
Groom hugging bride during vows
Laughing bridal couple exchanging rings
Tying the knot
First kiss at Barbershop gazebo wedding
Bagpiper walking around Adelaide Botanic Gardens
bagpiper in bushes
Bridal couple being led by bagpiper

Glamour Photos

As their guests departed, Helen, John, and I had about an hour to take photos around the gardens. We made use of the Murdoch Avenue, the old buildings, and the beautiful scenery to capture some truly special moments. Helen’s one request was a shot where she was being twirled, and we made sure to deliver on that request!

The Barbershop Gazebo was not the only thing that made Helen and John’s wedding day special. Right next to their wedding venue was a dinosaur show called Dinofest, which added an unexpected and playful touch to their celebration. We were able to take some fun and quirky photos of the couple being photobombed or even “attacked” by the dinosaurs, which was a hilarious addition to their wedding album.

The staff at Dinofest were incredibly friendly and even picked up one of the baby dinosaurs for Helen to kiss, creating a truly unique and unforgettable moment that the couple will cherish for years to come. The playful and lighthearted atmosphere of Dinofest perfectly complemented the joy and love of Helen and John’s wedding day, making it even more special and memorable.

The Adelaide Botanic Gardens provided the perfect setting for their special day, and we were thrilled to capture all the love and joy of their wedding celebration. From the bagpipes to the “ninja vows” to the tying the knot ceremony, Helen and John’s wedding was filled with unique and personal touches that made it truly one-of-a-kind.

knot after tying the knot
Cheers in front of group
Bride and groom under big tree
Groom witht he boys in kilts
Bride excited by rising kilts
bride and gromo under the wisteria arch
Bride and groom having fun in the Wisteria archway
bride and groom running from dinosaurs
Dinosaur photobomb
Bride and groom portrait in front of dinosaur
Bridal kiss with sunlight
Bride kissing dinosaur
Bride twirling under autumnal colours
Bride and groom in front of black doorway
bride and groom walking in front of sunlight
Kisses under a tree
Bride and groom standing on riverbank
bride and groom dip under sunlight
Bride and groom twirling in Murdoch Avenue
Bride and groom walking down Murdoch Avenue
Bride and groom sitting in Botanic Park
bride and groom portrait with sunlight

helen and John’s Barbershop Gazebo Wedding was an unforgettable celebration of love and commitment. Despite the rain, Helen and John’s spirits were high, and their love for each other was evident in every moment of their special day. We are honored to have been a part of their wedding and wish them all the happiness in the world as they start their new life together.

,

Walking Down the Aisle? Awesome Tips and Tricks!

As a wedding photographer who has captured the special moments of over 350 brides walking down the aisle, from so many different cultural backgrounds, I’d like to share some tips on how to make your walk down the aisle go smoothly.

It’s understandable to feel nervous, and your bridesmaids may also share your jitters. However, with these tips, we can help make your experience a little easier and ensure that we capture the perfect shots of your grand entrance.

Bride and Father walking down aisle
Bride walking down aisle at Bremer Farm wedding
Bride and father approaching groom

Walking Down the Aisle? Here are some Tips!

  • Don’t worry too much about what the kids are doing.

Firstly, don’t stress about the page boys and flower girls. No matter what they do, it will be awesome and fun for everyone. Kids at weddings are always ‘fun’ either completely out of control, or cute and adorable – either way they add some great charm to your day.

Let them walk together for more confidence, and if they make a mistake, go with it, as it will be a memorable moment.

Page boys approaching
Page boy handing over rings
Flower girl walking down aisle
Flower girls watching ceremony

  • Don’t Rush

Take your time walking down the aisle. Don’t rush it, walk at a normal pace and soak in the moment. The wedding ceremony is all about the bride and groom, so don’t look at the camera. Instead, concentrate on the important things like looking at your partner, family, and friends smiling at you.

Not looking at the camera is important, it just looks so forced if you do so during such an emotion time as walking down the aisle!

Bride arriving with Mum and Dad

  • Be sure there is space between bridesmaids

I highly recommend instructing your bridesmaids to take their time walking down the aisle and to leave a generous gap between each other. Despite being your closest friends, most bridesmaids tend to be nervous, and walking too close to each other can make it difficult for me to capture clear shots of them. So, encourage them to spread out and create enough space for each to shine on their own.

A great way to be sure everyone is on the same page here is to have a rehearsal – and you can make a bit of a day of it, take them out to lunch or something, or make use of your wonderful venue if they are open – like most wineries.

bridesmaids approaching ceremony

  • Consider going unplugged

Consider having an unplugged ceremony, where guests are present and watching the ceremony, instead of trying to film or photograph it through their phones.

This not only allows your guests to be more ‘connected’ to what is actually going on, but it also looks so much better in your wedding photos if nobody is holding their phone or ipads!

Mobile phone
Bride walking down aisle

  • Think about who is going to walk you down the aisle

Traditionally, the father walks the bride down the aisle, but there is no reason why both parents can’t walk their daughter down the aisle or other alternatives like the bride walking herself, the groom walking up to meet the bride halfway down the aisle, or a stepfather walking the bride halfway down and then passing her to the biological dad.

It would also be very cute to incorperate fur babies like dogs into the entrance if your venue allows it!

Walking down the aisle
Bride arriving with Dad

  • Think about suppliers

It is important to tell your videographer not to walk down with you. It may seem like a strange point, but some videographers follow the bride down the aisle from the front. This can be intrusive and take away from the experience of walking down the aisle.

It might look great in your video, but the moment will be lost and chances are the photos you get will feature your videographer!

Something that really gets people talking and can make things very memoriable is engaging in a transport supplier like a flashy car, or helicopter? Perhaps even arrive by parachute if you’re that way inclined! Whatever you do just make sure it speaks to your personality, and have fun with it!

Helicopter approaching Chateau Yaldara wedding
Bride and groom walking towards their wedding ceremony from the helicopter

  • Think about how your groom or bride is going to be standing at the end of your entrance

One of my favourite photos to capture at a wedding is the reaction of (usually) the groom at the end of the aisle seeing his bride approach for the first time.

It’s so much fun seeing how they react! Be if tears, laughter or simply not even able to be looking in the direction of the bride! Whatever they do it speaks to their personality and makes the photography that much more special.

Think about how they are going to be standing at the end. Will they be facing away from you like they do in some customs, or will they turn around as you’re half way down the aisle? Or simply just standing they watching you enter?

Grooms first look in St Pauls Church
Grooms first look at Beresford estate wedding
Grooms first look at the cedars
Grooms first look at Chapel Hill winery wedding
Grooms first look at bride at Ingle wood inn wedding

Lastly, remember that it is your wedding, and there are no rules. Walk down the aisle however you want, whether it’s dancing, laughing, hugging family members, blowing kisses, crying, spinning, or singing.

In conclusion, walking down the aisle is an essential moment in a wedding ceremony. It’s essential to take the time to enjoy and embrace the experience. With these tips, it can be a much more comfortable and unforgettable experience.

, ,

Wedding Sparkler Exit: A Guide to an Awesome Exit

The wedding sparkler exit is a popular and exciting way for the newlyweds to leave their reception.

As a photographer, adding light from sparklers to the dark is a sure-fire way to spice up your end of the night photos, so we really look forward to it whever a couple says they are planning on hosting a wedding sparkler exit!

However, things can sometimes go wrong. Here are some tips to make sure your exit is picture-perfect and unforgettable.

Wedding Sparkler Exit Tips

Check with Your Venue

It’s important to note that sparkler exits can (or should) only be done outdoors. This is due to fire regulations and smoke alarms. Before planning your exit, check with your venue to ensure it’s possible. Some wedding venues have banned sparkler exits because of safety concerns, so make sure you get the go-ahead before making any plans.

Beresford estate wedding exit

Display the Sparklers

Make sure to have the sparklers on display during the reception so guests can see what’s going to happen. Also, make sure to have a time written down somewhere so everyone knows when the exit is happening. This will prevent guests from leaving early and minimize the need for reassembling everyone.

What I’ve found to be best is to actually stage your exit earlier in the night so that everyone can be involved – not all of your guests are going to stay until you leave at 11:30pm (or later!) This allows for the elderly in your guestlist to join in, and everyone shouldnt be (too) drunk too!

First dance with sparklers

Have Enough Efficient Lighters

Sparklers burn quickly, so make sure to have plenty of lighters available. The more lighters, the faster everyone can be lit and the smoother the exit will be.

The best lighters aren’t just a smoker’s lighter, but rather butane torches that are readily available from Bunnings or any hardware store. These torches last forever, and emit a short, powerful flame that will light sparklers quickly and easily.

Use Long Sparklers

To ensure a successful exit, use long sparklers, not short ones. Long sparklers are sold specifically and marketed for a wedding sparkler exit,. and gives you enough time to get through the guests and make a statement. Short, regular sparklers you would buy from a supermarket burn too quickly and will be out before you’ve even made it past the first few guests.

Have Enough Sparklers for Each Guest

Even if some guests don’t participate, it’s still important to have enough sparklers for everyone – and I’m sure some of the more boisterous amongst your guets would be keen on having more than one! Younger guests may take a couple of sparklers and light them early, so having a full number of sparklers will ensure that everyone has one.

Sparkler exit at Chateau yaladara wedding

Make an Announcement and be ready!

Your MC should take charge of organizing the exit and instructing guests. They should make an announcement reminding everyone to form two lines and wait until everyone is outside to light the sparklers. This will prevent half the guests from lighting the sparklers immediately and having them burn out before the exit line is formed.

Make sure the couple is ready to leave before lighting the sparklers. Say your goodbyes to your family first and then light the sparklers. Avoid getting stuck talking to relatives or friends as this will result in a tunnel of smoke. This is another reason why you might opt to mock exit earlier in the night.

MC doing his thing on dancefloor

Create a Wide Tunnel

Instruct guests to hold the sparklers up high and have a wide enough tunnel for the couple to walk down. Walking down a path of fire and sparks is dangerous, especially if the bride is wearing a flammable dress and has a lot of hair spray. A wide gap will ensure everyone’s safety.

Be Safe and don’t run!

Don’t light a bunch of sparklers together. Doing so can cause a mini explosion and embers can fly everywhere, potentially burning someone. Also, your time walking through the tunnel. It’s better to walk, stop for a kiss, say goodbye to friends, and look at each other. Running will make the moment feel over too quickly, and running around flames isn’t smart!

It’s also smart to organise multiple buckets of water, and have the venue spread them out where you’re plannig on doing your exit – that way no random sparks from otherise dead sparklers won’t get anyone into any trouble.

First dance with fireworks at Adelaide Hilton Hotel

Think about who’s at the end of the wedding sparkler exit

Some might have your parents at the end of the tunnel so they can be the last people you say goodbye to, or whomever really – could be your dog? That’d be cute! Give them a farewell hug and kiss, it’s just a nice way to end your night.

Have Fun

Enjoy the exit! Dance, jump, sing, and kiss. Be in the moment with your family and friends and do whatever you want. Don’t worry about the camera or posing, just have fun and soak it in!

Bride and groom kissing at end of sparkler run

These tips will help you plan an awesome wedding sparkler exit. With a little planning and preparation, you can make this moment unforgettable.

Facebook disabled accounts, including business and Instagram

Unfortunately one of the worst things that can happen to a creative sole trading business like SvenStudios happened last week, where all of our accounts related and linked to Facebook came under attack by a malicious third party.

I woke up to my mother in law frantically texting about inappropriate images appearing on my personal Facebook wall which in turn caused my accounts to all become disabled due to facebook policy. Looking at my emails it seems as though someone gained access to my business page and 6 minutes later all my accounts were disabled.

On the surface this seems like a reasonable thing for Facebook to do in order to protect users from horrible images that should not exist, and it’s pretty amazing it only took 6 minutes of them being posted to take them down. So well done to them.

However this takedown has also caused an automatic ban of all accounts linked to my personal account. This means my business Facebook page – which had 2.5k followers. My SvenStudios Instagram, which had 14k followers and also my other project pages and instagrams relating to StevenDuncanART.

Facebook disabled

Impossible to reactivate Facebook disabled accounts due to Policy

You’d think surely an organisation like Facebook would be caught up in this sort of thing rather often right? Should be an easy fix – their automated takedown of illicit material was needed, so all they need to do is reverse it while removing the material yeah? Wrong.

It turns out that Facebook, and Meta do not believe in customer service and would rather outsource all customer relations to Artificial Intelligence – ‘AI’. Any thing and everything you interact with when you seek out help direct from Facebook is AI.

There is a review process in place in order to keep the AI in check for any inevitible blunders which is – or used to be staffed by real people. However when trying to make use of the review service one is merely greeted with ‘We can’t Rewview the Decision to disable your account’

unable to review
unable to review

New SvenStudios Social Media Accounts

Doing research around the web, and Reddit, the chances of having my accounts restored seems pretty bleak and pretty impossible to achieve. The only success stories for people in my situation have been people who know someone who works directly for Facebook. One example is handxmade who kind of got thier acocunts back, but not eithout firends help.

I have reported the hack and use of my accounts and posting of illigal images to the Police which I hope maybe in their contacts can achieve something positive, but Facebook has already done everything in their power to protect the innocent from their view, the disabling of my acocunts is simply collateral damage which is none of their concern.

if Facebook and INstagram werent as important for a photography business to operate, I would not have bothered with recreating my acocunts – however they most certainly are important, so you will find my new SvenStudios facebook page at https://facebook.com/svenstudiosphotography/ and my new instagram page at https://instagram.com/svenstudiosweddings/ Eventually once the original pages are taken down (as my onl Facebook page is still visible) I should be able to reclaim the original URLs.

There may be a slim chance for my Facebook Disabled accounts to be returned to me – but at the moment by the looks of the finality of any correspondance I have with Facebook – chances are slim. I’ll of course update this if anything changes.

Tag Archive for: ideas