StFrancis Winery Wedding – Bronwyn & Dayne

It was an incredibly sunny day for Bronwyn and Dayne’s StFrancis Winery wedding in late November!

Their day was full of fun filled hijinks curtesy of their bridal party and plenty of naughty water refreshments all throughout the day.

Their day was a bunch of fun to be a part of, so lets jump right into it!

Preparation

Bronwyn and Dayne were obviously up for a party right from the get go, with their respective entourages keen to have a bit of fun during their preparations! Dayne and his boys made sure to keep most of their body parts within their pants all morning, while we also made sure their delightful fur babies made it into plenty of their photos.

Groom and page boy suit

Grooms shoes on table top

Puppy

Groom putting on tie win sun

Groomsman with tie on head

Best man helping out with tie putting on

smiling groom at best man

Groom and dog

Groom looking out doorway

Groom helping with page boy flower

Grooms entourage on street

I arrived at Bronywn’s place of preparation to the beat of plenty of loud music! The bridesmaids were keen to dance about all morning, while also making sure Bronwyn wasn’t feeling too much in the way of nerves – as much as possible!

Engagement ring setting in flower

Wedding dress hanging in sun

Bridesmaids dresses hanging in tree

Bridesmaids with hands in air

Bridesmaids with earrings

Flower girls looking at each other

bridesmaids helping out with bridal gown

Flower girls watching bride get ready

Bride standing in lounge

StFrancis Winery Wedding Ceremony

Bronwyn and her bridal party arrived at their StFrancis Winery wedding ceremony via large hummer limo, and directly after had a bit of a ‘first look’ with Bronwyn’s family – which is always nice to see.

Their wedding ceremony was delayed a little bit due to guests being a little late, but bronwyn and her bridesmaids made the most of their time having a smoke and chilling under the shade, while Dayne and his boys also made sure to find some shade while having photos done with family and friends.

Dayne was in good spirits all day, being sure to make it known with huge emotive smile and laughter, while Bronwyn was a little more reserved. The ceremony itself was a nice, simple affair – being as short as possible so that the party could continue unabated!

groom waiting under arbour

Bridal party in limo

Bride exiting the limo

bride and family member

bride approaching ceremony at StFrancis winery wedding

StFrancis winery wedding ceremony

StFrancis winery wedding from side

Laughing bride during ceremony at StFrancis

StFrancis winery wedding ceremony with blue sky

Holding hands during wedding ceremony close

Smiling groom at his bride during ceremony

First kiss at StFrancis Winery Wedding

Guests at StFrancis winery wedding

Glamour Photos

We diddn;t spend too long out and about for glamour photos – the main goal of the day for Bronwyn and Dayne was to spend as much time with their friends and family as possible! before their limo hire ended, I did however managed to get them out to the nearby bike track which has magnificent arching trees overhead. I made use of this space the most for their glamour photos – while I also snagged a few shots around St Francis Winery in between drinks.

I made use of the extra time by taking some portraits of other couples and also had family photos done whenever I could. It was such a laid back day that it wasn’t overly pressing to have any photos taken.

Groom walking about

Dudes chilling around barrel

Hugs with little one

Bridal party under trees

bridal party messing about

Bride and groom together on bike track

Running page boy

Laughing bride under veil

Two kids look at water

Silly photo of bride and groom

Kids

Bridal party under arch

StFrancis Winery Wedding Reception

Bronwyn and Dayne’s StFrancis winery wedding reception was immaculately set up in the most beautiful way, with blue lighting and white floral arrangements as far as the eye could see! Their DJ had the smoke machine going during the first dance and made for a great party atmosphere.

Towards the end of the night, I managed to coax Bronwyn and Dayne out to the awesome lit weeping willows that lines the St Francis winery pond – which the boys were threatening jumping into all night. If they did I must have left too early to see it! Would have been a greast photo 🙂

Mr and Mrs sign

Wedding cake under circle

StFrancis WInery Wedding Setup

Leaping girl

Bride and groom entering Reception at StFrancis

Cake cutting at StFrancis winery wedding

Bridesmaids at head table

Speech at head table

Groom reacting to speech

First dance at StFrancis winery wedding

First dancing in smoke

Dancing at wedding

Dancing at wedding reception

StFrancis winery wedding photo

Thanks go out to Bronwyn and Dayne for having me as your wedding photographer! I hope you enjoy your photos!

January 12, 2022

Wedding preview, Wedding

Halloween Themed Wedding at St Francis – Leticha & Carrie

Leticha and Carrie held their Halloween themed wedding at the delightful St Francis winery on October 31st last year, and what a delightful day it was! Surrounded by supportive friends and family, they also included guests that could not attend due to COVID by using my livestream service which made it all the more inclusive.

Leticha and Carrie’s Halloween themed wedding included pumpkins lining their aisle, suitibly coloured bouquets and bridal party, and even my greenscreen photo booth complete with a Halloween themed backdrop!

Preparation

I began the day with Carrie and her family being prepared at her parent’s place nearby. Her bouquet was orange in colour, to suit the Halloween theme, and everyone there was wearing a matching orange item. Her entourage were wearing orange vests, while Dad was wearing an orange tie. It was a really nifty detail to add!

Engagement ring in a rose

Bridal high heels

Helping out with bridal party

Putting on Dad’s flower

Mum helping put on wedding dress 2

Mum helping out with buttons

Bouquet closeup

Bride holding her bouquet

bride looking pensive in hallway

Leticha’s colour scheme was green, complete with an impressive green stoned engagement ring. Her entourage and bouquet was also green – contrasting the orange of Carrie, and also following the halloween theme.

One small detail I really enjoyed though was that Leticha and Carrie also made sure their own personalities and interests was really put on display throughout the day. They obviously love boardgames and other ‘nerdy’ things by having their invites UNO themed, Harry Potter items were strewn about the place, and later on their wedding cake was based on Cluedo!

Emerald engagement ring

Wedding band in box

Wedding invites based on uno

reaching for the dress

Dad helping put on shoes

Hugs with Dad

bride looking pretty in bright room

bride walking towards doorway

Halloween Themed Wedding Ceremony at St Francis Winery

Leticha and Carrie’s Halloween Themed Wedding Ceremony took place on the grassy area in front of the St Francis winery pond. Their aisle betwenen guests were decorated with pumpkins and ivy, perfectly complementing the Orange and Green theme that the bridal couple had chosen.

As this was a same sex wedding, both leticha and Carrie were walked down the aisle together at the same time, flanked by their fathers which was a really nice touch.

Bride looking out car window

bride about to hop out of car

Flower girls approach

Brides entrance with fathers

St Francis Winery wedding ceremony

Holding hands during wedding ceremony 2

Smiling at her bride

bridal couple out the front of the wedding ceremony

bride smiling at her bride

Gathering the wedding rings

Waiting for the paperwork to be completed

First kiss at St Francis winery

St Francis winery wedding ceremony exit

Hugs after the ceremony

Heart group photo at St Francis winery

Glamour Photos

After the group photos, we made use of the St Francis Winery gardens and lovely weeping willows to take a few glamour shots, before heading off to a bike track with some rather spooky, dark trees which I thought would suit the Halloween theme nicely.

Along that same vein of thought, I also took Letchia and Carrie outside once it got dark with some smoke in a can to try and create a moody shoot under the lit weeping willows.

It was a little bit of fun thinking about how to create some moody, creepy wedding photos while still making them ‘weddingy’.

group photo with flower girls

Looking into each other eyes

Standing under the St Francis Winery weeping willows

Group photo with the bridal party

Kiss on the cheek

Walking together under the willows

Group shot on the old cart

Another kiss on the cheek

Looking at each under under the tree

Together amongst the foliage

brides under the willows

Togther under the weeping willows

Brides under creepy trees

Wedding photo under dark trees

bridal party photo under the dark trees

Brides sharing a moment

brides under a canopy of trees

brides in a tunnel of dark trees

night wedding photo at St Francis Winery

Wedding photo at St Francis winery

Halloween Themed Wedding Reception

The St Francis winery wedding reception area naturally has a neat, dark vibe to it due to it being an older building and built as a storage area for wine it’s aesthetic is rustically bare bones – making it quite a nice choice for a halloween themed wedding.

Their guests enjoyed making use of the green screen backdrop with a Halloween image superimposed behind them in each shot, while the dancefloor also got quite a workout by Letchia and Carrie’s guests. I was also in character whole wearing my Jason hockey mask that I have as a photobooth prop while taking photos 😀

The personal touches that they had spent time in preparing really made the whole night come alive!

‘

Cluedo themed wedding cake details

Brides cutting their Cluedo themed wedding cake

Cluedo themed wedding cake

brides first dance

Dancing bride at St Francis

Lego brides

bride listening to guests

Flower girls drawings

Brides dancing on the dancefloor

bridal hugs

Thanks a bunch Leticha and Carrie for having me as your wedding photographer!

January 19, 2021

Wedding preview, Wedding

St Francis Winery Wedding – Chelsea & Nathan

Chelsea & Nathan
St Francis Winery Wedding

It was a stunning day in amongst some rather ordinary weather for Chelsea and Nathan’s St Francis Winery Wedding at the beginning of September. It’s rather exciting to head to weddings like ths as I knew form the outset that Chelsea and Nathan were excellent dancers so I knew their reception was going to be a blast! I was lucky enough to be asked to be their wedding photographer all day and we managed to make most use of the time without the day seeming too rushed.

Preparation Photos

I was asked to begin the day with Chelsea’s preparation photos at the St Francis Winery room where she was being prepared, but I felt as though Nathan was missing out a bit so I head around to the nearby house he was getting ready at for about 10 minutes also – just to grab a shot of the rings and other small things lying about the place.

Getting ready

Through the makeup light

Engagement ring

Getting ready

Wedding rings

Wedding dress

First Look

The preparation phtos wasn’t a huge deal to Chelsea and Nathan, but what was exciting was they opted to have their main ‘glamour’ photo shoot done before their wedding ceremony in what’s known as a ‘first look’ where the groom and bride meet each other before the ceremony away from prying eyes and the nerves that would otherwise accompany the usual tradtional ‘first look’ as the bride walks down the aisle.

One of the Nathan’s groomsmen was a good sport here as Chelsea had secretly dressed him up in a stunning dress to play a bit of a prank on Nathan before she arrived for the real first look! 🙂

Groom walking about

Groom and groomsmen

The beautiful bride approaches

Surprise

Hugs

The actual bride approaches

Hugs

Glamour Photos

After the first look we had a good amount of time to use the St Francis Winery grounds and surrounds for some glamour photos. This time of year the weeping willows surrounding the pond on the grounds was just starting to turn green again which always makes for a lovely backdrop – particularly on sunny days where the sun flares through the foliage. We also head out for a bit to the nearby bike track which I knew – having lived in the area for quite a while – made for a lovely backdrop wth it’s arching tall trees either side. This made for a little diversity in their photos.

Standing together

Bridal party

walking together

Near the cart

Under a tree

Walking together

On the bike path

Together in front of the flowers

inside the St Francis winery wedding reception area

Under a tree

inside

Walking amongst the forest

inside the St Francis winery wedding reception area

Wedding rings

under the weeping willow

In front of the cellar doors

under the weeping willow

Holding bouquet

Under the trees

On the bike path

Smiles under the trees

Chilling on the cart

Walking amongst the forest

St Francis Winery Wedding Ceremony

Chelsea and Nathan’s actual wedding ceremony was a lovely simple affair which, after the music had been fixed at the begining went off quite well 🙂 Unfortunately their music had been set up with the bridal party walking down together holding flash cards as a bit of an inside joke, but diddnt work out so well 😛 Diddnt put a dampener on anyone’s mood though!

wedding sign

Groom waiting patiently

Bridal approach

Smiling groom

Smiling father of bride

St Francis winery wedding ceremony

Smiling bride

St Francis winery wedding ceremony

together out the front

Nerves

Vows

Listening

Smiles

Celebrant

Exchanging wedding rings

First kiss

Celebrate!

Checking out ring

Congregation

St Francis Winery Wedding Reception

As I mentioned before I knew Chalsea ad Nathan were pretty good dancers as their circle of friends happened to be the same as a wedding I covered several years ago where the bride and groom attended the same dance club. I also knew that many of the same dance club would be there than night, so the dance floor was always in action this night, and not just with people swaying and bopping, actual proper dancing! It was great to witness 🙂

First dance

Daddy daughter dance

under the trees at night

bonbonerie

talking

Main

Speech

reaction

Dancing

Thanks so much to Chelsea and Nathan for having me as your wedding photographer on your big day!

September 28, 2019

Wedding preview

St Francis Winery Wedding – Molly & Ian

I had been looking forward to covering Molly and Ian’s wedding at the St Francis Winery ever since shooting their engagement photos in the city about a year prior. I was also asked to build them an RSVP website, which was a good way to keep in contact all throughout the wedding planning in between. The day was a super sunny, bright, beautiful day which translated into a love-filled celebration of the wedding of Molly and Ian 🙂

Preparation

One of the great things about most of the weddings I’ve covered at the St Francis Winery is that both the bride and groom are staying on site and are prepared in separate rooms, so I’m able to flit in between rooms to take photos of them both being prepared at the same time. Both Molly and Ian were fairly laiud back in their preparation, with fun events like Molly’s small gift to ian being an exploding card, and of course running after the less than co-operative kidlets 🙂

getting ready

Pensive

Wedding rings

Wedding sign

Smiles

Dad’s first look

pensive

Mum helping

Smiling bride

Looking out window

Smiling groom

getting ready

Hustle and bustle

Looking in mirror

In front of window

Groomsmen lounging about

Looking out window

St Francis Winery Wedding Ceremony

Molly and Ian wisely opted to move the location of their wedding ceremony into a small – shaded area closer to the buildings of the winery as standing out in the sun for the duration of their ceremony would not have been fun. The ceremony was short and sweet, and culminated in a barrage of confetti thrown by the guests.

St Francis Winery Wedding setup

St Francis Winery Wedding

Blushing bride

Smiles

At the altar

Smiles

Signing registry

Wedding ceremony

Exchanging rings

Bridal exit

Flower girls

Smiles

First kiss

Glamour Photos

As I usually do, I made use of the incredible weeping willow trees surrounding the duck lake within the winery’s grounds, and as the sun was beating down, tried to make the most of it’s rays shing through the foliage.

Under a weeping willow

hehe

Standing together

Next to the cart

Under the sun

Standing together

Smiles together

Smiling girls

Bouquet

St Francis Winery Reception

To finish up the day, Molly and Ian’s wedding reception took place on site within the St Francis Winery reception hall, with the end section used as the dancefloor. The end section is great for the first dance dry ice as the walled off area allows for a lovely carpet of mist – makes it quite beautiful.