Tag Archive for: St Francis Winery

Saint Francis Winery Wedding – Lucy & James

April 9, 2016/in Wedding preview, Wedding

Lucy & James
Saint Francis Winery Wedding

Lucy & James held their surprise wedding at the Saint Francis Winery in Old Reynella. If you aren’t aware of the dynamics of surprise weddings, they can be a lot of fun to be a part of, particularly as a wedding photographer. It’s fun as you generally turn up to a party that is otherwise going swimmingly, when a photographer with a giant camera shows up and starts taking your picture 🙂 Now obviously it’s not often you attend a small party, even an engagement party – as is what Lucy and James’ guest thought they were attending, where there is a professional photographer in attendance. So there was a bit of surprise.

Before Party

Lucy & James’ guests were invited to their engagement party and were treated to a lovely spread put out by the Saint Francis Winery, including cheeses, fruits and meat platters, including an open bar. The congregation was located out the front of the Winery, near the famed pond next to South road when I arrived amd all were having a great time 🙂 Not many even noticed Lucy and James slink off to change into their wedding finery.

Lucy and James engagement sign

Boys and gran

Food

Engagement party

Lucy & James’ Saint Francis Winery Wedding Ceremony

The wedding ceremony was set up within around 30 minutes, before the ceremony, but after everyone had arrived so that the secret was not blown. In past weddings I have covered at the Saint Francis Winery, the ceremony itself has taken place next to the lake, out the front of the winery, however as this one needed to be ‘hidden’, the ceremony took place in the grassy courtyard area surrounded by hotel rooms.

Bride and groom

Saint Francis Winery Wedding

Bride and groom

Wedding setting

Bride and groom holing hands

Saint Francis Winery Wedding

First kiss

Wedding setting

Glamour photos

Between their ceremony and their reception, Lucy and James had barely 40 minutes of sunlight in order to walk around the winery grounds for their glamour photos. But we made good use of the available light and took some crackers.

Francis Winery Wedding

Saint Francis Winery Wedding

Francis Winery Wedding

Saint Francis Winery Wedding

Wedding reception

I was only able to stay for a portion of Lucy and James’ reception as they had opted for having me at their wedding using my very affordable 3 hour package. In the limited amount of time I was there for, I was able to cover their first dance, speeches and even their wedding cake cutting.

First dance

Bride groom and little one

Through the doors

Wedding cake

Signing guest book

First dance

Little dancer

Thankyou Lucy and James for having me at your lovely surprise wedding, it was a lot of fun to be a part of!

St Francis Winery Wedding – Fiona & Nick

January 6, 2016/in Wedding, Wedding preview

Fiona & Nick
St Francis Winery Wedding

Fiona and Nick took advantage of my very flexible wedding photography packages to have me at their St Francis Winery wedding for 7 hours. The day went very well, with all guests enjoying themselves immensely. This was helped along as Fiona and Nick had a very laid back and fun personality which was reflected by their wedding and the weather was absolutely splendid, but very sunny. I actually live within walking distance from the St Francis Winery and had been looking forward to being their wedding photographer there since they booked me.

Preparation photos

Both Fiona and Nick were prepared in the St Francis Winery accommodation, with both the groomsmen and bridal party being prepared at the same time, so I was walking in between rooms and the winery grounds. The groomsmen started out by playing a bit of AFL marks up out on the grass before donning their finery, as the bridesmaids were putting on their makeup. It’s been a while since I saw groomsmen in top hats and tails, but credit to the boys for wearing such an outfit on the very warm day. The bridal party were confined to their room as they did not want anyone to be able to see Fiona’s dress before the wedding ceremony.

Wedding rings

Bridal party

Bride getting ready

Bridal party

Groom

Groomsmen

Groomsmen playing football

Bride and Mother

Groomsmen playing football

Wedding dress

Groomsmen

Bridal party

Wedding dress

St Francis Winery Wedding Ceremony

The St Francis Winery, located down south of Adelaide in Old Reynella is one of the original wineries in the famed southern Adelaide wine district. Originally owned by Reynella’s namesake, John Reynell and his family from 1869 to the early 1940’s the winery has been transformed into a 41 suite resort situated on 5 acres overlooking Lake Carew Reynell and built around the circa 1852 winery building. The suites are built surrounding a lovely courtyard grassy area with lovely old brick walls and wooden railings. The whole area feels beautifully rustic, while still being modern. The wedding ceremony itself took place next to the lake on the larger grassy area outside of the main banquet hall.

St Francis Winery Wedding Ceremony

Glamour Photos

After the ceremony we roamed around the St Francis Winery’s land taking advantage of the gardens, and in particular the wonderful weeping willows situated around the lake. They provided an amazing backdrop breaking up the very harsh sunlight beating down on us.

Bride and groom

Bride

Bride and groom

St Francis Winery Wedding

Bride and groom

Bridal party holding groom

Groomsmen

embarrassed kids

Bride and groom

groomsmen

Reception

Fiona and Nick’s entire wedding took place within the grounds of the St Francis Winery. Including their reception.They had booked out the two banquet halls, turning one hall into a dancefloor, while the other was filled with sit down tables for their guests. I did not have a lot of time at their reception, but I did manage to capture the important moments, including the cutting of the cake, their first dance and all their speeches.

St Francis Winery Wedding reception

Wedding reception

First dance

Wedding reception

I;d like to thank Fiona and Nick for having me as their wedding photographer, and I hope they enjoy their wedding photography!

St Francis Winery Wedding – Chelsea & Nathan

September 28, 2019/in Wedding preview, Wedding

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.

Through the makeup light

Engagement ring

Getting ready

Wedding dress

Wedding rings

Getting ready

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.

inside the St Francis winery wedding reception area

Smiles under the trees

Near the cart

under the weeping willow

Holding bouquet

In front of the cellar doors

Together in front of the flowers

Wedding rings

Under a tree

On the bike path

Under the trees

Bridal party

Walking amongst the forest

On the bike path

inside the St Francis winery wedding reception area

under the weeping willow

Under a tree

inside

Standing together

Walking amongst the forest

Walking together

walking together

Chilling on the cart

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!

StFrancis Winery Wedding – Bronwyn & Dayne

January 12, 2022/in Wedding preview, Wedding

Bronwyn & Dayne
StFrancis WInery Wedding

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!

Halloween Themed Wedding at St Francis – Leticha & Carrie

January 19, 2021/in Wedding preview, Wedding

Leticha & Carrie
St Francis Winery Wedding

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 Letich 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 whiole 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!

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