I’m pleased to present the wedding of Jess and Jake which took place in the Port Elliot Memorial Gardens during a very busy weekend during October! I say very busy as SvenStudios managed to cover 3 weddings this weekend, with the wedding of Jess and Jake here photographed by Ross Daly, and editing done by yours truly.
Preparation
Jess and Jake were being prepared at McCracken Country club which boasts a magnificent view overlooking the golf fairway and a lovely intimate reception center. Ross was caught up with preparations on the day so saw himself walking in between rooms, taking photos of both Jess and Jake in turn.
Back of wedding dress
Bride and maid of honour
Engagement ring
Wedding dress
Wedding shoes
Smiling bride
Bride
Makeup
Groom
Groom and Best Man
Watch
Best Man
Best Man
Port Elliot Memorial Gardens wedding ceremony
During World War 1, Port Elliot was a place of recreation for soldiers on leave. The gardens were originally established as a community project for soldiers, and then officially dedicated as a Soldier’s memorial after the planting of the memorial trees lining the park. The trees were planted in a tribute to the local soldier’s contribution and includes a tree planted to fallen New Zealand soldiers. The Park also now includes trees planted in commemoration of Australian soldiers involved in other conflicts as well, with 24 bronze plaques dedicated in May 2012.
Holding Hands
Groom looking nervous
Wedding Certificate kiss
Blushing Bride
Port Elliot Memorial Gardens wedding
Holding wedding ring
Maid of Honour
Glamour Photos
After the wedding ceremony, Ross, along with Jess and Jake’s videographers led the couple around the Port Elliot Memorial Gardens for some glamour shots. The gardens provide for a wide range of different backdrops, including weaving paths through flowerbeds, huge lining trees and even a beach scene.
Sitting on a bench
Going for a walk
Looking out the trees
Walking in the garden
All smiles
Sitting on a bench
Kissing amongst the roses
Walking in the garden
McCracken Country Club wedding reception
The McCracken Country Club always puts on a good fare at a wedding. Their function room overlooks the country club’s fairway and is spacious enough to host a decent sized wedding party without feeling too cavernous. I hadn’t been back to McCracken since I was the wedding photographer at a wedding last new year’s eve, so I was a little envious of Ross!
Vanessa and Justin’s wedding took place at the historic St Andrew’s Church in Walkerville, north east of the city. The church provided some beautiful surrounds to what was obviously a love filled ceremony to celebrate two wonderful families coming together. I started the day at St Andrew’s Church for the ceremony, and saw us venture into Port Adelaide for some industrial-themed glamour shots and then to the Royal Australian Yacht Squadron for Vanessa & Justin’s reception. vanessa and Justin opted to take advantage of my flexible hourly package for 4 hours. The weather on the day was absolutely stunning which enabled some amazing photos to be taken. Enjoy!
St Andrew’s Church Wedding Ceremony
I arrived around an hour early to the wedding which enabled me to float about capturing Justin and his entourage putting the final touches on their suits and adjusting their hair. Justin was all smiles which just a touch of nervousness sneaking in, but he hid it well 🙂
Groom smiling
Groom smiling
St Andrew’s Church is a historic church being built in 1848 on land enthusiastically donated by a local brewer. It’s claim to fame are its magnificently preserved stained glass windows, the majority of which are from the British Company of James Powell and Sons of Whitefriars. The insides of the church provide a wonderfully dimly-lit atmosphere perfect for a sacred ceremony such as marriage, plus it’s cavernous ceilings give great opportunities for epic photographs.
St Andrew’s Church
Lighting candle together
First kiss
Bride and groom
Bride and Groom at altar
Inside the church
Bride and Groom at altar
Bride walking down aisle
Priest
signing registry
Inside the church
Groom smiling at bride
Glamour photos
In front of the church
In front of the church
Wedding rings
In front of the church
After the ceremony and group photos out the front of the church, we headed down to a very popular wedding photography spot in Port Adelaide. So popular in fact that we had no less than 3 different weddings there at one point! While we waited for the other weddings to leave at the Port Adelaide Wool Sheds, I suggested we head around the corner to a more quiet location with wonderfully industrial walls to use as a backdrop.
Wedding car
Port Adelaide Wool Sheds wedding
Wedding car
Bridal party with wedding car
Brick walls
Port Adelaide Wool Sheds wedding
After the other weddings had left, we had the roads in front of the famous Port Adelaide Wool Sheds all to ourselves, and the sun was fantastic! I used the sun’s flares to great effect behind Vanessa and Justin to create a beautifully lit, dreamy backdrop. I had loads of fun 🙂
Wedding shadows
Sun backdrop
Groomsmen
Flower girl eating berries
Port Adelaide wool sheds wedding
Port Adelaide wool sheds wedding
Bridal party on brick wall
Bridal party
Before the reception started at the Royal Yacht Squadron, we had a few minutes to utilise the stunning backdrop of the marina for a few more photos. This was mainly due to having tried Semaphore beach for some shots with the jetty, but not finding a park.
Royal South Australian Yacht Club wedding
Royal South Australian Yacht Club wedding
Groom and his Groomsmen
Royal South Australian Yacht Club wedding
Lovey Dovey
Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron Wedding Reception
I’ve been down to the Yacht Squadron quite a few times now for different weddings and receptions. It’s become quite a popular venue due to its neat backdrop of million dollar yachts and close proximity to beaches like Semaphore. The clubhouses have been upgraded to have a modern, clean feel overlooking the marina and the staff couldn’t be nicer.
Kids being kids
Bridal entrance
Wedding cake
Bride and Groom laughing with guests
Bride and Groom laughing with guests
Gifts
Cutting the wedding cake
I’d like to thank Vanessa and Justin for having me be their wedding photographer on their wedding day, and I hope they enjoy their photos!
How to include guests who can’t attend your wedding
More often than not, when organising your guest list for your wedding, you’ll find out that some guests you have a deep connection with cannot make it due to any number of reasons. These guests are people who perhaps are too old and frail to venture out to your wedding venue, or perhaps they are living overseas. I thought I might make a bit of a list of ideas I’ve seen when covering weddings as a wedding photographer of how to include guests who can’t attend your wedding.
Ideas for how to include guests who can’t attend your wedding
Mobile phone
Live stream your ceremony
Providing of course that your wedding venue has good mobile phone coverage, you could opt to live stream your wedding ceremony via your mobile device. Modern smartphones with cameras all have this ability whereby you can set up a face to face call with the guest that could not make it and instead of facing the camera towards yourself, simply turn it around so that it’s facing the altar. In this way your guest can participate in the wedding ceremony in real time.
If you’re a little more tech minded one could also set up a live streaming event with a service such as livestream, where you’re able to hook up a camera with a PC with an internet connection. Using this kind of service more than just one guest could watch the stream at once.
Since writing this article in 2016, I have started offering not only live streaming services, but also Virtual reality recording services so let me know if you’d like to make use of what I offer! 🙂
Record a video message to play at your reception
One wedding that I fondly remember was the wedding of Michaela & Paddy at the SC Pannell Winery where the reception featured a video of well wishes from guests all around the world who could not make it. The reactions from Michaela seeing the faces of loved ones talking to her via video was a beautiful addition to the day.
Videographer
Make use of a Videographer
As a wedding photographer, I’m often working alongside a videographer, and I will be soon expanding into this area as a new service. The best use of a wedding videographer is of course having a full video documenting your wedding day in ways that still photography cannot. A great idea for how to include guests who cannot attend your wedding is to hold a viewing party at some point after your wedding where you can take your video to the guests who couldn’t make it. You can also opt to send a copy of your video to guests abroad, or even use the internet.
Guests pictures
Represent guests not present with their photo
Having guests who could not make it represented by framed photos is a wonderful idea to remember those who could not make it for one reason or another. This idea is often used for those guests who would have loved to attend but who had passed on before the wedding date.
Many brides often have a family member that is so important that they carry a photo charm of them attached to their bridal bouquet – whch is a lovely gesture for guests who have touched the heart of the bride.
Grandpa ion bouquet
These are just some of the ideas I’ve picked up throughout the dozens of weddings I’ve covered. If you have another idea to perhaps add to this list I’d love to hear about it!
After the stress of planning your wedding, and your wedding day is a fond memory, there is a list of things to do after your wedding that not many people remember. Some of the things on the list can be as important as some of the things you planned for the wedding when you consider the fact that the entire reason why you spent so much energy planning your perfect day was not only for you, but also for your friends and family. It’s best to get these out of the way sooner rather than later too, as many of them require the memory of the day to remain fresh in your mind. So don’t forget about this list of things to do after your wedding, as in some cases you might set yourself up for disaster!
Kuitpo Forest wedding
List of things to do after your wedding
Send out your thankyou cards
One sure-fire way to have guests complaining about your wedding day is to not show gratitude for them making the effort for being there. They’d also probably left you a generous gift, in addition to possibly giving you a gift for your engagement and spending a small fortune to get to your wedding day – if they live some distance away. A small token in the form of a thankyou card goes a long way to make everyone feel loved. Often you can ask your wedding photographer to quickly edit up an image or two to use for this occasion. Particularly if you plan the shot and bring along a sign, or banner that says ‘thank you’ or something similar.
Change your name
For those brides out there that are planning on changing their name as per tradition, I hope you’re aware that it doesnt automatically change? You need to go through a bit of a process to have your name changed, and your marriage certificate is only the start of the process. You will need to visit your bank, insurance brokers, immigration office, etc in order to actually change it!
Choose your photos
Once your wedding photographer has completed editing your photos, nows the time to select those precious few to create a timeless piece of art from. As a photographer, there is nothing better than seeing beautiful imagery framed professionally and printed on beautiful paper stock or canvass. This would also be the best time to select a larger number for your wedding album, the book that will be within arms reach for years to come in order for you to reach over and reminisce about your big day. It’s no use keeping your images on the USB, or your computer’s hard drive where no one will appreciate them, please PLEASE invest in producing proper heirlooms from your photography. You won’t regret it.
Bride and groom on Glenelgs Jetty
The Legal stuff
Ok, this bit is boring, but you must, for your new family’s sake, visit a lawyer and make sure everything is in order. Consider your finances, are you going to combine incomes and bank accounts? Have your sorted out any life insurance and executors of estates? Definitely sort out a will, and if there are any children involved, ensure their future. Make sure you add any new items such as engagement rings, or expensive gifts to your insurance. Possibly also consider family health insurance to save money?
Review your wedding suppliers
Many wedding vendors are small businesses that rely heavily on your testimonials after the fact. As a wedding photographer most of my business comes from people surfing the internet or hearing about my work from friends. Many couples will read reviews I’ve received from previous clients to gain an insight on how good I am. Leaving a favourable review on places like Facebook, Google and ABIA go a long way in supporting the business that made your day so memorable and will help any new couples with selecting the very best.
Head to the dry cleaners
Of all the things on this list of things to do after your wedding, this one may well be one of the first you’ll do before heading out on that honeymoon. Go and get that expensive dress dry cleaned! Unless of course you’re planning on having a ‘destroy the dress’ photoshoot. Same goes for the men’s suits if you bought them and not rented.
Wedding dress
I’m sorry if you think I’ve just given you so much more to do on top of the stress of planning your perfect wedding, but going through this list is pretty important! Many newly weds forget about some of these and can be worse off for it. If you can think of any other items to add to this list of things to do after your wedding please feel free to comment below and I’ll add them!
It was a wet and windy day for Tamika and Blake’s wedding at the Stamford Grand Glenelg, but it certainly didn’t dampen the celebrations! Due to the weather, the plan for the day had to be changed slightly. The original plan was to take advantage of the famous Glenelg foreshore for Tamika and Blake’s wedding ceremony, but due to the weather, their ceremony took place in one of the Grand’s Banquet halls. The weather was typical of the recent wild weather we’ve had in Adelaide over the last few weeks, as only the day before I was the wedding photographer at another Glenelg wedding and it was sunny. Despite the weather though, Tamika and Blake made the most of it and we took some neat photos in the rain.
Preparation
Blake was prepared at a house in Noarlunga Downs, the atmosphere was cool and relaxed with the boys simply waiting to be told to get dressed :). I was actually half expecting to be accosted by snakes and other reptiles, as Tamika and Blake own a reptile house in the south. One of the things they asked me at our meeting before the wedding was if I was ok around reptiles as they were going to integrate them into their ceremony. I think due to the weather they abandoned that idea though. Blake and his boys had a bit of fun posing in front of some mean looking machinery in the shed out back and they look great!
Groom
Groom not leaving the house
Wedding Rings
Working on the boat
Putting on groom’s tie
best man getting prepared
Groom and groomsmen
Groomsmen
Tamika was prepared in a hotel room within the Stamford Grand Glenelg, along with quite a few family members and well wishers. The small little room became quite cramped very quickly! Once the room cleared out though, the atmosphere was faily relaxed with only a little touch of nerves creeping in 🙂
Bride smiling
Engagement ring
Bridal Affects
Putting on Wedding Dress
Flower Girl
Putting on Wedding Dress
Wedding Dress
Putting on Wedding Dress
Stamford Grand Glenelg Wedding Ceremony
As I stated earlier, the Plan B for bad weather on the day was to hold the wedding ceremony within one of the Ballrooms of the Stamford Grand Glenelg. The room was large enough to accommodate all the guests with room left over, and the altar was backdropped by glorious arched windows overlooking the Glenelg foreshore. A unique aspect of Tamika and Blake’s wedding was the inclusion of a ‘lock’ ceremony where bother bride and groom lock together ceremonial padlocks and make the keys float away on balloons. While the balloons were a nice idea, they didn’t float away as expected so instead we threw away the keys from the Jetty.
The Stamford Grand Glenelg itself was originally built in 1856 and was a lot smaller than the building standing today. Tt was the first building built at Moseley Square, Glenelg and was originally named the ‘Pier Hotel’ to accommodate tourists attracted by the, what was then, grand pier complete with shops and amusements. It was then removed and replaced by a 3 storey building in 1912, and again in 1990 when the current Stamford Grand was built.
Bride and groom
Boys looking nervous
Groom greeting guests
Registry signing
Bride and groom holding locks
Bridal entrance
First kiss
Celebrant speaking
Stamford Grand Glenelg Wedding
Glamour Shots
As the weather wasn’t ideal we tried to keep the glamour shoot short and sweet. We walked around Glenelg’s Moseley Square and made use of the famous Glenelg Jetty for a bit of photoshop fun 🙂
Moseley Square wedding in the rain
Wedding rings
Rainy wedding
Bride and Groom under Glenelg Pier in Rain
Bridal Party in rain
Bride and Groom with Lightning
Stamford Grand Glenelg Stairwell
Bride and groom kiss
Stamford Grand Glenelg Wedding Reception
Tamika and Blake’s wedding reception took place only a few doors down from where their ceremony took place, within another of the Grand’s function rooms. Guests were well spread out around the room providing ample space for dancing and walking about. Their DJ made use of one of my most favourite props for a first dance as a wedding photographer, a dry ice smoke maker! It adds such a great atmosphere to first dance photos, love it.
First dance
Bride and Groom kiss
Speeches
Signing guest book
Bride and flower girl dancing
First dance
Cutting cake
Bride dancing
Guests dancing
Guests dancing
During the night, we also suck out to take advantage of the weather. Rain in wedding photos at night really adds something a little different to typical wedding photos and I feel as though we got some good shots with a little help from photoshop 😉
Wedding in the rain
Wedding in the rain
I really hope Tamika and Blake enjoy their wedding photos as much as I enjoyed being a part of their special, loved filled day. Beautiful family and I wish them the very best!