Tag Archive for: winery

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Woodstock Winery Wedding – Michelle & Ryan

  • Michelle & Ryan

    Woodstock Winery Wedding

    Bride and groom on Maslins Beach

It was a stunningly sunny day for Michelle and Ryan’s Woodstock winery wedding, just out of Mclaren Vale. I was asked to be their wedding photographer from their ceremony through to their first dance at their reception, whith photos in between down at Maslin Beach and of course using the vineyards about Woodstock winery.

Woodstock Winery Wedding Ceremony

The main appeal of having a Woodstock winery wedding in my book would have to be the beautiful picturesque, but still private surrounds of the winery. There is a large, open grassy area out the back of the main restaurant, lined by gum trees, bushes and of course the Woodstock winery’s vineyards nearby. Michelle and Ryan chose to set up their wedding ceremony so that the vineyards were the backdrop to their arbour.

The sun was out in full force throughout their ceremony, causing some rather harsh light shining on poor Michelle’s face, but thankfully the ceremony wasnt overly long and it also wasn’t so hot that it got uncomfortable – but the guests quickly found some shade before and after the ceremony.

The highlight of the ceremony would have to have been the moment when the exchanging of the rings was held up by Ryan and his best man’s antics where they faked forgetting the rings, only to reveal that their little dog was waiting in the wings with the rings tied around it’s collar.

wedding sign
Groom waiting patiently
Bride hiding behind the wall
Waiting out the front
Bride walking towards ceremony
Grooms first look of bride
Dad giving away bride
Together under the arbour
Wedding ceremony at Woodstock winery
Woodstock winery wedding ceremony
smiling bride during ceremony
Groom reading vows
Dog ring bearer
Woodstock winery wedding ceremony under the gum trees
exchanging the wedding rings
first kiss under the arbour
Woodstock winery wedding ceremony exit

Glamour Photos

What was a little different to most other weddings, was that directly after the Woodstock winery wedding ceremony, we immediately jumped into a bus waiting to take us down to the beach for the glamour photos – forgoing the usual family group photos that usually follow a ceremony. Michelle and Ryan had purposefully planned it this way so as to have a more relaxed, leasurely time down at the beach and to make sure they got all the photos they wanted.

I was quite excited by the copious number of flying seagulls in the air during Michelle and Ryan’s photoshoot on the beach, that it made it that much easier to have them smiling in their photos as they were laughing at my own antics being excited about the birds. Thankfully they held their distance away from us, along with another nearby wedding ceremony that was taking place a top the cliffs – nothing worse than gate crashing another wedding, but the birds made for an awesome backdrop in many of their photos!

After having photos on the beach, and posing for a Starwars themed photo, we then head back to Woodstock winery and used some lovely trees they have in their car park before being announced at the reception. During the reception, we head out for the family photos and used the dying sun for some photos amongst the nearby vineyards.

Bridal party walking to beach
Bride and groom walking down to the beach
Being all lovey
Bridal party walking the dog along the beach
Bridal party on the beach
Wedding couple walking along the beach
Wedding couple walking along the beach with their dog
Bridal couple kissing on the beach
Flowing veil on the beach
Bride and Groom on Maslin beach
Star Wars Wedding Photo
Minimal wedding photo of bride and groom on beach
Bride and groom on Maslins Beach
Beach shot
Bride and groom amongst the sanddunes
Bride and bridesmaids
Groomsmen
Kisses on the Beach boardwalk
Bride and groom amongst the Woodstock winery trees
Bride and groom amongst gum trees
Sitting together in the vineyards
Holding hands
Walking around the Woodstock winery
Walking through the woodstock winery vineyards
woodstock winery vineyards
Woodstock winery wedding at night

Woodstock Winery Wedding Reception

The wedding reception took place in the Woodstock winery’s beautiful two-tiered restaurant, with the head table in the center of the arc, and family tables lined up either side. There was no indoor dancefloor, so the first dance took place outside, and there was no shortage of people out there enjoying the wonderful, warm weather. Emotions were running high during the daddy daughter and monther, son dances with family members all joining in, and was lovely to see 🙂

Michelle and Ryan opted to have a cool, modern take on a wedding cake, having doughnuts piled up with a starwars themed topper, adding a little bit of quirkyness to the whole day.

Guestbook sign
Woodstock winery wine bottles
bridal entrace at Woodstock winery wedding reception
Helping with the veil
bride sharing a drink
Woodstock winery at dusk
Doughnut wedding cake
Inspecting rings
Engagement ring amongst bouquet
first dance
hugs on the dance floor
Daddy daughter dance
Singing

I’d like to thank Michelle and Ryan for having me photograph their special day, and I hope they enjoy their photos!

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St Laurences Church High Mass Wedding – Alison & Josh

  • Alison & Josh

    St Laurence’s Church High Mass Wedding

    bridal couple inside st laurences church

I was priviledged to witness the St Laurences Church High Mass Wedding of Alison and Josh in mid November as their wedding photographer. it was quite the spectical with no less than 3 priests and a multitude of altar boys conducting the very traditional latin high mass at the fore of the stunning church that is St Laurence’s. While the ceremony was wonderful, it was also fantastic to cover the first wedding reception that has been held at the new venue of Tatachilla estate!

Preparation

I began the day as I usually do at the place where Josh and his groomsmen were being prepared. The morning was quite laid back with some funny moments where someone had given Josh some booklets titled ‘don’ts for weddings, and husbands‘ while also reminicing about other weddings the groomsmen had been a part of.

groom affects
cufflinks detail shot
putting on shirt
helping out with tie
Putting on jacket
Groom Putting on jacket
smiles on the groom
Groom and groomsmen standing about
Groom and groomsmen standing under tree

I arrived at the house were Alison was being prepared just as their make-up was being completed, which is great as I’m then able to flit about taking detail shots of the dress, shoes, etc. The bridal party all had matching kimonos on during the morning, and two little girls were running about causing havok – which was kind of a good thing as it distracted from any nerves Alison may have been feeling. 🙂

engagement ring in bouquet
Bridal shoes
whispering flower girls
bride putting on makeup
girls looking up at wedding dress
bridesmaid smiles
looking in mirror while getting ready
bridesmaids in kimonos
Dad’s first look of bride
Bride with dress on
Bride standing with bouquet
bridesmaids looking on

St Laurences Church High Mass Wedding Ceremony

As some of you may know, I worked at a Catholic primary school for almost a decade as a Japanese teacher, so I was fairly knowledgeable of the procession of mass, and wedding masses. However, Alison and Josh’s High Mass wedding was something I had yet to witness. The entire procession was quite awe inspiring, with no less than 3 priests and several altar boys conducting the service, all while a 4-strong gregorian chior chanted in the background. The High Mass itself took around 90 minutes to complete, as it followed a strict procession, concluding whith all the guests joining in with communion. The stunning surrounds of St Laurences Church made for a stunning backdrop for the entire ceremony, and it was certainly a ceremony to remember!

St Laurences Church
priest getting ready
High Mass wedding procession
grooms first look
Bridal entrance
inside st laurences church
Together at the altar
exchanging wedding rings
wedding ceremony in st laurences church
inside st laurences church landscape
sitting together catholic high mass wedding
catholic high mass wedding
Priest holding the bible
catholic mass wedding
bridal party kneeling
crucifix at St Laurences church
Bridal exit

Glamour Photos

For glamour photos, we first utilised the wonderful interior of St Laurences, after having the group photo done out the front of the church. We then went for a short drive to South Terrace to Veale Gardens where we made use of the lovely diversity available there. From Australian gum trees out the back, to highly manicured rose gardens, it’s a nice spot to capture a variety of wedding photos. We then head towards Mclaren Vale as a short stop off before heading to Tatachilla Estate for the reception. We usued the wonderful olive tree grove located right off the main street to get a few shots in amongst the trees. Our final spot for glamour photos was the vineyards located out the front of Tatachilla estate. We used the dying light as the sun went down for a few nice shots of just Alison and Josh together amongst the vines.

bridal couple inside st laurences church
Wedding bands on hands
bridal couple kissing in St Laurences church
bride and groom in bridal car
bride and groom under gum trees
bride and groom under gum trees in veale gardens
bridal party in veale gardens
bride and groom above pool in veale gardens
Veale Gardens pool
walking along the bridge in veale gardens
bride and groom amongst roses
closeup of bridal bouquet
bride and groom under olive trees
Holding one another
bride and groom in Mclaren vale’s olive trees
smiles all round
bride and groom at Tatachilla estate
bride and groom amongst the vineyards
looking through the vineyards
behind the bride amongst vineyards
holding one another in vines

Tatachilla Estate Wedding Reception

I was told that Alison and Josh’s wedding reception was the first that has been held at the new venue at Tatachilla Estate. Apparently the venue had been recently purchased from the nearby Tatachilla Lutheran School in order to ransform it into a new, large wedding and event venue, and I must say it certainly has potential! It’s a huge space, suitable for gigantic functions, but as it is right now it’s fairly rustic as it had been used as a school camp space for decades.

Alison and Josh’s reception was punctuated by loving speeches, plenty of dancing and scores of people all having a great time!

wedding cake
bridal entrance at Tatachilla Estate
bridal party at head table
laughter
tatachilla estate wedding
Hold on to what is good
speech
children dancing
grooms speech
holding one another during first dance
first dance
first dance at tatachilla estate
guests having fun
guests
dancing nan
dancing together
wedding guests dancing the macarenea
bouquet toss at tatachilla estate
bride and groom exit arch

I’d like to thank Alison and Josh for having me as their wedding photographer, it was a wonderful day and certainly a wedding I’ll not soon forget! 😀

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St Francis Winery Wedding – Jess & Chris

  • Jess & Chris

    St Francis Winery Wedding

    veil flowing amongst the trees

Jess and Chris held their lovely St Francis Winery wedding on a lovely day in early October. While the sun wasn’t out, the temperature was warm and everyone had a wonderful time. I was asked to be Jess and Chris’ wedding photographer after having covered Kate and Callan’s wedding at Peacock Farm a few years prior. Callan happened to be one of the groom’s men for Chris 🙂 It’s always nice to be recommended by previous bridal couples, makes me feel that I’m doing something right! haha

Preparation

I started the day at Jess and Chris’ house, south of Adelaide which was where Chris and his groomsmen were getting ready. I arrived just as an incredible breakfast was being served to each of the boys, a full stack of wonderful looking pancakes that make me want to sit down and join them! They looked pretty good… Callan then got onto the ironing, as was tradition, and the boys got dressed. It was nice that Chris’ mother came to join them just before I was to leave to visit Jess and her girls getting ready at St Francis winery.

putting on tie
getting ready
groom almost ready
groom ironing
putting on flower

The girls were getting ready in the usual room that is generally reserved for brides getting ready on wedding days at St Francis winery. The room is usually used as it has some nice natural light and large windows available for some nice shots. The girsl were fairly laid back while they were being prepared, and they even had enough time to wander through the reception area and view the ceremony spot on the St Francis winery lawn before putting on the wedding dress and heading out.

bride getting ready
pretty bride
putting on dress
bride looking in mirror
bride looking at bouquet

St Francis Winery Wedding Ceremony

St Francis winery has several different spots where a wedding ceremony can be set up. The majority of ceremonies I’ve covered here have overlooked the pond, however Jess was concerned with the possibility of it being a sunny day and the sun shing in their eyes while they stood there, she also diddn’t like the idea of having the nearby supermarket in the background of her photos. So to avoid these issues, Jess set up her ceremony facing the St Francis Winery buildings, which allowed for the lovely foliage from the trees and interesting architecture from the buildings to be in the backdrop. As the day was fairly overcast, the guests were pretty comfortable out on the grassy area and the ceremony worked out quite well.

bridal exit at st francis winery
proud mumma
wedding sign
bride waiting
smiling groom
st francis winery wedding ceremony
together
waiting groom
st francis winery wedding ceremony
grooms first look
st francis winery wedding ceremony
best man

Glamour photos

After the ceremony, I got out the drone and had a big group photo done on the grassy area in front of the lake, and had smaller group photos done in front of the weeping willows and love sign. Jess, Chris and their bridal party then went for a little walk around the St Francis winery lake to make use of the broken down carts, and wonderful weeping willow trees for photos. We then had a little break to grab a drink before going for a short drive to the nearby bike track which I knew had some awesome arching trees that I could use as a backdrop. The lack of sun really worked to my advantage, limiting the amount of harsh shadows and made for some awesome shots!

happy couple
flowing veil
passion
floating veil
bridal party amongst trees
veil flowing amongst the trees
bridal party near cart
kisses

St Francis Winery Wedding Reception

Jess and Chris’ reception was a fun little party, punctuated by heading out for some photos under the lit up willow trees at night, and in front of the lit love sign which I believe Jess had won in a competition leading up to her big day. They had the reception hall decked out really nicely with floral arrangements and a beautiful abckdrop behind the bridal table, and their first dance was complete with smoke machine. It was all pretty neat!

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first dance at st francis winery
dancing in front of love sign
guests having fun
first dance
hugs
dancing guests
pretty at night
wedding cake
st francis winery wedding reception
entrance
st francis winery decor
under the st francis winery trees at night
cutting wedding cake
looking at rings
dancing guests

Thanks so much to Jess and Chris for having me as your wedding photographer! I had a great time and I hope you enjoy your photos!

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St Francis Winery Wedding – Chelsea & Nathan

  • Jess & Chris

    St Francis Winery Wedding

    veil flowing amongst the trees

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.

Engagement ring
Through the makeup light
Getting ready
Getting ready
Wedding dress
Getting ready
Wedding rings

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
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.

Walking amongst the forest
Walking together
Under a tree
Smiles under the trees
Holding bouquet
inside the St Francis winery wedding reception area
Wedding rings
On the bike path
On the bike path
Together in front of the flowers
Standing together
Near the cart
Walking amongst the forest
inside the St Francis winery wedding reception area
inside
walking together
under the weeping willow
Bridal party
under the weeping willow
Under a tree
Chilling on the cart
Under the trees
In front of the cellar doors

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
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
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
First dance
First dance
First dance
Daddy daughter dance
under the trees at night
bonbonerie
talking
Main
Speech
reaction
reaction
Dancing
Dancing
Dancing

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

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Mulberry Lodge Wedding – Heidi & Jory

The Mulberry Lodge, just out of Mclaren vale, on the road to Willunga was the backdrop to Heidi and Jory’s intimate wedding ceremony on an extremely sunny and rather windy day in early January. I was asked to be their wedding photographer for 6 hours which saw me cover parts of their preparation through to the cake cutting at their reception next door at the Au Pear restaurant. One fun thing I did differently at their wedding was experiment in making a short ‘highlight’ video with the aim for gaining some experience in producing video like this as a future offering to augment my services – look out for that 😉

Preparation

The day began at Jory’s place of preparation where all the groomsmen were getting ready and enjoying a rather nice drop of red in the form of a bottle of Penfolds Grange! Rather a nice treat for a beautiful day.

Bottle Openers
The boys
Putting on suit
Penfolds Grange
Boys
Helping each other
Smiling groom
Walking out door

The girls were making use of the on site accomodation at the Mulberry Lodge to be prepared. It was a lovely rustic setting with the olden time style that always works well as a backdrop to preparation photos.

Wedding sign
Putting on dress
Engagement ring
Smiling bride
Putting on dress
Wedding dress
Playing with flowers
Wedding rings
Through the doorway

Mulberry Lodge Wedding Ceremony

The Mulberry Lodge is a small, intimate setting suitable for small weddings where there’s a reasonable sized grassy area next to the lodge with a pretty tree that provides shade over where the bride and groom stands in front of their congregation. As the day was quite windy, the tree and all the foliage surrounding the congregation was blowing quite heartily, and with the beating sun made for quite the challenging ceremony to photograph.

Close up of flower
First kiss
Together under tree
Under the tree
Exit
Grateful groom
Holding hands
Bridal arrival
Signs
Smiling groom
Blushing bride
Holding hands

Glamour Photos

For glamour photos we first used the gardens and driveway surrounding the Mulberry Lodge before heading over to the Au Pear restaurant’s vineyards next door for a bit of variety. My goal was to use the sun’s light as much as possible to create a lovely light and airy feel to Heidi and Jory’s photos.

Holding hands
Bridal party
In the vineyards
In the vineyards
On the swing together at the Mulberry Lodge
Next to a tree
Suspenders!
Walking down the driveway together
New Home
Charlie’s Angels
Wedding Bands
In the vineyards
Bridal party

Au Pear Restaurant Wedding Reception

The Au Pear restaurant’s reception hall looks to be an old rustic farm shed complete with old machinery still inside. It made the entire reception party feel quite laid back and heartfelt, especially when combined with the live band and hand made decorations scattered about the place, including the wedding cake which Heidi had made herself.

Speech
Cutting the cake
Groomsmen
having fun
Heart
Entrance
having fun
Hugs
Wedding Cake
Wedding Reception
Selfie

Thanks so much to Heidi and Jory for having me as their wedding photographer!

Tag Archive for: winery