Anthea and Alex are one of those couples who look like they have non-stop fun together. I met them last night in a park down the road from their home where Alex actually popped the question and their dogs joined us for a little while too.  They're getting married tomorrow and after seeing how awesome they are together, am so excited to shoot their wedding!

I completely love what I do - how many jobs are there out there where you get to mess around and have fun with people? Yesterday I had the priviledge of doing a shoot with Wedding Concepts, an awesome wedding co-ordination team based in Cape Town. The winter rain managed to stay away and they were such a fun and down-to-earth group to work with! 

Since I arrived in Natal a few hours before Louise and Brad's wedding and didn't have time to do an engagement shoot with them, we thought a next day shoot on the beach would be a great idea. I was really impressed that these guys managed to get themselves out of bed at 6am and get back into their wedding gear after a huge party the night before!! 

The rain on their wedding day did absolutely nothing to dampen Debbie and Dax's celebration in Tulbach. I've seen excited brides before, but Debs literally pounced into her dress in excitement and couldn't keep still, Dax had a permanent grin for the entire day. Thanks guys for braving the rain, climbing out of windows voluntarily and for such contagious enthusiasm!

Morgansvlei is a stunning venue, something a little different to the winelands. Wedding Concepts did a great job once again organising every little detail and the flowers were unlike anything I've seen before, wow, I must get the contact details for the very creative florist.

By the way, for any brides out there who think that rain will ruin your photos and the whole day, that's really not the case. I like shooting in the rain, it forces you to do things a bit differently and gives a whole different feel to images. So no flare for this entry, just a whole lot of moodiness and a bit of a wonky umbrella. (Thanks Anne for the loan!)

I met up with Debs and Dax at Ellerman House in Bantry Bay a few days before their wedding to do an engagement shoot as well as a stunning boudoir shoot with Debs. We started off with the boudoir shoot while Dax lurked around the swimming pool and by the time we got to the engagement part, I think Debs was all photo-ed out, although I don't think you'd say so looking at these which we took in a couple of minutes in the gardens. Maybe sometime I'll post one or 2 of the more innocent photos from the boudoir so watch this space!

Anyone who knows me will know that I have a possibly abnormal respect for any creature larger than myself (birds and parktown prawns too, but that's another story). So when Ryan mentioned he'd like to do the bridal party photos in a paddock of cows at Rockhaven Farm, I did wonder at the sense of this, but imagined a field of docile, grass-chomping cows lazily flicking their tails and blinkedly observing us - and thought it was an awesome idea.

Fast forward to the bridal party and myself in the said paddock where the docile cows were actually two bulls and came running straight towards us when we arrived. (In our minds visions of Pamplona and RAGING bulls). It must have been a hilarious sight to any observer as the bridesmaids, bride and photographer squealed in fear and all panickedly crammed into the backseat of the nearby car. Man, was I grateful for that car. Apologies to anyone I may have squashed in the mad rush.

We tentatively got out the car when we were sure that the bulls were a distance away and were being herded by a farm-worker. As I lay down in the grass to take a group shot, aware of the black bulls behind me, I was joking that they would get me first - when suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw a black shadow rapidly approaching me, accompanied by the sounds of heavy stomping. Of course, the sensible thing to do when you think you're about to be stampeded is to curl up in the fetal position and let out a high-pitched scream, which is precisely what I did - much to my mortification as I discovered that the raging bull was actually Gail's brother-in-law sneaking up on me.

'Near-death' experiences aside, Gail and Ryan's wedding was so relaxed and stunning and it was awesome to share it with you guys. Aidan, I'll be sending you my therapist's bill shortly :-) Enough babbling for this entry - here are some images:  

Si is a musician and was playing on a street in East Croydon in London when he looked up and saw a most beautiful face in the crowd...so starts the story of Tamu and Si who came out from the UK to get married in the Elgin Valley. They apparently had spent 7 weeks apart between South African and the UK before the big day and the first time they saw each other again was at the altar in the quaint 1850's tin-roofed chapel at the Houw Hoek Inn. Maybe that had something to do with the way they literally beamed the with happiness the whole day long!

SUCH a pleasure to witness and capture such immense love between you guys and the rest of your family!

OK, I went hugely overboard on this engagement session...I had suggested to Gail and Ryan something a little less 'pretty' and a bit more 'rustic' for a location, but I nearly went into overdrive when they took me to an abandoned brick factory to do their engagement shoot. I was in heaven.Crumbling burned down walls, piles of rubble, loads of nooks and crannies and even an old skanky green couch. And once again, an awesome and 'up-for-anything-couple' who are so cute together, what a pleasure! 

I'm so looking forward to your wedding next week after having so much fun at the engagement shoot and I'm intrigued to see the cow paddock :-) 

So I promise that next time I REALLY will narrow them down a bit more...here are 'just a few' (sigh):

Take a cool and creative couple, a stunning location in the Elgin Valley just outside of Cape Town, a 1920's theme with super-amazing details, a touch of Portuguese, an eclectix mix of appropriately-dressed guests (including some ultra-funky groomsmen), a sultry jazz band, many bottles of tequila consumed and you have yourself a dream wedding to shoot! Not to mention the killer African light that came through late afternoon...

And yip, this was one of THOSE weddings... the ones where the bride and groom are creatives themselves and who work for a film company. That and the numerous large lenses lurking around was all a bit daunting, but Bronwyn and Marcos were so great to shoot and just let me do my thing!

I seriously struggled to narrow these down as there were just so many that I love so far...

Shannon and Jason live in Australia but decided to come out to Cape Town for their wedding and it was such a stunning day! It's  the first time that I've shot at the same venue in one week so it was good challenge to try and get something a bit different and go explore some other spots on this beautiful wine estate in Franschhoek. 

I hadn't met David or Michelle before their big day as they live in Surrey in the UK and only came out to South Africa a few days before their wedding. The first thing I found out when I met David is that he's an art director for an advertising agency in London and sources photographers for all kinds of briefs, so it was a bit daunting to match his expectations!

The entire day unfolded at the beautiful location of Vrede en Lust in Franschhoek and every detail was organised to perfection by Hannes and Kim at Wedding Concepts . What a stunning day in Africa, thank you for letting me be part of it!

 

Having grown up in Joburg, one of my favourite things in the world is the rumble of thunder and smell of rain hitting the earth. I'm seriously deprived of thunderstorms in Cape Town so it's worth just flying up for one - even if the heavens break open as you're about to do the creative shots at a wedding.

It was awesome to have the very talented and passionate Andrea Carlyle come to shoot with me and a while after we had done some creative shots under cover, she came running out excitedly exclaiming that the rain had cleared and there was a stunning rainbow that we had to take some shots with! I'm so stoked that she spotted it as it's not every day you get a beautiful black sky and rainbow as a background...

Busi and Peter's wedding was a stunning cosmopolitan-African event, with tons of guests from Germany, the USA, Nigeria and South Africa coming together at The Cradle.  Thanks guys for flying me up for the occasion and for obliging us with lots of photos. You can see a few more shots of 'the rainbow' on Andrea's blog. Shots no 7 and 11 here were also taken by her.