What a fun time I had this afternoon with Fiona and Josh!  Freshly engaged and very much in love, these guys were an absolute pleasure to photograph. 

Josh is an electrician, so it was totally appropriate to start our shoot here:

I think I might just keep these guys close at hand for when I need new suggestions for cool photo locations!

These two look so cute when they forget about me and just look at eachother, that's when the real magic happens!

Next we headed off to a cute little barn, and who can resist taking advantage of the gorgeous low winter sun?

Being as generously bellied as I am right now (5 weeks till baby!!), you can imagine the scene with me lying on my back for this low angle, and then trying to get back up again!  Thankfully I don't have any weddings to shoot in this state, I'm fairly sure I waddle.

Josh is such a nice guy, I realised this even before Fiona explained that that was the reason she first fell for him.  He carried my heavy camera bag everywhere we went, and never hesitated to run back to the car for us to fetch things. 

I can't wait to see Fiona as a bride, I just know she's going to be even more stunning.

And this is my favourite shot of the day.  How gorgeous is that light?!

One kind passerby who saw me taking photos asked if he could help out, and let me get in the photo as well.  Ahhhh... nope, I don't think that having me in this picture would add anything at all - although I'm sure we could have made it quite amusing!

It really was a great shoot, and it was fantastic to get to know Josh and Fiona that bit more.  I can't WAIT for your wedding guys, it's gonna be awesome!  (and I promise I won't be waddling by then!)

I've had Holly and Jordan's family booked into my calender a couple of times now, but ill health and weather kept getting in the way.  I was fairly sure that today was going to be out as well, as the forecast was nothing but bleak, how wrong I was!  It was a fantastic day for a play at the park!

These kids could seriously be catalogue models, they're so cute!

Just look at that little face looking up adoringly at her Mum.

Have you ever seen a toddler so cute?! 

I love this family shot.

Jordan could really work that camera, he was absolutely not shy at all!

Andrea and John were long overdue for some photos of just the two of them.

Just look at the textures in this shot.  I know I've said it before, but I really adore autumn!

Thanks for coming out today guys!  I'm so pleased we were finally able to pull it all together - can't wait to show you all the rest!

Yesterday I had a really fun shoot with Katie, Jess and their Dad Rob.  These girls really know how to work a camera, and they're not afraid to be themselves - which, by the way, is super cute!

Some of the loveliest shots I think are the 'in between' shots, where they just forget about the camera for a minute.

But there wasn't a lot of forgetting about the camera with Katie! 

And Jess really wasn't camera shy either!

I don't know what Rob was doing behind me, but apparently it was rather hilarious!

We went to a few different locations - and these girls just kept on being gorgeous.  After a couple of hours, most people are well and truly over it, and ready to go home, but Katie and Jess just soldiered on.  They were such a joy the shoot that the time just disappeared.

Rob, these girls are an absolute credit to you.  I'm looking forward to showing you the whole collection! 

Catherine and Nigel are the most friendly and easygoing people - I don't think I saw Catherine stressed out at all during the entire day!  They chose the most fantastic day for their wedding too, I adore shooting in April and May!  The colours are just perfect, and the temperature is cool but lovely.  I wish more brides would plan for Autumn weddings!

However, obviously the day was not really about me!

Getting into the dress.  I just LOVED this dress, it was beautiful and unique and it suited Catherine down to the ground!

Final touches before we head out the door.

Meanwhile Nigel waits calmly for his bride.

I love this shot!  Catherine beamed during the entire ceremony.

The girls doing the flowergirl thing very well.  They were so cute, and they really seemed to enjoy themselves.

Not all hugs are created equal!

You can just see the light getting more and more beautiful.

The gorgeous bride.

The entire wedding was held at Wither Hills Winery and there are so many great places to take photos, I could have played there for hours!

The guys.

You just can't forget about the good ol' wide angle lens to give you some really cool shots.

I think it must have just been my oddball sense of humour, but I couldn't resist getting a shot with this sign.  The lengths we'll go to just to get that perfect shot - throwing caution to the wind....

Autumn, oh yes - how I do love thee!

Love it!

Back inside, and this was certainly a 'cute baby' wedding.  There were a few gorgeous little bundles that were so little and so adorable.  It was all I could do not to put my camera down and give them a squeeze...

Catherine and Nigel, it was our privilege to be able to capture your day for you.  I hope you like the photos as much as I do, we'll catch up soon!

This was our last scheduled wedding for a while now, which is bittersweet really.  I'll miss the adrenaline rush of shooting a wedding, and the joy of capturing something new and lovely, but it will be well worthwhile having some time to attend to things that really need catching up on!  We've got a some exciting plans and new things we're working on over the winter, so we won't be bored! 

If you're getting married next summer, and wanted to drop us an email you'll need to do so sooner than later.  Next year's wedding calender is filling up really quickly, and we'll be taking on just a couple more bookings for the 09/10 summer season.  We'll have had another small baby to add to our growing collection, so I really want to make sure that I don't overcommit next year.

Speaking of the other small baby, things are progressing just as they should be and I can't wait to meet this precious little wriggler, as well as be able to see my toes again.  I'll be sure to keep the blog updated with baby news!  And although there may not be more wedding photos for a bit, I've got some great portrait shoots coming up - and I'll try and get Paul to blog some of his latest stuff, it's pretty good!

I first met Kate when she was a bridesmaid for Rachel last year, and so I have been looking forward to photographing her wedding for a while now!

Loyal blog followers will recognise Rachel, who is looking lovely as ever.

But this day belonged to Kate, and she looked absolutely gorgeous!

Aha - that's rain you see there on the window.  And although Kate no longer lives in England, she did book me while she lived there, so does that count towards my theory?

The rain didn't seem to get anyone down though!

And James waits...

This was my view of Kate and her Dad.

And this was Paul's.  I had NO idea Dad was helping her with the veil until I saw this picture.  How cute.

There's a whole series of gorgeous expressions from Kate during the actual wedding.

The parents during the ceremony.

These guys are so friendly, smiled a whole lot, were really into eachother, and more than a bit attractive - what more could I ever ask for?

Inside by the crates for Kate's parents nursery - Ormond Nurseries and I think this may be my favourite shot.

When I shot their engagement photos, I think they thought I was a little loopy for a doing legs only shot.  However, after seeing them and using those very same shots on their invitations - they were quite happy to do a wedding one!

I dunno, but I think this may be my favourite of the day.

Cute!

Some very cool expressions going on here....

And back at the reception, and I love this one of James' Dad.

We thoroughly enjoyed this wedding, rain and all!  You guys had the most fantastic attitudes, and were so much fun to be around.  Hopefully we see you next time you're down this way, stop on by for a coffee!

Andrea and John are another one of my couples that have planned their wedding entirely from the UK, although they are originally from NZ (which may account for the fact that it was merely overcast, not raining this time!)

As soon as I saw that beauitful lace on the dress, I knew Andrea would look absolutely perfect!

And she did!

Meanwhile, back at Old St Mary's Convent the boys seemed fairly relaxed.

One of the best parts of a wedding is when the bride walks down the aisle with her Dad, and without fail the Dad looks as proud as can be.  This wedding was no exception!

The view from that back can be equally as moving.  What I especially loved about this wedding was that everyone was there enjoying the ceremony, not spending most of it trying to get their cameras to work.  There was not a single camera out during the ceremony - except of course ours capturing everything from both angles!

This was the moment after the kiss.  How cute is that?!

I am a big fan of St Mary's Convent, there are just so many fantastic places to take photos, wet or dry.

Flowers again by Pink Poppie - great job as usual Nina!

This was such a fun group, I thought I'd try something new for me.  I took a photo from the front, as usual....

but also from behind!  I think it would be great to put these in an album, on either side of the page.

The boys were great fun all day.  When I said we'd try for a 'boy band' look, they took it quite literally and grabbed a couple of old rakes.

I love throwing in a jump shot every now and then.

I'm loving the vineyards right now.  I think harvest starts in a week or two.

Back inside the Convent, and there's no lack of pretty places.

I love the back of Andrea's dress, that lace was just exquisite!

And back at the reception, the speeches were about to begin.

Great emotion was to be captured, from tears...

to laughter!

And some yummy looking food by Alaine the 'Swiss Guy'.

What a great day it was guys - thanks so much for letting us be part of it!  Have a great trip back to the UK!

This week we photographed our second wedding out at beautiful Te Mahia and for the second time the bride and groom were called Matthew and Jennifer! 

The wedding was organised entirely by Jennifer's Dad and Stepmum, and they made sure there were surprises for them through the whole day, and one of them was us!  Now, I don't know that I've ever been a surprise for anyone before (except maybe my parents....) so this was all new to me!

Jennifer and Matthew are our third couple from England coming over to get married here in as many weeks.  This may account for the rough weather we've been having, they've been bringing the rain with them! 

Waiting for the go ahead.

It was a lovely intimate ceremony with only six guests in total.

How's this for some beautiful scenery!

Jennifer and Dad.

A really lovely and easy going couple, I never expected them to be able to 'work it' like rock stars, but they totally did! 

We almost decided to leave our umbrellas at home for this wedding, because it was supposed to be perfect weather, and for the most part it was.  Then suddenly it got dark, and began to hail.  Like bucket loads of hail, pelting down.  So we were fairly glad we'd brought the umbrellas after all!  Thankfully it was over in about 10 minutes, and the lovely weather came back.

Matthew seemed pretty happy to get the girl....

And can you blame him?  WOW how photogenic is she?! 

I couldn't decide which one of these two I loved more, so I just have to put them both in!

A stroll on the beach.

Jennifer and Matthew - thank you for letting us be part of your day!  I'm sure you're going to have the most fabulous reception party when you get back home to England, and you will have had the best of both worlds!  I wish I could come along and capture it for you (I would definately be bringing my umbrella!)