It was the kind of day that the birds seemed to sing just that little bit louder.  The weather was perfect and the whole property was buzzing with excitement.  I never doubted that this was going to be a very special wedding, but the beautiful moments contained in this one day are simply far too many to share in this humble blog post.  So you'll just have to imagine even more beauty than this.  If you can.

Getting ready in her childhood home is something precious to any girl. 

And her mother.

This brooch that belonged to Grandma has been worn by all of the women in Kat's family.

Meanwhile Paul was over with the boys, and caught some very special moments himself. 

Kat and Josh were getting married at the St Michael's Church in Waimea.  It's the kind of church that made us go "Ooooooooo" when we first turned up to do a quick scout.  The possibilities made us talk extra fast.  Well, it made me talk extra fast.

Inside and the wait for the girls has begun.

Any moment now....

And there she is!

I wasn't close enough to hear exactly what Dad said as he gave Kat away.  But I love the expressions!

The vows were so incredibly heartfelt, so sincere, I don't think there was a dry eye in the church.

Married!

Sometimes you get the perfect mix of location, light and gorgeous people.  Ding ding ding!  We have a winner!  I was busy trying not to do my happy dance.

Josh and Kat had organised a double decker bus to take themselves and their guests back to Kat's parent's property where the reception would be held in the most beautifully decorated marquee that you ever did see!

Sometimes it's a good idea to shoot in the general direction that everyone else is shooting in. 

But sometimes it can be worthwhile turning around and seeing what is going on behind you.  Sometimes that is actually the shot that you want.

And every so often, you need to look where no one else is looking.  Sometimes that's where you'll find a story more powerful than anything else.

Josh spent the whole day grinning.  He seemed so absolutely over the moon with Kat.  It was almost like he had won the lotto, but better.

And WOW who can blame him for feeling like the luckiest guy alive? 

Josh and Kat had chosen a really fantastic bridal party.  They were helpful, funny and fully present.  Well done guys!

You guys are so gorgeous, I can barely stand it.

Kat's Mum and Dad have spent countless hours getting their property ready to host the celebration.  It was immaculate.

You guys are so fab, you even make the (ahem boring) traditional pose (for Grandma) look like something fresh out of a magazine.  You've made both me (and Grandma) very happy.

Josh and Kat, you had the most spectacularly beautiful day, and we are so grateful to have been able to be part of it.  Thank you.  We can't wait to show you all of the rest of the beautifulness!

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Vendor Shoutout:

There's never a dull moment with Natalie, she's always smiling and laughing and today was certainly no exception.  Today she was going to marry Sean and her smile was as radiant as ever.  Surrounded by their closest friends and family, Natalie and Sean boarded a boat in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds and vowed their lives to each other.

Gorgeous flowers by Nina at Pink Poppie.

Natalie is a complete natural in front of the camera.  She's one of these rare beauties that knows exactly what to do when a lens is pointed at her.  I've been told by her family that she's had that skill since she was a little girl.

Neither Sean nor Natalie had attendants, no bridesmaids or groomsmen.  Natalie said that Sean's Dad would be as close to a bestman as you could get.  Apparently these two are great friends.

And there was certainly no lack of friends!

This medal, tied to the flowers, belonged to Natalie's Grandma.  It was blessed by the Pope and Grandma wore it pinned to her clothes every single day, that's how special it was.  And now it belongs to Natalie, and it's a part of her wedding day.  Beautiful.

Sean and Natalie decided to see each other before the ceremony.  I love this series of images!

Seriously, Natalie, you are freakishly good at this!

This is a very special pocket watch given to Max, Natalie's son, by Sean. I love little things like this, because, quite honestly, the little things are the big things.  Sean, you're a great guy.

And this is Max.  Perfectly adorable!  He's a real credit to you Natalie.  It's rare to find a boy who is so open, friendly and a joy to be around.

Waiting for the bride to arrive.  A large percentage of the guests came from England to be here for this very day.  By the end of the day my 'inside voice' sounded like a character from Coronation St.  I like to listen to accents and wish I could do them!

How is this for an amazing setting to get married in?  We were hugely blessed to have the rain hold off for us.  It was spitting and threatening to rain all day, but when it came time for the ceremony it was absolutely perfect.

Max read out a poem which had everybody saying "Awwwwwwww" a lot.  I heard it behind me in stereo.  It's times like this that I wish I were a videographer.  Trouble is, I'm rubbish at video, so I'll just stick to photos.

Natalie and Sean wrote each other love letters about what this day meant to them.  They've kept them sealed and put them in this bottle, to be opened in ten years.  What a magnificent idea!

The guests approve.

This is Theo.  Gorgeousness right there.  Apparently I was funny!

Then some portraits on the shore.

What a handsome couple!

Sean was wonderful and patient while we had fun with the portraits.  In fact, he even admitted not minding them so much.  Thata boy Sean!  That's how it's done!

Captain Natalie.  Ah yes.  Why not!

When we arrived back on land, Natalie had one more spot lined up for us to shoot.  Blue boatsheds!  Yusss!

The reception was held at the Waikawa Boating Club in keeping with the nautical theme.

Bradley Guy is an absolutely brilliant young piper. He even had everybody clapping along and really getting into it.  Well done Bradley!

Another formation of Australia.  I promise I didn't set it up like that!

A cheese cake.  A cake made of cheese.  With little mice on the top.  How completely perfect!

Sean and Natalie, what a wonderful day!  Thank you so very much for inviting us to share it with you.  I can't wait to show you the rest of the photos!

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Vendor Shoutout:

Celebrant: Carol Taylor

Flowers: Pink Poppie Designer Florist

Dress: Jane Yeh

Boat: Beachcomber Fun Cruises

Catering: The Quest Catering Co

Reception Venue: Waikawa Boating Club

Cheese Cake: Canterbury Cheesemongers

Karl and Francesca met while they were at school.  They were friends at first, and then, like all good love stories, things progressed from there after about a year or so.  True blue high school sweethearts!

Karl has a thing for planes.  I asked him, as we were driving to Omaka Aero club if he just liked them or actually worked with them.  "I just like them," he said.  A friendly slap from Francesca reminded him to finish the story.  "He's a pilot," she said. 

Why is it that pilots get extra cool points?  I mean, if he had said he was a bus driver, I'd still like him just as much.  However he flies planes, and that's just super cool.  I'm such a girl sometimes.

Karl had managed to get us access to this beautiful beast, an old Chinese war plane, which he actually does know how to fly.  Not that you'd get Francesca doing loops with him, she said. 

Francesca is as sweet as she is beautiful, and that's really saying something.  She tells me that she's been a blog watcher since 2008 (gasp!) and that she had always planned for us to photograph their wedding, well before they were engaged.

Then we headed off to Rarangi, where the light had me making all sorts of girly squealing noises. 

Francesca, you are perfection!

Double Rainbow!

Rarangi is special to Karl and Francesca as they spent many hours here when they were teenagers.  On a visit back to Blenheim last year Karl surprised her with a proposal, on this very spot.  Well, we think it was this very spot.  After some discussion, we decided to assume this was the very log he proposed on.

She said yes.

I've been to Rarangi many, many times.  I have never seen it as beautiful as this.  The colour, the stillness of the air, just the right amount of mist and a gorgeous couple.  It was the perfect end to a perfect shoot.

Francesca and Karl, you guys are absolutely great.  Thanks so much for taking the extra time to play with the light and have some fun with me.  Can't wait til March!

It was a setup by a mutual friend, but neither of them knew it at the time.  It didn't take long though, once Joanne and Ian got to know each other, love blossomed! 

Joanne and Ian live in separate towns, Joanne in Wellington and Ian lives in Christchurch.  Long distance relationships can be hard work when you have to travel every second weekend to spend time together.  But what is that old saying?  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  And it won't be long, soon enough they will be living in the same city as husband and wife!

Ian has just completed seven years of study to become a Chartered Accountant.  Seriously!  SEVEN YEARS!  That's commitment for you and a thoroughly awesome achievement!

Beautiful Joanne is not the slightest bit afraid of the camera.  She was an absolute joy to photograph.  She said it goes way back to the days of self portraits in the bathroom with her friends.  The light in a bathroom is usually pretty good!  So mothers, please note, if your teenage daughter spends a generous amount of time taking photos of herself - let it go.  Some photographer, somewhere down the track, is going to thank you for it!

Joanne had told me that she loves colour.  So I knew exactly where there were some gorgeous orange wildflowers!

Ian proposed to Joanne on a weekend away together.  It was absolutely pouring with rain the whole weekend, except for a small window of time and Ian seized the opportunity, took Joanne up a hill, got down on one knee and proposed.  The experience left him with one soggy knee, and also a fiancé!

We had a little bit of time before Joanne and Ian had to get to the airport, so I asked if they had any ideas about where they might like to go.  "What about your tree?"  I almost wanted to hug Joanne.  Of course!  The TREE!!

Apparently Ian is quite a mover on the dance floor, he showed me some of his moves.  Yep Ian.  You tha man!

 

Thank you so much Joanne and Ian for coming to see us during your weekend together.  I'm so looking forward to the wedding!  See you in a few months!

Adam and Kylee are the kind of people that make me happy to be a wedding photographer.  In fact, they make me long for the next wedding because weddings are so much fun!  Their day was so full of love and laughter and beautiful smiles and dimples.  OH!  The dimples!

And blue shoes.  You've got to love the blue shoes, don't you?

Molly Rose was the perfect flowergirl, patient, happy, and absolutely gorgeous.   

And here is our beautiful Kylee. 

Braydon was the bearer of the rings.  A responsibility he took very seriously.

The wedding was held at Drylands, and although it was a little bit nippy, we were thankful that it wasn't raining like it was at the rehearsal the day before!  Nope, the sun was out and everybody was happy.

Introducing Adam, watching as his bride arrives.

This is one of my favourite shots of the day.  When your baby gets married even tough men find it hard to keep it together.

And best friends can be rubbish at being tough too.

He got the girl!

As we were waiting for family to come for the group photos I spotted this huddle to keep Granny warm.  Priceless.

We decided to shoot at Pollard Park, and I'm ever so glad we did!  The little red bridge, the trees and the thousands and thousands of daisies made this the perfect choice!

Kylee, you are spectacularly beautiful!

A fun and crazy bunch this was!

A week ago I had never even met Adam and Kylee, they live in Australia and we only had contact through emails.  Now I feel like they are my bffs.  It's amazing how when you spend a day with someone and all of their nearest and dearest you really get a feel for who they are.  And I like who Adam and Kylee are.  I liked them even before they brought us chocolate wedding cake, I liked them even more after.

Then back to Drylands where there was more cuteness to be found.

Adam and Kylee were so easy to direct, no matter where you put them they always look gorgeous and totally in love, simply because they are!

 

It's not usually too easy to steal a couple out of their reception for the sunset light, but Adam and Kylee allowed for that and went along with all of my funny ideas. I was in heaven! Sitting wasn't a problem.  In fact, I could be so bossy as to even get them to lie down!

See?

Back inside and the speeches had everybody laughing.

And then the dancing began!

Before we headed home, Kylee insisted we indulge in the photobooth.  This is exactly why we usually stay on the other side of the camera.

The very last photo before we got in the car and we were treated to a shooting star - a very fitting way to end the day!

Adam and Kylee, you guys are the real deal.  Thank you so much for inviting us into your big day, for making us feel welcome and appreciated, and for the chocolate cake.  Let's not forget about the amazing chocolate cake.  I can't wait to show you all of the rest of the images!

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Vendor Shoutout:

This blog post is like one of those episodes on tv where they surprise you with all sorts of old characters from episodes long gone and put them all together.  Actually, it's even like one of those tv shows that put characters together out of other tv shows.  Except no one dies at the end of this post, which is a really good thing, you'd have to agree.

Our first characters are Heather and Doug (engaged and married) who have become more than clients, they're now our friends.  They're also photographers.  Paul was keen to show them a few tricks with the flashes, and so we set a time to have a fun shoot together.  I'm more of an available light kinda girl, so it was a good chance for me to get more practise with working with the lighting equipment as well.

When Paul suggested that I could be the model I quickly thought of another plan.  I put a call out on Facebook and before you know it two beautiful ladies were chosen to be our 'brides'.  Along with their longsuffering husbands. 

Clare and Brent were photographed by me back at the dawn of this blog in 2008 and sadly I never got to do their wedding photos in Rarotonga as I was too busy having babies at home.  So when this opportunity came to have a shoot, Clare jumped in boots and all.

Leanne and Aaron hardly need to be introduced.  Leanne designs our gorgeous Queensberry Albums along with a whole bunch of other goodies at Vanilla Hayes.

So now that we know who everyone is, you actually get to see some photos!

Massive thanks to Mahi Wines for letting us use their very dark barrel room.  It was perfection!

While Paul was working with Heather and Doug and doing all sorts of cool backlighting, I snuck away to find the light that I like working with.  Natural light!

Clare, you are absolutely stunning!

Then I went and stole Leanne and Aaron, just to shake things up a bit.  I love this.  I love it a lot!

Leanne, I told you that you were smouldering!  Don't be doubting me!

And look at how dashing Aaron is! 

I'd also like to point out that Leanne's hairpiece was the one I wore when I got married 16 years ago.  See?  I am stylish after all....

It turns out that Clare and Leanne are actually close friends. They even used to live together while they were studying. 

I had asked for ideas for our shoot, and what was suggested?  tug of war!  Of course!  It's perfectly natural to expect two brides and two grooms to do this on a Monday morning.  So before we headed home we simply had to have a game.

Then, when the girls decided to take on the boys, things got a little bit more serious...

Massive thanks to Nina from Pink Poppie for the flowers.  She was given pretty much no time to prepare and yet still she came up with absolute gorgeousness.  Nina, you are a star!

Also thanks to Darnelle Bason and Chloe Sutherland who stepped up at the last minute to volunteer to do the girls makeup for us.

So now that you've seen my side of the story, pop on over to Heather's page and check out what she did!

Thanks to everyone for such a huge effort, it was fun!

They were just friends who knew each other through their shared love for stock cars.  Kate loved racing, and was pretty darn good at it when suddenly she found herself in need of a car.  John said he'd buy her one.  She didn't believe him.  I mean, they were just friends, why would he?  It was only days later that he proved her wrong and bought her a car.  Just like that.

 

Clearly she saw that this guy was a keeper.  And before long, his work was done and they were an item.  

Kate and John had wanted to go to the beach for their E Session, but as we were driving towards Rarangi we saw the weather start to close in.  Some quick thinking on Kate's part led us in the opposite direction and the hunt for a perfect spot was on!

All three of us saw the paddock and the beautiful farm that lay behind it, we all pretty much sighed in unison.  I drove past slowly.  The man on the tractor didn't look up, smile and beckon to us to stop the car and come on his land to take photos, like I was wishing he would.  He just carried on tractoring, completely oblivious to us longing for his farm.  I stopped the car, and plucked up the courage to go talk to him.  Thankfully he was totally fine with letting us go onto his land.  And what lay beyond that paddock?  Awesomeness, that's what! 

Apparently they don't usually let people go on to take photos, we found out later, which made us even more super grateful for the opportunity! 

Kate and John are such a cute, fun couple.  Easily bossed around by me, and totally into each other.  Bliss! 

Kate loves gates, which is lucky, because there were some pretty funky looking gates on the farm.

She also loves John, so that's like a double bonus!

It's spring, and the grapevines are finally doing their thing again. 

Kate was telling me about a fitness Bootcamp she had just finished.  She said it was fun and increased her fitness level heaps.  I like fun, AND I need to get fit.  So guess what I went and did?  I signed up.  For bootcamp.  Somebody hold me. 

This was John's idea.  I like it when guys have ideas, it's always fun.

So this experience with this uber cool farm leads me to a question.  Do you know of somewhere in Marlborough, that's way cool and not generally seen by the public?  If so, please please drop me a note, I'd love to hear about it! 

Kate and John, you guys are super.  I can't wait to spend more time with you!  See you soon!