Those of you who remember Anneke, my beautiful niece, from previous blog posts will not be surprised that the 'good looking' gene did not stop there.  Meet her cousin Ted.  Although Ted is her cousin on the other side of the family I think I still should somehow be able to claim him?  Seems fair to me!

Ted's landed himself a modelling agent over in the USA where he lives and so we could hardly let him finish his visit here without plumping out his portfolio somewhat!

Paul took the opportunity to create some beautiful light, being the lighting geek that he is!

This is what happens when Paul leaves to move the car for a couple of minutes.  Left to my own devices I manage to sneak in a 'tin soldier' shot.  It had to be done.

Thanks for coming out to play Ted!  We had such fun with you!

Shane was quick to claim that Nikki was the first of the two to fancy the other, but then again, he would.  Shane loves to tease Nikki, who is able to send it right back while the two of them have a laugh.  That's the kind of fun vibe Shane and Nikki have. Clearly it's a vibe that works beautifully for them because next year they're getting married!

Shane and Nikki met in England while Shane was over there playing cricket professionally.  Yet another example of the Kiwis winning over the English!  There seems to be a trend going on!

While the day had been somewhat grey and ugly, there was hope on the horizon and as soon as we started our E-session the sun came out and the light was everything we were hoping for!  Combine the great light, a gorgeous couple and loads of laughs and it was pretty well the perfect way to spend an hour and a half!

Like most guys, Shane is not generally super excited about having his photo taken.  In fact, apparently there are more photos in existence of him with his hand in front of his face than without.  Shane, you did a super job and I think you may just have surprised yourself!

Hello lovely Autumn light!

It took absolutely no work to get Nikki looking this fabulous.  I just told her to go and stand over there by that wall and BAM she just looks amazing.  Easy peasy!  Thanks also to Grace for the beautiful makeup job!

Shane and Nikki, we had such fun with you both and we can't wait for February when we get to meet the rest of your family and capture the two of you getting married!  It's going to be great!

Dough.  That's what my kids call it.  It's soft and squishy and if I thought that the Internet truly kept me anonymous and I wouldn't run into you in the supermarket, I'd show you a picture of it.  It sits right around my middle, mostly, as well as hanging onto other places with it's squishy cuddliness.  The kids may poke it and giggle, but considering each of those six darlings had something to do with creating said dough, I'm not in the least bit offended.  The time has come though, to part with a good chunk of it and Kim and Mark have been helping me do just that.

Now, I'm not a gym bunny.  I'm more of a 'where is my secret stash of chocolate' bunny, and this is what has contributed to the kilograms sneaking on year after year making my pants too tight and my engagement ring no longer fit.  Personally, I find the gym a little bit daunting.  Those fit people and MIRRORS really don't help (you're nodding, aren't you?)  But once Kim and Mark took me under their wing and started cheering me on things started turning around. 

While they've been in the fitness game for years, they've just officially become Crossfit Blenheim, opened their own place (with nary a mirror in sight!) and changed how I feel about my fitness.  Slowly, week by week, I began to improve.  My almost completely inflexible body started doing what I asked it to, and just for kicks on my days off I can now run for 20 minutes without stopping.  For those of you fit gym bunnies I know it's not THAT amazing, but when you're taking your dough with you it's pretty darn awesome!  I've got a fair way to go, but at least I'm enjoying the process and look forward to each session.

When Kim asked us to take some photos for them we jumped at the chance.  It meant that Paul (who has been getting super fit and leaving me in the dust!) got to have a good play with his lighting techniques and we got to sink our teeth into something very different!

We love the team atmosphere of the sessions, and the fact that every workout is different and you never know what you're going to do! 

Kim knows what it's like to get her body back after having a baby, wee Jack is only 6 months old!  All of my lame excuses fly out of the window!

To get a bit of an idea of what Crossfit is really about, check out this official Crossfit video (from crossfit.com).  I would have said all of this and more, except I can't produce the swelling emotional music in the background!  It's a good way to spend 2 minutes.

You might think Mark works out like this all the time, but in fact he's really quite humble about his physique.  Kim had quite a bit of convincing to do to get him share what a dedicated crossfitter looks like.  And just for the record, there is no enhancement in this image other than colour and contrast etc.  It's all real.

This is actually really hard.  I can't even get my legs off the ground for more than a nanosecond.  That's why Mark's demonstrating it and not me.  Be grateful.  Be very grateful.

So get your tushies along to Crossfit Blenheim and try it out!  The first session is free and if you say I sent you then you might just get a chocolate fish (although I'm probably lying about the chocolate fish).  Say I sent you anyway.

Oh, and by the way, I need new jeans and I can wear my engagement ring again.  Yes siree.

Holy Moly, what an amazing wedding season it has been for us!  It's been chock-a-block full of amazing brides, grooms and incredible families.  We've loved being there for one of the most important days of people's lives, over and over again.  We've delivered well over 16,000 images this Summer and we're not quite done yet!  But things are starting to settle down, and like last winter, we're now offering portraits during our quieter months. 

So to kick us off, meet Henry, fabulously gorgeous and full of sparkle! 

Henry belongs to Letticia and David, who came to us wanting us to capture their beautiful family. 

This is Reuben, Henry's big brother.  You see, sometimes, to get the good shots, you just have to PLAY.  You have to run, and chase and make crazy animal noises.  Sometimes you have to laugh about doggie poo. 

Sometimes when a small child runs away among the trees, instead of scolding and making a scene you simply photograph it.  That's when you capture the childhood innocence, and the fun it is to be 4.

This image, right here, is why we love family portraits.  How treasured will this image be when Henry is 21, to both Henry and his Mum?  How priceless will this be to Henry's children and grandchildren?  You can't underestimate the value of a moment like this, captured forever.  Images like this one only become more valuable over time.

They say a builder's house is never finished, and while that has been somewhat true for our own family portraits that's all about to change.  You see, I'm putting my money where my mouth is and we're having our family portrait session in a couple of weeks.  I must say, it certainly is different being on this side of the arrangement!  I'm worried about what to wear, and working hard to loose just a little bit more weight before the big day and I've booked in Deirdre to work her magic.  But I know all of that will pale in comparison to the gift that this will be to the children, now, but even more so in 30 years, when they're showing their kids. 

So here we go, opening up 2013 for portraits!  If anyone is wanting more information, just email us info@jessicajones.co.nz, we're taking bookings now for April and May. 

If at first you don't succeed, try try again!  I'm fairly sure that Thomas Edison didn't stop at his first 'no', nor did the Wright brothers give up when at first they failed.  No siree, if you want great things to happen you've got to stick at it and that's exactly what Hayden did.  Sometimes great friends can turn into something so much more if you just ask, twice.  Once Aimee saw the light things progressed beautifully and this coming weekend Hayden will marry his beautiful friend in the presence of their family and friends, and we're going to be there to photograph it!

We spent the evening chasing the beautiful light.  Claiming that they weren't really that good in front of the camera, Hayden and Aimee quickly proved themselves wrong!

We were in amongst the trees next to the beach and as I turned around I shrieked "Oh look at THAT!"  It's not as if these trees haven't been here in this line every single time we've visited before, but tonight they were something special and I quickly hurried our somewhat bewildered couple in the gaps.  I explained to them that it was about time for them to pretend to be a tree.  The thing is, you never know who is going to make a good tree and who isn't.  So at the command of "ONE TWO THREE TREE!" Aimee proved to be one of the best trees I've ever seen.  Sadly Hayden wasn't quite as good, but quickly caught on and did some pretty impressive tree stances himself.  It's a good thing we practised being trees, because you never know when you'll need that kind of tree skill.

Aimee had a baby a couple of months ago and I simply couldn't get over how amazing she looks!  I'm still blaming my latest baby for my bulgy belly, but seeings that was three years ago I think it probably doesn't count anymore!

Gorgeous + Fun couple will equal a seriously great wedding, I bet ya.

Aimee and Hayden, we're crazy excited about your up and coming wedding, it's going to be fantastic!  See you soon!

With the waves crashing on the shore in Barbados, James asked Bronwyn for her hand in marriage.  It was the perfect end to a beautiful holiday, especially because she said yes!  And tomorrow, surrounded by their closest friends and family, they will be promising the rest of their lives to each other.  It's going to be gorgeous!

I always try capture this image, especially for the Mums.  Because I know that Mums love a photo just like this on their wall, and Dads love it for Christmas, even more than socks and hankies.

Gorgeous Bronwyn!

Bronwyn and James, we are SO excited about joining you for your big day tomorrow!  See you soon!

They met while working on a cruise ship and there was no doubting who liked who first.  Tim was smitten with Danielle early on and did quite a bit of wooing to capture her heart.  Now her heart is thoroughly captured, and come this weekend they will become husband and wife, and we'll be there to take pictures!  Woohoo!

Danielle and Tim are super easy to be with and great fun, we chatted the time away.  They even laughed at my jokes, which is also a bonus!

We started our E-session at the gorgeous Antria Lodge.  It's totally unique to anything I've ever seen before and Kathryne made us feel like we had arrived home as soon as we walked in the door.  I don't think this will be the last time we cross paths!  Mega coolness points to Antria.

Tim and Danielle's adventures have taken them to amazing places that most of us will only ever dream of going. Sorry folks, unless you have a spare million Euros floating around, you won't be spending a week on the 'super yacht' they work on.  This weekend it will be them that the paparazzi are hounding, not the celebrities they're used to serving.  Except, we're not the paparazzi, and we're certainly not planning on hounding them either!   

I just want to listen to Tim speak all the time as he has an Irish accent, although apparently not as thick as it used to be, I think accents are great fun! I fully realise that to most of the people on this planet I too have an accent, and I'm ok with that.

It's going to be a goooood wedding, this I know!  How cute are they?! 

Tim designed this amazing ring himself, secretly, before proposing to Danielle in the Caribbean.  Swooooon. 

Danielle and Tim, we're crazy excited about photographing your wedding very soon!  It's going to be great fun, see you soon!