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9th Mar 2010, 3:23pm

Amanda and Sid chose Willowglen for their wedding and I have to say Willowglen is home to my very favourite ceremony spot of all the wedding venues I've been to.  The afternoon sun coming through the ferns is just magic...

There were gorgeous details everywhere...mmm loving these blingy pink shoes

And we had a heap of fun shooting in some more of that lovely afternoon light...these are going to make an awesome album spead!

9th Mar 2010, 1:31pm

Once upon a time Sid worked very very hard for a very long time and restored this gorgeous car...

And then he had to sell it.  Sid was sad but he knew that everything has its season and that you have to move forward.  He did indeed move forward and he and Amanda bought a house together and planned a wedding.  Now my favourite bit of the story...Amanda and Sid went to the Ford show and happened to see 'Sid's' car, they chatted to the new owner, as you do, and after Sid wandered off Amanda snuck back and asked the new owner how he would feel about lending it back to them for their wedding.  He agreed and a plan was hatched!

Check out Sid's face when he heard a familiar engine outside his motel room...

What a great surprise hey?

And yes, of course I will post more pics...I just needed to share that awesome story...and btw does Amanda win 'Wife of the Year' yet?!

8th Mar 2010, 10:50pm

there's no place like a wedding, there's no place like a wedding, there's no place like a wedding...

I do like shoes...what's not to like right?  But I think there's something extra cool about wedding shoes :-)

5th Mar 2010, 9:55pm

Cool way to link the generations (note to self, must stop going on about this...I will I promise!)

This locket belonged to the bride, Amanda's grandmother...

And Julie had her florist include these earrings of her grandmother's in her bouquet...

And I know thistles don't really count as heirlooms but this was such a cute way for Jaqui to acknowledge her Scottish-ness...and yep, they were real paddock thistles she picked herself (THAT is dedication!)

5th Mar 2010, 2:28pm

The sat there side by side on the sofa in my studio and Deidre told me how Steve had proposed to her on the beach at dawn on the morning of her birthday.  Birthdays are about new beginnings he reackoned.  And he had planned everything about the moment.  She says to me "He's so romantic really" (as if I could doubt that!) and Steve just grins and looks at her adoringly.

He does that a lot actually :-)

And then there was Indie, Deidre's granddaughter was almost stole the show as flowergirl...

This was very much a day about bringing two families together with everyone in the bridal party related to either Deidre or Steve one way or another (well I guess they're all related to both now!)  My favourite little touch was Deidre's veil...you know I'm all about the links with the past and all...her Mum was married in this veil in the 60's and it had been stored away and kept safe for this day, I just love that!

Anyway, big congrats guys, I know you'll be very happy together as you continue your journey together :-)

3rd Mar 2010, 9:09pm

They came home to get married, home to New Zealand, home to their families and home to the house Josh grew up in.  The Coromandel turned on the most perfect day and Helen and Josh just drank in every second of it. 

Helen's fantastic dress came from Paris and her fascinator and shoes came with them from London...I was in photogrpaher heaven!

For their first dance they got the whole bridal party up on their feet to do some tradtional scottish dancing...and then they got all the guests to join in...I love the mixture of confusion and hilarity in this shot :-)

And then when everyone was exhausted from laughing and highland flinging Helen and Josh took to the floor for a pretty amazing first dance...special thanks to Pip for rocking the video light during this bit :-)

Congratulations guys!

2nd Mar 2010, 10:11pm

I'm SO excited...I got a call last week from one of my brides from last year to say her son has won pageboy of the year in the B&G comp!!!

He was just delightful and I so enjoyed his company at their wedding last April.  He has so much character and I know he enriches Katrina and Terry's lives immensely (while being the cause of a few grey hairs I'm sure!).  Anyway I'm super excited for him to win this so I thought I'd celebrate by posting a few of my favourite pics of him in action...

Escorting Mum in to the ceremony...no autographs please!

One of his big jobs (probably the most important) was to hold the rings and hand them over at the right moment...

Which he did perfectly.  He also did a reading (at the tender age of 6) and then proceeded to take over from the celebrant and attempted to pronounce them husband and wife!

Hugs for Mum...

And back to work...

How does one greet the Pageboy of the Year?  Does he get to wear a sash?  Or a crown?  Hmmm, must ask :-)  Congrats Jay, you deserve it!

24th Feb 2010, 10:25pm

Ness called up all super excited to get me to come and look at a house on Saturday.  Now you need to know that Ness is a house person, you know how some people are so much a part of their home that you have trouble imagining them anywhere else?  Ness is like that, so her wanting to show me another house is a big deal.  And of course this other house is gorgeous...and I really can see her living there. 

And so there is the small matter of the gorgeous house she currently owns!

Luckily she knows a photographer hey?  So I spent a couple of hours taking some pics for the Harcourts site and hopefully they'll help do the bizzo :-)  Meanwhile if you are one of the bajillions of people who have admired this beautiful character home over the years you should get in quick!

Putting your house on the market is kind of weird isn't it?  I don't know about anyone else but it usually makes me not want to sell it!  Something about seeing it through other people's eyes makes it seem nicer...or it could just be the fact that it's suddenly tidy all the time :-)

21st Feb 2010, 9:04pm

I think I know when it started.  It was May 2008 and we were on holiday in the Bay of Islands.  We looked around for things to do and Caro and I thought the horse trek sounded like a bit of fun.  The boys went off to do a quad bike thing and we set off on horseback.  When we got back two hours later I had a very sore butt and she had a new obsession...horses!!

Fast forward to today when we watched Caro competing in her first ever ribbon day at the Equestrian Centre.  There were some tense moments...

But this is the face of a kid who has just won her first ever ribbon at her first ever ribbon day...

We could NEVER have contemplated this dream coming true without my fabulous in-laws who have come to watch every lesson (not to mention paying for them) and taught us what we didn't know (which was SO much it is still mind-boggling).  This is Grandma today giving Caro a few tips...

A fabulous day full of proud mummy moments :-)

19th Feb 2010, 10:36pm

I don't do a lot of commercial photography work and when I do it's usually related to weddings...so how did I end up in Auckland at the crack of dawn this morning photography fabric?  Nic from Hemptech was looking for someone who could photograph their fabric range with a bit of creative flair and an eye for detail.  And so I showed him some wedding details work and he liked the idea of trying something different.  Creative detail shots? Yep, that sounds like a bit of me :-)

As for the crack of dawn start? Just trying to beat the yucky Auckland traffic...am feeling quite fond of Hamilton after that!