Earlier this month I posted about my trip to North Stradbroke Island with my friends Richard & Courtney to shoot a Trash The Dress session. Before they got into the wedding gear we shot a real bonafide engagement session.

Richo & Courts are getting married on October 14, and of course I’m shooting their wedding as well as being the MC at their reception. Me and a microphone - I feel an impromptude rendition of “Stand By Your Man” coming on…

…and all I got was this box of Krispy Kreme’s!

YOU BLOODY BEAUTY!!! God I love Brisbane via Sydney!

Welcome home Mum & Poo!

When is a wedding not a wedding? When you’re already married!

Andrew & Katie were married in Mauritius on the 16th of May, in a private sunset ceremony. It was just the two of them, in what I’m told was a beautiful and romantic service overlooking the ocean. So what are you going to do when you get home?? Have a party of course!

I have been so jealous since they told me of their plans to get married overseas, but very excited to get to be a part of the celebrations here at home. We caught up with the newlyweds at the Stamford where they donned their wedding outfits yet again, and we headed out for some quick family photographs, followed by a formal bridal party shoot around the Botanic Gardens.

It was a busy Saturday afternoon for bridal parties in the gardens, but my couple put them all to shame. At one point I asked them to lie down in the dirt and leaves, and without a moments hesitation, they were flat on their backs. There were other groups nearby having photo’s taken, and the horrified looks from the brides and their photographers were quite amusing. That’s the hallmark of a Toni Snell bride - they’re up for ANYTHING!

Once we were done, we all hopped on board a ferry, and headed across the river to the reception. The reception was held at “RiverLife” on the banks of the Brisbane River at the base of the Kangaroo Point Cliffs. For most of the guests, this was the first time they had seen Andrew & Katie since they returned home, so for them it almost was like they had just been to a wedding, and were welcoming the bride and groom!

After the speeches, we left the couple to enjoy their night, and Rick & I hopped a ferry back to the city and headed on home.

Rick and I caught up with one of our brides from last year, Katrina, whose wedding we shot together…

Remember this image from further up?…

When your photographer says get in the bathtub, just trust that they know what they’re doing!!…

With my folks away in China for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been hanging out for a good home cooked meal. Yes, I realise there’s this thing called cooking I could partake in, but where’s the fun in that??

I have some dear friends, Darren & Andrea, with whom I have a “Will Work For Food” arrangement. Fortunately on Wednesday it was time for their baby Liam’s 3 month portraits. I photographed their first child, Ryan, every three months for his first year, so there was no reason why Liam should miss out.

Here is the little guy, who has grown so much since his last shoot at just a week old…

Peek-a-boo…

And of course we can’t forget big brother, Ryan…

For the record, for dinner Andrea made corn-beef with vegies, and home made white sauce. And it was out of this world!!!

I don’t think I’ve ever had such an easy day photographing a wedding before. When I first met up with Steven & Siobhain, they made it very clear they didn’t want the hoo-ha of your regular wedding. Just an afternoon with friends, and very low key. After 10 years together, they wanted to be able to enjoy the celebration of their marriage with family and friends, rather than spending hours off taking photos. I was more than happy to oblige.

Our day started at Eve’s on the River, where we met up with Steven, who seemed very relaxed and carefree. The guests all began to arrive, followed thereafter by Siobhain.

The fabulous Mike Gordon, delivered yet another flawless performance, officiating over the ceremony. What I loved about this wedding, was that there were only about 20 or so guests. Fitting in with their less is more approach, they surrounded themselves with the people who were really important to them. They did it their way!

I had managed to talk Siobhain & Steven into letting me have say 20 or 30 minutes alone with them for some portraits. We headed on down the river a couple of hundred meters to quickly shoot through some formals. It was quick, and easy, and didn’t hurt them a bit. It was also a lot of fun! I’m glad they elected to do this because we got some great shots of them. I didn’t realise how much I love Siobhain’s hair until I got it into post production and watched that beautiful colour come through!

From that point they were back at Eve’s before the sun went down completely to enjoy the reception. It just goes to show what you can do even with a limited amount of time!

A self portrait with Mike Gordon…

Siobhain is the sister of Anna, one of my brides from last month (thanks for the referral!!)…

Want to know how to reduce your photographer to tears? I’ll explain more later…

What a great day for Josh & Jess. Jess is such a laid back girl, no fuss, and zero maintenance. And ALWAYS has a smile on her face. She wore a gorgeous Wendy Makin gown, but no train, no veil, hell she even ditched her flowers half way through the day, that’s how easy going she is. And she was a delight to photograph.

We kicked off at Jess’s place, where to say it was a madhouse would be an understatement.  Four bridesmaids, three flowergirls, parents, and us - it was a hive of activity! Jess remained so calm though, which really makes things so much easier, and makes for much more natural photo’s, when the bride is so happy-go-lucky.

Over at St Stephen’s Cathedral, the boys were a little late to turn up (the groomsmen promised it wasn’t their fault!). They got inside to take their positions, and pretty much dead on time (I love that!) Jessica arrived. The Catherdal is beautiful, and has one of the longest aisle’s in Brisbane - it was such a long walk for Jess to reach her man!

It was a reasonably early 1.30pm wedding today, which I love, because especially in the Winter months, you need all the time you can get for photo’s. Considering you’re pretty much out of natural light by 5pm, its the smartest move to have an early wedding. For Winter weddings, I don’t recommend anything later than a 3pm ceremony.

So we headed around to some of my favourite locations, and wound up at Captain Burke Park. The bridal party were hilarious. A really fun bunch of people helps enormously! We had a really leisurely afternoon, and wound up at Kangaroop Point cliffs along with busloads of Chinese tourists. Once the sun started to go down, we sat around and had a break waiting for it to get darkerer (see I told you it was a word) and for the city to start sparkling by night.

Once we finished up we set sail for Snug Harbour where there reception was held in the beautiful River Room. Josh & Jess are having an amazing 9 week overseas honeymoon travelling to the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Have a great time guys…

Check out this amazing cake by Julie Whitehead…

Me sitting down on the job again…

I have to give a big thankyou to the groomsmen for being such great sports. I was the bitch queen from hell to them today, and really gave them a hard time (mind you they gave as good as they were getting!!) Thanks boys…

OK. Now, I like to think I’m a bit of a tough nut, but nothing could have prepared me for what walked through the door at Jessica’s house….

Anyone who knows me well, will instantly understand what this meant for me. It was hard. Very hard. I tried to keep it together, but the tears in my eyes started almost immediately. I worked through it (of course - I’m a professional after all) but everytime I looked at her it was very bittersweet, and I think I’d barely made it out the door to leave for the church before I was bawling my eyes out.

Five years on, and I still miss him terribly. He left a hole in our hearts that can’t be filled. Time goes by and whilst it gets easier, the pain never truly goes away. I just miss him so much. 

I’m a member of a professional photographers forum, and the forum’s founder, Jeff Caplan, is over here from the States to attend a series of seminars held by amazing Melbourne photographer, Jerry Ghionis.

So on Wednesday a bunch of Brisbane photographers got together to have lunch with Jeff & Jerry at my favourite vegetarian restuarant, The Norman Hotel. The steaks were out of this world, and the company, as usual, awesome.

Probably a lot of these guys don’t realise, but I look up to and admire them so much. In my little world, a lot of them have “celebrity” status, and their willingness to inspire and educate others, makes you very greatful to be a part of this community. Plus, they’re a great bunch of people to share a beer and a laugh with!

Deb Amsler and I enjoying a self-portrait…

Until Rob Heyman took over the camera and showed us how its really done…

My future wedding photographer Ian Wilkinson (yes, I’m working on that whole getting a groom thing - I’m single, and its a crime!)…

Trudy Bolton…

The irrepresible Ben Clark…

Deb & I got upclose and personal with our “Benevolent Dictator” Jeff….

And pampered him Hugh Hefner style…

And you can’t not get a group shot…

Back row (left to right): Marcus Bell, Jeff Caplan, Rob Heyman, Jeff’s son Ben, Peter Williams, Steven Thomas, Ben Clark, Jason Starr, Trudy Bolton, & Ian Wilkinson.

Centre (seated): Jerry & Georgina Ghionis

Front: (kneeling like two schoolgirls): Yours Truly & Deb Amsler.

I got an email from my folks just the other day. They are in Tibet, and the first thing my Mum tells me isn’t about the fabulous time they’re having, or the sights they are seeing - but that she can’t get onto my blog! A whole stack of stuff on the internet is censored by the Chinese government, and it looks like free speech is one of them.

So she will have to wait until she gets home to catch up on what’s happening. Which is a pity, because I spent a half hour or so this afternoon giving the blog a facelift. Depsite how it may look, I’m not actually a computer geek, so working out how to reverse engineer this thing to look how I wanted it to, was a bit of a challenge. Its not perfect, but it sure beats the previous colour scheme!

P.S. If you’re still seeing the old colour scheme, just hold down the shift key, and hit refresh.

On Saturday afternoon I ventured into the city to shoot Brent & Fiona’s E-Session. They are getting married in August up at Maleny, so they wanted a bit of an urban city feel for their engagement photo’s. We headed down to the usual spots at the bottom of the botanic gardens.

It was quite a leisurely couple of hours (well, for me anyway), and a bit of a novelty not to have a wedding on a Saturday afternoon. We did see a ton of bridal parties and photographers though. Photographers when they pass eachother in the street tend to either ignore eachother, or give sideways glances and check out eachothers equipment as if the other person is some kind of a threat. It’s all kind of sad really. Maybe next time someone will say hi, or even better still, introduce themselves.

Technically, with the folks away, I got away with having to do anything special for Mother’s Day this year. Well, if your not in the country it doesn’t count, right?? I did send my Mum an email to wish her all the best and let her know how much I love her. But there were a few Mum’s who had a very special Mother’s Day - especially those of Jarrod & Marissa.

We caught up with Marissa and the girls at her parents house where someone has awesome taste in music. Classic 60’s hits, and some rockin’ Neil Diamond were cranking on the stereo, and it had me singing along. The girls were all having a great time, and I got so carried away taking photo’s that I forgot I needed to be over at the ceremony to see Jarrod & the boys. Fortunately I arrived just in time.

The ceremony was held on Jarrod’s parents property at Lake Kurwongbah. I could tell ever since meeting Jarrod that this place was very special to him, and he just couldn’t wait to get married there. If he was nervous he didn’t show it. But I’m positive I did catch him with tears in his eyes as Marissa emerged from the house to walk down the aisle.

During the signing of the register, Jarrod’s little sister sung the most beautiful rendition of “To Make You Feel My Love”. Whilst she may still be in highschool, I’m telling you now, that girl has some serious talent, and she will go places. It was touching to see Jarrod’s Dad with tears in his eyes watching his daughter perform, and even I got teary eyed when I witnessed an emotional embrace between Marissa and her brother.

What really struck me the most about this wedding was the strong sense of family on both sides. Usually after the ceremony its the bride and groom doing all the hugging and the kissing, but both families were embracing eachother - Mum’s, Dad’s, brother’s, sister’s - welcoming them into eachothers families. If only we could have more families like these.

We then took the bridal party down to the lake for some relaxed portraits, and then headed over to the North Lakes Golf Club for the reception. I’m pleased to report no ill effects from the visit this time around!