May 25, 2009

Joanne and Evan's wedding in Tuscany





















As expected Jo and Evan had a marvelous wedding in hills of Tuscany. The 14th century castle called Castello De Bibbione was the perfect setting for this romantic, emotional and elegant wedding. Joanne looked amazing in her Mariana Hardwick designed wedding dress that suited her so well and Evan also looked the dashing Groom. The lead up to the wedding was lots of fun in between shooting the lovely couples pre wedding pictures and meeting all their wonderful guests at the pizza night Martin and I managed to see the sights of Tuscany including Florence, Sienna, Grieve, Certaldo and San Gianamo. Enjoying Pizza, pasta and Cannoli's along the way. It had been a whirl wind seven days but so much fun too.
Evan and Jo had met as 18 year olds in university but even after all this time Evan's tears flowed freely when Jo made her entrance down the isle with her father Keith, Evan joked that it was the warm sun but we all knew his tears were from the heart were for Jo.
The other thing that sticks in my mind about the ceremony was the amazing rendition of Ava Maria by the wonderful singer Frederico, it was one of those things you had to be there to really enjoy but his voice carrying through the hills of Tuscany was a joy to witness and Evan and Jo were captivated by his performance.
The reception was held in the open air courtyard of the castle were the guests enjoyed a home made pasta entree, a delightful steak with seasonal vegetables for main course and the traditional Italian wedding cake for desert. The wedding cake was made before our eyes by the head chef which was amazing and really really yummy. At most European weddings if the guests cling the glasses the bride and groom are required to kiss but Evan and Jo had a more personal and unique take on this. As they went around to say hello the table of guests would have to sing a few lines from a love song and then they would kiss. Doing this really created a relaxed atmosphere. All the guests partied the rest of the night to the awesome band and Evan and Jo finished the night by leaving on a white vespa to enjoy their honeymoon along the Almafi coast.

May 21, 2009

Pizza night













The other great thing about a destination wedding is that the wedding is not just about one day but a week long event. Evan and Jo had organized a night out for all their guests at the local Pizza restaurant in a small town called San Donato and Martin and I were invited to take part in all the fun. We of course brought our cameras to capture all the atmosphere and fun including all the guests taking part in the flaming sambuca drinking ritual which i think is a great tradition.
Meeting and making friends with all the guests in such a relaxed way is certainly going to help us when we shoot the wedding later today.

Evan and Jo's pre wedding shoot in Certaldo Italy












Destination weddings are always fun an exciting and since we had a few days before photographing Jo and Evan's wedding here in Tuscany we thought it would be a good idea to shoot their pre wedding shoot in a small town of Certaldo just near where we are staying.
Jo and Evan are always fun to photograph and Martin and I had a great time shooting around this old and historic town. We had to ascend to the town by cable car which was very cool.

Ev

Ev

May 20, 2009

Elizabeth and Eric








With destination weddings becoming more and more popular, I found myself down at the Registry Offices in Parramatta for the second time in 2 weeks! This time was to capture the ceremony of Elizabeth and Eric. Elizabeth and Eric will be travelling to Asia in the coming months to celebrate a traditional wedding with all their friends and family, today was an intimate celebration with Elizabeth's family to make things official so when they travel to Asia it will be all about the party! Although today was a small scale test run our groom was still a little shy in front of the camera, though it was a great warm up to their pre wedding shoot in July where Elizabeth and Eric will get back into their outfits and we will photograph them all over the place! I also got a chance to bump into make up artist extraordinaire Belle from bella for make up, Belle created Elizabeth's soft and striking look. Great work as always Belle!

May 11, 2009

Jo and Evan













Saturday was the start of Jo and Evan's excellent wedding adventure. The relaxed and personal civil ceremony was held at the registry office with five of Evan and Jo's closest friends. It was a a lovely quite and often humorous event and a great lead in to the Italian adventure we will be photographing two weeks. Jo and Evan are also having an Italian wedding with guests jetting in from Australia, the UK and Hong Kong on the 21st of May which I will also be photographing with help from my good good friend martin. This symbolic and romantic ceremony and reception will be held at a 14th century castle just a 20 minutes from Florence in the Tuscan Hills.
Evan and Jo were all smiles and looked so gorgeous together and I must say I am looking forward to seeing Jo in her wedding dress in Italy because if she can look as great as she did in her elegant blue number then she is going to look amazing in her wedding dress.