The first time I met Heath and Marnie, within 10 minutes I could tell they were fantastic people. We went to a local restaurant and had some lovely dessert and chatted about ourselves and our lives. Again, Wollongong demonstrated how small a place it is as it turns out Heath plays in a band that has members I had played in another band with, totally random! We discussed their engagement, which had occurred in the north of Italy and how their wedding was going to be. They said “document the fun”, and I was happy to oblige!

Their wedding was held in some beautiful gardens on the Illawarra Escarpment. I’d been having some good luck with weather in recent weddings and this was another prime example.

Prior to Marnie arriving, I met and talked with Marnie’s sister and checked out some fantastic jazz from a local trio containing, unsurprisingly considering the circumstances, a guy I’d gone to primary school with!

Marnie and her dad arrived in a beautiful white vintage car, perfectly suiting their style for the day.

Heath and Marnie have a fantastic sense of humour, and it’s quite obvious where it’s come from for both of them as their dads are absolutely hilarious!

The afternoon sunshine was absolutely wonderful considering we were entering winter and it was apparently fantastic bubble blowing weather with Heath showing he could join in like the best of them!

Who needs a PA system when you have a Marshall Mini-Amplifier?!

Autumn was well and truly into full swing!

It’s hard to get Heath to keep a straight face a lot of the time, but apparently I caught him unguarded for this moment!

We left the gardens and headed to this wonderful vintage theater nearby to take a few more photos.

This is probably my favourite photo from the whole day!

Marnie’s dad had a surprise planned for all the weddings guests and word was going around it was a fireworks show. Apparently that word was right!

Numerous shenanigans took place during the reception including a fantastic quiz performed by Heath’s MC friend (sorry, I’ve forgotten your name!) and plenty of laughs followed by dancing and much enjoyment. Everything they told me they wanted their wedding to be on that first night we met was exactly how it turned out. Thanks to you Marnie and Heath for asking me to photograph your wedding, it was a lot of fun! You guys are made for each other and may you have long and prosperous lives together!

Nick and Leah’s wedding was at Headland’s Hotel, one of the most scenic points in Wollongong. It was a beautiful sunny Autumn afternoon with plenty of sunshine and blue skies.

Leah and her bridesmaid Jess both looked stunning, but what can one expect besides that on your wedding day?!

Leah had a *little* moment as she got to the end of the aisle and saw Nick for the first time, perhaps being overwhelmed by happiness. I’d prefer to think it had something to do with the fact that Nick had scrubbed up so well and she was surprised at the man standing there!

When it came time to take the “formal” portraits, both myself and the couple felt pretty comfortable with each other having had our pre-wedding engagement shoot a few weeks earlier. I think that shows in the photos, they look so relaxed and in control of themselves, it’s great as a photographer to be able to document that.

Leah and Jess posed for a photo of themselves and Nick and his best man Dane, being great sports, were more than willing to copy the pose!

Thank you guys so much for honouring me by asking me to photograph your wedding. You’re great friends and it means a lot that I could be involved on the day.

Nick and I have been mates for a couple of years, we used to study together at Uni. He met Leah a few years ago and straight away we could tell that she was the girl for him. Everyone was amazed that he’d managed to score himself such a fantastic girl, but in all honesty, he’s a pretty top guy himself. It was all a bit of a surprise when Nick sent us text messages on Boxing Day (December 26th) last year telling us that he’d proposed and they were going to get married!

Nick was doing a PhD which required him to travel to the USA for extended periods  meaning Leah was left all in charge of their wedding. Such a lovely thoughtful fella! :)

We went up the local “mountain”, which in all reality is more of a hill, to take these shots. Thankfully, mother nature held off long enough with the rain and gave us some dramatic fog to work with.

Either Nick is extra light or Leah is super strong!

I 2nd shot for another local wedding photographer Rowen Atkinson (yes, he has heard ALL the jokes) last weekend. I was a last minute ring-in because his usual 2nd shooter was recovering from a hospital visit due to gallstones! Unfortunately, I didn’t really get to know Shane and Victoria that well, but they both seemed like lovely people, and were amazingly relaxed considering how awful the weather was on their wedding day.

I followed Rowen around, firstly to the groom’s house and then onto the bride’s. It was mostly holding of light stands, adjusting flash output levels and the occasional snap! In fact, in the whole day of 7 hours I took 150 photos!

It always seems like the attention is on the bride…

The wedding was held at their church, followed by an informal gathering in the hall behind the church for all of their friends, including the ones from the church who they weren’t able to invite to the reception. Those little old church ladies can definitely put on a good feed!

Unfortunately, the day was horribly wet and their plans of outdoors wedding photos were foiled and we ended up resorting to photos inside the church and then a few under cover.

So thanks to Rowen for the last minute call up and also to Shane and Victoria handling my lame jokes all day!

Michael (better known to me as Mick or Micky!) has been a friend of mine for nearly 7 or 8 years now, we met playing soccer and bonded over a similar sense of humour. Mick is one of those guys that’s been charmed with good looks, a top notch intellect and a fantastic personality, so let’s say he wasn’t unpopular with the ladies. When he met Amy a few years ago, I made the point of telling him not to stuff it up because she was an awesome girl. I guess he took my advice (yes, I’m claiming all the credit!) and married her last weekend.

They had plans of a wonderful outdoor wedding on the edge of Lake Burley-Griffin in Canberra, but it ended up being one of the wettest days recorded in the city for the last 100 years! It’s a good thing they had a backup plan.

I got to meet both sets of parents before the wedding, including Mick’s dad who was decked out in one of the best retro suits I’ve ever seen. They were such warm and hospitable people, I felt at home with them immediately. It makes my job so much easier and I really hope all parents of couples understand that!

I then hurried over to Amy’s place on the other side of town to get some shots of her getting ready.

Amy is beautiful to begin with so it wasn’t hard to doll her up to make her look perfect for her wedding day! We couldn’t go outside (much) to get any portraits so we had to make do with what we had incide the building where the reception was.

We braved the weather outside for a few minutes, we couldn’t resist getting out the lovely white umbrellas we had! And yes, I did brave the weather and I have to tell you, holding an umbrella and using a camera with your other hand isn’t as hard as it sounds. :)

Mick and Amy partied well into the night with one of the best ever weddings and receptions I’ve been to. Everything was unconventional, with readings from Dr Seuss, participation from friends during the ceremony and plenty of humour throughout (including a mention of the Aussie soap “Neighbours” in the weddings vows!)

Thanks guys, what a fantastic day!