Being a photographer for nearly a decade (and before that, a photographer’s assistant) has given me access to some really special places that regular folks don’t get to see. And this wedding gave me the amazing opportunity to go INTO the giraffe enclosure and shoot up close to one of the beautiful giraffes. Em and Nic got to feed a special “giraffe bouquet” of leaves to the magnificent creature. It was amazing! Such a career highlight.

Thanks for giving me such a unique opportunity Em and Nic! Shooting at the Melbourne Zoo was the best! And a huge thanks to Courtney Horwood who 2nd shot for me on the day. I also must give a shout out to their celebrant, Janet Hussey who did such a beautiful job. I highly recommend her!

I have also included some photos of their wedding band, who I loved listening to – they’re called The Belle Tones. Look them up and book them for your next event! And Julia’s flawless make up was by my good pal Rebecca Brown. Thanks Julia and Ed!

Alice and Kien are a super-cute couple who are lucky enough to be having another wedding soon in Macau (take me with you!!!). You may notice that their portraits were taken before their ceremony – this is becoming common practice at weddings for a few good reasons: 1) it means a seamless transition from ceremony to reception and 2) it often works better for photos because of light limitations (eg if your wedding is late in the day when it’s getting dark). It’s not for everyone but worth considering if you’re having a winter wedding when it gets dark earlier!

I loved every minute of Alice and Kien’s special day – especially the surprise musical performance by Kien’s amazingly talented cousins – I shed a happy tear along with everyone else in the room!

Aleisha and Rich’s wedding was such a fun one to photograph. You may recognise Aleisha from her various roles on TV – most recently as a roving reporter on The Circle (which was the best thing to happen to daytime TV while it was on!). I photograph a lot of comedians and had done some publicity shots for Aleisha in the past, so when she contacted me about her wedding I was thrilled to be asked to shoot her big day.

Aleisha wrote all about her wedding on Polka Dot Bride recently so I’ll let you read all about it there. But before you do that, scroll down and enjoy the beautiful day that she and Rich planned and excecuted so well!

I won’t post too many pics because it’s coming a a bridal magazine near you very soon!

We started with some pre-ceremony portraits – something I’ve been doing a lot of lately. It’s especially common during winter months when it gets dark early. So it suits me, light-wise, and it also means I get to take photographs of the “reveal”, or “first look” as they call it in the biz. Being able to capture the look on Julian’s face when he first saw Catherine dolled up in her Johanna Johnson dress was so much fun. We were lucky to have the use of an art gallery to take these shots on the rainy August day.

Visually this was a stunning wedding, thanks to the awesome venue The Substation, and Cecilia Fox‘s amazing floral creations (I was stoked to meet Cecilia Fox aka Mel herself as she was a guest at the wedding!). It was also a very musical night. Julian’s Dad played the mandolin for Catherine’s ceremony entrance – it’s always beautiful when a loved one can play music at a wedding, and I get a bit extra excited when it’s an instrument I never get to hear live. Speaking of this, do the words SAX SOLO sound pretty awesome to you? Because that’s exactly what the guests were treated to when Jules jumped up on stage during their first dance to Icehouse’s Electric Blue. I had decided early in the night that Catherine and Jules were pretty special people, but this just sealed the deal.

I also have to give a special mention to the live band on the night – The Harpoons. My very talented sister made this music video for them so I was super excited to get to hear them live. They were fantastic! So yes, I am very much enjoying this job! Thanks for having me there Catherine and Jules!

And I loved being part of Julia and Nathan’s amazing day! Enjoy the pics.

I think you can tell just by looking at the photographs that they are a super cute, happy couple. I actually think Julia was the happiest bride I’ve ever seen. Her smile lit up the room! I had so much fun photographing their day so I hope you enjoy these shots.