Danni & James - Torquay Wedding

It's been almost 12 months since I had the privilege of photographing the wedding of gorgeous couple Danni & James.  

I met Danni & James only a few months prior to their wedding.  Where possible, I encourage my couples to meet with me before they decide to...how should I say it... choose me to be their wedding photographer... It's not mandatory, but I believe it to be best for all.  Why?  because I believe your wedding day to be one of the most significant, momentous days of any couple's lives, it's a day that you literally share with - sometimes, and on this occasion - a complete stranger.  I didn't know Danni or James from a 'bar of soap' and what they knew of me was what I put out there on social media and maybe word-of-mouth from others... I didn't have my website up and running yet so the best option was to meet!  We met at my home.  My home is where I conduct most of my introductions and where I carry out my portrait photography.  My partner Wes was in the middle of cooking dinner - I will never forget it as he almost burnt the house down cooking bacon for our caesar salad!!  Smoke, everywhere.  Thankfully, James turned out to be a fireman so we were in good hands there!  I was a little embarrassed, but at the same time wasn't... this is me... welcome to my home!  I don't pretend to be someone I'm not.  I'm a family person.  I'm a mum first and photographer second.  So the times I can meet people are generally 'out of hours' times... times when people are usually having dinner or after dinner.  I invite people into my home so they can understand the person I am.

We talked for what seemed like ages... I felt a connection with them straight away.  It was like I had known them for years.  And thankfully that night, I received and email from Danni advising that it was a 'no brainer' for them to have me as their photographer.  I was thrilled.  Thrilled because I really felt that connection with both of them and that is so so important when you are photographing somebodies wedding day or taking a portrait for that matter.  It's one thing to like the way a person photographs a wedding - don't get me wrong - this is by far most important - but very close second is you need to ask yourself, do you have a connection with this person?  Can you share your most important day with them?  Do you trust them to capture your day the way you envisage?  and if you answer yes to these three questions, then I think you've found your photographer.  

Danni & James's wedding ceremony and reception was at Wyndham Resort on the Esplanade in Torquay, Victoria.  Their ceremony was outside in a private courtyard with Whites Beach as a backdrop, the beautiful Michelle Lothian was their Celebrant of which I thought was the perfect fit for James & Danni.  They were surrounded by so many of their close family and friends, their beautiful husky Santi even made an appearance with carers by her side from Checkmate Pet Minders.  

After the ceremony, we carried out their portrait session over at the famous Bells Beach, and as it turned out, the RipCurl Pro was on... and honestly, who would deny a bride and groom access to this area - nobody!  We shot some beautiful landscapes along the beach and had the perfect conditions for their portraits.  It wasn't the warmest of days, but Danni, James and their bridal party braved the conditions - they were real troopers!

I was really thrilled to be apart of this special day.  I hope you enjoy looking through a snippet of their gallery as their one year anniversary approaches very soon!  

Big Love

Sal x

The day is about you...

When it comes to wedding days I think no matter what anybody says to you, just remember... 
the day is about you - you being 'the couple' - and you decide to celebrate however you want to.  Sometimes I have found that people may not even become engaged because there is so much pressure out there to have a big elaborate wedding which can potentially cost upwards of 50k+ who wants to start off a marriage in debt just to keep up with the Jones's and keep everybody happy - I put my hand up - not me!    

I was contacted by a gorgeous couple in hope that I would be interested in capturing their extremely intimate wedding day.  Like I'm talking 20 guests if that... I didn't actually count them all.  They were a couple that had been together for YEARS and this was a formality that they had talked about for a while, but just hadn't done ... yet!  I jumped at the chance!  I worked out a personalised quote for them as their day was somewhat different to the 'normal' running of a wedding day.  Then it was locked in.  

This wedding took place on a Wednesday afternoon in late August in our beautiful city of Melbourne.  We did a cheeky little reveal at the couples apartment in South Yarra and then after a glass of bubbles went for a wonder down the street to the Royal Botanic Gardens to then have their portrait session.  Afterwards, we headed out to the Fitzroy Town Hall Hotel where the couple had their intimate ceremony, followed by drinks and a sit-down dinner.  It was perfect.  The ceremony was carried out by one of my favourite celebrants Jo Betz who is such a delight and breath of fresh air.. she really was the perfect fit!  

I loved everything about this day.  For me, weddings are about a celebration of the love that a couple have for one another.  It's a big decision to go down the track of keeping such a momentous occasion a small and intimate one, one that takes a lot of thought and, I believe, courage to do so.  I'm sure there will be friends and family members that find out the news of their marriage and may be a little disappointed that they weren't invited... and that's ok to a point... but just remember that you weren't invited because they just didn't want you there - that's not the case at all - you weren't invited because this couple kept true to themselves, what they wanted, what they could afford, and just decided to celebrate with their immediate family.  I take my hat off to couples that are strong enough to do this as there is so much pressure out there - as said earlier - to have the all big elaborate weddings.

Speaking from my own personal experience, my partner and I have been together for 5 years now and have a daughter also .  We are not married but, it's something we talk about... often enough.  For us, having gotten together at the age of 30, we have so many different circles of our own friends and so to then put all those together and then add family on top of that into a wedding - by gees our wedding would be circus!  It's quite overwhelming to think about it - and we are not even engaged....yet!  So where do you draw the line?  How do you invite this person and not this person?  Planning a guest list could possibly be one of the most stressful things you have to do in in preparation for your wedding day... for this couple, it was a no brainer - keep it simple and keep it just to family... so that's what they did and it was still the most memorable days that I'm sure they've had to date.  

I take my hat off to you Brie & Mike, it takes a lot of courage to go against what the 'norm' is, but you did and you did it so tastefully well.  I'm so thrilled that I was able to capture this special day for you.  

Big love to you both

Sal x