Dianne & Nathan's Victorian winter wedding!
Winter weddings are always something that we love shooting. Why would you choose to have a wedding in winter? Well, lighting on the day is often better when it’s overcast. It’s also amazing for photos when you get light drizzles of rain. But I digress - that’s another blog post in itself!
When Dianne and Nathan contacted us to see if we were available to shoot their surprise wedding in Melbourne, we were excited. A Melbourne winter wedding.
This was no ordinary surprise wedding though. The way this couple planned their event(s) was a professional wedding photographer’s dream. Dianne and Nathan hired us to capture an intimate wedding ceremony for their close family members and for location photos after the event. The best thing about this though, was that there was no rushing off to a reception and trying to squeeze as many locations as we could between ceremony end and reception start. Their reception was to be held a week after, a surprise for their guests who thought they were turning up to a party before they eloped to Europe. They had a videographer with us on the day to capture it all as well and had planned for the video and a collection of our photos to be played at the reception as a surprise to their guests who had no idea that they were married the week before. From a wedding photography point of view, this was super smart. All that time, post ceremony to take amazing location pics – the one’s that you want to put in your album or blow up for the wall. Apart from the rush of trying to maximize the daylight that we had, it was a very chilled and fun shoot
The morning started with an uber ride out of the city to Doreen, the groom’s getting ready location. We noticed on our way, there was an abundance of greenery and parklands around and suggested we take some pics at a nearby park of some sort. Nathan’s sister suggested the perfect location for these photos. We drove up to a horse paddock and immediately Ky knew we had to stop when we past this rustic gate. The backdrop was gorgeous. Following some family snaps, we asked Nathan and his best man Eddy to jump the fence and take a walk into the paddock. Little did we know, it was like a minefield of horse manure that we were dodging at every step, but these guys didn’t care and we captured some amazing photos of the boys. I don’t know about the boys, but I know as Ky’s assistant, I was so focused on everyone else not stepping in anything that, I myself stepped back into a fresh pile of horse dung! So gross!
We then headed back into the city at the Crowne Promenade for Dianne’s dress reveal. The video and pics of this moment being replayed at the reception would be the first hint to the guests that they were married so it was an important moment! Dianne’s dress by Grace Loves Lace was breathtaking and suited her perfectly. It became a bit of a joke through the day as her only request was that we capture a picture of her ‘wings’ and flap them through the day to get that perfect shot we did! Hahah Sorry – Dianne – I know you felt super unnatural flapping those wings through the streets of Melbourne, but the flapping paid off!
In front of their immediate family, both Dianne and Nathan were married in a gorgeous church with an amazing stained glass window as the backdrop.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was left flexible for Ky to decide where he wanted photos. The flexibility in not having to rush from location to location in order to make sure we captured multiple location photos but not be late for a wedding reception made this shoot a dream.
We stopped at a number of locations including Parliament house, the exhibition centre & surrounding parklands and a church before we headed back into the heart of the city for some lane way photos down Hardware and Hosier lanes.
Whilst we were shooting at Parliament house, Ky being Ky, climbed up on this rather tall platform to get his shot. Not long after, there was someone shouting “hey you, get down.” It was the police. Ky quickly jumped down and apologized and the police were quick to reply – ‘look after yourself, there’s a lot of paperwork we have to do if you kill yourself you know!’ hahaha! Those who have been on shoots with Ky, know that this guy has no boundaries when it comes to getting the shot he envisions. In fact, I’m sure in his previous life, he used to be a monkey of some sort to be able to scale the things I’ve seen him get to the top of!
The exhibition centre was amazing too. Both Dianne and Nathan had been to the exhibition centre numerous times for their business but they never quite saw the surrounding gardens the same way Ky viewed it through the lens. With a dream to take photos in a field of yellow sunflowers, we came pretty close to getting a similar look in the heart of the city! By this time, Dianne’s poor feet had taken quite a hit. Naturally, Nathan just scooped her up and carried her to each spot. These guys are seriously too cute for words.
In between photo locations, Dianne had her amazing hairdresser, Jonathon Massey from Toni & Guy in South Yarra meet up with us to restyle her hair into a loose updo. We walked down Collins St which was our next destination for photos to find somewhere out of the wind/cold for her hair to be restyled and naturally ended up finding ourselves on the red carpet steps at the Regent theatre. As you do! This guy is seriously amazing. He literally restyled Dianne’s hair in a matter of minutes – we were gobsmacked! The style perfectly suited her wedding dress.
We worked these guys hard during their location shoot, but the whole time, we had so much fun as they were so chilled, relaxed and fun to be around. Dianne and Nathan - Thank you so much for choosing us to photograph your special occasion. It certainly was a day to remember, filled with events that we’re never going to forget. Thank you for allowing us the freedom to shoot where we wanted, how we wanted and pushing through the cold and sore feet! You both were a wedding photographer’s dream!
