Nepal – Kathmandu II

From Swayumnunath we headed into the city to Durbar Square and to Boudnath, the world’s biggest buddhist Stupa.

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Facebook popped up to remind me that right now las

Facebook popped up to remind me that right now last year we were in Varanasi on the Ganges.

If you have followed us for any length of time you probably know we are massive travelers and explorers.

If you had told us in this picture that this would be our last adventure for the foreseeable future - and that the world was weeks away from irrevocable change I wouldn’t have believed it for a second.

We had a super full 2020 of weddings ahead of us and this trip was the break before it all began.

Little did we know that would all disappear in a matter of months and our pretty successful little business we had invested a decade of blood, sweat and tears into would largely dissolve before our eyes in the course of this year.

Absolutely crazy to think the difference a year can make. We’re still here and kicking, but it’s not where I expected to be going into 2021 😂

Dayle and her dad. Their interactions were so swee

Dayle and her dad. Their interactions were so sweet and lovely. The whole morning the girls were getting ready he was there and savoring it alongside them.

The wonderful thing with hard,angular light is tha

The wonderful thing with hard,angular light is that you get to play with it and make lots of interesting shapes ☺️

There’s something about the random and mundane t

There’s something about the random and mundane that I just love to capture ☺️

(In a not stalkerish way) I love to keep track of

(In a not stalkerish way) I love to keep track of our couples after their weddings and see how their lives unfold as they adventure through it together.

There’s something really love-affirming about getting to see a couple part way through that journey and adventure. Getting to shoot Carla and Martin’s 25th wedding anniversary was such an incredible way to see how love grows, evolves and matures.

Next year Andy and I have been married for 10 years (which sounds insanely long right now), and I reckon we’re definitely going to celebrate this milestone with some updated documentation on where we are at.

Also I want to shoot more love updates because they are pretty awesome 😍

Probably my favorite wedding tradition is The Hora

Probably my favorite wedding tradition is The Horah. The electric pure joyfulness is just such a wonderful communal reflection of happiness and joy. Cannot wait for weddings to be big enough again for things like this to be allowed to happen!

While selecting the pictures to share for this pos

While selecting the pictures to share for this post I found myself with the biggest grin on my face. I know today is meant to be “Blue Monday” so hopefully this unfaltering joy will make it a bit less blue ☺️

We always love to grab a silhouette shot at weddin

We always love to grab a silhouette shot at weddings if light and space allow ☺️

Wedding days are fast paced, emotional and intense

Wedding days are fast paced, emotional and intense. During the couple shoot we always try and give our couples a moment to pause and have a couple of moments just breathing and existing together.

When there are kids at weddings we always keep an

When there are kids at weddings we always keep an extra close eye on them as they invariably do awesome stuff with their brilliant lack of filter. Generally the more hyperactive they are before things get started, the more spectacular they will be in pictures. This amazing facial expression speaks volumes ☺️

How we shot this: As much as I love a well planned

How we shot this:
As much as I love a well planned out and considered photo, spontaneity and shooting as things happen definitely is my first love.

Getting our couples as relaxed as possible and just enjoying themselves is always our first goal and when we can capture this, we know we are winning!

In this particular shot, we were moving Claudia and Will from one location back to our car to drive them back to their reception.

It was icey cold and had been raining most of the day, but we got a little gap of no rain and shot out to get some pics of them.

Walking between places is one of our favourite places to shoot couples as they are often very relaxed and chatty with each other during this time, and these two were no exception. Their interaction and happy energy I think is tangible.

Will had picked up Claudia’s dress so it didn’t get too dirty walking through the muddy puddles on this farm road in the Cotswolds.

Her happy face and incredible energy in this picture I feel really captures how she was the whole day on her wedding.

How we shot this: Receptions can be tricky to shoo

How we shot this:
Receptions can be tricky to shoot for a whole host of reasons - tricky lighting, high centerpieces blocking faces, misbehaving guests, speakers or cables in the background ruining the aesthetic of a shot, and often an inability to capture what it *feels* like.
In addition to getting all the “safe” shots at a reception, we love to seek out angles that will tell the story from a different perspective and try and capture the mood and feeling of the night.
Kelly and Rich had their reception under the stars with just some twinkling fairy lights to light the night which created a very magical and whimsical atmosphere.
This photo is taken during Kelly’s speech (which was an absolute cracker), Rich is just to the side of her to catch his reactions.
She is framed by the arc of fairy lights on her one side and the hint of moon on her left with a glimpse of all the guests before her.
In a sense this angle is trying to replicate some of the perspective she may have had and recreate the feel of that warm, twinkling night for anyone viewing the picture.

How we shot this: Catching a dress in all its glor

How we shot this:
Catching a dress in all its glory can be quite tricky to do and sometimes requires a bit of movement. This @mccarthywolff dress had the most insane ruffles and fluffy feeling and the only way I could think of to do it’s justice was to show it moving - with a bit of a twist.
This is shot at 1/15s to get that motion blur.
I shot this from a low angle to get a better view of the skyline and just made sure to line her up in the middle of it.
I got Leigh to stand as still as she could with her body while swirling the dress around with her arms.
Luckily for us she is a yoga guru I’m sure gave her an edge to both move and be still at the same time!
That and our Sony’s having in built image stabilizing which allows you to shoot at crazy low shutter speeds without too much movement created this quite whimsical and ethereal feel.
Which was such a great contrast to the very urban surroundings we were shooting in.

How we shot this: We aren’t usually the biggest

How we shot this:
We aren’t usually the biggest fans of night shots mostly because they tend to look the same and are not spontaneous (spontaneity is a big part of how we shoot) - light set up behind the couple to make a bit of a light silhouette, they stand super still, the end...
We usually only do them when something that’s already happening at the wedding catches our eye so it’s more specific to their wedding.
At Candi and Scherren’s wedding, they had hanging fairy lights and glow sticks on the dancefloor and guests started taking them off and dancing with them creating awesome painted trails.
We usually shoot dancefloor action with some straight on flash and slow shutter speed to get those cool light trails, so when we saw this happening naturally we decided to orchestrate something pretty.
We got one of the bridesmaids to stand behind them and swing the fairy lights she was already swinging and asked them to just look at each other.
Obviously if you’ve ever shot a newly married couple, asking them to look at each other invariably leads to a kiss because hell, why wouldn’t you want to give your person a massive kiss? 😍 this is the result.

How we shot this: I always like getting a couple b

How we shot this:
I always like getting a couple bridal portraits before the ceremony if I can, just in case I don’t get a chance later for whatever reason.
On the day of Lisa’s wedding it was insanely sunny and suuuuuper hot and the sun was directly above us and there was zero shade - except for a sliver of it right on a garage door with signs all over it. (Thank the art gods for the clone tool!)
This was shot with the not very portraity focal length of 35mm as I couldn’t move too far back as there were cars and more garages behind me.
I got her as close to the door as possible so there was no hard light on her and a breeze picked up blowing her veil in a clump one way.
These shots were taken while I asked her to hold it out and drop it to try and counteract the movement from the breeze.
As is so often the case I find, the in between motion shots turn out to be my favorites ☺️
After this we hopped in the car, cranked the AC and went to get her married.

Warm sun and big smiles. With 2021 being as uncert

Warm sun and big smiles. With 2021 being as uncertain as 2020 proved to be - I’m in planning mode so definitely need all the big smiles I can get ☺️ anyone else trying to be prepared for anything that this post 2020 year can throw at them?

If this year is shown me anything it’s that we h

If this year is shown me anything it’s that we have an insane ability to adapt and evolve. Aashna and Sukrit’s wedding was our last of the year and their ability to adapt their wedding and their plans to the world they faced was so inspiring.

I don’t know what’s more impressive : Carla ke

I don’t know what’s more impressive : Carla keeping her wedding dress for 25 years or still looking so smoking hot in it 😍

Take my hand ☺️

Take my hand ☺️

We’ll pretend we didn’t get chased away by sec

We’ll pretend we didn’t get chased away by security seconds after taking this picture ☺️

A special kind of love.

A special kind of love.

More people need to celebrate every chapter of the

More people need to celebrate every chapter of their love. Obviously weddings are amazing, but I tend to think they pale in comparison to the 10,15,20,25 year milestones. The times when you’ve gone through some of the betters and worses you once promised to each other, and you still show up every single day. That needs and deserves to be celebrated.

25 years of marriage GOALS right here 😍

25 years of marriage GOALS right here 😍

If this is what 25 years of marriage looks like, I

If this is what 25 years of marriage looks like, I am here for it! Carla and Martin came to us for a 25th anniversary wedding shoot - even in their original wedding outfits 😍 it was just magical!

One of the things I’ve missed most not shooting

One of the things I’ve missed most not shooting weddings is that crinkle your nose smile people get when they are just overflowing with happiness ☺️

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