Entries Tagged 'links' ↓
October 10th, 2011 — links, planning, the bride, the wedding planner
This Sunday past, I had the priviledge of spending the day with Tanya as her wedding co-ordinator!
Since Tanya planned her own wedding, spending her wedding day with her meant that I was there to field phone calls, ensure all her service providers arrived and completed their tasks on time, and that her time frame was adhered to as much as possible. I was also there to fetch anything that may have been forgotten, keep an eye on lipstick, pin boutonnieres on lapels, help carry photographer’s equipment if I could, and ensure that gifts were carried to cars and luggage moved from the ready room to the bridal suite at the end of the day.
I had THIS much fun, and it was such a beautiful wedding. Tanya’s beautifully understated elegance and eye for detail was on show everywhere you looked, from the table decor to her wedding gown.
I got to work with two fabulous photographers on the day too- Jeanette and Alana are quite a team and I can’t wait to see their photos. Oakfield Farm’s fabulous staff were really on their game too- thank you Edison and Patience.
Here are some of my photos from the day, though I don’t get to take many whilst I run around!
Photographer – Jeanette Verster
Second Shooter – Alana Meyer
Venue & Catering – Oakfield Farm
Cake – Dilene from Salon de Culinaire
Bride’s gown and MOH’s cocktail dress – Marietjie Oelofse Couture (marieks12 on Twitter)
Stationery and table decor - Michelle from Evergreen Design
Photo booth - The Photo Corner
Decor and flowers - Flower Creations
Hair and make up - Frances and Lizelle from SLM Hair Design
October 3rd, 2011 — decor, designers, ideas, links
I made a little discovery today and I’ve had so much fun with it!
Are you stuck with picking a colour scheme for your wedding?
Try this – the DeGraeve.com Color Palette Generator!
It is actually used for generating colour codes for website and blog designing, but I had a ball!
September 19th, 2011 — bridesmaids, links, real wedding stories, the bride
This is Tamara and TSC’s story, in Tamara’s own words.
Our Engagement
One day, sitting in a lecture, I was doodling on a piece of scrap paper and I came up with a ring design. The diamond (biggest most sparkly and valuable bit) symbolises God, holding together the two pear-shaped stones on the side (TSC and me), and the bands of white gold symbolise our lives, intertwined. TSC loved the idea, and he asked me to visit a family friend who ran a large diamond business in Gauteng when I was home for my holidays. They offered us a wonderful price. When I got back from my family holiday in Bosnia, I picked up the ring and fitted it on. I hated it. It looked nothing like my design. But I sucked it up and headed back to CT, where I handed the ring over to TSC and waited for him to propose.
Thankfully he is as impatient as I am, so I didn’t have to wait long. After two days, he called me from work and asked me what my plans were for dinner – he wanted to take me out. Knowing what was coming, I asked (casually, I thought), whether I should dress up. He said yes. Fishing some more, I asked whether I should dress up for sushi at our local spot or more for the Mt. Nelson. He said, “Dress for the Mt. Nelson”. I squealed and said, “Are we going to the the Mt. Nelson?!” I’d always wanted to go, but it was way out of our budget. “No!” was the adamant reply.
We drove to the surprise spot where he’d made a reservation and I climbed out the car… We were standing opposite a very dodgey looking pub called Nelson’s Eye. “Um, I feel a bit over-dressed,” I said. He was distraught - he’d got the name wrong and booked at the wrong place! I tried to comfort him and said he should forget about it – we could do the supper on another night. He decided we would try the Mt Nelson and see if they had a table open since that was where he’d wanted to take me.
They did have a table open. The sussed out our clothes and asked if it was a special occasion. TSC whispered that he was going to ask me to marry him. I pretended I couldn’t hear. We had a sublime evening. The food and service is amazing (we’ve been back twice on our wedding anniversary since). We ordered bubbly. Then he started… I’d warned him that when he asked me, I might ask “why”, which is what my best friend did when her boyfriend proposed. So TSC had prepared an answer. His speech went something like this:
“You know I love you and I think you’re the most amazing woman in the world. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So will you make me the happiest man alive?”
To which I responded, “And by that, what you mean to say is…?”
“Will you marry me?”
Of course, I said yes. Even though I’d known it was coming, I bawled my eyes out. He put the ring on my finger and suddenly it was perfect.
I loved our whole engagement experience. The only thing I’d change is that he didn’t get down on one knee! We were both so young and out of our depth at such a luxury restaurant that he was too embarrassed. In fact, we only have one photo of the night – taken outside, because we were too shy to ask if we could take photos inside. I still rag him about the lack of bended knee. 
The Big Day
I loved my wedding. LOVED it. It was a beautiful 35 degree sunny day with cloudless blue skies on 16 December 2006 (nearly five years ago!). It was a week after my graduation and we were both 22 at the time. I had only ever been to three weddings (and two of them were only because I was singing in the choir – I didn’t know the brides). My family, my bridesmaids and I all stayed at the Lodge the night before and on the morning of the wedding, we had a lovely lazy brunch and then started our preparation. I was not going to be one of those brides that stressed about the things that weren’t perfect and missed out on enjoying every moment of the day. There was bubbly, giggles and lots of girly chat going on where I was getting ready with my army of smurfs- five bridesmaids dressed in bright blue.
TSC and his best man, on the other hand, were watching cricket and having a beer.
My shoes were found after about three hours of trawling Canal Walk shopping centre. TSC’s shoes took us three months to find, fussy boy this one. I had two garters – one given to me by the dressmaker at Mayers, and one I’d found (the on in the picture) at a Chinese shop for R5, being sold as a “baby headband”. Haha! I used that one for the garter toss and kept the other one.
I had wanted my bridesmaids to feel comfortable, so I bought them each a few metres of fabric and posted it to them. They each designed their own dress and had it made, my only rules were no strapless dresses and nothing super-short. I saw the dresses for the first time on the day and all my girls looked fantastic. Because they’d had to cover their own dress expenses, we got their make-up done professionally for them. I’d also bought each bridesmaid a crystal pendant in Bosnia, which I strung on blue velvet ribbon as a thank you. They all wore them on the day.
The wedding started at about 3pm with an outdoor ceremony, followed by canapes on the lawn.
I did a lot of decor stuff myself.
I made little baubles and strung them from the trees with small bells so that when the wind blew, you could hear them tinkling. Each hanging bauble had a chocolate in it with a note to each guest thanking them for being with us. We did these instead of favours, and while we disappeared to have photos taken, the guests kept themselves busy looking for their baubles. Seeing we got married a week before Christmas, lots of them apparently used them as Christmas tree decorations afterwards.
There were also photos of TSC and I hung up, with little anecdotes about where they were taken written on the back.
I also knew that if I had had a bouquet, I would probably have lost it or sat on it, so I asked for a trailing wrist corsage band with bells woven into it too. Each bridesmaid also had a wrist corsage.
My folks were amazing and I’d love to show you a family pic, but they’d kill me if I put their photos up online, so I’ll just show you one of my brother doing the reading, which he forgot in the room. Our pastor said, “And now, a reading from Tamara’s brother” and then there was this long pause. Eventually he said, “Does anyone know where Tamara’s brother is?”
Someone shouted from the back of the crowd, “He’s gone to fetch the reading!”
Hehehe… it was awesome.
We had two pastors at our wedding – one officiating and one who preached. He gave a brilliant, short and to the point message, which I was thankful for. We wrote our vows ourselves and after the official bits, we had a group of family and friends pray for us.
There are no photos of me putting the ring on TSC’s finger – he gave me the wrong hand and had to change it afterwards! It was tough getting the rings on – in such hot weather, our fingers were quite swollen.
Instead of rose petals or rice, I opted for pink dried fynbos flowers. Local and eco-friendly. 
A bit itchy when they get down your dress though!
For the ceremony’s music, we had a wonderfully talented friend, Chris, sing and play guitar for our hymns, and another muso friend, Lolita, joined him to sing an incredible version of Amazing Grace while TSC and I signed the register inside.
Our MC, Phil, was a good friend who is Zimbabwean, meaning he doesn’t speak any Afrikaans. All of TSC’s family hardly speak any English. Phil decided to use the only Afrikaans word he knew and pepper his speeches with it, much to the confusion of everyone there. The word was aardappel – potato!
I’m not a fan of wedding cake, so I got a varsity friend who happened to be a qualified chef to whip up some absolutely amazing cupcakes. This was before cupcakes were “trendy”. They were delish.
Before the canapes were served, my mom had put out a whole whack of nuts and TSC’s parents had supplied 20kg of biltong and droe wors from their farm. It all got polished off within minutes!
After the canapes, we put out a “dessert bar” with chocolates, sweets and baked goodies I’d picked up at Compass Bakery (if you live in CT area, you MUST explore there).
Our music was handled by a friend who set up my laptop with a sound system. TSC and I opened the dance floor with a supposed rhumba to The Carpenters’ “Close to You”. TSC got stage fright, so it wasn’t really a rhumba in the end!
We expected people to dance well into the night, but being a balmy CT summer’s day, it just didn’t get dark (we never got the chance to light our candles and Chinese lanterns)! And by 8.30, most people were tired after a day in the sun and headed home. A few stayed to dance, drink the last of the wine and wander in the vineyards.
It was such a wonderful day and I’ve loved being able to remember it all again as I wrote this.
Dress: designed by me, made by
MayersPhotos:
Denis Ginn Chosen because he made me laugh – I hate being photographed and Denis’ sense of humour made me more relaxed
I’m not sure if he does weddings anymore though.
And now for your visual enjoyment, some photographs of Tamara and TSC’s wedding.
September 1st, 2011 — about me, cute stuff, ideas, links, planning, tips and tricks
Have you discovered Pinterest yet? I wish it had existed when I was planning my wedding…
Its a fantastic place to pin anything and everything you think you might want to incorporate into your own wedding, and its SOOO much easier than adding a website or a link to your shortcuts or favourites list! I don’t know about you but half the time when I am looking for something I’ve seen- I go to Google, not my “Favourites”. Using Pinterest you can immediately see a picture showing you why you pinned it to your board, and clicking on the picture will take you back to the link you liked in the first place!
Its awesome!
I now have several wedding-related boards on Pinterest. It started out with just one, but I’m gradually splitting them up so they’re easier to look at… Here they are:
July 18th, 2011 — from behind the lens, links, photography, suppliers
This week, my interview serves to introduce you to Joanne Markland of Joanne Markland Photography.
Her eight years of experience clearly shows in her fantastic portfolio. Be sure to check her out on Facebook too.
Tell me a little bit about yourself. I was born in Cape Town and have lived here most of my life. My parents are originally from the UK so I started travelling from quite a young age and I still absolutely love travelling and will do so any chance I get. I would say I am a pretty shy person and that’s why I love being behind the camera. I have a pretty dry sense of humor and I can be sarcastic at times, but I blame my parents for that one. I am a hard worker and will always go that extra mile. I love spending time with my hubby and with my friends because without them life wouldn’t be as much fun.
Where are you based? I am based in Milnerton, Cape Town.
How did you get into photography? After doing a three year National Diploma course in photography, I ended up working on cruise ships as a photographer for about four years. It was there I learnt how to work under pressure and how to work quickly. I was very lucky to shoot weddings in beautiful Caribbean locations like Jamaica, St Thomas, St Martyn and Grand Cayman whilst working on the ships. It was a great way to see the world for free but I wouldn’t say it was the best place to learn photography and when I finished my stint I decided I wanted to learn more and started working as an assistant at an advertising studio in Cape Town. I learnt so much about natural and studio lighting and I got to work on a variety of different genres in photography- portraits, food photography, still life, interior, exterior and nature- amongst others. After two years of permanent assisting I freelanced for them and also started taking photographs for local magazines. I photographed weddings on a part time basis but I felt that that was where my real passion lay and decided to start doing it full time.
How do you describe your photographic style? I can’t say I have a particular style because I do like to try and mix it up a little. I feel that when you give your couples the photos you want them to be able to look at them in twenty years time and you want them to love them just as much as they did the first day they looked at them. I try to keep a bit of a traditional feel without it looking too posed and I try to keep it as relaxed and natural as possible. It really all depends on the couple, you sometimes get really shy couples who don’t know what to do in front of the camera, so then you have to direct them. Some couples are naturals and you can just snap away.
How long have you been photographing weddings? I have been doing weddings for about eight years now.
What type of camera do you use? I use the Nikon D700 with a variety of Nikon 2.8 lenses.
How do you market yourself? I use wedding websites like Celebration, Little Pink Book, word of mouth and Facebook. I’m a little slack on Facebook though and am trying to train myself to use it.
What advice do you have for photographers who are just starting out? The wedding industry is a tough industry to get into as there is a lot of competition. Assist or second shoot at weddings even if you are doing your own weddings as there is always something new to learn. Even the most experienced photographers don’t know everything. Remember that a professional photographer is not someone who owns a digital camera and can press the shutter button down on continuous and think they will get nice shots. A professional photographer is someone who knows their equipment, knows how to light subjects properly, knows how to compose elements within a scene and someone who is willing to work hard in order to achieve all of this.
How do you put nervous or camera shy brides and couples at ease? One thing which I feel is a great way to get to know your couples is to do engagement shoots. It’s almost like a practice run for them and it is here where you start to learn about their personalities. By the time the wedding comes they know you and the way you work. It isn’t always possible to do these shoots so if this is the case then I feel if you are relaxed, friendly and understanding this gets them to relax a little. Also when it comes to doing poses get someone to chat to the bride or if you are photographing couples get them to chat to each other and just start taking photos because they are so excited and in love and the moments you capture during this time are priceless. You can still get the most beautiful photos from a nervous bride or couple it all depends on how you approach them and how you capture it.
What is your biggest challenge as a wedding photographer? I think the biggest challenge is that digital photography has become quite a big industry and it’s also become a lot more affordable. A lot of people who buy digital cameras think they are automatically a photographer because they can just look at the screen and try again if it isn’t right, it seems so easy to them. This can become quite challenging for the wedding photographers who have worked so hard to get to where they want to be and now we have to try even harder.
What has been the highlight of your career as a wedding photographer? I have met so many amazing, down to earth couples and just to know you have been a part of one of the biggest events in their lives is really special.
Which of the wedding photographs you have taken are your favourite? Shoo… it’s difficult to choose but here are some of my favourites.
I absolutely loved this couple, I like the fact it was a non traditional wedding and she didn’t want a photographer to begin with but she had so much fun posing and couldn’t stop laughing.
I just love how she looks like a little kid, so excited and surprised by the feathers. This bride loved every single minute of her wedding, it was really a fairytale come true for her.
I love the expressions and love the checked floor.
This couple was so in love the entire day, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. I like the look on their faces…
Despite it being one of the windiest days in Cape Town we managed to get some great shots. I like the composition of this one, the shadows and back lighting.
I love the building and reflection in this one and then adding the bride and the groom just finishes it off.
The final preparation before she goes down the aisle.
The theme for this wedding was a “Mad Hatters party”. It was so much fun, so Bo-Kaap in Cape Town seemed like the perfect location to do their shoot. I love the colours and the expressions on their faces.
How important is a tool like Photoshop in your work, and do you retouch at all? I use Lightroom and Photoshop but only do basic retouching such as colour, contrast, black & white. I use Photoshop to remove blemishes or something in the image that shouldn’t be there. I don’t believe in changing the photos too much because I try to keep it as real as possible, it’s a wedding and not a fashion shoot or advertising campaign but also it all depends on what your couples like.
Do you have an assistant, or invite second shooters to assist at your weddings? I do have an assistant who also 2nd shoots for me. I like to use the same assistant/2nd shooter because they know how you work and you build up a good relationship with them. They can’t always come to every wedding with you so I am always keen to meet new people who want to assist.
Which of your photographs would you use to show off your creative and artistic side? I have a mixture of photos here, I think people tend to think that if you photograph weddings that’s all you can do. I love photographing so many different things.
I was doing a shoot for Habitat for Humanity in a township and there were so many kids around. I was trying to get them to cover their eyes and ears but one little girl just didn’t want to.
One evening I decided to go and photograph a sunset. It started raining and normally I would pack up and leave but this time I stayed. It ended up being one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen, and I haven’t done any Photoshop to this shot.
This photo is made up of about 8-10 frames which are stitched together. I love the texture and lighting.
This shot hasn’t been photo shopped much, all I did was clean up the spilled water on the surface. I remember doing this shoot and I just wasn’t getting the right splash. Eventually I threw that cherry in with a lot of force and was lucky enough to capture the result! Sometimes being frustrated and impatient can work out for the best.
These are my nephews and niece. To get them all to smile at the same time in one photo was difficult!
This was taken at a crèche in a township. Some of these kids have such a hard life yet they just smile and love life.
What would you love to add to your equipment? I would love a medium format camera, is a Hasselblad too much too ask for???
Where would you love to do a wedding shoot? Scotland, I love the movie “Brave heart” because of the beautiful scenery, it has a mysterious feel about it and I think it would be amazing for weddings. Or maybe I’m hoping Mel Gibson will appear in his kilt somewhere.
What is your work-flow after a wedding? When I get home after a wedding, no matter what time it is, I download my cards and back them up onto 2 hard drives. I take the Sunday off and then start on Monday doing my selections, processing, and basic retouching. I try to have a blog post up within 1 week-2 weeks.
How many images do you average for a wedding, and how many do you deliver to your clients? I shoot over 1000 images and my couples will get anything from 400-600 images.
Is there a wedding photographer you admire? There are so many great wedding photographers all over the world, so I don’t have just one which I admire; there are quite a few of them.
Whether its animals, landscapes, nature or portraits, most photographers seem have a penchant for a particular subject. What is yours? I really love photographing brides, they have been dreaming of this moment since they were a child. It’s the one day they get to feel like a princess and get to be spoilt rotten. So I love capturing that.
If you could be invisible- with your camera- for a day, you would… Hmmmmm, I have been thinking about this one for a while and just don’t have any idea. Documenting people because as soon as they see you they change their body language completely so at least if they can’t see you, you could get some amazing expressions.
If you could photograph any musician, who would it be? Seal, I have always loved his music and he looks really great in photos.
Is there anything you’re learning to do? In a few weeks time I will be learning to be a mom to a little boy. Do they have courses for that????
What will you be up to in 2011? Besides being a first time mom, I have my first international wedding in the Seychelles which I am very excited about, I also have my local weddings and then what happens the rest of the year can be a surprise.
