Archive for May, 2009

Mostly, Bob and I don’t attend weddings as guests these days! So, photographing and attending Steph and Duncan’s wedding at Palm Cove last weekend was a real delight! We haven’t seen a bride and groom enjoy their wedding as much as Duncan and Steph did for ages! Turns out Duncan is a mean dancer, and even changed into his dancing shoes at the reception!

We met Steph and Duncan through Steph’s Dad Teddy. They made us very welcome and acted as our tour guides when we stayed with them in London during our visit to the UK last year. We had a great time!

Many friends and family traveled to Cairns from the UK to help celebrate this special day with them. We managed to put on some perfect weather for them with Saturday being one of the best days on the beach we have had for a few months. With no wind the water was crystal clear and flat as a tack! Of course, we told everyone that our weather is like this ALL the time!

Wayne Rees performed a wonderful ceremony under the shade of a stand of tall palm trees on the beach. A group photo after that and then down onto the beach for some last minute shots before the sun disappeared completely.

The reception was held at The Grand Mecure Rockford Esplanade Hotel where we enjoyed great service and delicious food.

The night ended with a surprise fireworks display on the beach at midnight!

What a fabulous wedding! The entire day was filled with fun, love and happiness.

Here are some of Duncan and Stephanie’s images. To see more images from this great day you can also view their on-line album.

A perfect day to travel to the Reef for a wedding and what better way to get there than to be flown in comfort by Bradley from Skysafari in his zippy little yellow R44 chopper.

Actually, two zippy little yellow choppers were flown to the Reef on Monday for Tina and Bobby’s wedding on Undine Cay!

Stay tuned for their photos coming soon!

Port Douglas

Recently I had the pleasure of photographing David and Khalida’s wedding at St Patrick’s church in the Tablelands town of Herberton. The church was built 120 years ago from red cedar. It is big and airy and full of light. A photographers dream church! The big old bell had not been rung for a wedding for 7 years!

After the lovely ceremony, which included a candle lighting ceremony, friends and family gathered for photos in the church grounds.The weather actually started out as your usual Tablelands cloudy, rainy day! When David and Khalida emerged from the church the sun came out warming everyone up!

After the family photos were complete we headed down to the Herberton Historic Village for the photo shoot. After major renovations The Village has recently been re-opened by The Skennars . With over 30 original buildings and heaps of machinery and vehicles, the Village makes an excellent location for wedding photos!

The reception was held at Cedar Park Resort at Kuranda. We took advantage of the lovely afternoon light and the gorgeous tablelands scenery to take some more photos on the way to Kuranda.

Thank you for asking me to photograph your special day David and Khalida….it was fun!

Here are a few of my favorites from the day. You can also check out their on-line album for more images.

Tuesday afternoon I was back on the beach at Thala Beach resort near Port Douglas.

Bianca and Gordon traveled from Adelaide (Gordon from Scotland 3 years ago!) to be married on this magnificent stretch of private sandy beach at 3pm.

Gordon wore a traditional Scottish Kilt made from the tartan of his grandfathers clan. Bianca wore a beautiful dress which she had named Scarlet! (for obvious reasons!)

Joanne Male from Weddings Cairns performed a lovely ceremony for them. Angie from Dynamic Weddings and myself acted as witnesses to their union. Jennifer from MOD videos captured this special day on video.

After the ceremony we took some photos along the beach and then clambered around the rocks to get some different shots closer to the nice calm ocean.

I love these photos of them right out on the edge of the rocks! Well done Bianca and Gordon for the precarious rock climbing in your wedding gear! (Doesn’t everyone climb rocks in a white dress and a kilt?)

Congratulations to you both! It was a pleasure to meet you and be part of your wedding day.

You can see more of Bianca and Gordons’ images at their on-line album.

I also love the reflections in the pool!

Finally the rain has gone and has been replaced with our usual beautiful, clear, crisp winter weather. Kristy and Nathan chose the perfect day to be married in a Hot Air balloon drifting high above the Tablelands just after sunrise.

They arrived by limo at the balloon launch site at 6am. Kristy looked stunning with her hair and make-up all done done bright early by Kristy from Blush Hair and Make-up.

Everyone climbed into the hot air balloon basket and Johan, the pilot, conducted a gentle lift off at around 6.30am. It was to be a one hour flight, with the ceremony to be performed by Wayne Rees in the second half hour.

Just before the ceremony the sun peaked over the mountains flooding the valley with shining light.

At the end of the flight we had an exciting touch down in a grassy paddock near Mareeba airport. Bob, their driver, was waiting with sparkling wine and a nice comfy seat to sleep in on the way to the beach!

The light was just amazing and I just had to take some photos in the long grass before heading down to the beach to finish off the photo shoot at Palm Cove.

The beach was empty of people and the water was all sparkly in the morning sun. After the photos Kristy decided on an impromptu Trash the Dress! She had no clothes to change in to, but that didn’t matter! In she waded with her dress billowing out behind her!

Kristy and Nathan then walked along the Esplanade to a shop to buy some clothes for Kristy! They then enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Sebel Reef House and Spa..

Thank you Kristy and Nathan for asking me to be your photographer! It was fun being part of your special day. Best wishes for a long and happy future together.

Below are some photos from the day. To see some more images check out their on-line album.

I love my job!

Tuesday was an absolutely glorious day which started quite early at 3.30am! By 6.30am I was floating above the Atherton Tablelands photographing the wedding of Kristy and Nathan in a hot air balloon. The sun rose through the clouds making the perfect back drop to one of the most romantic ways to get married!

10am I was on the beach at Palm Cove photographing Kristy and Nathan before they went off to breakfast.

Here are some photos Bob took of me at work yesterday. Thanks to Hot Air for the in flight shot.

Me with camera pointed in the right direction, 4th from right

Preparing for take-off and then later at the beach

Anything to get that great shot!

Sunday morning saw Bob and I up early to take our dog Chelsea to the RSPCA Millions Paws Walk on the Esplanade in Cairns. There were hundreds of people, dogs, a couple of pets rats and even two ponies!

Event manager Lyn Waters said about 800 people and a similar number of animals joined this year’s walk, which started near Muddies Playground and headed north along The Esplanade.

The RSPCA hopes to have raised more than $11500 from the event.

There were big dogs and little dogs, there were dogs wearing superman outfits and dogs dressed as fairies. There was a black poodle named ‘Naomi’ and lots of border collies named Jess! There was a little black Labrador puppy with angel wings and a grumpy old basset hound!

We met out friends Mike and Fiz and their energetic Coolie dog, Milly, for the stroll to the northern end of the esplanade and back. Thanks to Mike for the photo of Chelsea and I below!

Julie and Clifford, or “Chalky” as he is known, are traveling the world having left the UK many months ago. We, in North Queensland, feel very privileged that they chose our tropical part of the world to be married.

Their simple and romantic ceremony was performed by Michael Turner on the secluded beach at Thala Beach Lodge.Thala is the only beach nature lodge on a private headland with magnificent sweeping views of the ocean, between Cairns and Port Douglas.

Some relaxed photos along the beach and around the rocks, then Chalky and Julie enjoyed a delicious picnic dinner at the look out as the sun slipped below the rainforest mountain behind the lodge.

India is their next adventure! Congratulations Julie and Chalky! I had fun being part of your very special day and I wish you all the best for your future travels and life together.

Here are a couple of my favorite photos from the afternoon. You can also view their on-line album for more images.

Saturday morning was dark and rainy, but by 3.45pm the rain had stopped and Kristy and Steve were able to marry on the sand in front of Coolum’s On the Beach restaurant at Holloways Beach.

Steve’s family had traveled from Germany to witness the marriage of Steve and Kristy. Their 10 month old baby boy, Liam presented the rings to his parents at the ceremony!  He was such a good boy and even smiled in every photo!

A lovely ceremony was performed by Joanne Male from Weddings Cairns.

Friends and family photos after the ceremony were followed by photos on the beach with Steve, Kristy and the adorable Liam. A few more photos in the gardens of the Cairns Beach Resort and then they were free to join their guest for the reception back at Coolums.

These are some of my favorites from the day. You can also check out Steve and Kristy’s on-line album to view some more of their image.

Thank you for asking me to photograph your wedding day Kristy and Steve, it was my pleasure!

On the 22nd March I went to Hamilton Island to photograph Jessica and Nathan’s wedding there. They received their albums this week and yesterday Jessica sent me this lovely email.

we received our wedding albums yesterday… they are perfect. I cannot thank you enough. You have done such a fantastic job, everybody i have shown has been so impressed, especially with the magazine style album. i cried(with happiness) when i saw them for the first time. You have done an awesome job in capturing our wedding day, your attention to detail and presentation of the albums are second to none.
thank you so much for travelling to hamilton island to be our photographer. Nathan and I felt so comfortable around you, you are a lot of fun
thank you thank you thank you

Thank you Jessica and Nathan, I feel all warm and fuzzy now!