As a wedding photographer in Perth, Western Australia you would think that weddings would have lost their shine for me. No! They haven’t. Every wedding I photograph (or attend) is special. There is something magical about weddings. I love love and weddings are all about that celebration of love. A sense of joy and excitement about spending the rest of your life with your person. So I am always excited to be invited to photograph weddings in and around Perth, they bring me great joy.
I photographed Donna and Vince’s Fremantle wedding with Kelly from 7 to 1 photography.
Bridal prep
I met with Donna and her Matron of Honour, Collette, in Donna and her soon to be husband, Vince’s suite at the Esplanade in Fremantle. I was there to capture the bridal prep while Kelly was over at Locke Park to capture a few moments with Vince and his best man Rob before the ceremony began.
By the time I arrived Donna’s make up by Hannah was complete and Denise was just finishing Donna’s hair.
The dress
It was time for the big reveal. The dress was about to come out of the bag. It was stunning. Donna couldn’t speak more highly of the team at HobNob Bridal for their assistance. Donna was set on a Princess Style dress and while the team at HobNob showed her dresses in that style it wasn’t long before they were gently suggesting she look more at a different style of dress. Donna was pretty set on the princess style so the gentle suggestions didn’t move her. It was only when Lyn was a little more forceful and said ‘honestly you need to try this on, this will suit your body shape, trust me on this!’ and boy was she right!
Before getting into the dress Donna and Collette had a couple of minutes to relax and enjoy some bubbles and got to lounge in their stunning bridal robes.
Donna wore very minimal jewellery but what she did wear was stunning. She had managed to find beautiful ruby earrings while on holiday to match her stunning ruby engagement ring by Rosendorf. Collette wore an amazing dress by Haute on High and the bouquets by Lime Flowers were stunning!
The Ceremony
The weather was kind to us. A wedding in the middle of January in Western Australia can be a recipe for make up running and sweat coming from places you didn’t know you could sweat. Kelly and I had been watching the weather report all week leading up to the wedding and we were so pleased that Fremantle was 10 degrees cooler than Perth so we had a perfect 28 degree day. 28 degrees was great especially as there was very little shade at Locke Park for the ceremony.
The ceremony by Dawn Nosworthy was a beautiful personalised ceremony that had guests and the bridal party laughing and Vince smiling adoringly at Donna.
Bridal photoshoot
After the ceremony we managed to do the fastest bridal photoshoot in the history of weddings. We started just across the road from the ceremony at the old turnstyles for what was the old races. We then did the fastest race around some of Fremantles iconic landmarks and the Notre Dame buildings. We were running very short on time and Sharon from Silverlady Wedding Cars and Limousine Hire was absolutely brilliant. Donna was going to get a couple of photos with the car and then walk back to the Esplanade. Sharon was more than happy to stay an extra 15 minutes so that we could get the photos and then Donna and Vince could be driven back to their reception. There are many vendors that would have driven off and left them to walk and that gesture of kindness definitely made Kelly and my job easier and I’m sure Donna and Vince were much more relaxed getting to their reception than they would have been if they had had to run back!
The reception
The wedding reception was held at the Esplanade. A beautiful wedding reception venue in the heart of Fremantle. The room had been transformed and their wedding co-ordinator Teena was on top of all the small details. The room itself was gorgeous and it had an amazing wrap around verandah with stunning views.
The reception was kept moving by brilliant DJ, Paul, from Paul V Entertainment, who was a mix of funny and upbeat. He kept the music going and added in some fun games. The guests were sceptical of the games to start with but they sure got into them with one table creating and wearing Japanese flag bandanas for half the reception while they waited for their song to play. At some point they also managed to choreograph a routine to go with their costumes as well. Dedication or what.
Kelly and I were honoured to be invited to capture the memories of Donna and Vince for their wedding day. The day was exciting and fun and we hope that we managed to capture the love, fun and excitement in their wedding photos.
