Okay, I have to admit that I completely lost it (more than once) when I watched this beautiful video! We are talking big sobbing tears… These stories truly get to me! Such a wonderful, heartfelt portrayal of true love. xx

I didn’t know it until a couple of days before their wedding, but it turns out Amy actually went to my high school – Waikato Diocesan. She knew lots of girls I went to school with, but I didn’t know her because she left to go to St Pauls College in Hamilton, the year I came to Dio! It was so lovely to see some girls I hadn’t seen since high school (nearly 10 years ago…. -what?!) at the wedding and catch up with where they are at in their lives now. Amy and Chris, thank you so much for having me. You had the most gorgeous day, and I had so much fun hanging out with you and your amazing bridal party at one of my favourite places to photograph, the Red Barn in Cambridge. I wish you guys many blessings for a happy and wonderful marriage together xxx

Sam and I were married over 5 years ago (!!) in February 2008. I was 21 when I got married, and it’s easily one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Sam proposed to me after a picnic dinner on the top of Mt Eden, just above our University Hostel (where we first met) in December 2007. We were engaged for 2 and a half months, which sounds shocking, but in hindsight it was perfect for me as I knew what I wanted and could make decisions easily. Well I sort of had no choice but to make decisions quickly, as 2 and a half months didn’t leave any time to muck around! I was also working part time at that time, so had a bit of extra time on my hands. Planning the wedding was one of my favourite things to do, and although the thought of planning a wedding in 2 and a half months was initially frightening (especially for our parents) it ended up being a great decision.

This is the first of a little blog series ‘My Wedding Re imagined’ where I will talk about things I would do differently if I could do the wedding over. Have you ever thought of this? It’s a question I get asked so frequently! Our wedding will always be one of the best days of my life. But nearly 5 years of experience photographing weddings have taught me a thing or two, and I thought this would be a fun series, that will hopefully provide a bit of insight for those of you planning your weddings now!

The Timeline.

As I mentioned, we didn’t have long to plan the wedding. This wasn’t an issue, but one thing I wish I hadn’t glossed over so much was the timeline of the day! I was (and still am) pretty organised, so making a schedule/runsheet for the day was quite fun for me, but there were huge things I just didn’t think too much about…

- Driving time between locations.

I got ready at my parents house and we were married in my old school chapel at Waikato Diocesan in Hamilton, which is nearly an hours drive from where my parents live. We had photographs at various Gardens/Parks in Hamilton (for 3 hours), then drove nearly an hour and a half back to my parents property for the marquee reception. After the reception, we drove to Auckland (we were leaving for Rarotonga the next day).

All up, we spent a total of about 4 hours of our wedding day in. the. car….!!

The timeline of the day {reimagined} would now look a little something like this…

The whole wedding would be held in one location at my parents property in the country.

Pre-ceremony: We would have a First Look, bridal photos + family photos in the afternoon. Photos would all be taken around my parents property, within walking distance, and 2 hours for photos would more than enough.

Ceremony: The ceremony would be held around 7.30pm, about an hour before sunset.

Post Ceremony: We would go straight into celebrations with our guests, there would be champagne and cocktails served. I’m going to talk more about the look of the day in later blog posts, but I imagine a formal black tie event, but not a sit down meal. Does that even exist?! There would be places for people to sit, but no seating plan, or long tables where sometimes you don’t get up, and only end up talking to about three people all night. So I guess a mixture of formal and informal. There would be an amazing band, and lots of dancing, toasting, speeches into the night.

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If you could re-imagine your wedding day, what would you change about the timeline? Ahh the beauty of hindsight!! I’d love to hear your thoughts xx

I’m so excited for the first post of a series we like to call- ‘What Fires Me Up’ where Kate and I are going to share some things that we love, that bring joy to our days, inspire us and get us fired up! We love Lara Casey’s outlook of life and have being inspired by her to do more things that fire us up. It’s the little details, the things we are thankful for and the parts of our lives we love…

I am a list writer, a diary user, a note taker. As much as I am a visual person and collect images from everywhere, words are also important. I have a collection of notebooks and notepads that journey with me through life that I can pour my thoughts, ideas, and dreams into. It motivates me and relieves me to empty my mind onto a page. Maybe I’m a crazy person but I get so excited doing this, it helps if the notebooks are pretty too! Amongst the pages is often where ideas are formed, goals are set and inspiration is found. There are no restrictions, maybe no one else will ever read them but they are just for me. I treasure my notebooks and love looking back and reading them, being reinspired and excited. Do you write down your thoughts/dreams/ideas? I would love to know what fires you up? xx Lydia

Way back in the days of pre-arranged marriages – when marriage was a business deal between families – brides and grooms were never allowed to see each other before the wedding. This was so the groom wouldn’t have time to back out of the wedding if he changed his mind! Over the years, the tradition of the ‘bride in hiding’ changed into a superstition, and seeing each other before the wedding was considered to be ‘bad luck’. Now days though, this ‘tradition’ is quite outdated! More and more brides and grooms are opting to see each other before the ceremony – which always makes for amazing, emotional photographs.

How does a First Look work?

The bride and groom get ready separately. When both are ready, I arrange for the groom to be at a certain place at a specific time. The bride will walk towards the groom, who has his back turned, and when she gets closer, he will turn around to see her. A special moment that you share together.

Why should we consider a First Look?

- We will have more time for amazing, natural light photographs. This is especially important if your wedding ceremony is later in the day, or in winter, because there will be a limited amount of natural light left after the ceremony.

- You will get to spend more time with your guests. After the ceremony, most of your guest will probably stay around a while, then head over to the reception venue. You’ll be excited to see them, and might even feel bad for leaving everyone waiting while you have your photographs.

- There is less time pressure getting some (if not all) of the photographs done before the ceremony when nobody is waiting for you.

Below are some questions that Amy & Shane answered about their decision to have a First Look on their wedding day.

How did you feel when you saw Shane for the first time? Would it have changed the way you felt during waiting to see him at the ceremony?

Shane stood with his back to me with his eyes closed and I walked up behind him.  I was so excited to see him that I practically ran to him!  When I saw Shane for the first time, I was overcome with love for him.  That feeling would never have changed had I been waiting to see him at the ceremony, but one of the best things about the first look was that the feeling I had when I saw him for the first time was uninterrupted and free from all the distractions you get when walking down the aisle.  I could just concentrate on him knowing that it was just us there.

Are you glad you decided to see each other before the wedding?

Absolutely!  It was a truly special moment and, amongst other things, it really helped to settle our nerves!  It allowed us to get (most of) the tears out of the way and to make our ceremony a rather relaxed affair full of laughs and smiles that better reflected the type of couple we are.

What was your favorite thing about having a first look?

There is so much anticipation that builds during your day.  I was constantly thinking: I wonder what he’s doing now, I wonder if he’s nervous or excited or a little of both, I wonder if he’s there already. My favourite thing about having the first look is that just when I thought my anticipation was going to burst, we were able to share that feeling privately.  Just the two of us.  It gave us time to be together, hold one another, laugh and say to one another “can you believe we’re doing this?”, “I love you” and “now let’s go get married!”  Things that we would never have been able to do had we seen one another for the first time at the ceremony.

Is there anything you suggest for future bride and grooms when considering this?

To think carefully about it – you will only see one another for the first time on your wedding day once and a first look is not for everyone.  When Kate mentioned it to Shane and I as an option we thought it was a little unorthodox and I was worried that we would lose that very special moment of walking down the aisle.  But we ended up deciding to have a first look because we were keen to settle the nerves and create a relaxed atmosphere at our wedding and I think the first look really helped us with that.  It ended up giving us so much more though.

What made your first look so special?

That it was just the two of us – we didn’t have to be anywhere, see anyone or include anyone.  It was just me and Shane and so we were able to react to seeing one another openly, honestly and completely uninhibited.

Why was this important to you?

Because we’ve always been a couple that values our private time together.  When i’m not with him, I want to be with him and so it would have killed me if we didn’t have this moment because you never get a moment just to yourselves the whole day!

Would you suggest this to other bride and grooms?

Suggest?  I’d absolutely recommend it!  It was one of the best decisions we made about our day and I would not change it for the world!  Even more so because we have beautiful photos capturing the moment.

Erin and Will had another beautiful First Look, here’s what they had to say:

What was your favorite thing about having a first look?

It was really nice to have some time with Will before the wedding and such a personal intimate time before the wedding. It was such an emotional time for us both during the first look as it really brought home that we were actually getting married. I loved just having a bit of quiet time before everything got started, as it made you remember the importance and significance of the day with each other.

Are you glad you decided to see each other before the wedding?

Absolutely. It was the best decision that we could have made and it definitely settled the nerves. Again, it was some wonderful intimate and private time to reflect on what was ahead and how excited we were. Obviously there are some real traditionalists out there, but it was absolutely the right decision for us as we purposely designed the whole day to be personal, intimate and relaxed.

How did you feel when you saw Will for the first time? Would it have changed the way you felt during waiting to see him at the ceremony?

I was so overwhelmed when I first saw Will, both of us had a lot of tears and for a good 10 minutes struggled to even put together a coherent sentence. I can only imagine what I would have been like if I had seen him for the first time walking down the aisle! I don’t think it takes away any of the ‘specialness’ of walking down the aisle and seeing each other again as you’re just about to get married in front of all your family and friends.

Is there anything you suggest for future bride and grooms when considering this?

Think about the structure of your day and what works for you and your guests. We chose to do it and take our photos beforehand because we wanted to spend as much time as possible with our guests and minimise the waiting time before the reception. Weddings are really such a hectic day and before you know it, the day is over and you haven’t really spent anytime with your wife/husband as you’ve been so busy talking to your guests. A first look really allows you to spend some precious private moments together focused on each other and allow you to take each other in.

What made your first look so special?

For me, our first look was the most memorable moment of the day (apart from the kiss!). The anticipation of seeing Will and having some ‘secret’ time to see each other and catch a breath before the ceremony was so incredibly special. The ceremony was such a blur as there was so much going on, that I actually remember our first look and how emotional and happy l I felt seeing Will and having a chat almost more than the actual ceremony.

Why was this important to you?

It was incredibly important to stop and remember the reason for the day. We were really focused on creating a personal and intimate day, so taking the time to spend some time with my best friend and acknowledge our life changing day was so important.

Would you suggest this to other bride and grooms?  Absolutely, but it has to work for you both and the structure of the day. Weddings are ultimately a day for both of you and more often than not, you don’t actually get a lot of time to spend with each other on the day. It’s such a special period before everything starts, where you get to share your thoughts, a last single kiss and any things before the day gets started and it all goes by in a blur!

Amber + James:

What was your favorite thing about having a first look?

We both loved that we got to have two ‘first looks’ – one just by ourselves and then our second one as I walked down the aisle. We really enjoyed the time we had as just us two at our first look and the opportunity it gave us to not only enjoy some precious time together on what is such an amazing whirlwind of a day but also that we got to have our main photos of us taken at this time. The day flowed really well time wise because of this and one of the main things for us was that after the ceremony we didn’t leave for 2 hours to have our photos taken. I’ve been at weddings where this happens and although it is expected, as a guest you are often left waiting for the bride and groom to arrive back. Our main photos were already done and we got to enjoy all that time with our guests which for us was what its all about – enjoying your wedding day with all those that you love. A first look really allowed us to maximise not only some time together but also our time with our guests.

Are you glad you decided to see each other before the wedding?

Yes we both are very glad and wouldn’t change it for the world!

How did you feel when you saw James for the first time? Would it have changed the way you felt during waiting to see him at the ceremony?

It was overwhelming emotional and everything I expected it to be! It didn’t change the excitement of seeing him again at the ceremony. It was another big wave of love and emotion all over again which I loved! Double the love? Yes please!

Is there anything you suggest for future bride and grooms when considering this?

Do it! A friend of mine inspired me to consider it as she explained how she felt like she got two ‘first looks’ on her wedding day and each was very special to both her and her husband. Now having experienced it for myself, there’s nothing I wouldn’t recommend more!

What made your first look so special?

That it was just the two of us. This was really the only time we had as just us two that whole day until we left the reception. So it really was very special. Also that we got to have our bridal party join us after awhile and have some time with them and get all those photos taken.

Why was this important to you?

A wedding day is about celebrating your love and commitment to each other and to share a moment of the day as just us two felt like a lovely thing to do. Our relationship is about us two together so it was lovely to honour that with some time alone and then to celebrate it with all our loved ones. Also to spend some time with our bridal party afterwards was also lots of fun and again got alot of our main photos done. All our bridal party agree that it was a great idea.

Would you suggest this to other bride and grooms?

Absolutely! We would both highly recommend it and I already do to anyone I know getting married.

Last week, Sam and I spent 2 days in Sydney. It was a completely unplanned trip. Sam let me know the week before through an exciting text. He had just received an email letting him know he had been one of 20 PHD students around Australia chosen (!…bragging wife alert…!) to pitch his science research from his PHD project at the Bright Sparks Pitch night, as part of the Amplify Business Festival next Month! He needed to go to Sydney for the media training, so I tagged along for the ride…

Day One: I got lost (happily) in the streets of Paddington and Woollahra. To be honest, I could have wandered around there aimlessly all day!

I was so pleased to have stumbled upon Les Nereides in Paddington. I had no idea that this gorgeous jewellery brand had a store in Australia! I was introduced to this beautiful brand at Amy & Shane’s wedding, where Amy wore a beautiful pair of their earrings. Do you like the pair I purchased below? I’m pretty obsessed, I have to say.

Loved the Paddington Reservoir Gardens. There were deck chairs to sit in the sun, and the library across the road had donated a box of books for people to read in the gardens! Such an amazing development of this historic place.

Speaking of books…I walked past this and couldn’t resist taking a photo, so cute!

Day 2: We had breakfast at Bird and Bear Boathouse on Elizabeth Marina. Delicious breakfast, sun on our backs and an amazing view…what more could you want?!!

I met up with this lovely lady Rachael McMahon, who was over from Auckland for a few days doing the same as me – tagging along with her husband who was in Sydney for work. I absolutely loved hanging out with Rachael, go check out her amazing lifestyle blog Made From Scratch here. We met at the incredible Donna Hay shop first, then had coffee and the best coconut bread in the world, at Bills. I should have taken the photo on the right about half and hour later, because Bill Granger himself (long time fan, can you tell?!) sat on the table opposite us!

More shopping… + wandering.

Bondi Beach! My first time here. It looks warm, but it really wasn’t! There was a super chilly breeze, enough to make your eyes water, so we didn’t stay too long.

That’s it from Sydney! What a gorgeous place, and to go during the week was so nice. I loved it, and hope to return soon! Do you have any Sydney loves or recommendations for next time? I’d love to know. Kate xx

Just a glimpse of Andy and Caroline from the weekend… Stunning. xx Lydia

Brittany and Mark’s Tauranga wedding day was full of colour, joy, beauty and love. We had so much fun sailing over to Matakana Island for photos, hanging out with their fun bridal party and going to the relaxed reception at Fountain Gardens. Brittany and Mark truly value their friends and family and involved many of them in the details that made their day extra special. Congratulations you two! Thank-you to Rachel Walker for second-shooting with me. xx Lydia

I’m so excited to have Anna and Vaughan’s beautiful Bracu wedding featured in the recent Autumn issue of New Zealand Weddings Magazine. Some lovely inspiration for all you Autumn/Winter brides, make sure you have a look! xx Lydia

Deb sent me a beautiful email about a year before their wedding date from Croatia. In her email, she explained her and Cam had just returned from a sailing trip and were Italy bound that day…and had just gotten engaged in Croatia! I can’t think of anywhere more amazing to dream up a perfect wedding day! Deb explained that she envisioned a relaxed, beautiful home-style wedding at her parents property in Ararimu which is half and hour out of Auckland City. Needless to say, I was so excited to get such a lovely email and was looking forward to their wedding ever since.

Deb and Cam, it was an honour to be your photographer. What a wonderful day you had, I hope these photographs remind you of it for many years to come. Kate xx