This week, I am sending myself off to the blogging naughty corner, because I'm sure that certain individuals have been twiddling their thumbs, for what seems like an eternity, to glimpse images from Dorianne's and Dean's amazing wedding.  Well finally, here you are, the much-awaited post of their ceremony at Red Ivory.

It was a scorcher of a day, so Stella and I knew, going by the heat and humidity, that a Highveld downpour was on the agenda and, almost planned to perfection, the rain came pelting down on Dorianne's and Dean's big day. 

Watching them exchanging vows under a tin roof, surrounded by a downpour and overlooking the Magaliesburg mountains was a truly beautiful moment.  Then, miraculously, just before the rituals drew to a close, blue sky emerged with a scattering of clouds - oh, how I love our afternoon African showers.

There was a lot of emotion during the ceremony, particularly when Dorianne lay a rose on the chair where her dad should have been seated - a remarkably heart-rending gesture.

 
Dorianne wanted to have their creative photographs taken at the Hartebeespoort tunnel, so, armed with a bottle of champagne, off we went and what a blast we had.

The reception brought along with it some more laughs, Jagermeisters and some serious partying.  Stella and I were dying to stay on a little later to view the Adonis transformation, but, unfortunately, the back-up drives were calling.

Thank you, Dorianne and Dean.  We had an AWESOME time...and finally the images;

I absolutely adore every moment of the excitement, stress, anticipation and celebration that occurs on the actual wedding day, but, it's the 40-odd hours languishing on the computer afterwards, post-processing a ceremony, that has become overwhelming recently.

In an effort to simplify my rather complex and exhausting workflow, I decided that January 2011 would be the opportune time for change. Therefore, and to actually broaden my horizons, I decided to attend the RE.INVENT Lightroom course.

I must admit, I was somewhat hesitant, since I wasn't 100% sold on Lightroom (I just  could not get my head around it), also the thought of squandering an entire day, on a course(wasting editing time) wasn't appetising either, but, I am really, really, really, really glad that I did, as I learnt some "Killer Bee" Lightroom tips and have in turn saved many hours on my workflow!

It has taken me several years to finally reach this point, but, I believe that I have, at long last, introduced a workflow process that is organised and efficient {enter singing angels}.

No blog post is complete without an image, so here you are, an image from my first wedding that underwent the new LR workflow.

Here we are end of January and I can barely wrap my head around the fact that the first month of 2011 has all but fizzled out.  My apologies for the recent silence on my side, as there are all sorts of 'life' things happening at the moment, so it's been two weeks of rushing around and not getting very much done. 

I am, however, trying my utmost to ease into my usual routine and, be assured, I am getting there slowly.  This I'll do by starting with Natasha's and Fazel's cool wedding, which, I admit, is way overdue to be blogged.

Even so, I think it's only fitting that I post Natasha's and Fazel's images today, as it's the same sort of rainy weather they experienced on their wedding day.  Mind you, with the amount of rainfall we've been having in Johannesburg lately, I could have randomly chosen any given day this month and the chances are it would have been a wet and drizzly day, in any case.

I have to say that I couldn't have asked for a nicer couple, or a wedding ceremony with such a warm & stylish atmosphere.

Natasha and Fazel, who are based in Saudi Arabia, are both such sweethearts, chilled and up for anything, so I can't thank them enough for allowing us to share their beautiful day with them!

....and finally, here you are, a little sneak peek of your awesome day.

Don't you just love those shoes?

...breathe

A picture is worth a thousand words - I love the look on Fazel's face as he gets the first glimps of Natasha after her veil was raised.

The weather usually sorts herself out on my wedding days. I've lost count how many times we've just avoided the rain, or managed to get in 15 minutes of creatives before a downpour.


Well, this was not the case on Irene's and Rob's day.  In fact, right after the I-Do's were said and done, the sky (as Liam would put it) cried.   Correction: the sky actually bawled its eyes out.  If it's a good luck omen to have rain on your wedding day, then Irene and Rob were literally saturated in good fortune!


The thing with weddings is that as much as you plan and plan and plan, sometimes there are things that are quite simply beyond your control... like the weather. 


Whilst I am certain every bride doesn't want rain on her day, I think that it's really a case of how one deals with the situation that makes all the difference.  Irene and Rob are one of those couples who merely took it in their stride and were quite happy posing in the cloudburst, sometimes under an umberella, other times not.


Raw, intimate and gorgeous. Great food, lovely atmosphere and live music - what a bash!  There are so many amazing moments to share, so here are the instant favs.

 

 

 

So today I had a total panic attack about how far behind I am on the editing side of things. So I made a promise to myself that I would buckle down and not get distracted on the internet.

15 minutes have passed and what do you know here I am, Hello there !! {insert, happy wave}

Pretty much a pointless post - I'm editing a wedding right now, and I got a kick out of this image.

So here you go, love this image the little page boy, walking out of the ceremony. He clearly had enough.