So it’s Sunday evening, this week has been kind of brutal. I’m way behind on the blog posts, at least the Facebook page is up to date. If you came through to the Photo&Film expo to listen to me talk about becoming a master photographer, thank you. I was kind of worried at one point that I’d be talking to a handful of people, it turned out to be standing room only. There was even some clapping.

Ok, I’m very late on posting this wedding, but it’s been up on our Facebook page for a while and it has gotten some very cool comments. We don’t often go out to photograph the evening before rehearsal dinner/get together braai, because not much really happens, but you guys rocked it. Really too easy to photograph you guys and the retinue, such a pleasure meeting you both. I think I’m just going to add that Catherine and Michael, and their crew, partied like it was the eighties. Nice.

Our videographers on the day were the guys from Freeman Productions who are always a pleasure to have around.

More from their wedding on our Facebook page.

intundla lodge, dror michaelo, intundla wedding, intundla wedding pictures, wedding Tears, www intundla co za, 

It’s just past midnight, we finally made it to the hotel in Cape Town, there’s a dent in the rental car and I’m feeling a little crispy around the edges. I think we’ve had about six hours sleep in total over the last three days, not counting the hour or so on the plane, the only thing keeping me awake at the moment is nasty hotel coffee and what I think is Mao’s Last Dancer on the television. I listen to it in Chinese, I’m too tired to read the subtitles. I wanted to write down some thoughts about this weekend’s wedding before I pass out for the night.

I often hear people saying that after the wedding all you have are the photos. I think more important than the photos are the memories. I’m not sure that any photo can evoke waking up on your first day of being married, watching the sunrise over perfect white dunes near the southern most tip of Africa, freezing cold wind coming from the south, whales breaching the water less than 200 meters away. Hugging each other, wrapped in his jacket, smiling, happy. I like to capture those moments, but I’m not sure that any photos can be a patch on those memories.

I did write down some stuff in my journal, but they are early morning ramblings. Awake because it’s too silent, I can almost hear my neurons snap. For someone used to the snap snap of an electric fence, sleep is difficult. I spent a lot of time staring across the vlei, De Hoop is one of those microspots that make you believe that the world is a beautiful place.

I was going to write a separate post about Souli and Rozanne’s day after shoot, up and awake at 6am after being asleep for only two hours because their photographer promised them the best sunrise on the dunes. The night before a smudged memory of family and friends partying and hollering de hoop hoop. Greek dancing and emotions. Plates and a whole lot of shooters – most common heard phrase of the night, “let’s have some shooters!” We saw whales, many whales, leaping out of the water like National Geographic was auditioning. Amazing people, out of this world decor and location … I could carry on.

So I didn’t get any vendor details, cause I’m terrible at that. I can tell you that De Hoop was incredible in terms of service, food and pretty much everything. The decor, as you can see was insane, I did ask where the cutout pop-up bird place mats came from (Kaalkop) ’cause I thought they rocked.

[ quick update : 12 Oct ] – the wedding was put together by the rockstars at Antoinette Events. V and I were super impressed with the organisation and efficiency, and I know that Rozanne and Souli were as well.

The videographer was Jacques from Guava Graphics who was very unobtrusive and generally a nice guy – highly recommended if you need a videographer in the Cape area.

Ok, once last thing, we take on very few destination weddings every year, I am petrified of flying, and V and I are both very grateful to have been able to shoot this one for you guys.

More pics from Rozanne and Souli’s off the map wedding on our facebook page.

More pics from Rozanne and Souli’s off the map wedding on our facebook page.

real weddings, de hoop nature reserve weddings, de hoop nature reserve, RYAN SOULI, vrede en lust wedding venue photos, rozanne and souli, nature bride photography, 

just backing up the images … a full set a bit later – I’ve put up a selection on our facebook page.

backgrounds for indian wedding album, wedding indian album, wedding album layout, rain beach wedding, lighting up a beach wedding, indian wedding picture albums, indian wedding photography albums, 

It occurred to me yesterday that I prefer small weddings, it was a thought that was immediately followed by the realization that I have a preference about weddings!? I think I’ve only ever been to one wedding where I wasn’t the photographer, and that includes siblings and even extended family.

I think it has to do with the fact that the bride and groom know everyone and it’s just a close group of people having a blast. Saturday was one of those kinds of weddings, you could tell everyone was having fun. Of course the whole Benoni factor didn’t hurt, and the fact that Sam went to Rhodes … well … we all know about Rhodes people.

The venue was the Londmeadow Piano Lounge which is probably one of the most relaxed, hang-out-in-the-garden-while-the-sun-sets venues in Johannesburg. All my memories of this place are of really friendly people having fun. Lots of photos of friends and family being themselves.

Right, some pics, but before that our usual facebook announcement that you can find more photos from Sam and James’ very very casual wedding on our Facebook page.

you can find more photos from Sam and James’ very very casual wedding on our Facebook page.

wedding poses, long meadows fourways, longmeadow fourways, Wedding Photography Poses, long meadows, longmeadow, longmeadows fourways, 

If you’re a wedding photographer you often get the ‘what is the wildest/weirdest/oddest/coolest thing you’ve seen at a wedding’ question. I go blank, nothing, nada, my mind is a Siberian landscape, empty. Yesterday at Shepstone Gardens the groom hypnotized a chicken. There, I’ve said it, the coolest/oddest thing that’s happened to me at a wedding is the groom hypnotizing a chicken. Right, so back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

You’ve got to admit that a groom who can hypnotize a chicken is pretty cool, and after the obligatory banter from the groomsmen having to do with how he managed to get the bride to go out with him our photoshoot got underway. I still think it was cool, and I guess most guys at heart are still that 15-year-old who think hypnotizing chickens is cool. Ok, ok, back to the wedding.

Bryan and Dom were supercool to hang out with, Dom even brought a chocolate bar because there is a rumor floating about that I’m hypoglycemic, just fun and always keen for a bit of a laugh and a royal wave. They, or is it just Bryan, have a serious book fetish which they incorporated into their decor and for a while I wanted to just post that bit from ‘The Notebook’ that Bryan quoted in his speech, but then I wouldn’t have been able to tell you about the chicken.

Before we post some of the wedding photos, I just wanted to give a shout out to Eve from Splendid Affairs who did the co-ordination, decor and flowers. Every email we sent out over the last month was swiftly responded to, she and V worked on the timelines so that we had time to do everything and nothing was rushed and Dom and Bryan even had a few minutes to watch the sunset, and here comes the quote, simply one of the best coordinators we’ve worked with in a long time.

I even have a list of the other suppliers so I can mention them. The food was by Taste Explosion (fantastic as always, although I couldn’t bring myself to eat the chicken kebabs with the now unhypnotized chicken watching me), and Ultramel was the DJ who kept the dancefloor going without resorting to the usual wedding tunes.

more images from their rocking wedding on our facebook page, and a reminder about respecting our copyright.

more images from their rocking wedding on our facebook page.

shepstone gardens, www shepstonegardens co za, garden wedding pictures, shepstone gardens weddings, jewish wedding venues in johannesburg, kosher wedding venues johannesburg, wedding venue shepstone gardens, 

Even though it sometimes feels like we spend half of our lives there, The Westcliff is one of our favorite wedding venues in Johannesburg. Elegant and classic and for some reason we seem to photograph a lot of people from the East Rand here. Being a not quite reformed ex-Benoni boy myself, we tend to get along. Funny story here, not sure where I heard it, but someone’s cousin or friend (let’s go with cousin) came through from the States and the first place they wanted to go to was Benoni, because really gorgeous women come from there.

Anyway, we had a blast. Alroy and I spent a lot of time joking about until V pointed out that I should probably be taking more photos. Yeah, ok. I already had tons of killer bee images, you couldn’t really mess up with two very natural people who were massively in love. Let’s see what else, it’s been a couple of days and my memory isn’t that great. Dominique was just cool and fun to hang out with, completely unstressed and just being herself, Alroy gave one of the nicest groom speeches we’ve heard in a while, sincere and genuine and full of love for his wife. Just a really cool genuine bunch of people.

Oh, I almost forgot the cake, you had to be there to actually appreciate this cake. I took a lot of photos, but you really had to be there to see all the tiny exquisite details. Dom’s father is a Chef de Patisserie (I hope I got that right) and made the cake himself. There was some discussion in the Eyal household as to whether the cake should have its own blog post.

Check out Dom and Alroy’s super elegant wedding on our facebook page.

Check out Dom and Alroy’s super elegant wedding on our facebook page.

alroy & dominique wedding, dror eyal oh, 

We were at Shepstone Gardens this weekend for Sarika and Nico’s seriously classic wedding, filled with symbolism and family history. I love weddings with a really strong sense of the coming together of two families and a sense of having come from somewhere, framed photos of past weddings and mom’s dress incorporated into Sarika’s style. In case you didn’t notice Sarika rocked a serious Marilyn vibe, she also couldn’t stop smiling and laughing, actually neither did Nico. Too easy photographing such happy people.

Do you remember Madel and De Clercq? She’s the bride in that image where the tree bark looks like a wing at Anderland – one of my favorite photos. Anyway, they’re good friends with Sarika and Nico and we got to see them this weekend. Really cool to see old clients and have a quick catch up.

We were out in the sun, a warm winter’s day, beautiful views across Johannesburg, the sound of the upright bass mixing with the hooting of taxis and a classical guitar, a very chilled happy afternoon. Killer bee wedding. I also got to shoot with our super stylish friend Andrea, who is always a pleasure to spend an afternoon with.

more images from Nico and Sarika’s wedding can be found on our facebook page.

Another quick note to please not steal our images – you can find our usage fees and conditions on our vendor page.

more images from Nico and Sarika’s wedding can be found on our facebook page.

sarika and nirob wedding pictures, sarikas pic, sarika and nirob marriage, nirob sarika wedding,