We met with both the guys and the girls at the Goldridge Resort in Queenstown as they prepared for the big afternoon ahead! Becky's intricate and beautiful dress took a while to get on, but it was soooo worth it! Stunning!!!

Happy tears for beautiful Becky...

Seth, Olivia, Emma and Lauren were the cutest wee bridal party kids!

This image reminds me of an ethereal world and a fairytale princess...

This was a highly anticipated wedding, and we had been looking forward to it all season! We got to work with some VERY awesome people for this wedding too! Becky and Omid enlisted the help of the extremely talented Emma, from Cherry on the Top Wedding Planning! I seriously recommend you check out what she can do for you... you will not be disappointed! Emma is super lovely, full of creative and beautiful ideas, and she will take care of all those details that fill up your mind to the point of insanity when you are planning a wedding! Emma, and her husband Michael, did a fantastic job of setting everything up and making sure it all ran smoothly on the day! Everything looked impeccable!

Arriving at Mt Soho...

Touches of Persian culture as soon as Becky arrived out the front... here esphand and frankincense are sprinkled on a brazier holding hot coals producing a smoke to ward off evil eyes and for purification.

A huge part of a Persian wedding is the 'wedding spread' (or Sofreh Aghd) which is laid before the couple for the ceremony. It is made of a luxurious fabric, and is a very elaborate and beautiful spread, including several kinds of food and decorations. Each item on the spread is intended to symbolize something unique - such as coins for prosperity, a basket of pomegranates and apples for a joyous future, a cup of rosewater to perfume the air, a prayer carpet and Holy Books, to remind the couple of the importance of prayer in both good and hard times, and to symbolize God's blessing for the couple, and a basket of decorated eggs and walnuts to symblise fertility! There is also a mirror, so that the first thing that the bridegroom sees in the mirror is the reflection of his wife-to-be.

While the couple says their vows, two sugar cubes are ground over a silk scarf over their heads, to symbolise sweetness and happiness!

Immediately after the couple is married, the bride and groom each dip one pinky finger in the cup of honey and feed it to one another, to begin their marriage with sweetness!

And there we have it - they are married!!!

But wait, there's more! Don't go away yet... check out Part II for their awesome photo shoot around stunning Mt Soho...

What's the first thing you do when you are a married couple?? Go to the Magic Memory Making Machine of course! Becky and Omid had The Amazing Travelling Photobooth to entertain their guests while we were away... another thing I definitely recommend if you are planning a wedding!

So.much.fun!

Cherry on the Top also planned an awesome Easter Egg hunt for the kids... see, told you they thought of everything!

Gorgeous girls!

Surrounded by the spectacular Queenstown mountains, and nestled away in their own wee haven, Becky and Omid had some alone time to watch the sun set (along with some big stalker cameras)...

Some people move our souls to dance.

Back inside, even the grandparents got in on the photo booth action!

Gorgeous reception details by Cherry on the Top!

The speeches were great and Rebecca and Omid clearly have a lot of love and support around them. Omid made things a little emotional for the bridesmaids though...

One of the final Persian traditions for the night was the knife dance... where the bridesmaids steal the cake knife, and perform a typical Persian dance with it! The couple is expected to give money to the dancer in exchange for the knife, but the dancer will withhold the knife and pass it onto another bridesmaid to begin it all over again! This was awesome to watch - these bridesmaids were so good at not giving over the knife that Omid had to borrow money from other people too before they could finally cut their cake!

Mount Soho Winery is a gorgeous venue, and we were sooooo impressed with how willing they were to personalise things especially for Becky and Omid! We were privvy to some of the hard work that went into this wedding when we met with Becky and Omid (and a lot of the other vendors) at Mt Soho a few months prior, and we got to taste test some of the Persian foods that Occasionz Catering were personalising for them!

THANK YOU Becky and Omid!!! We loved shooting your big day... it was so amazingly organised and you did such a great job of everything!! The love you share is inspiring and beautiful, we look forward to catching up with you through many years of happy marriage! Lots of love xoxo

PS - since this blog seems to be full of shout outs to other wonderful vendors too, I better not forget that we were privileged to work with Australian videographer, Danae, from Me & My Camera Wedding Films, so I am looking forward to seeing what she came up with throughout the day!

I flew to Christchurch for their engagement session, and it was so great to catch up again! I became friends with Alex at university too... and I hadn't seen her since then! We had such a great afternoon together in the hot sun (hard to believe I was scouting out indoor locations all morning in Chch because it was so wet!). We spent the afternoon around Governor's Bay - a place they love and have spent time at together.

These guys are so great together - they are completely supportive and obsessed with each other. They understand each other, and they know each other. A perfect match.

I love the intimacy of the moment just before a kiss. And I also love that moment being reflected back.

This is one of the most different and beautiful engagement rings I have ever seen. Kevin and Alex designed it together with a designer from Wanaka. This also happened long before Kevin proposed! But when he finally did pop the question... he did it well!!! This gorgeous glass rose was brought all the way back from Venice to propose with! It was stunning.

After a bit of driving around for some cool locations, we drove past this field and I made them stop the car and get out! It is a widely known fact that Alex's favourite colour is blue, so this gorgeous field and striking blue sky couldn't be passed up!

When you put two doctors together, you would almost think that would be enough skill for one relationship. But no, Alex and Kevin are one crazy talented pair. Between them they play the flute, piano, cello, guitar, keyboard, ukelele, clarinet, and tenor sax. Phew!

Jeeeepers, Christchurch people... did you know that this is at your back door?!

Kevin also LOVES his gardening and I saw the fruits of his labour at their awesome house! I really admire people who get so much enjoyment out of gardening. I think I am too impatient for it myself, but I do looooove and appreciate sunflowers!

You are a beautiful couple! Alex you are going to be an amazing bride and I just cannot wait to see you next time in your gorgeous wedding dress! Thanks for entertaining me for the afternoon and also for that delicious plate of delectable chocolates from She Chocolat! Makes me full just thinking about it! We must go back again one day... ;)

All the best for your wedding planning!! I hope you love your engagement pictures xoxoxo

Enough of the boys just for now... let me take you to the pretty girls!

Kelly is unbelievably gorgeous. She is one of those girls who just captivates you because her beautiful smile is so genuine and vibrant! She radiates happiness and makes you feel like you are one of the most awesome people in the world at that moment, even if you have actually done nothing... a very rare gift! She is so encouraging, excitable and just utterly lovely!

And her sister Sarah, and best friends, Kaz and Kura, are also stunning girls who just made the day a breeze! We loved working with all these girls!

I LOVE how expressive Kelly is!

Kelly's gorgeous dress was bought in Dunedin, and altered to fit her perfectly. However, when she went to put it on not long before the ceremony, she realised it hadn't actually been finished off properly inside, and it was missing a few vital ribbons! I honestly still cannot get over how calmly and amazingly Kelly dealt with this slight mishap! A few phone calls later, and a lady from the bridal shop was up in an instant, sewing up Kelly's dress while she was in it!!!

And her Dad thinks she looks pretty darn amazing in the finished product!!!

Off to meet her husband-to-be at the gorgeous North Taieri Church!

And they were so excited to become husband and wife!!!

About now was where the tears welled up in me while I was editing. I totally adore this series of all the grandparents hugging Kelly and Mark and sharing their wisdom and knowledge.

During the family photos after the ceremony, we had a very sudden but awesome shower of little autumn leaves... it was like natural confetti!

And juuust before we left with the bridal party for location shoot (and consequently, just before it began to bucket down with rain!), we snuck back into the church for another couple of gorgeous portraits!

I have learnt that some computers or browsers aren't coping with some of my blogs and going a bit spazzo... so in an attempt to rectify that... I will now continue onto Part II of Kelly and Mark's blog... make sure you check it out... this is where it gets really good!!

The whole bridal party were absolute troopers getting out in the rain! I think the raindrops in the background of the following photos totally add something to them... rain can be ah-mazing.

I'm just gonna put it out there... these two are going to have the most beautiful babies ever!

Some guests watching on from the best seats in the house!

We walked around the corner to this gorgeous patch of cute little white flowers, and look who decided to join us! Life couldn't have been more perfect!

Liam and I dropped off Kelly and Mark's full set of photos to them last night.  They were talking about how much they loved the photo shoot part of the day, because they could get away and just snuggle and have some time together; that's all you wanna do when you have just married your best friend!!! And secretly Kelly was totally loving how much Mark was loving it and getting into it too!!

Soooo romantic!

Kelly and Mark, and your whole bridal party... you guys were super fun and amazingly good-looking! Thanks again for having fun with us, getting out in the rain and just saying 'of course!' to all our crazy requests! We loved your wedding day and we hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed taking them! XOX

 And some details... always love pretty bridal things!

Susan literally had to step out of her room and she was at the beginning of the aisle to Bryce, so she was able to have a quick wee peek at her husband-to-be standing out on the lawn very nervously when he arrived!!

Love this! Cute grandparents watching on eagerly!

Despite it being an absolutel pearler of a day, the wind still decided to have a bit of a battle with her veil! Susan just laughed all day long though... nothing was a problem at all!

And that scenery couldn't get much better!

Beautiful girls!

Reeeeow! You look amazing Susan!!

Two year old Isla flew over from Australia the day before the wedding, and she was the sweetest little flowergirl!! She was very serious all day, until we reached this one location, where the wee poppet couldn't stop smiling!! Maybe the jetlag finally wore off?!

Blowing bubbles never gets old.

Susan and Bryce, thanks heaps for asking us to capture your day!! You just seem so natural and perfect together, and it was such an honour to be part of your big day!! All the best for everything. Can't wait to get your beautiful display prints to you! xoxox