I am simply lost for words. I want to draw you in to this wedding, for you to get a glimpse of what was a very special day... a day set aside for two people, who love each other deeply and wholeheartedly!
We are still buzzing. It was SUCH a privilege to photograph Sean & Elizabeth's wedding... for more reasons than I can even begin to describe! Firstly I want to acknowledge that there will be a lot of people reading this blog on the other side of the world - back in Elizabeth and Sean's home - Alberta, Canada. Heaps of family and friends who love and cherish this awesome couple, and who would have LOVED to have been present at their wedding day! I hope through viewing these images you can feel like you were more than part of it - like you were amongst the love and laughter, and tears, the emotion and the story. You have shaped and developed the love that was celebrated on this awesome day, and I hope these photographs can do that justice for you. We definitely felt the weight and importance of this while we were shooting - and we now have the privilege of sharing their day with you. For this reason, and because we loved the whole day so much, this will be an unusually large post for a very small wedding!!!
Sean and Elizabeth emailed me saying that they were coming over from Canada to get married on the 5th of November at Cargill's Castle, and they would love us to photograph this life changing experience for them. My first thoughts were... a) they must be meaning November 2013, and b) they must be just confusing Cargill's for Larnach's Castle.... no one is allowed into the ruins of Cargill's Castle!
Turns out... nope! They were arriving in just 20 days time to get married in Dunedin's most glorious, mysterious, secretive, unknown gem... Cargill's Castle.
We are still buzzing. It was SUCH a privilege to photograph Sean & Elizabeth's wedding... for more reasons than I can even begin to describe! Firstly I want to acknowledge that there will be a lot of people reading this blog on the other side of the world - back in Elizabeth and Sean's home - Alberta, Canada. Heaps of family and friends who love and cherish this awesome couple, and who would have LOVED to have been present at their wedding day! I hope through viewing these images you can feel like you were more than part of it - like you were amongst the love and laughter, and tears, the emotion and the story. You have shaped and developed the love that was celebrated on this awesome day, and I hope these photographs can do that justice for you. We definitely felt the weight and importance of this while we were shooting - and we now have the privilege of sharing their day with you. For this reason, and because we loved the whole day so much, this will be an unusually large post for a very small wedding!!!
Sean and Elizabeth emailed me saying that they were coming over from Canada to get married on the 5th of November at Cargill's Castle, and they would love us to photograph this life changing experience for them. My first thoughts were... a) they must be meaning November 2013, and b) they must be just confusing Cargill's for Larnach's Castle.... no one is allowed into the ruins of Cargill's Castle!
Turns out... nope! They were arriving in just 20 days time to get married in Dunedin's most glorious, mysterious, secretive, unknown gem... Cargill's Castle.
Elizabeth is a beautiful girl, inside and out. And she is clearly multi-talented!! She did her own gorgeous hair and make-up. She had made all the little details herself - after months of planning, designing, decorating, and organising... they then travelled over from Canada with everything! Including her absolutely STUNNING (and very heavy) Vera Wang wedding dress!! Not a bad idea when it scores you an upgrade to first class!
They sourced flowers on the day of the wedding in a city they didn't know, and Elizabeth put together her own bouquet and Sean's buttonhole. She even handmade her gorgeous pearl jewellery!!
The colour scheme was white-on-white... with the occasional splash of bright colour! Love it.
One of the things Elizabeth loved the most about her dress... was that it had pockets!!! What more could a girl, who had no bridesmaids, want?! "I need somewhere to put my lipgloss!"
We shared in the anticipation of the unfolding events with Elizabeth. Sean had headed off to the Castle, and we spent the last hour with Elizabeth at the Bluestone On George hotel, before she went to meet her groom. She was nervous, but getting more and more beautiful by the minute! When I say it was a huge honour and privilege to be at this wedding, I don't just mean to photograph it. I was the one doing up her dress, moments before she made the biggest step of her life.
Because they came so far by themselves to get married, none of their family and friends were there to celebrate with them. But Elizabeth had done a couple of awesome things to keep her parents close by on her wedding day - her "something blue" was a piece of her Dad's old blue t-shirt that she cut out and stitched onto the bottom front of her wedding dress...
And she wore a special bracelet identical to one she gifted to her mother...
Before they made it to New Zealand, Elizabeth had accidentally put a hole in the front of her gorgeous designer wedding dress. For any other bride this could have been a major breakdown moment... but she was just so cruisy and fun! A friend in Canada gave her a sticky plaster to put over it, but that got lost in transit... so her "something borrowed" was a band-aid from my handbag, which she wanted stuck right over the hole, on top of the dress!! Tee hee...
With everything finally ticked off the list, we made our way to the wedding car... which was covered in rain drops after a day of pretty horrid weather. Thankfully the rain had stopped completely just before we left... and it stayed away for the rest of the evening!
We finally made it down the long windy road to the castle ruins.... where a groom waited patiently for his gorgeous bride.
Cargill's Castle is a bit of a mystery to most people around Dunedin. Most locals have heard of it, but never seen it, or know anything about it really. It isn't open to the public, as there are some pretty major safety hazards... and it most certainly is not a wedding venue! Somehow (I am still not sure how!), Elizabeth and Sean had found this magical castle on the side of a cliff all the way from Canada, and had managed to wrangle permission to get married there. I do have to stress that, while they have given me permission to blog about it, the owners do not want further requests for weddings there, as it just isn't possible. The plan is for this beautiful, historic landmark to be restored in the not too distant future, so that it can become open to the public and the mystery can be unravelled a bit.
But there we go, reason #431 why it was a MAJOR privilege to photograph this wedding. It was a photographer's DREAM!
But there we go, reason #431 why it was a MAJOR privilege to photograph this wedding. It was a photographer's DREAM!
I think, for all 7 people there (bride, groom, me, Liam, celebrant, car driver, and groundsman!), this wedding was one of firsts. First time at the magnificent venue, first time at such an intimate wedding... and the first time the ceremony has been the most hilariously relaxed and cutest thing in the world! Elizabeth forgot to bring her vows, but that didn't matter, she found them online on Liam's iphone... and Sean had to go on a wee hunt for the rings in the middle of the ceremony too! There definitely were lots of giggles...
And the wedding dress pockets came in handy when tissues were needed... as Elizabeth promised to always love him unconditionally, be the one to catch the spiders, and to let him win some arguments even if she thinks he is wrong.
"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."
And then... they were husband and wife!
To share in the marriage of these two awesome people was amazing. To sign as a witness, and to be part of something magical that only 5 people saw... incredible.
Signed and sealed...
Signed and sealed...
Time to celebrate!!
Cheers all round for the happy couple!
I told you this was going to be a big one... pleeeeeease go on to Part II of this blog... there is so much more goodness to share! (I promise I will do less story-telling though!) Just click on the picture below for their stunning first dance and photo shoot...
I told you this was going to be a big one... pleeeeeease go on to Part II of this blog... there is so much more goodness to share! (I promise I will do less story-telling though!) Just click on the picture below for their stunning first dance and photo shoot...
