Kapa's Blog

Although the weather was consistent rain for the entire day, this couple and their entire bridal party were fantastic. Smiles, laughter and a super relaxed atmosphere for some fantastic shots.

A proud father looks on the moment before Cherie is about to walk into the church.

There were some lovely floral arrangements in the church.

A relaxed candid.

Here is a tip if you’re getting married. Book a hotel that has a great foyer, bar, and plenty of interesting spaces inside. Hotels usually have no issue with the bridal party using their premises for photographs. As the rain didn’t stop for most of the day, we headed to the Sydney Park Hyatt and took quite a large variety of shots, this one my favourite.

When we were heading to the reception, we stopped off at the Museum for 10 minutes of some quick outdoor shots (it was still raining), and we had a bit more fun there as well.

in the name of love, before your break my heart

Today I photographed a Macedonian Orthodox wedding. The family was traditional and followed the customs from the old country. Since my approach is candid and I have a photojournalist style, I’m focussing today the candid images that captured these traditions.

At the grooms house in the morning, there is a party atmosphere with a live band greeting guests as they arrive and Michael & his family dancing with them in the driveway before entering where plenty of food & alcohol was waiting as part of the celebration.

It was a community effort in preparing bread, with plenty of salt & lolly bears. The stick used to mix the dough had a couple of rings on it. Although the mum & daughter pictured in aprons were preparing it, the boy had to hold the stick that mixed it.

The final product with Michael & Blaga’s initials before taken to be baked.

Not just a Macedonian tradition, the groom is shaved in preparation for his wedding.

Bread is broken and shared with the meal at lunch.

Just before the groom leaves the house, a glass of water is kicked over outside the front door.

At the church, when the bride arrives she gives the koumbaro a towel and ties a ribbon on his arm.

Towards the end of the service, Blaga & Michael are wrapped in a shoal. I find this is quite a romantic image they way they’re wrapped, holding hands & focusing on the priests words.

During The Dance of Isaiah, chocolates, money and rice are thrown over the procession onto the brides dress tail.

Commonly known as Kerry & Nick, however that’s what was printed on the invite so that’s what I’ll call them here. It’s great when I attend a wedding as an invited guest with my wife and kids, and this was one of those occasions. I travelled light (equipment wise) and only had my Canon P&S that I was raving about recently, makes a HUGE difference carrying something the size of a deck of cards that slips into your pants pocket. Once again, I was impressed by the performance of this little unit, here are some of my favourites:

The service was held at the Greek Orthodox Parish & Community of St. Nectarios and I sat upstairs with my family where I took this image of Kerry’s dress, would have loved to have had one of my long lens’s and SLR to pick up the detail in it.

Outside the kids were given bubbles while the adults had to settle for rice & confetti.

Kerry & Nick leaving the church showered in whatever was thrown on them.

For their first dance they were surrounded by smoke, romantic light, and each other.

Today I had a beach wedding, at a great location overlooking the ocean called Shellys Beach – Cronulla. Mandy and Wazza would have to be the most relaxed & down to earth couple I have come across in a long time, and the atmosphere was a true reflection of this.

The weather in the morning was fantastic for the beach, I was putting on sunscreen & making sure I had my hat in my bag, however by the time 3pm came along, a sutherly had changed the weather to heavy overcast, cool, windy & threatening a thunderstorm.

Irrespective of the prevailing weather conditions, still managed to take some gorgeous shots taking advantage of the surrounding lanscape & scenery

The guys were fun, here they are posing for the next Australia’s Most Wanted poster.

A couple of Mandy, I couldn’t take a bad shot of her even if I tried.

At the reception, every table had a couple of disposable camera’s for the guests to play with. This kid was my aprentice for the night

Candid’s are my favourite type of shots, and this one of Mandy grabbing a piece of the action early during their first dance is one of my favourites of the day.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been to a Macadonian Orthodox Wedding, and if I’m not mistaken, the last time I was at the same church, Saint Kiril & Metodija in Rosebury NSW. Now, from a person who doesn’t understand a word of Macadonian, I can tell you one thing, Orthodox is Orthodox and I knew exactly what was happening now & what was going to happen next. This may sound trivial however it’s important to be at the right spot to capture those signifiant moments, the rings, the crowning, the ceremonial walk.

Audri & Daniel share their first kiss as a married couple.

Our first stop for photo’s was at a unique location called Jacksons Landing. This is an old wharf that has been converted to offices, and there is even a function centre upstairs….. I’ll mention it’s name next time I have a job there

Audri & Daniel with the coathanger in the background.

I suppose I should explain to the non-Sydney visitors of my blog. The ‘coathanger’ is the what the locals call the Sydney Harbour Bridge. There was a fresh breeze blowing at the end of the wharf, and with Audri’s beautifull veil we captured some free-flowing images of it.

The flower girl (pictured) made me laugh. I called her Lexi since that’s what Audri & Daniel were calling her, she snapped at me with “my name is Alexia”. Attitude at that age, guys look out.

On the other side of the wharf Audri & Daniel sat down for a glass of champagne & a rest.

Cheers & congratulations.

There are many great things about living in Australia, one of them is the multiculturalism. It’s a real eye opener when different cultures come together in celebration of a wedding, and today I had the absolute pleasure of photographing Joanne & Connors wedding day. Joanne comes from a Lebanese background, Connor from an Irish. The ceremony was at St Bridget’s Catholic Church at Coogee.

Joanne and Connor share a moment during the service.

Although both sides of the family were from different cultural backgrounds, the day went like any other typical day.
Here I captured a candid of a couple of Conner’s aunts putting the final touches on his mum.

Just a short walk from the church, is where the reception was held, the Coogee Crown Plaza. Joanne and Connor were also spending their first night together at this hotel, between the service & reception we went up to their room to capture some images of the breathtaking view from their balcony, and a few of them as well
Just past the breaks from Coogee Beach, is “Wedding Cake Island”, I kid you not.

If you have never been to an Arabic wedding, there is one thing they do which is a fantastic way to start the reception & get everyone into the party mood. When the bride & groom enter the reception, they do so accompanied by a drummer & loud very loud music. They enter dancing with the drum beating & everybody gets up and dances with them.

Now the Irish are known for their partying, and not to be outdone when the Irish band started playing, everybody got up & was dancing again.

Joanne & Conner leading by example that everyone was here to P A R T Y.

During some random internet searching I came across this site, quoted from the front page:

Go ahead, you know you want to. Trash it. Get it dirty. Get it wet. Roll around in the mud. Drench it in the ocean. Totally trash it. Why? … Why not? You’ve made a commitment to your husband. He’s your one and only true love, right? Then you’ll never need the dress again. And no, your daughter won’t wear it in 20-30 years. So you have two choices: 1) Suffocate it in plastic and throw it in a closet 2) Show your husband how committed you are by trashing the dress, and get some great fun pictures while you do it!

Now click on this link and see how a number of Brides have “trashed their wedding dress”, there’s some fantastic shots & some ideas you may want to try if you’re willing

Sunday had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Katherine and Brendan. Instead of posting some regular photos, thought I would share some of the detailed pictures I take. These images are generally used in the final album, background, corners, special effects, faded, and various different ways.

The rings, one of the first things I ensure gets captured at every wedding.

At an orthodox wedding, there is always a lit candle at the front.

Some wedding cakes have amazing detail, as the roses on this one.

At the reception there was a nice touch on the bar, chocolates & candles.

Today I had the pleasure of photographing Bianca’s & Paul’s wedding. The building Lauriston House is where the ceremony & reception took place. The weather was definitely, not in our favor:

• Grooms house – rain
• Brides house – pouring rain
• Lauriston house – rain, slight break & more rain.

It’s ironic that Sydney is experiencing the worst drought in 1000 years yet we still manage weather like this. The ceremony was meant to have taken place in the beautiful gardens however the weather forced it indoors. Later in the evening after the rain had stopped and the formalities were over we managed sneak outside & capture some shots like this one.

I love old sandstone, 1800′s period buildings. In the daytime they provide texture / grain which compliments portrait photography. At night if they’re lit up correctly, they look even better.

Bianca & Paul, thanks for sharing your day with me & hope you have a long & happy life together.

Kapa