Bridal gown: Rheinola Skarr
Florist: Charlotte Cowie, Red Fragrance Floral Design
Make up: Roxy 2 Foxy

The mirror was used by her grandmother on her wedding day 62 years ago and she passed it on to her mother and now it has been passed on to Kim on her wedding day

Each necklace was engraved with the bridesmaids’ initial of their name.

Kim and Adrian got married at the beautiful St Thomas’ Anglican church in North Sydney.

A cute alternative to flower baskets for the flower girls. Love these signs!

It’s been a long day already for the little ones!

This is the very spot where Adrian proposed to Kim…

Being such huge Mac fans, they made sure they could stop by the Apple store on their way to the reception!

A rare sight as they left the building and the crowd on all floors applauding them!

We met up with Ram + Sabrina at The Louvre on a rather dreary, drizzly Paris afternoon.  But inspite of the weather, Ram + Sabrina’s warmth and infectious laughs brightened up the day! We had a wonderful time wandering around the grounds of The Louvre and the adjoining Jardin des Tuileries together getting to know them and getting a few shots along the way and the warm hot chocolate after was a perfect way to end the cold wet afternoon, thanks Ram!

Ram + Sabrina, thanks so much for the company and fun that afternoon and over the weekend in Paris. We look forward to getting to know the two of you better at church this year!

After braving the narrow windy roads of the Amalfi Coast, not to mention getting used to driving on the other side of the road as well…we made it into Positano.

This part of the trip was quite a change from Rome, breathing in the fresh air on the coast and waking up to an amazing sunrise each day which we had from our hotel balcony. We stayed at The Hotel Villa Franca which had awesome views which of course meant that we were right at the top…. and to get to the beach and town or back we had to climb some 800 steps.

We were recommended by a friend to explore some of the walking tracks- one in particular was called the Sentiero Degli Dei (Path of the gods). This track was supposed to be an easy walk between the towns of Praiano and Positano high up in the hills. One website said the walk starts at either Bomerano or at Praiano. It did say that if starting from Praiano, that you first had to climb a long staircase. As the bus didn’t go to Bomerano, we decided to start from Praiano. What we shortly discovered that what the website failed to mention was that this “long staircase” was actually and extremely long staircase! So long it took us almost 2 hours to climb up it! And the staircase wasn’t even part of the Sentiero Degli Dei.. it only led you to join the track! We climbed higher and higher up the peaks of the mountains over the Amalfi Coast past a monastery perched up the side of the mountain till we finally reached the actual track!

To say that the views from the track were amazing would be an understatement! Over the course of the trek, we past goats, orchards, ruined shacks and secluded shrines.

We were told it was a fairly easy track that should take a couple of hours but realized that we were climbing up the mountains across 4 towns. After 6 hours and rationing 2 bottles of water, we finally were on the track down to back to Positano as you can see from the photo saying there were 1700 steps to go! Toward the end of the track we found a dog waiting there for us, almost sent to lead us back to base. All I can say is that I probably did more exercise that day than I had done in the whole of 2011!

Part of the charm of the Amalfi Coast is to discover and explore each of the different towns. Each town has its own unique flavor and personality. We loved the remoteness of Ravello and the busyness of Amalfi and the laid back feel of Positano. We’re really glad we visited in winter. The weather was beautiful, and though we weren’t able to cruise to Capri, we were glad not to be swamped with the tourist crowds. It was just blissful to enjoy a beach or town practically all to yourself.

What a wonderful part of the world. We hope to be able to come back again one day… till then we have these photos to look back on and reminisce on memories and experiences forged.

It’s been an amazing journey so far…awesome seeing our ancient history classes come alive right before our eyes, finding little idiosyncrasies about each town or city like why there are so many sausage dog (or cross sausage dog breed) owners in Italy? And…finding funny signs like the one below about  keeping off the grass.. what grass? Also… I  thought I had it figured out – the less impressive the gelato looks in the shop window (usually hidden away) usually means that it tastes heaps better.

We decided not to bring a compact camera this time but instead travelled with two SLRs so we wouldn’t be fighting over the camera like we have on past trips! Of course this meant that we were lugging around more weight on the 20+ train rides and planes but it was all worth it. Looking back on our photos in the past, it’s almost like we were there but not present if that makes sense! We don’t take photos of ourselves which is something that we laugh about because the scenery looks so much better than us and we tend to destroy the photos. So this time, we’ve been conscious to stick in a tourist shot or two just for a bit of balance.

Shooting purely for ourselves has been such a rare occurrence in the last few years as life just goes by and ironically when you are working with a camera in your hand, sometimes your free time just needs to be without a camera in hand…. but without our cameras, it feels like we’re missing a limb sometimes! It’s taken a while to get back into the zone but it has taught us a immensely about how differently we both individually see the world, what we look for in the same settings and what we are drawn to.

Paul is definitely gifted in landscape photography where I love catching beautiful light, expressions, fleeting moments and quirky settings. We’ve been so richly blessed this trip with some absolutely amazing weather and light! I was afraid that travel in winter would mean dark, dreary, short days that would be devoid of any light and color. But instead though the days have been short, it means however that the direction and quality of light has been nothing short of beautiful.

So, here is the collection of our photos from our 10 week European trip starting with Part #1 – Rome.

Driving into Rome city from the airport, we both had to pick up our jaws off the floor of the taxi as we drove past the Colosseum for the first time. We couldn’t believe we were seeing it with our own eyes! Paul booked us into this fantastic B&B (B&B Trevi Roma) just a stone’s throw from the Trevi Fountain. It was the perfect location to walk and explore the city from. Later we discovered much to our delight that it is also one street away from one of the best gelato bars in Rome – San Crispino! So good was the gelato there that we ended up going back 3 or 4 times! Sorry no photos though, cos the gelato didn’t last long enough for us to take the camera out!

Other highlights of Rome included doing a Segway tour on our first day there. We reckon it was the best and most fun way of getting around the city and getting your bearings on the first day. A highlight of that tour was being asked by the tour guide to look through a tiny keyhole before he explained to us where we were. (Find the photo next to the Swiss guard) We were amazed at the view that we saw but even more amazed that we were looking at three states in the one photo – Knights of Malta (we stood at the door of their Embassy which is recognized as a separate state), St Peters Basilica in Vatican City and Rome.

See if you can tell who shot what and we’re looking forward to coming back refreshed and re-inspired to create some amazing photos for your wedding and family portraits.

Enjoy!

To kick off the new year, here’s an Engagement Shoot with an ukulele, a boyfriend pillow and tons of laughs! Not your typical engagement shoot, but personal and reflective nonetheless of Nat + Brian. We had such a great time chilling with these two and can’t wait for their wedding later in Feb!

Brian gave Nat a “boyfriend pillow” sometime back to keep her company while he was overseas. From the looks of these next few photos, Nat is still very attached to it!

Party Styling: Sophisticated Yum
Mermaid printables: Ham & Pea Design & Paperie
Cookies & cake: Spoon & Fork
Ruffle tablecloth: Vintage Sew & So
Macarons: Her Macarons
Pearl balls: Zsa Zsas Delights
Mermaid girls outfits & accessories: AnK Bowtique
Ribbon Wand party favors: Pinwheels & Pearls
Partyware: The Party Studio
Kids party table & chairs: Tiny Tots Toy Hire

“tickle the imagination” is an exciting new online magazine celebrating the handmade and creative community in Australia.
Released quarterly, they aim to inspire creativity… showcasing talented artists, crafters and designers, discovering emerging talent and sharing real-life stories and diy projects.
Be inspired by gorgeous images, take a peek into the lives of artists and designers and discover ways to include creativity & handmade into your everyday living!

Click here to check out the rest of the magazine – from Pg 24

First up, we want to share an engagement shoot of a couple whose wedding we’re really looking forward to early in 2012. Imogen is your typical care free aussie chick, and Simon is one charming pommie bloke. They met each other working over in England and have since moved back to sunnier climes in Sydney.

We met up with them to do their E-shoot around the streets of Sydney’s Eastern suburbs where they live. We had a great time just walking the streets seeing what we came across. The day started off a bit overcast but the sun really came out towards the end when we got down to the water!

Hope you enjoy this snippet of the fun we had that day.

If you receive our newsletter, you would have read that we have been expanding, meeting a more eclectic mix of clients and also offering some new products! We’re excited to share and inspire you with some awesome ways to share your favourite photos with family and friends.

First up, we have these really cool acrylic tiles. Your photos are mounted behind a block of acrylic about 2-4cm thick which give your images a three dimensional look and make your photos pop even more! They look really modern and come in a range of sizes. These would look perfect sitting on your desk at work, or on the shelf or mantelpiece!

The tiles come in 4 sizes: Large (30x30cm), Medium (30x20cm), Small (15x10cm) and Mini (10x10cm).

Next up, we have a series of gorgeous square canvases. We really believe that images take on a whole new dimension when arranged in a series. This series of our gorgeous god-daughter Lucy and her parents captured this precious time in their lives and looks amazing hung on the wall.

Another thing that we are doing differently this year is making sure that every print that leaves our studio is mounted and matted. Matts really finish off the look of your prints and ensure that they are protected. They look amazing on smaller prints and allows them to stand alone on an easel if you choose which make a great alternative to having them framed.

An oldie but a goodie… Frames! Now I know that I don’t frame my photos enough but when I eventually do it, I realise what a difference it makes! It’s one of those things that gets put off time and time again. So why not get us to frame your photos for you. We have a wide new selection of colurs + styles of frames to match any style or decor.

This frame shows the new feature which has an indent on the matt called V-groove. The V-groove adds that extra level of finish to your framed print and makes it look like a gallery showpiece!

Make sure to request the V-groove when ordering your frame!

V-grooves are also available for matted art prints.

Finally, you can’t go past a collection of images in a beautifully bound album. Modern albums are made using the highest quality materials, and we choose to use the best in the business, Queensberry!

One of our favourite albums from Queensberry are these new 8×8″ magazine style albums. These are a really great way to display and share your family portraits.

What does magazine style mean? Instead of a matted album where each photo is surrounded by card like what you see above, your photos are printed all the way to the edge of the page. These albums come with a variety of different cover choices and include 20 sides. Contact us to find out more about how you can order this with your next portrait session!

We also have a range of album covers and styles to choose from such as our new photo front album you can see below!

We’re always on the look out for new products and materials to display your photos. Sign up to receive our newsletter to keep up to date with our latest inclusions.

We hope you’ve been inspired by these products and are excited to see your amazing photos framed, mounted and bound. The most rewarding part of our job is when our clients come to collect their art prints, frames, canvases + albums – it’s then when the look on their faces really say it all and we are reminded that this is why we do what we do!