Keri and Mike

If anyone remembers February 23rd, 2008 - It will be for the bad stormy weather - after weeks of hot summer and perfect blue skies. We started out early from home, for Keri and Mike's wedding on Waiheke and travelled a long journey from our West Coast home, crossing the Waitemata harbour on the Sealink car ferry. The rolling choppy seas did nothing for my general health - and I concentrated as best I could on catching up with the latest gossip in a woman's magazine. We arrived at Kennedy Point in plenty of time, cruised over Waiheke, with me playing travel guide to my husband, who had only been once before when the children were very small. The wind was very fierce and the huge rolling surf coming in from east side of the Island around Oneroa and Onetangi was spectacular sight.

We journeyed up to Kereru Lodge in Cable Bay, where the wedding was to be held - hoping to find everything still in tack - and it was. The girls were busy - and not too stressed - if they were worried about the weather it didn't show. The benefits of having a wedding at Kereru Lodge - is that you have room to move and there is no panic about where to take the wedding photos in bad weather. The marquee had taken an entire day to erect and was not blowing away anywhere in a hurry!.

We then ventured down to Kiwi House - where the boys were getting ready in their very nice suits from Munns- grabbed a few shots and then we were back to catch the girls, dressing and putting on the finishing touches. Loved the cufflinks - silver rugby balls ! Keri's wedding gown by Louise Anderson - was stunning and had beautiful fine detail in rouching and beading. The gorgeous red rose bouquets by Grandiflora in Remuera

Keri's friend Karen - did an awesome job with wedding arrangements - being a professional wedding co-ordinator - it was wonderful! Red, black and white was simple yet elegant. :)

Keri and Mike's ceremony was perfect - and we were soon onto the wedding party photo session - which we held in the lodge - after a quick dash up the windy wet steps.

CROUCH -TOUCH -PAUSE- ENGAGE, a new theme in wedding photos - thanks guys (a.k.a. the boys) "awesome-yet cheeky"... and ladies, you were a lovely group...easy to photograph and very friendly - thanks it was a pleasure .

Congratulations to a great couple Keri and Mike!! After another scary, hairy, ride across the harbour ((gulp)) and we were home by 9.30pm.

Private Gallery now on line. Link and password info is via Keri and Mike.

Donna and Chris

Another lovely wedding held at Castaways Karioitahi recently. Donna and Chris were a great couple and lots of fun. Donna's gorgeous black dress was sourced north of Auckland at Orewa from - Chocolates for Breakfast (just the name encourages me to visit!) A surprise for Chris, (although he had suspected the dress would be different:) ) when they met prior to their wedding for a fun photo session at the beach. Donna loves animal prints and the setting at the wedding reception at Castaways was gold, black with a splash of animal print - including the cake - from Celebration Cakes in Manukau City. Donna's flowers were another totally original design from Scent "World famous in South Auckland" for the stunningly different floral designs they produce.

It was a very breezy day on the sunset coast- and I was quite relieved that Greer Dyson - (Donna and Chris's celebrant) had not worn one of her famous hats... I think it would have ended up way down the cliff in the surf and eventually made its way to the Australian Gold Coast ! Also - it was not a great day for "short" flowy dresses.... if you had a handbag in one hand and a glass in the other :)

A ring "warming" was carried out while Chris and Donna said their vows and the ladies present at the wedding were all given a beautiful red rose..

It was good to catch up with Donna and Chris the following day, with their beautiful daughters and take some family photos with Dick at Papakura.

This is a preview of a few images - A private viewing gallery has been uploaded and access is via a password from Donna and Chris.

Old photos and slideshows

Over the past week I have been working on processing weddings and designing albums and squeezing in, amongest other things, producing a slideshow for my Dad's birthday.

I have discovered quite a few things... So many photos that have been taken of my Dad over the years are in really bad condition. I am sure this happens everywhere. There are the really old photos that are in albums... right through to the recent photos taken in the 90's.. Tears and spots, discolouration where fingers prints have been on glossy photos, dust - you name it - I have found it. Getting the scanner out of the cupboard has also been interesting "re-learning curve"... It's something you think is never needed again. I am very grateful for the digital age, the photos I have been taking over the past few years of my family - still are great quality and no scanning is required !

It's actually very strange doing "photoshop" on your relatives (besides getting very upclose and personal) and you come across all kinds of similarities, as happened in my case, between my father and my son... which you actually hadn't noticed before... Not until - that is - you are working removing dust and spots on a photo of your Dad, taken at the same age of your son ! Very scarey... The same tilt of the head, the smile - a shy, yet cheeky grin :)

My honest opinion and advice - if you have old photos - get them scanned now! If you don't want to, or can't do it - there are places/people who do that kind of service, a small price to pay for something very important. Put them onto disks and external hard drives - and then keep them somewhere safe. So many people wait until someone has passed away before getting things organised. In this busy life and times - it is understandable .

It's also really helpful to put the dates in soft pencil on the back of the photo - so many times you guess, and it is wrong. It is probably a good idea to get the photos in some sort of chronological order for the slideshow.

The slideshow was a great hit at the celebration. It ended up a VERY long slideshow - by the time I added bits and pieces of the past that I remembered about my Dad as I was growing up, the comedy, the music, the fun, and just some of the stuff we used to do - memories I shared with my Dad - part of what/who made me who I am today:). The show is on DVD so it can be enjoyed on the TV and computer. I have also uploaded it to the web - so that it can be viewed by family and friends all over the world who have discovered the joys of broadband.

The music for the slideshow - I had been given by Dad (many CD's and changing into MP3 files later , thanks to my daughter Ashley, I didn't quite have the patience! ) -Those songs - really made the slideshow very personal and also brought back lots of memories of my childhood.. Surpisingly, - no I am not embarrassed, I remembered the words to many of them. Trolling through many family and personal photo albums has been a track back down the good times of memory lane - something we should all do from time to time... Holidays, parties, fun times, births, weddings, school days, past work mates and jobs - brings you back to reality . I was so pleased Dad has this slideshow now and that it wasn't something put together in a rush at a very sad time. Something to think about....

Zenobie and Jonas ~ Raglan

Zenobie returned to Raglan from Switzerland with her husband Jonas - to celebrate with family and friends and have their wedding nuptials.
We had a great photo shoot at Raglan :)- Gorgeous girls and fun guys! and here are a few images.
It was our very first visit to Raglan (a two hour drive from home) and we loved it - living on the same coast - and with Mount Karioi nearby (Karioi is unique in being the only snow free mountain on the New Zealand west coast with native bush in three distinct phases from sea level to mountain top) - it kind of reminded us of home -and our local beach Karioitahi. Gallery link to more images here :

Kate and Jason - Castaways

Kate and Jason were married at Castaways on New Years Eve. Family and friends witnessed the event, in the very,very hot sunshine - on the clifftop overlooking Karioitahi Beach. Thank goodness for the sun umbrellas... A fun time was had on the beach for the photo shoot after we all piled into a four wheel drive and headed south -about 1 kilometre along the black iron sand. Amazingly we fitted everything in - with not quite the kitchen sink - but almost:) Gavin (such an awesome help rounding up the family for the photos - thank you so much :) and Becs you were fun! Kate and Jason it was so nice at your lovely wedding - you- were gorgeous, easy to photograph and made our job a pleasure. The beautiful flowers, totally different from anything I had seen before, were from Scent in Pukekohe. The tiny red and blue striped live fish, swimming amongest the flowers on the tables at the reception were great - not sure of what the live head count was the next day though ! Gallery link to more images here:)

The sunset was stunning that evening and we managed a number of great shots including some from their first dance as husband and wife. Loved the song you chose for your first dance ~ ! :) Congratulations!!

Josie and Al's wedding 30/12/2007

A quick preview of a few images from Josie and Alistair's wedding held on the cliff top at Castaways, Karioitahi Beach - on Sunday 30th December 2007. More images will be online soon and a password will be available from Josie and Al when they return from their tropical honeymoon.

It was a beautiful day on the west coast, at the base of the Awhitu Peninsula - with a strong breeze which kept the temperatures down slightly - just enough to forget the sunburning issues. High tide was around 3.30pm and there were plenty of beachgoers and paragliders galore enjoying the warm summer weather west of Waiuku.

Josie looked elegantly stunning in her gown :) The flowers were gorgeous - by Designer Flowers in Pukekohe and the girls makeup was by B.O.D., the cake- a stunning masterpiece was from Michels Patisserie in Pukekohe and Nick Logan the DJ was in perfect form - as always!
The ceremony was lovely, under the guidance of Billie - a family friend - who performed the perfect ceremony. Over 80 family and friends gathered and witnessed the event overlooking the spectacular west coast.

A great time was had by all - and we had a fabulous photo session down on the beach later in the afternoon. Thanks so much Josie and Al - and also to your fun wedding party, Lara , Emily , Sam and Steve - you were great and it was a pleasure meeting you all . Josie - your lists were invaluable ! - thanks so much:)
Castaways were, as always, the most wonderful hosts for the ceremony and reception and everyone enjoyed the atmosphere and food immensely.