I had the very great pleasure of photographing Vicky & Mark's wedding on the 27th January in Akaroa - a place I LOVE to be and LOVE to shoot. My friend Paul Tatterson was second shooting and it was very cool to be able to hang out with him and shoot (plus I scored his fantastic images!).

Here's how Vicky & Mark's day panned out...

Vicky is a very clever girl and made lots of things on the wedding day including the girls' gorgeous bouquets!  Vicky's included some beautiful family heirlooms.


The couple swapped presents and love letters before the ceremony, without seeing each other.  Very cute.


Mark and Vicky received some awesome videos from friends and family from the UK. I don't what it is about UK humour but I think it's the best.  (I could be a little biased as I'm born in the UK).



My little helper lets me get my lighting sorted.... and then we're ready for the first dance!  Assembly Required are awesome, as usual.




Vicky & Mark's engagement shoot

VENDORS (in alphabetical order)

Band: Assembly Required
Catering: Moveable Feasts
Celebrant: Danielle Bartlett - daniellebartlett@hotmail.com
Hair & makeup: Denise Langrope - Akaroa Hair Studio
Lighthouse man: Kevin Templeton - 027 434 6971
Nails: Hayley - 020 401 54021
Photographer: Angela Penn
Second shooter:  Paul Tatterson
Venue: Mt Vernon Lodge

These guys are the cutest couple - Mike is super funny, Emma is sooo sweet (and have I mentioned that infectious giggle?) and I felt like I was shooting a friend's wedding.  They first got together in Akaroa, got engaged in Akaroa and have got married here too. It's a very very special place for this fun-loving couple. And these two are my kind of people! 

Being February the weather was meant to behave and be beautifully sunny and shine down on them and their friends in a beautiful outdoor ceremony at French Farm in Akaroa.  But it didn't. And you know what? It didn't matter.  They each married the love of their life in front of friends and family and I was so happy to be there. 

At the boy's place it was cruisy and overcast.  And jokes a-plenty.  I don't think these guys stopped laughing.


And then... dum, dum, duuuum!


MIke had to knot all the boys' ties for them.  And then he licked his hanky and wiped their faces. Haha jokes...


This was meant to be the "serious school photo" shot.  (Mike's a school teacher).


At the girls' house things were just as relaxed.  And Emma looked beeeeautiful!!!


Emma's twin sister Amy, steals a sneak peek.


Emma's dad paces nervously downstairs...  Actually he was eating chips. And I don't think he was nervous. I just made that bit up for effect.


So gorgeous, Emma. x


And just enough time for a portrait each of the bridesmaids - don't you love their dresses?  Such lovely lovely girls, too.  :)


So many times I wanted to stop on the way to French Farm.  So many pretty things to take photos of!


Mike & Emma had originally planned to use these bikes.  The seats were a tad wet so we took the car instead.


Hamish keeps a lookout for the bride...


And so do the guests.


Sean was the celebrant - he was awesome!  So funny.  And so accurate with his assessment of people. He called me the best photographer in the world... well, he would know, right?  ;)


Mike goes over his lines...


While the paparazzi wait in the bushes.


There's no way you can mess up the words when it's right beside your bride's head!


These guys were super organised, taking me to a couple of places they'd scoped out earlier.  Magic!


Back at French Farm, guests were toasty warm and dry.


Emma & Mike had written personalised notes on the back of everyone's name tags.  Amazing.


Emma's dad Neil, kicks off the speeches.  Apparently Mike did the traditional thing and asked Neil if he could marry Emma.  The actual "asking her to marry him" bit took a while but he got there!


Mike works on his rebuttal....


And as I was driving home, the sun finally peeked out through the clouds, to bless their beautiful day. xxx


If you want to see Mike & Emma's engagement shoot, click here!


Photographer - Angela Penn
Dress - Mike's mum Bridget
Brides shoes - Fascino Shoes
Rings - brides band Mason and Carter Merivale.  Engagement ring - Antique- Opulence Antiques Timaru
Boys suits -  Munns and Halensteins
Bridesmaid dresses - Belleza Boutique
Celebrant - Sean Joyce (if you want a celebrant with a great sense of humour, Sean is fantastic)
Flowers - Bouquets, Ilam Florist.  Rable flowers - Mike's mum Bridget
Cake and cake jars - Sugar Baby Cakery
Vintage bikes - Vintage Peddler

Wow.  Wow.  WOW!  I love these guys so much - such beautiful people and gorgeous hearts.  Ok so where to begin....  I met Kylie for a coffee catch up when she was sussing out photographers and we hit it off straight away. Hugged in the carpark type stuff. So she pretty much had to book me based on that.  Then I met a very quiet Stu at their engagement session - luckily for him, he comes with his trusty sidekick, the couple's (then) 10 week old son, Arlo (I know right?  Cute name).  Fast forward a few months and here we are in beautiful Akaroa, getting married at Mt Vernon Lodge.

Kylie & Stu meet when their eyes locked onto each other in a dingy pub one night... kidding, kidding. She's from the West Coast and he's a pom.  He was working over here and happened to go to the Kaikoura Seafest where they met.  Stu was meant to come home 2 months later but hello, falls in love instead!  So glad they did because I got to shoot their stunning wedding!



Stu's awesome ring is made from a 1937 half crown.  So cool!


My lovely friend Kelly Shakespeare helped out on the day and got some great shots of the boys getting ready.


The boys discover no holes for the cuff links.  So using a bit of Kiwi ingenuity (a craft knife) they fashion the holes themselves.



After all that hard work, it's time for a drink.




Let's rock 'n' roll!


But time for one last 'cheers'.




Meanwhile back at the girls' camp... 


Just gorgeous. x



This girl loves to laugh and her laugh is infectious.




And then the girls spot the boys walking to the ceremony...


Let the fun... begin!


Meet Arlo!  He's now 10 months old!  Such a cutie-pie!



Then we went off road up the 'hill'.  Was a tad windy.  Just a tad....



I can see your house from here!!!!!


After dropping the bridal party back to the reception, we headed off into Akaroa for a romantic walk along the pier. 



Gosh you guys - way to make it so hard to choose images for your blog - too cute!!!  Can't wait to show you the rest.  xxx

Photographer - Angela Penn
Kylie's Dress - Annah Stretton
Shoes - Mia Piaci
Bridesmaids' dresses - ASOS
Mens' suits - Hallensteins
Hair & Makeup - Niki Holmes
Catering - The Trading Rooms
Venue - Mt Vernon Lodge
Band - Acoustic Solution

Wow.  I had so much fun with these guys on Thursday night at Taylor's Mistake.  They are awesome, and don't they make a gorgeous family!  Kylie giggled the whole way through the shoot (saying she's not photogenic, didn't like photos of herself).  What-EVER!  You guys are CUTE!!!

First off, check out their fusion video.






I love the one on the right especially.  :D














Mr grumpy. Actually he wasn't grumpy at all.  He'd just woken up so he was being exactly how a baby is meant to be when they wake up in the middle of the field and he's faced with a huge camera and expected to smile on demand.




Bye, you two.  See you in October! x