I’m not sure that anything I could say could convey how wonderful this wedding was.
Somehow everything was perfect – the place, the details, the simplicity, the love, the people. Mostly the last two. I’ve never felt so welcomed! Like I wasn’t just a photographer, I was a guest and a friend, too.
Dominee and Barry contacted me about a month out from their wedding – a month! – and when I heard what kind of wedding they were planning on Dominee’s Aunt and Uncle’s property, I was secretly jumping out of my skin to photograph it. (Or maybe not so secretly. Dominee and Barry probably thought I was a bit overt about the whole thing, actually.) Luckily they weren’t put off by my enthusiasm and we were right to go.
Good thing that they weren’t put off by my enthusiasm, because the first thing I did when I arrived on the day was yell at the best man, “THIS PLACE IS AWESOME!”. I just couldn’t contain it.
Labradors, orange tree groves, macadamia nut tree groves, converted stables, chickens (chickens!!), beautiful dams with cows mooing across the way, photo booths, shetland ponies dressed in tuxedos (!!!!), amazing homemade food, amazing people. I hope the pictures below convey even a TINY BIT of how awesome all of that really is.
Perfection. :)
I’ve known Ben and Kirsty for a while now. They both went to school with my fiancĂ©. I’m not exactly sure in what grade they started going out – but I do remember Kirsty telling a story about the first time she went over to Ben’s house when they started ‘dating’ – the story goes something like this: when she walked in to his bedroom, instead of having pictures of movie stars or bikini models on his wall, he had an Andy Warhol poster. That’s when she knew she had found someone pretty special.
So that was around 10 years ago. Today, Kirsty works in publishing and Ben in app development. Ben has just spent the last 3 months in San Francisco working on a great project while Kirsty stayed behind in Brisbane to continue her publishing career – but they both found that really hard. Because Ben and Kirsty are soul mates. I know that word kind of gets thrown around in a nauseating way, but with these two it’s true. I’m pretty sure when you look at the pictures below, it will hit you in the face like a slap.
Here’s the interesting/weird/cool thing about Ben and Kirsty – they’re not interested in getting married. They don’t really get the ‘institution’ thing. They don’t see the point. They are dedicated and crazy in love, but they don’t want to conventionalise that. Which I find kind of awesome. (Did I mention that they are two of my favourite people in the whole world?)
Ben came home a couple of weeks ago, and he and Kirsty decided that life apart was pretty crap and that a big adventure would be awesome. So Kirsty quit her job in publishing, and they are both moving to New York. Next week.
Among her feelings of excitement and apprehension, Kirsty asked if I would be willing to take some photographs of her and Ben, because she felt that something big was about to happen, something that might change their lives together forever, and it sort of felt right to get some pictures of this time in their lives.
I said okay.
B&K, really gonna miss you guys! I hope you have the best time in NY and that your adventure is a special kind of awesome. xoox
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