Gold Coast Wedding Photographer | Joshua Mikhaiel: Recent Episodes
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These are the things that are secretly killing your wedding timeline. I’ve seen a million variations of wedding timelines in my 12 years as a wedding photographer. And while there is definitely no one size fits all approach to planning out a timeline for your wedding day. In this article I’m going to share some tips that I believe are usually things you wouldn’t think about if you didn’t go to weddings all the time.
Everyone talks about how fast your wedding day goes. It’s true! It absolutely flies by… And there are some things that can’t be changed about that. But there are a lot of things that you would probably never think of being things that massively kill your wedding timeline and eat up so much unnecessary time.
I’m going to give you my observations as a professional wedding photographer for over 12 years who’s photographed hundreds of weddings of the most common things that you wouldn’t think of when planning your wedding, that absolutely kill your time on the wedding day.
Number 1. A Big Bridal Party I really don’t think people ever consider how much time in their day will be taken up by having a big bridal party. The size of the bridal party you choose to have will have an impact on many aspects of your day. Particularly your timeline. (AND crucially your budget). Not only are there more suits to buy / hire. More dresses to get fitted, more bouquets to buy, hair and makeup costs per person. The time it takes for all those things to happen on your day can eat away into the time you’re actually spending celebrating.
For example; the difference between 3 bridesmaids and 6 bridesmaids is obviously double the time for hair and makeup in the morning. Which usually either means you’ve got to get up at 5am for the makeup to begin. Or you need to push your wedding ceremony start time back to really late in the day and effectively spend as many hours “getting ready” as you do celebrating with your wider guest list.
The other main way that a big bridal party can eat through your timeline is obviously in your movements throughout the day just taking longer. There’s always a time to get in and out of cars to get to the venue, getting around the venue or other locations for your photos after the ceremony. Obviously doing your group photos with a huge bridal party can take a little bit longer just generally but it’s really the moving time around the venue / photo locations which takes time out of your day.
Number 2. Multiple locations. It’s easy to fall in love with a wedding location without taking into consideration all of the surrounding elements. The amount of locations involved in your wedding day can be huge hidden killers to your wedding timeline. Before you lock in your venue it’s really important to have a think about what other locations are involved. Are you getting ready at the venue or nearby? Do you need to drive far between the getting ready locations and the ceremony / reception? Are you having the ceremony and the reception at the same place or is there a big drive in between? Does your venue have beautiful spots for photos or do you need to go offsite and if so how far will you need to drive for those locations.
Weighing up all of these options can really effect your wedding timeline, and your wedding budget! I’ve photographed countless weddings where I had to drive 30+ minutes between one getting ready location to another. Then drive another 30 minutes to the ceremony then detour 20 minutes between multiple photo stops before getting back to the reception. That’s added multiple hours of effectively wasted time into those couples wedding day. It’s also meant they’ve had to pay me for hours of time that I was essentially sitting in traffic between all of those locations not actually capturing magic moments for them.
Number 3. Disorganised group photosFamily photos after the ceremony or at the getting ready locations can be a huge time killer that eat up a lot of space in your wedding timeline. But they really don’t have to be. The biggest time killer for group photos is simply just a lack of organisation. Most people wouldn’t think about how long it might take to round up everyone in their family’s for group shots but it can take a huge amount of time. Often right after the ceremony everyone spreads out all over the venue. Some people run to the bar, some to the toilet, some to go chase ducks by the pond, then some like to run across the road from the church for a cheeky latte. Trying to find & wrangle all of these family members all back together at once can be tricky to do quickly.
Having someone who’s job it is to keep the list of combinations on them and make sure they gather those people emmediately after the ceremony and keep them from running off can really save you a lot of time. The other thing that helps A LOT, is to have your celebrate remind everyone that there will be some group photos after the ceremony and point out your organiser who’s got the list for people who aren’t sure if they’ll be in those family groups. That way people know ahead of time not to run off if they’ll be in those shots.
The second way to let the group photos kill your wedding timeline is big group photos. It’s much quicker to do a bunch more small groups than it is to try and get one giant group photo of everyone. I have never seen a group photo of the entire wedding that looked like a “nice photo” it’s just a blob of tiny heads and you usually can’t see past the first few rows of faces.. it’s almost impossible to have everyone’s eyes open at once and by the time you round everyone up.. find a ladder for me to climb up. Move half the ceremony chairs out of the way etc all the things that often need to happen can add up to one very average photo and a huge waste of time on your day.
Number 4. Dance floor TimelineStop start dance floors are also a hidden killer of your wedding timeline… I think people often underestimate how long it can take to move a group of people around your wedding venue. Lots of weddings I photograph will have everyone hop up for the first dance, then stop the dance floor to cut the cake.. everyone leaves the dance floor to eat dessert and then they try to restart it. Only to stop it again 15 minutes later for the bouquet toss. There’s a few reasons for why this just makes no sense.
Mostly… the flow. Dance floors in my experience are a living organism. Think of them like a plant. If you put take a plant out of a pot and put it into a new pot there’s a time you really should wait before you take it out and give its roots another disturbance. Root shock isn’t good for plants. Dancefloors are the same. You cannot get people jumping up on the dance floor to your favourite bangers and then suddenly turn off the music for 5-10 minutes and then try and revive it again. It gives root shock to your dance floor!
How these wedding timeline factors can blow out your wedding budgetI think regardless of what you think about multiple locations, big bridal parties etc. So many of these things are validly things you might just want to choose more than you want to extend the time you feel like you have on the wedding day. And that’s completely fine. You should never let anyone tell you what your priority’s must be. Especially if they are someone from the wedding industry.
However.. Perhaps more importantly for lots of you. These timeline choices can have a shockingly huge effect on your wedding budget. So lets do some simple example maths to see how much money could be leaving your bank account if you allow your wedding timeline to get out of hand.
First up. The big bridal party.
The first extra cost with a bigger bridal party is more accomodation expenses for your getting ready location. Finding a bigger airbnb each bridal party of 3 around Byron Bay’s Bungalow wedding region is typically around $1000-$1500 for 2 nights. Adding 2 extra beds to your search for the same dates and location can make the price skyrocket to closer to $2000-$5000 for two nights because you’re going to need mansions to fit everyone at this point. Times that by two for both big bridal parties and you’re potentially having to spend $1000-$2000 extra easily just for your getting ready location alone.
Now let’s add hair and makeup, suits / dresses. Remembering we’re working with an “average size” bridal party of 3 bridal party members on each side vs what I’d call a big bridal party of 5 on each side. Now I do not want to assume that there’s going to be an even number of guys / girls in each bridal party but for the sake of simple maths please don’t think I’m not progressive. I am. I just don’t like complicating maths. So let’s pretend that either your bridal parties are mixed but an even number of people needing suits / dresses or hair makeup done on the day.
Choosing to hire a 4 suits from somewhere like Tony Barlow in Brisbane will set you back $740 ish. Adding 2 more makes it $1100. So we’re already out an extra $360 on suits. lets move onto dresses. Nobody really hires bridal party dresses so we’re going to assume you’re buying them (yes I know you’ll probably get your crew to pay for their own because they’ll use them again but let’s leave it in anyway. For some common choices like dresses from Bec & Bridge you’re at around $350 each so for 3 you’re at $1050 for dresses and adding 2 more makes it $1750. That totals an extra $1060 for suits & dresses.
Hair & makeup costs are another big one eating into your wedding budget if you do choose to have a bigger bridal party. I’ve borrowed these cost estimates from the legends at WedShed. They say that the average cost per service is 120-180 for bridesmaids and a bit more for a bride as they’re obviously getting a more extensive treatment. So that’s and extra $240-$360 per bridesmaid for hair & makeup. so adding adding two more bridesmaids might be setting you back another $720.
The last cost with bigger bridal parties is extra flowers. Bouquets and buttonholes for your bridal party members. These costs can vary hugely as well depending on the quality of your florist and the types of flowers you’re choosing to use. One florist in Sydney has got their pricing packages online and quoted for a mixed bridal party of 3 bridesmaids and 3 groomsmen for $740 and for 5 bridesmaids and 5 groomsmen it’s $1060 costing an extra $320 for 2 extra button holes and bouquets.
This leaves a total of up to $4100 in extra cost by adding 2 more bridal party members to both sides of there aisle for your wedding.
Next up: multiple locations:
This one is a little bit more tricky to calculate as there are a lot of variables. The hardest part to measure is the cost of having your ceremony at one location and your reception somewhere else. Some places will obviously charge you a similar amount whether you’re hosting your ceremony at the venue or offsite at a church for example. So you could find yourself up for around an extra $1500 or more to hire a chapel for your ceremony. Lots of reception venues do have their own chapels or suitable indoor ceremony options included in their pricing already which could save you a bunch.
The part you probably haven’t thought of about the cost of having multiple locations comes into play with your wedding photographer & videography costs. If you have your wedding all at one venue at you’re either getting ready really close by or you’re getting ready at the venue. You’ll need to pay for much less coverage of your day from the photo / video crew. Usually 8 hours of coverage will cover getting ready until the dance floor is jumping for most wedding days if it’s all in one location.
However if you’re going offsite for photos to multiple stops or you have getting ready locations far apart and then a decent drive between the ceremony and reception you could need to factor in an extra 2 + hours for your booking for the photographer & videographer to cover the same amount of your day. Everyone’s pricing will be different but on average I would imagine that you’d be spending at least an extra $1000 to add 2 hours of photo & video to your day.
This applies the same for poorly planned group shots and timelines with loads of dead space as well. The longer the parts of your wedding are that you’d like captured by your photographer / videographer the longer you’ll be paying to have them there. I obviously do not recommend planning a super rushed timeline just to save some money. But it’s definitely worth thinking about the flow of your day so that you’re not spending money that you don’t need to on these services.
There’s definitely potential for the multiple locations you choose to end up costing you at least $2500 to $3500 vs a wedding with everything close together or ideally all on one site.
Finally Stop Start Dancefloors:
Just like the multiple locations if you want to have your photographer stay up until the last “event” moment which for many people is the bouquet toss and capturing some of the dancing really going off. The stop start nature of the dance floors that commonly happen can really drag out that moment meaning you’re paying that photographer / videographer to stay later unnecessarily and burning more money.
Adding up the cost of this timelineThe big bridal party is definitely the big spender here. Both in time and money. But totally it all up. Shockingly the cost of all of these timeline decisions to your wedding budget could easily cost you $7500. I’m sure depending on your choice of florals and really nice accomodation for getting ready that could easily blow out even more. You could definitely make some huge savings by choosing a location close to home and cutting the accomodation costs down to zero. I hope this article has been helpful in considering the finer details of your wedding day choices and how they impact your timeline and your wedding budget.
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Your wedding photographs literally ONLY matter because of the moments they capture. If wedding photography is something you want to invest in. Then the real truth that the wedding industry is never going to tell you is that to get the most value out of your wedding photos, you actually need to start with investing in the things that really matter more than anything else in your wedding day. For me… I think that begins with the people. I’ve been a wedding photographer for over 12 years now and shot hundreds of gorgeous weddings all around the world. Do you know what the universal truth that keeps coming back to me is?
“The people in the room at your wedding have the biggest effect on whether your wedding is amazing or completely average”
The amount of times I get asked by guests at weddings. “What’s the most amazing wedding you’ve ever shot?” Every time I’m asked I feel like the answer I give will be unsatisfying. I could tell them about the incredible destination weddings I’ve shot with huge budgets, lavish venues, designer dresses etc… And don’t get me wrong those weddings have been INCREDIBLE. But the absolute best weddings that I’ll never forget. Those weddings have always been completely focussed on who is in the room. The love in the building. The depth of connection the guests have to the couple. The air is thick with it. You feel completely swept up in the feelings of love and support for the couple.
MEMORIES MAKE YOUR PHOTOS MATTERYour memories are what make your wedding photos matter. The quality of those memories is directly related to how much you will treasure your wedding photos. If you want to place value into your wedding photos then investing in the people in the room who are co-creating those memories with you is more important than I could ever stress to you. figuring out where to spend whatever budget you have for your wedding is hard enough as it is. Investing in the quality of your memories is what will make your wedding photos matter.
People Make Your Photos MatterWhat makes your wedding photos matter is the people who you have in them. The memories that your photos capture are only important because the people who you’re sharing them with matter to you. Every one of us have people in our life that we absolutely love. People we can’t imagine not having at our wedding. I don’t know if I’ve ever photographed a wedding where the couple didn’t have people that they wished could be there that weren’t present. It’s a really hard thing to overcome in wedding planning.
One of the most important choices we made in planning our own little wedding was choosing to dedicate some of our budget to plane tickets for one of my wife’s closest friends to fly in from America to be there with her. We absolutely don’t regret spending that money making our memories extra special. If you ever find your self feeling like you have to choose between spending your wedding budget on a slightly better photographer, a slightly better florist.. a slightly more amazing location. OR paying for some plane tickets so that your memories are 100 times more special. Don’t even think twice. Just get those plane tickets.
The quality of your wedding photographs will be better exponentially because you chose to value the people at your wedding more than simply the luxury elements of your day. I know I’m supposed to be the one telling you to get the absolute best photographer money can buy. But that’s not necessarily true. If you really care about having the best wedding photos, you can’t seperate your investment in them from an investment into the best memories.
Planning a timeline to reflect these valuesIf you’re going to the trouble to fly friends in from around the world for a one day extravaganza my main piece of advice is don’t make it a one day event. Find a way to include your inner circle in more things in the lead up to the wedding day. Having fun with your favourite people will bring down your stress in the days before your wedding. But as far as your wedding day timeline is concerned. Do not feel like you need to go off for 2 hours to have your “wedding photos”. You want to spend as much time as humanly possible with all of the special people in your life. And If you’ve hired an incredible photographer they should honestly be able to pull off a shocking amount of magic photos in half an hour. Give your timeline the space to breathe so you can soak in all of the wonderful moments without feeling rushed.
“Your wedding day is not a photoshoot that you get married in the middle of” – Joshua Mikhaiel
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This article from the NY times has gone a little bit viral this week called “How to avoid hating your wedding photos”. Where a bride went to tick-tock to share her grievances of having a terrible experience with hating the wedding photos she had received after her wedding. At first the bride was happy with her photos when she got them and then as she looked longer she started to find things that she didn’t like and it sort of spiralled from there. She had spent over $8000 USD for her wedding to be captured which definitely is going to make you want to critique things if you’re not super happy. But regardless of whether your wedding photographs were free or cost $10,000 you deserve to love them. Your financial status genuinely shouldn’t factor into whether you get to enjoy the memories you’ve had captured of your wedding.
With all that said. I’d like to weigh in with a few of my own thoughts on how to avoid hating your wedding photographer and the photos they’ve made.
UNDERSTAND THAT ‘BEST’ IS SUBJECTIVEThe best photographer for you, might be completely different to the best photographer for someone else’s wedding. Art is subjective and even if you’re not into highly artistic wedding photos, I am convinced there is a huge difference in what kind of photos one person loves and another person hates. You might hire the absolute best editorial fashion style wedding photographer in the country. And if you were really hoping for a relaxed experience and loads of little moments captured in an unstructured way, you might hate how stiff and curated the photos look.
On the other hand, if you want wedding photos that look highly stylised and really perfect. With the absolute most flattering poses and all of your fancy expensive details perfectly captured. Then hiring someone who’s speciality is documentary style photography and just capturing the moments in an unscripted way might cause a lot of regrets down the line. Finding the best wedding photographer for you means pushing aside ideas of what other people like. What styles are trending on Instagram right now. And taking the time to think about what style you both love the best.
You should also try and fact check if the words people use on their website match the photos on the site. I’ve seen countless photographers who are just changing the wording on their website to current trends but if you look at their photographs it doesn’t match the wording they are using to describe their style.
AVOID GETTING CAUGHT BY THE LATEST EDITING FADSThere are often new fads catching on through instagram trends of new editing styles for wedding photographers. Funnily enough these trends are obviously pushed by influential photographers who’ve got new editing presets to sell to try and continue making extra profits from these trends. Lately photos have been getting more and more orange and brown, more and more blurry and black and white. There’s nothing wrong with either of these things necessarily. Just take enough time to go through enough photographers portfolios that you can genuinely say you do like that style. There is a common marketing technique which involves using lots of repetition to change how you feel about a product. The simple way it works is that the more times you see something, the more you will feel like it’s cool and be likely to like it. Obviously seeing the most stunningly gorgeous instagram brides and grooms being photographed in ridiculously beautiful locations will look pretty nice no matter the editing style.
This doesn’t mean you have to just choose a wedding photographer who does really natural edits either. You can definitely make a choice you don’t regret to get a photographer with a really edgy style. Just make sure you actually like it! Don’t be tricked by an algorithm that has no interest in how you’ll remember your photos in 20 years time. Choose a style that REALLY works for you guys. If you’re a grungy skater couple and you wanted hyper grainy images that feel like they belong in a 90’s skate magazine. DO IT! just make sure that the style matches what you actually like.
DON’T CONFUSE LOCATION FOR A PHOTOGRAPHERS STYLEI think this is one of the most common things that I wish couples understood. You see a lot of New York Photographers taking really gorgeous photos around Manhattan backstreets and things and think that there’s a specific look to those beautiful city scape photos.. And then you open another photographers website and might see loads of images of elopements in Iceland or Tasmania and be right to assume that visually the style looks quite different. But the location is simply the backdrop. A good photographer can shoot in any location and make it look pretty magical. But to understand how the photographers style looks in your location you need to almost forget about the backdrop and look at the way they capture the couple and the guests. The amazing location can often be a great distraction from average photographs.
These two photos above are very very similar… but one is from Hannah & James’ wedding in the middle of Sydney around old buildings and one is from Amber & Dave’s elopement in Uluru. The main difference is the location. If you’re looking for an elopement photographer you’d probably look at the bottom image and think, “This photographer probably isn’t our style.” Or you might be having an elegant inner city wedding and think the Uluru photographer isn’t the right fit for you. It can be hard to do but really try and pick apart the backdrop and focus in on the couple in the photos of whoever you’re choosing. If they can take amazing photos in the city don’t think that their elopement photos out in the woods might not cut it. Differentiating this will help you avoid hating your wedding photos.
DON’T CONFUSE THE COUPLES A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER SHOWS ON THEIR SITE FOR THEIR STYLEThis one is even harder. But important. Photographers don’t want to admit this. But obviously if a couple look like supermodels… Their wedding photos will look pretty good even if the photographer hasn’t done their job amazingly well. A couple who can make ordinary people look like supermodels is someone worth hiring for sure!
It’s absolutely fine to ask a photographer to share a full gallery with you that maybe hasn’t made it onto their website. Some photographers portfolio’s are just stacked full of the most unrealistic couples that no one in their right mind is ever going to look like; even on their wedding day. Even photographers can be fooled by this sort of thing and feel insecure about other photographers work just because the couples they’re showing in their portfolio are gorgeous. I really advise you to do the hard work of trying to discern between whether a photographers style is actually what you like or if they just have gorgeous couples filling their portfolio who you think are the style you’re going for. There is a difference between couples having a wedding like the one you’re planning… and the photographer shooting in the style that works for you.
PERSONALITY IS THE KEY TO NOT HATING YOUR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERAnother thing I think people don’t often think about when choosing your wedding photographer is that you will literally have them pretty close by with you for a huge amount of your wedding day. The degree to which you actually enjoy their company and feel like they’re the type of personality you’d actually be friends with in real life is massive. If you’re feeling nervous about having your photographs taken (most people are) Then this becomes even more important. Finding someone who can help you to relax and has the right energy to make you feel comfortable in front of the camera is super important.
There’s my two cents on how to avoid hating your wedding photographer. Your experience of being photographed matters almost as much as the photos themselves. Making sure you enjoy both should be important
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The Woods Ravensbourne is one of the most picturesque wedding venues in Toowoomba. Stunning vistas, over endless hills, gorgeous gardens and delightful accommodation onsite makes this one of the nicest wedding venues in the Darling Downs regions. Jackson & Ella are two of the most exceptional humans I’ve been able to photograph and the energy of their connection was just electric. When we caught up for coffee I was thinking we’d be there for 45 minutes. I think we sat and chatted for about 2 hours or more. They are just such easy people to be friends with and so many of the speeches touched on the way that so many people just get dragged into their orbit so quickly because of their personalities.
The two of them individually are both like this but the combined gravitational pull of welcoming friendship of them as a couple is almost unbearable if I’m honest. I think if the wedding had gone on any longer I probably would have been invited to go on their next family holiday.
The wedding itself was a pretty spectacular day. Autumn is definitely one of the most incredible times for a wedding anywhere in Queensland but particularly in Toowoomba where it’s usually almost 5 degrees cooler than Brisbane. The weather held off amidst some questionable forecasts and was absolutely perfect. Ella wore a dress that had been handmade by her extremely talented mother and wore her Grandmothers perfume to honour her memory. Jackson left set the dance floor alight by putting on an incredibly funny “Peter Garrett off” Which was an amazing unique display of dancing skill.
One of my favourite parts of this wedding at the Woods Ravensbourne was Jackson & Ella’s choice to skip a traditional wedding cake and opt instead for a huge stack of Almond Croissants from the Gumnut Patisserie in Bowral where Ella’s family hail from. They had to be bravely and carefully carried on a plane trip from NSW all the way up to Queensland just for the wedding.
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The Refinery is one of my favourite Brisbane wedding venues. The Staff are amazing, the minimal design, the ceremony space being literally meters from the reception area. Everything about this place gives you the perfect modern elegant canvas on which to paint your own wedding dreams onto. Ryan & Dean certainly did just that. They ditched the formal sit-down and went for a more casual wedding reception and focussed on having a really big party. This wedding is a great example of how to keep the celebration front and centre and have the best time with your family and friends without a lot of fuss. The Refinery is the perfect location for this type of celebration. It’s gorgeous no fuss space yields itself to focussing on the people and maximising your time at the party rather than trekking across multiple locations and having too many moving pieces slowing down the party.
The guys opted to have some of their photos before the ceremony in the surrounds of the Calile hotel so that they could spend as much time with their guests as possible and only sneak out for a quick sunset run around the streets nearby the Refinery later in the afternoon. Getting some of your bridal party photos out of the way pre-ceremony is a great option for city weddings where you can use tall buildings to give you shade during the midday hours. If you’re getting married for example at a gold coast wedding venue out in a field that may not work so well. If you’ve got a more country style venue sometimes a patch of bushland or forest can give you somewhere nice to go that’s not bright and you won’t look like you’re squinting in all of your pictures.
- Ryan & Dean’s Dream team of other vendors included.
• Celebrant Ladylove
• Erin Woodhall Celebrant
• Architects of Neon
•Bangin Hangins
• Click click Photo Booth
If you’re thinking of getting married in Brisbane and considering the Refinery as your wedding venue I would absolutely love to be considered as your photographer. It’s definitely not essential to choose a wedding photographer who’s photographed the venue you choose but it definitely helps.
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Thomas & Josslyn got hitched at perhaps the most beautiful patch of land I’ve ever been lucky enough to hold a camera on, (In Australia) Emirates One & Only, Wolgan Valley feels like something stolen from the pages of a Banjo Patterson poem and the romance in the rugged landscape is palpable. Perched deep within Wolgan Valley on the far side of the NSW Blue Mountains this resort is filled with so much charm and character. Typically when I think of resorts I don’t think about huge stone fireplaces quaint cabins with their own lap pool. The landscape though, is really the most breathtaking thing about the venue. I’ll try and mostly post pictures of the landscape because it truly blew me away.
This vista looking down the valley is just one of the insanely gorgeous spots you could have photos at your own Wolgan Valley wedding. This venue is best suited for more intimate celebrations. There are multiple rooms which can serve to host your celebration and virtually endless options of where you could have your wedding ceremony.
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What happens when you combine one of Sydney’s leading female entrepreneur’s & founder of Peppermint Grove with a lawyer by day, Hugh Jackman body double by night, other than an epic love story of course. Well Hannah & James’ wedding celebrations answer this question. This little novel begins with an exceedingly elegant ceremony at the Sydney mint. Followed by a feat perhaps only these two and their connections could pull off. Re-opening a closed restaurant Sydney’s Est. on George St. For one night only. Just for them and their family and friends. Magic!
I had to really try to cull this post down because there were so many images I love from this wedding but for your sake. I have tried to be brief. But maybe buckle up because this is still a fairly long post.
Hannah & James tied the knot at the The Mint, a gorgeous historic precinct in the centre of Sydney. I have a list of favourite venues in Sydney and this definitely packs a HUGE punch as far as wedding ceremonies goes.
What me to capture your special day like this?Names (Both Please) EmailPhone NumberYour secret location / wedding venue is?DATE OF SHOOTTYPE OF SHOOTBig WeddingIntimate WeddingElopementEngagement shootFamily SessionOtherHOW DID YOU FIND ME?We Found you on Google SearchWe found you through another photographerWe found you on InstagramA venue recommended you to usMessageWHERE ARE YOU IN YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER HUNT?Just window shopping at the momentJust comparing pricesNarrowing down a few optionsPretty sure you’re our guySUBMITThe post Hannah & James | Sydney Mint Wedding appeared first on .
“Byron View farm wedding”, absolutely all I needed to see in the enquiry form to get me super excited. I moved my business to the gold coast up from Sydney 2 or so years ago and probably the best thing about it meant that Byron bay weddings are now just down the road. I’ve been blown away by all of the ridiculously gorgeous gold coast wedding venues I’ve found and absolutely loving every Byron Bay wedding venue I’ve been lucky enough to photography at.
Martin & Nicola’s Byron View farm wedding blew me away from the moment I picked up my camera. Byron view farm is just stunning. It’s an old cattle farm that’s not being reforested and boasts some of the best views of the entire Byron Hinterland area.
Byron view farm has this beautiful rustic elegance to it. The farmhouses are properly beautiful an old but there’s a gorgeous glamour to the grounds. Old stone walls and flowers growing all over the houses. It’s really stunning.
There’s no secret staged family photos aren’t my absolute favourite part of the day (Important though) But I absolutely love capturing lots of the raw in-between bits where everyone forgets the cameras in my hand.
After a wonderful stint of Latvian folk dancing lessons to honour Martins’ heritage. The Silent Disco began. I’d never seen a silent disco at a wedding and I was very curious about how it would go. Thankfully it wasn’t completely silent. The music was still on through the speakers at a reasonable volume. The disco headphones were able to be pumped up super loud and the sound quality was actually incredible.
Byron View Farm Wedding Venue InfoByron view farm is location on the traditional lands of Arakwal people of the Bundjalung Nation or the area now called McLeods Shoot. Conveniently close to Byron Bay itself but nestled up in the Hinterland overlooking the sea in the distance. The ceremony location has the ocean in the background
I’ll try to summarise the basic information you might need to know about Byron view farm and whether it’s the right fit for you and your wedding day.
Byron view farm is perched on a hilltop at the highest point of Byron Bay with 360 degree views of the Byron Hinterland and the Ocean. The property stretches for 40 acres, much of which is being reforested but still contains many huge open field areas from its cattle farm days where you can take some of the most gorgeous sunset photos you can imagine.
Like many Byron Bay wedding venues you can have your entire celebration in the one spot, ceremony, cocktail hour, photos, reception. You and your guests don’t have to leave at all. The original white cottage on the farm also acts as a great getting ready space (probably for smaller bridal parties) and a romantic retreat for the end of the night. It also has a gorgeous veranda which can accomodate 60 guests for a more intimate reception location.
The ceremony & Reception spaces more regularly used can host up to 100 guests.
Martin & Nicola’s amazing vendor team• Planning / Styling / General legendary coordination: Byron Bay Weddings
• Hire: The Wedding Shed • Videographer: Rolling Dawn Films
• Catering: Fig Tree Restaurant • Bridal Makeup: Avabelle • Audio: Byron Audio • Florals: Braer Studio • DJ Extraordinaire: Scradley Beats
• Guest Transport: Byron Bay Double Deckers
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The Bower estate wedding venue in the gold coast hinterland region is probably one of the most picturesque venues you could possible hope to have your wedding at. In terms of gold coast wedding venues there are definitely some stunners which have crazy vistas. I had definitely fallen in love with the Bower estate before I had even been there and it was an absolute dream to find myself there shooting Florian and Tiff's wedding day.
Here are just a few images from the day that I really enjoyed as I was going through their edits. I'll talk in more detail about the bower estate as a venue below the images.
Vendors making the magic on the dayMusic: Danielle Guest Music
Catering: Ridgeway Catering
DJ: Party Liason
Makeup: Richelle Darben Makeup
Dress: Grace loves lace
Flowers: GC flowermarket
Bower Estate Wedding venue infoVenue facts at a glance:
- Guest numbers: up to 250 which is massive compared to a lot of hinterland venues which can only host around 120
- Self catered? No Ridgeway catering will be your caters with the bower estate and they are excellent. Amazing service and delicious food.
- DIY styling? Yes you can do your own styling as basic or extravagant as you want.
- Day before bump in? No. When you hire the estate you're not getting 48 hour hire as there will be weddings usually
- Pet friendly? Yes! upon application you can bring a pet to stay at the cottage the night before and be with you on the wedding day. (I would assume not off - leash as there's quite a lot of little wallabies and bush critters running through the place and loads of areas they could get lost.
- Do you need to go off-site for photos? Definitely not. There are loads of great photo options at the bower estate. Huge open vistas looking into the Lamington national park on one side and the Springbrook national park on the other side. You also have access to a beautiful rocky creek bed that you can get a buggy down to rather than having to walk. And a pine forest on top of all of that.
- Wet weather options? Yes if you have a small crew the cottage deck is an option. OR the marque on the hill is also always available in case of bad weather.
- Getting around / Disability access: The staff have a big golf buggy for helping you and your bridal party get around the hills and venue areas so you don't have to hike anywhere if you're not feeling it. The buggy is also very helpful for any elderly or guests who may struggle to get from the carpark to the ceremony area or up to the reception.
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"Orchard estate wedding" as an email title in my inbox felt a little bit like I was striking gold before I even opened the email. As someone who had recently moved up to Queensland, I'd been so used to shooting a lot of the same venues on the outskirts of Sydney's nearby rural wedding venues and Byron Bay wedding venues like the Orchard Estate. just felt like this thing that only Byron Bay wedding photographers were allowed into. It was like there was some mystical force field around this gorgeous little plot of land and you had to be on this special inner circle list to photograph somewhere like the Orchard Estate.
But this was my lucky moment to stand at the end of the rainbow and find out what was in that pot of proverbial gold. And boy was I NOT disappointed. Honestly even if this wedding wasn't at a gorgeous Byron Bay wedding venue, it would have rocked just because Jess and Rich are absolutely excellent humans and I was so stoked to be there for them alone. I would have happily photographed their wedding in the loading dock of a KFC if I had to and I'm sure it still would have absolutely rocked.
Jess & Rich chose the Orchard Estate for their wedding and this wedding venue is an absolute banger. The orchard in question is a Macadamia orchard which makes for wonderful photos and the vista overlooking the Byron hinterland is stunning.
Prep locations While the boys were able to use the gorgeous on-site cottage at the Orchard estate, Jess & her girls got ready at one of the tastiest farmhouses I've seen in a long long time. Temple farmhouse is a photographers dream for taking getting ready photographs and genuinely just hanging with your crew pre-wedding.
The Orchard Estate Wedding Vendors on the dayPlanning & Coordination: Creative Weddings Byron Bay
Beauty: Alex Ouston
Celebrant: A.M. celebrant
Catering: Figtree Restaurant
Hire: The Wedding Shed
Flowers: The French Petal
Music: Magnus Murphy
Lighting & Audio: Byron Audio
Transport: Magic Bus Byron Bay
A little bit of information on The Orchard estate and having your wedding there. The Venue sits on a 100 acre macadamia farm. With beautiful views overlooking the nightcap mountain range. One unique feature is the purpose build barn, which provides an industrial, modern-ish rustic feel. It's got a commercial kitchen and great toilet facilities. This means you're not having to have the inconvenience of your caterers setting up inside some sort of tent thats clearly visible to your guests and a bunch of portable toilets hidden behind a tree somewhere.
In terms of photo options, which is my favourite part you've got a really nice variety between the macadamia orchard which is fantastic to use when it's bright and sunny and there's huge trees to give shade and lovely leading lines between the trees for the sunset to burst through. You also have the option to take photos on the edge of the hill with the sunset bursting across the horizon, both of these options are within easy walking distance from the barn and make it so easy to get your photos done quickly without walking far or needing to drive anywhere. There is definitely no need to go offsite for your wedding photos.
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Planning your wedding ceremony and choosing the right celebrant go hand in hand. I have often been most frustrated as a wedding photographer watching hundreds of ceremonies, often feeling like people haven't been given much space to imagine what a unique ceremony could look like. This post is going to be a guide in part, to how to create a unique wedding ceremony and hopefully fill you with ideas of how the best in the business help couples get those ideas out into the beautiful reality of their wedding ceremonies.
Table of Contents* You've been a celebrant now for around 300 years, what have been the biggest developments in wedding ceremonies that you've noted since the dark ages? * What do you feel you noticed the most in how people approached ceremony planning during the covid 19 pandemic and was that similar to what you noted during the spanish flu? * Best tip for people planning their wedding ceremony who want to be brave and step outside of some norms? * What are the biggest rookie mistakes you see when people are trying to plan a unique wedding ceremony? * If you could go back to one ceremony: and say why it was the best (without naming names) what were the ingredients in that particular bagel (ceremony) that made it the most memorable. * La Ninâ: Thoughts? Does rain ruin wedding ceremonies or should people just learn to normalise swimmer caps at weddings? * When couples are trying to choose a celebrant who's the right fit for their wedding. What are some better questions for them to ask other than just price. * As someone who's probably put his signature on millions of marriage certificates. Any thoughts on what makes marriages really last? Beyond the contractual elements you witness. What are the daily intangibles? * Any final words for couples to be who are in the midst of the storm that is; wedding planning * When will The Rebel's Guide To Getting Married be released and where can people follow along? Today I'm interviewing arguably one of the most authoritative, lovely and creative marriage celebrants in the world. Or at least Australia; Josh Withers. I don't know anyone who's been to as many wedding ceremonies as Josh. From elopements all over the world to being one of the first celebrants called up to work on Married at First sight. Josh has seen the good bad and ugly of weddings. (And not just on reality tv)
Josh is a Gold Coast wedding celebrant who hops all over the world doing his thing and this year has a very limited availability on the Gold coast between September - December if you're still hunting for a celebrant to help you craft a really unique wedding ceremony. I couldn't recommend anyone more.
Some of these questions will be a bit light hearted. But there's lots of goodness in here that I think every couple who craves a bit of inspiration for how to create a unique wedding ceremony should take a lot out of.
You've been a celebrant now for around 300 years, what have been the biggest developments in wedding ceremonies that you've noted since the dark ages?Back when I started and it was mainly just Jesus and I doing weddings things were simpler. You’d just say “Hey Google, get me a wedding” and everyone would get the same big wedding. White dresses, black tuxes, three tier cakes and nice white chair covers. From then to now things have gotten crazy. People get married on days that don’t end in aturday, they wear clothes that aren’t straight off the cover of Brides Weekly, they want ceremonies that actually reflect who they are and what their worldviews are, and they are serving meals at receptions that have broken out of the options presented by a water asking “the chicken or the beef”. So things are good. Who would have ever thought that making the beginning of your marriage meaningful, intimate and personal would result in weddings being awesome. The more you know, ya know?
What do you feel you noticed the most in how people approached ceremony planning during the covid 19 pandemic and was that similar to what you noted during the spanish flu? During the Spanish flu the average life expectancy was about 53 years, whereas during Covid life expectancy had risen to about 83 years of age. That’s an extra thirty years of possibly sharing a TV remote control with someone you might not like. So even before Covid I witnessed people stepping into marriage maybe a few years later than they did in the 1920s. Where as back then you’d marry before you turned 20, today people might marry closer to, or after, 30. So they’re getting married with less societal expectation, less parental intervention, and more intent, more purpose, more love, and more awesomeness.
Plus during Covid plenty of wedding ceremonies were postponed so that sucked, but what can you do about that outside of sending every politician to jail?
Best tip for people planning their wedding ceremony who want to be brave and step outside of some norms?To get legally married in Australia I as a marriage celebrant am bound by law to having to say 73 specific words, and each person getting married needs to say 23 words (but the law also says I can say “words to that effect”) so we’re talking about 120 words that take less than 60 seconds of “things you must do”. We can do this without clothes, without chairs, without pews, without photographers or videographers, in the middle of a major intersection with at least two people witnessing the ceremony. There is no requirement of cake, drink, or food. There need by no bridal party or chair covers.
So if you’re going to wear clothes, or have chair covers or a cake, let it all be with intent. Make decisions about all these things - especially in your ceremony - in the light of who you are as individuals and as a couple, not because previous generations are peer-pressuring you to do it. The number one question you should be able to stand in front of a court and answer is “how do people like us get married?” Because honestly, there are no norms. Nothing is normal. You are, and should proudly be, weird and strange and that’s beautiful. Own that and let it shine throughout your entire marriage ceremony, wedding, marriage, and life. Own your weirdness!
What are the biggest rookie mistakes you see when people are trying to plan a unique wedding ceremony?The biggest mistake is people open up google.com and ask it questions. Or worse, they talk to Jenny at work about it - and Jenny’s basically just a human Google. Not that Jenny or Google are inherently bad or evil, they’re just not you. In creating a wedding you’re creating an intimately unique moment. And Google, or Jenny, know nothing of intimately important moments like your marriage ceremony. They might know how “most people” do it, but you aren’t most people. You’re you.
If you could go back to one ceremony: and say why it was the best (without naming names) what were the ingredients in that particular bagel (ceremony) that made it the most memorable. I thought about this for too long, but I haven’t had this yet. I’ve created ceremonies in some of the most amazing locations around Iceland, Europe, the USA, Asia, New Zealand and Australia, but then I’ve had the loveliest humans get married in places minutes from my house in just fine wedding locations, and then I’ve worked weddings with some of the best wedding creators in the universe but maybe the location wasn’t pinging, or the couple were distracted by the enormity of it all and couldn’t be present in that moment. So it can be an epic moment on so many points but then the couple aren’t present and that really takes away from it for me. So as I talk all this through I would say I value intention and presence in the moment over location and team, so if that’s the measure of the best ceremony I can think of a bunch of couples who hit that note perfectly. It would just be super nice if those same couples got married with Joshua Mikhaiel and some of our mates in Iceland as well.
La Ninâ: Thoughts? Does rain ruin wedding ceremonies or should people just learn to normalise swimmer caps at weddings?'Sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata', or translated from Italian, 'wet bride, lucky bride.' Now I don’t believe in the sense of luck being this magical force, but that luck is more of a blessing. 'Right time, right place, you were prepared and resourced and ready for this thing' kind of luck. So what makes a couple lucky that it rained on their wedding day? The fact that without rain we wouldn’t have drinking water or household water. We couldn’t have fresh food, or swimming areas. This whole train thing is kind of important to us kinda existing on planet earth. So it rains when you get married, I understand it sucks, but it’s also just part of life. My tip is that you don’t have to get swimming caps, or book an entirely seperate venue for a wet weather backup, but as you plan for a venue, have a wet weather backup in mind. It might be that the barn on the farm could serve as a ceremony location if it rained, or a balcony that might be nice. Or if you’re getting married in the ‘wet season’, like a January in Queensland, let’s not tempt fate and book the whole thing inside, with air-conditioning. Let sanity prevail.
When couples are trying to choose a celebrant who's the right fit for their wedding. What are some better questions for them to ask other than just price. The main question you should ask would be “is your name Josh Withers” and if it isn’t then you need to know that you’re not booking Josh Withers as your wedding celebrant. Other than that have you considered Josh Withers as your wedding celebrant? I highly recommend him. Apart from those obviously hilarious but also kind of serious answers, your marriage celebrant is the person breathing your marriage to life for you, and with you. It’s a collab. So make sure you like the person, you like their vibe, they speak your lingo and hold similar worldviews and beliefs as you. Also, make sure they’re charging you enough that you know they’re actually going to make an effort to celebrate you instead of just re-create another template ceremony from their book of ceremony templates. One more thing, because your celebrant is speaking, make sure they’ve actually got professional audio gear so everyone can hear them. If it’s a MiPro or some crappy karaoke system they bought at JB HiFi say no!
As someone who's probably put his signature on millions of marriage certificates. Any thoughts on what makes marriages really last? Beyond the contractual elements you witness. What are the daily intangibles?Marriages last because of two things that are the same thing: your word. The first thing is the everyday word, that you would communicate. This sword cuts both ways, that you would talk about everything, share your feelings and experiences and that you would listen to and hear each other, then also that if you have expectations that you would communicate them. So many arguments arise from things one person thought the other person should have known. The second thing is your word that you gave. You’re married. You said so. So as circumstances arise that might threaten that, either in actions you could take, or actions the other person might take, before any consequences or reactions take place, you are married. That fact is not in question. Let your yes be yes, let your word mean something. Otherwise, if you’re in the business of talking BS why say or believe anything anyone says?
Any final words for couples to be who are in the midst of the storm that is; wedding planningPeople love to throw around the word ‘bridezilla’ but honestly, I encounter more groomzillas, and even more mother-of-the-groom-zillas, and it stems from something really simple and stupid. For many people their planning of a wedding is one of the first times they as a couple have gathered this many people together and spent this much money. And it’s common that one of the people getting married - if it’s a guy and girl, typically it’s the guy - will bow out and take a “whatever she wants” kind of attitude because they think that is really sweet and kind. But it’s lazy and irresponsible because both of you are getting married. It’s not “her day” it’s “their day” and when one of the two people that make the they are not contributing or sharing their desires they just bottle it all up until it gets released under pressure some time later.
So instead, before you start planning, start answering some questions about who you both are as individuals and as a couple, what matters to you and what doesn’t. What elements of weddings have you liked before and do you have strong feelings on. There’s a hundred questions there, I talk about many of them in my new book, The Rebel’s Guide To Getting Married, and if you can set a firm foundation for your wedding you can then easily go and spend the money and book the vendors because you’ve talked about it all before hand. Talk before you spend.
When will The Rebel’s Guide To Getting Married be released and where can people follow along?I’m writing the book live on my blog, releasing each chapter for free on my blog at https://rebels.guide and through the middle of this year I’ll publish the book and make it available where all good books are sold, the Lifeline Bookfest. Hoping for Angus and Robertson or Amazon too but in this economy? Who knows! The book is my ode to planning a wedding outside the bounds of what everyone considers a normal and boring wedding, instead, creating an epic wedding full of purpose, meaning and intention, with the best team of wedding creators and the big spoiler is that it probably won’t happen on a Saturday.
Once again if you're passionate about creating a unique wedding ceremony and not having the same scripted lines and jokes that often get thrown around at weddings. Do have a really meaningful chat with your celebrant about how you can make it really reflective of you both. And I mean that in a deeper sense than, "We want it to be relaxed because we're relaxed." There's much more available to you than you realise and pulling off a unique wedding ceremony is definitely well within reach. I will literally sit on the phone with you for hours talking about it if your celebrant wont. I get really passionate about this stuff. Your ceremony IS the main event of the wedding. It's why it exists. We get so easily distracted with venues and flowers and outfits and what songs we'll dance to but ALL of those things only exist because there's a ceremony that we're coming to celebrate.
Please take the time to really dig deep on what your unique wedding ceremony will look like and get as much help as you need from those you love, and those who love weddings; to make that ceremony as unique as your marriage will be.
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Gabbinbar Homestead Weddings are the stuff of legend. I have been lucky enough to photograph weddings all over the world at some of the most expensive and luxurious wedding venues you could possibly imagine. Castles in Europe, Ranches in California, I honestly can't think of a venue that ticks more boxes or that just was all over it quick like what I experienced at my first Gabbinbar Homestead wedding.
This blog post will be a bit of a cross between a showcase of Charles & Stef's real Gabbinbar Homestead wedding, but also really a showcase of the venue itself. There will be a few more photos of the venue and details than I probably normally include in a blog post of a wedding day, but I think Gabbinbar deserves the showcase. Even though they're booked out for about two years at the minute I think. If you want to have an absolutely seamless experience on your wedding day I couldn't recommend this venue more highly.
This is one of the perils of the blunt "swords" we use in Australia for a Sabrage. Invented in the 1700 by Napoleons army. Usually done with a Sabre (hence the name) It can end up a little bit like this when you use a blunt setup and some big agricultural hands like Charles. Thankfully Gabbinbar Wedding staff were quick to put another bottle in his hand so we could go again.This wedding was shot for Bulb Creative. Mega grateful to be invited into this occasion for them.
Videographer: Your Wedding Story
Florals: Poppies For Willow
Brides Gown: Suzanne Neville
Live Music: Nick Trovas Band
Wedding Cake: Impressions on Scott
Exit Car: Wheels to Weddings
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The Warehouse in Fortitude Valley is one of the most gorgeous Brisbane wedding venues. Moving to Brisbane from NSW a year ago I did a bit of digging to see what venues I'd be really excited to photograph and The Warehouse was definitely in the top 10. I photograph a lot of outdoor country style venues and when I go the black tie route I love it to be a venue that's got a lot of character.
I find function centres pretty boring for wedding venues & anytime there's an old warehouse with a ton of its original charm on show I get super excited to photograph there. Sarah & Jordan chose two beautiful places to incorporate through their wedding day. They held their ceremony right by Brisbane river at The Gardens Club on perhaps the lushest grass I've ever seen, looking over the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. Their lovely ceremony was set right up against the trees underneath a stunning arbour by Wallflower Floral Design.
The chose to have their wedding reception at the Warehouse just a short trip over the Storey bridge, another Iconic Brisbane landmark. Sadly we watched the sun setting as we drove over the bridge and by the time we scurried up to the roof of the Warehouse, Brisbane's skyline was a cloudy slightly pink situation rather than any type of golden light. But that wasn't going to stop us getting some really rad, moody portraits on the roof before we headed inside.
No bridal party members were "irreversibly" harmed in the making of these images. I'm such a sucker for a live performance at a wedding. It doesn't matter if it's the wedding band but its just so, so special when the bride or groom gets up and performs a song; (or many songs). Jordan went one step further. Occasionally you'll get a groom rip off an Ed Sheeran song and do it borderline justice and everyone cries and it's great.
Jordan WROTE THIS SONG HIMSELF! And it was amazing. Not sentimental but actually average. It was really, really good! Probably the highlight of this wedding for me. Such a smooth voice and the lyrics and composition was amazing. I often look over at the video team or a member of the bar stuff when there's about to be a performance by the bride or groom. And we give each other a knowing look of... "will this be amazing, or a little bit sweet but not much chop." And as soon as Jordan opened his mouth the video team and I locked eyes and both gave a huge approving nod that essentially expressed. "This is WAY better than we could have imagined."
Ceremony Venue: The Gardens Club, Brisbane.
Live Music: Birdman Randy & The Ivory Preachers
Videographers: XIV Creative
Florals: Wallflower Floral Design
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Something you may not know... is that 35mm film is making a comeback in my life and work at the moment. I love how it looks, feels.. The whole process of waiting for the film to come back. Here's a few frames of this little forest scene that I shot with film before the rain...
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Toowoomba wedding venues are some of the most unique options for weddings in South East Queensland. The Darling Downs region is chock full of hidden gems in just about every department but particularly with gorgeous wedding venues. From stunning elegant sandstone manor houses to rustic farmhouses & barns Toowoomba wedding venues have the full spectrum...
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Looking for a gold coast wedding chapel but you’d rather be scrolling instagram than scrolling through page after page on google trying to find the best wedding chapels on the gold coast? Trust me. I hear you. In this post I’ve compiled a list of all the best gold coast wedding chapels. And may I...
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This jewish wedding at three blue ducks absolutely blew me away. Tali & Jessie are just insanely wonderful humans and their wedding day was absolutely one of a kind. I have never experienced such energy and love in one room. I've photographed jewish weddings before and the energy on the dance-floor is always electric. But...
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Gold Coast wedding venues that are unique can be a harder search than you'd think. Maybe you're looking for a wedding venue that's close to home, but getting married on the beach at surfers paradise isn't really your vibe. You guys are a bit more adventurous and you want your wedding day to reflect that....
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EOS R6 sample RAWs to download for free? Yeah good idea Josh! My canon EOS R6 just showed up in the mail! I've had 3 days with it and got to shoot one wedding and one elopement with it so far and I'm pretty impressed. If you're here I'm guessing you're figuring out if you...
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The Best Gold Coast Wedding photographers are everywhere! Not always on google though. Which is presumably how you were transported here. But not all wedding photographers are created equal. Unfortunately google also has no taste when it comes to wedding photography. It's much more concerned with backlinks and code and how fast a website is...
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Bowral wedding venues are not like a box of chocolates. I mean... they are in the sense that they're decadent, very sweet and spending too much time in them will probably lead to you wanting more. But unlike Forest Gump's delightful anecdote. You really do know what you're going to get with bowral wedding venues....
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Smoke bomb wedding photos have lit up our instagram feeds over the past few years and for good reason. We're part of a time in history where all the rules around wedding photos are up for reinterpretation. Many of my couples are ditching traditions and eloping or throwing away many of the traditions our parents...
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This is the part where I'm supposed to give you my spiel on why my list of southern highlands wedding vendors is the best. Why you need to find your "perfect fit." You're goldilocks and the Southern Highlands wedding vendors have left their porridge out for you to taste. There's a lot of cliche's in...
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What an absolute treat it was to be invited to share in David & Emma’s incredibly beautiful Jaspers Brush wedding. Huge shoutout to James Day for inviting me in to help out with shooting this wedding with him. David & Emma are such a wonderful couple and their wedding day was absolutely stunning in every way.
Jaspers brush is one of the most sought after south coast wedding venues for a huge list of reasons. The location is second to none, it’s got incredible on site accomodation and provides one of the most comprehensive luxury wedding experience on a small enough property that you don’t have to leave the site for photos or anything else.
Nestled in the greenest and arguably most quaint section of the NSW south coast. Conveniently located just outside of the beautiful township of Berry, Jaspers is less than an hours drive from Wollongong CBD. Still within reach of Sydney Jaspers Brush is perfect for couples looking to escape the big smoke for a bit more of a country wedding without diminishing any of the class of an elegant city wedding.
Everything about this venue is curated to perfection from the structures themselves to the styling. Every piece is stunning and timeless. The level of detail really blows you away. The owners have so many precious antique pieces out on display I’m honestly surprised they let people who’ve had a glass of champagne anywhere near their property.
The venue itself boast a gorgeous bridal saloon for getting ready photos, which they accurately describe as a bespoke suite of rooms, decorated with touches of vintage Hollywood Regency. On top of this 10 gorgeous guest rooms and an organic day spa right in the centre mean that you’ll have plenty of room for you and your bridal to get away for the weekend in complete indulgence.
Speaking of the local area if you’ve not been lucky enough to eat a hot doughy doughnut from the Berry Donut Van, do your self a favour. It doesn’t matter if you’re not hungry. It’s just something you need to try. Emma & David’s Jaspers Brush wedding was my first wedding to have donuts that were actually from the berry donut van. Sadly, they were cold by the time we ate them. I managed to hold back my tears and put back a few of them, don’t worry.
The property itself its absolutely insane. The drive towards Jaspers Brush is through beautiful green rolling hills and dairy farming country along the coast. But tucked away in the middle of these huge open fields sits a little lush green oasis of huge oak trees and beautiful hedges and vines. A section of Japanese gardens complete with a ton of huge Koi Carp swimming beneath the surface. Every little plant and sculpture is expertly curated and it feels like you’ve been transported into another world.
One of most epic features of this venue is the amazing ceremony site. The Colour palette is amazing, the lighting is amazing, the backdrop is amazing. It’s also got a nice amount of space on the sides for your photography & videography team to run around and get all the angles without getting in anyones way. (Being able to sneak around behind the hedge is amazing as it doesn’t distract the guests.)
To see more of my favourite south Coast Weddings click here. If the Southern Highlands is more your speed I’ve listed my favourite Southern Highlands wedding venues here as well.
If you’re in need of any advise planning your own Jaspers Brush Wedding I’d love to hear from you. Jaspers Brush is one of my absolute favourite wedding venue’s on the South Coast
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