Pictures of Me, Pictures of You.

Photography rated high on Mr Big and my list of “things we wanted” for the wedding. As every bride, blog, and bee has said before me, once all the décor is packed down and the guests slowly drag themselves home, all that’s left are the memories and the pictures.

And Mr Big and I have pretty shoddy memories!

For us, our search to find just the right photographer was a hard one. We wanted to find a photographer who took photos that were able to not just capture the moment and the people, but understood our personalities and provided everything we needed. This was emphasised further by the fact that Mr Big and I aren’t very photographic (we like being spazzes).

Case in point. / Personal photo.

The ‘sane’ thing to do would’ve been to look locally.

I’ve posted numerous photographers on the ‘Bee who are Hunter Valley/Central Coast locals. Photographers like Something Blue Photography, Cavanagh Photography, the quirky Popcorn Photography (careful, has music which plays when you click!), and my personal favourite, Photography on Hermitage, all made it on to my “should possibly contact” list. But the reason I didn’t pull the trigger?

Price.

You see, Mr Big and I didn’t really want an album. Just digital prints and unlimited access to said prints. “Paper” prints would be great, but weren’t ‘necessary’. You would’ve thought that would lessen the price at least a little bit, but it wasn’t the case. The search for our photographer frustrated us to no end. Mr Big was suffering from sticker shock and I was attempting to find anyone who could provide us with all we wanted without the excessive price tag.

What made it even more frustrating?

We wanted a photobooth and a videographer as well. That meant we had to pocket away some money to afford a photobooth, a photographer, and a videographer. Mr Big and I tried to get ourselves to stop. Loving. The photobooth. But it was too hard. We wanted it.

We wanted it bad.

And we weren’t willing to sacrifice a videographer either. I remember watching my parents’ wedding video as a kid, my uncle’s wedding video as a pre-teen, and thinking it would be awesome to have a wedding video when I were to get married. Mr Big also has a saying for this wedding, “we’ll only do it once… let’s make it the best thing ever!”

So what could we do?

Well, hive, we gave up. For about a week at least. We just didn’t touch or even poke at the subject of the wedding. We enjoyed being engaged, we stayed in and watched movies, and cuddled on the couch. We just didn’t, want, to handle it.

And then one day, after stumbling across a particular post on Polka Dot Bride, I found StudioSomething. Curious, I clicked on their link and flicked through their photos. Impressed, I went to their information page.

The first line of this page?

It’s a little small, but it reads: “You’ve heard we’re awesome, right?” / Taken via Studiosomething’s information page.

Now, if you know me, or if you’ve been reading my posts, you’ll probably have realised I use the word ‘awesome’ a lot. Like, a terrible amount of lot. I am “awesome”-addicted.

Barney knows where it’s at.

To see those five word emblazoned on the information page was enough to make me turn to Mr Big and pronounce, with wide eyes:

“I WANT THESE PHOTOGRAPHERS.”

(I kid you not, hive. Mr Big was alarmed at my enthusiasm.)

What’s more than their spectacular use of the word ‘awesome’? They take amazing photographs and the team are quirky, intelligent, and amazingly skilled at their work.

They’re not just amazing, but they understood our personalities. They know we’re not really the typical couple. They tailor their shooting styles to the personalities of their clients, they collaborate with the couple, and most of all, they have fun! Their photographs capture more than just the couple and the wedding. They capture the love, laughter, tears, and sheer beauty of the moment!

Our first meeting with them was at a café in Bondi where we bonded over coffee and the traditions attached to our wedding. They asked us what we wanted, what we liked, why we wanted to do the wedding in the Hunter, and basically just got to know Mr Big and myself.

We emailed back and forth a lot after that. Despite the fact that we loved StudioSomething, however, we knew we needed to do some shopping around. Mr Big is all about ‘choice’, so he and I wanted to see what else was out there.

However, after finding another photographic outfit that seemed like a good fit, meeting up with them, and falling into the Venus Flytrap Effect (dubbed by the wonderful Mrs Waterfall), we hurried back to StudioSomething. No other photographer made us feel as comfortable as StudioSomething’s Ellen and Phu, the two we had met up with that day in Bondi. They treated us like people, not like customers, and we definitely didn’t feel like we were being swindled simply because the word ‘wedding’ was attached to our particular event. They were still professional with us, but friendly and conversational as well!

And their photos are. Absolutely. Magical.

I love the way they shoot in black and white, as well as colour, and put so much emotion into their photographs. They’re extremely talented and bonus –

They do photo booths and stop motion.

Check it out for yourself:

Love it!

So with all of that, we were a complete and total goer for StudioSomething.

What do you guys think? Did we make the right choice?

(All photos and video copyright to StudioSomething unless otherwise stated.)

Bearded and Bespectacled.

Mr Big is handsome. He’s cute, charming, and absolutely a-dork-able (I might be biased). He’s also never without two things: his spectacles and his beard.

When I first met Mr Big, he was beardless and he had what is typically known as “rimless” glasses.

Literally, one of the only two photos I can find where Mr Big is beardless. This was taken three years ago in 2010!

Over the years, his glasses have stayed more or less the same, but in most of our photos together, he has a beard in some form or another:

From left to right, top row: During my 23rd birthday, mid-2011; our trip to China, early 2012; our trip to the Hunter Valley, late 2012. Bottom row: Our trip to the Milford Sound, NZ (stunning!), early 2013; celebrating our friends’ Sydney Steampunk reception, mid-2013; and finally, at the Hunter Valley Gardens Zoo, late 2013.

Mr Big’s had glasses for most, if not all, of his life, and he started wearing a beard since he entered the corporate world at a young age, where his age held more weight than his intelligence.So it only made sense that he has a beard and glasses during the wedding.

In the wedding world, beards seems to be picking up. Long gone is the clean-shaven individual, with the “Dawn of the Beard” having well-and-truly risen over the horizon:

A bearded groom / Image via Well Groomed, photography by Krista Photography.

Personally, I LOVE the beard on Mr Big.

Mr Big’s beard completes his look, and I’d like our wedding-selves to be a reflection of our real-life-selves, just more polished and presentable. So I’d be completely happy with Mr Big sporting the beard, and it’s safe to say that he WILL be wearing it when we get married. He even wants to get a hot shave to get it looking schmick.

The other part of his look which must be a part of the wedding are Mr Big’s glasses.

Mr Big needs his glasses to see, as his vision isn’t exactly great. However, as Mr Big wears his glasses pretty much all the time apart from sleeping, he’s got transition lenses, which basically means they go dark in the sunlight. It makes it much easier for him to drive and generally go about life as he doesn’t particularly need sunglasses. However, transition lenses make it difficult to see his (very pretty) eyes in photographs and also became a problem during our engagement shoot.

The transition lenses working – see how they’re dark as compared to my glasses? Also, my expression is just… strange there. / Image & photography by StudioSomething.

In some shots, he was even asked to take them off so that they could fully capture his (adorable ❤ ) face:

GUH. I love this photo. Also notice the lack-of-glasses on Mr Big. / Image & photography by StudioSomething.

Because of this problem, we’re thinking of grabbing an old pair of glasses and replacing the lens so that he can wear it to the wedding. They’re rimless  Raybans, so they’ll look sleek from the sides. But from the front, it’ll look like he’s not really wearing glasses.

That way, people can focus more on his fabulous face.

About a week or so ago, we got the lenses changed for his glasses, and I think it looks good. Here he is with his rimless, transition-lenses-less glasses:

Mr Big, the thinking man.

What do you think about bearded men? How about grooms in spectacles?

(All images personal unless otherwise stated.)

A City Full of Hope: The Bighorn Engagement Session

If you’ve been following my blog posts, hive, you know that Christchurch, New Zealand has been through a lot in the past three years. In September 2010, an earthquake struck Canterbury (the region where Christchurch sits) measuring a magnitude of 7.1. It really scared a lot of the residents in the city, but the Cantabrians braved it and kept moving on with everyday life, even though a multitude of aftershocks followed. It was normal for them (and I guess Californians could understand this factoid).

However, on the 22 February, at about lunchtime on a normal working day, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake rocked the city. It was located much closer to Christchurch than the September earthquake, and the results were catastrophic. Buildings fell, roads literally tore apart, houses were destroyed, and 181 lives were lost.

Now, I wasn’t born in New Zealand. But Mr Big was. The news of the earthquake really shook him to the core. Because he couldn’t get in contact with any of his family or friends for the first few hours of the quake, he began to get extremely anxious. I was right there with him (he was working from home) and attempting to do my best to keep him calm, but having just met his family and friends and connecting with them during that time, I was freaking out myself.

We later found out that all of his friends and family are fine, and for that we consider ourselves extremely lucky and blessed. But at the same time, every time we visit this beautiful city, we’re reminded of that dark few hours where we just didn’t know.

Now, I’m guessing a lot of you are wondering what this has to do with the engagement photo shoot. Well, a lot actually.

We wanted to make sure that, even though the photos are relatively happy, with us being generally PDA, we wanted to capture the city itself. Since 22 February, Christchurch and its people have picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and gotten on with it. Through the horror of the quake, and the devastation that followed, the Cantabrians have shown strength, resilience and most of all, hope that is not only inspiring, but captivating.

And that was what we hoped to portray when we used Christchurch as our backdrop. Yes, the city is in ruins. But it’s still beautiful all the same. Mr Big and I believed our photographers were able to capture both the city and us as an engaged photos.

But I’ll let you decide!

So without further ado, here are some of the photos.

And my favourite:

This just really captures us!

Now before you guys go, I suggest you also watch the spasticity that is Mr Big and my engagement stopmotion:

Yeah, we’re strange.

What do you guys think? I’m in love with them! (But I’m biased).

(All images and video copyright to the fabulous StudioSomething.)

Look what we got in le email yesterday…

http://vimeo.com/studiosomething/eileengrantengagement

❤ 😀

Our photographers are awesome.

We look like badasses. The sign’s ok too I guess.

On the outset of the wedding, I wanted to make an Xbox Achievement sign. For those non-gamers who are interested, this is basically a sign that pops up when you’ve achieved a certain something while playing on the Xbox (for example, completing a mission/level). Mrs Toadstool had the right idea:

 Image via this fabulous post from Mrs. Toadstool. Photography via Alberto Alcorta Photography.

Well guys – I made one! You’ve probably seen it pop up every now and then. My one doesn’t look as good as Mrs Toadstool’s, however, this was the end result:

Photography via StudioSomething.

The sign was literally made the day before and the chalkboard marker we got for it was bought the day of the engagement shoot. I know guys, I’m crazy. Also, I’m disorganised. Also, I was in a country where I can’t drive since I don’t know where I’m going (and also, half the roads were closed!).

And now I’m making up excuses.

Basically, the above was a rush job and I was horribly disappointed with myself. If you look at the sign close up, you’ll be able to see the fugly edges on the chalkboard area of the sign (where it reads ‘engaged’).

Because I had to do it all at Mr Big’s parent’s house, I didn’t know where to look for certain materials, specifically, painter’s tape, otherwise known as masking tape. So improvising, I used a sheet of paper and sticky tape to make a ‘perfect’ rectangle. Unfortunately, the paint seeped underneath the paper, gooped up and tore some of the actual sign when Mr Big peeled off the paper. We did a quick shoddy job of using a marker to colour in those bits and just left it at that.

From afar the finished product looks great! I honestly don’t mind the mismatched blackboard area on the rest of the sign. But I really, really want to redo it! I’m such a horrible DIYer!

Talking about horrible DIY’ing, I recently sliced open my finger trying to do another DIY project. I’ll show you more of this project, but for now, here’s a picture of my injured finger!

How do you take a selfie!? Like seriously. HOW!? / Personal image.

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for a horrible DIYer? Can anyone give me an idea on how to do a blackboarded version of this sign without having to do anything too complicated?

Pictures worth a thousand words

Yesterday I talked you through our very ‘cool’ (haha, see what I did there!) Winter engagement shoot in central Christchurch. Well, last night, while I was chatting to my ma, I got an email which resulted in this:

Guys – WE HAVE OUR PHOTOS!!! *FLAILS AROUND WILDLY*

Now, I knew from the get-go that our photographers were awesome, but I’m the kind of girl who just can’t stand looking at herself in photographs. There’s always something wrong in every photo I see. But when I opened up that webpage to see my photos, I was enamoured.

Seriously you guys – LOOK AT THIS.

(All photos copyright StudioSomething)

MIND = BLOWN.

I’m so glad we chose these guys to photograph our wedding!! I know they’ll do such a marvellous job. I can’t tell you how happy we are. And because I love you guys, I’m leaving you with my favourite image (which just highlights how incredibly silly my relationship with GP can be).

A Winter Engagement Shoot in a City Full of Hope

On a FABULOUSLY sunny day, at 11AM on Wednesday 24th July, GP and I headed out to New Regent St in central Christchurch to meet up with our photographers of the fabulous photography group StudioSomething. Prior to that we each had respective appointments to get all ‘done up’. GP had a professional hair trim and shave from the fabulous people at ManScape, and I had my nails done at Wonder Nails.

Observe:

SHINY! (Personal Image)

Yes guys, I’m eating a cookie. A choc-chip-macadamia cookie from Mrs Higgin’s Cookies. It was DIVINE. Also, can someone spot the rose in the apothecary jar. I got that for my 25th birthday from my awesome friends ❤

Can you also see how AWESOME the weather was!? We totally lucked out, especially when the weather was looking rather hairy previously.

Our photographers experienced the typical Cantabrian confusion of trying to get around Christchurch through the maze of road works currently choking up the streets. Luckily, GP knew the way and was able to direct them to New Regent St where we finally met up with Ellen, Phu and their ADORABLE 6-month old baby. After some cooing with Lewis and chatting about both the shoot and the city, we decided to grab a coffee. We ended up in ‘Shop Eight & Rekindle’, a café attached to a ‘pop-up’ art shop which recycles wood taken from the demolition work happening around the city.

There, we took the first photos of the day.

Now, for those of you who haven’t see StudioSomething’s work, they do ‘stop-motion’ videos. Which means they take multiple photos using a fast-shutter speed and capture photos that, when stitched together, look like a movie! This meant that, when they wanted to capture GP and I kissing, we had to do it slowly at times.

I may have been rather happy to continue kissing on my fiancé… (This girl has no shame loving on her fiancé!)

We also had to slowly stir our hot chocolates, which made me giggle a heck of a lot.

After our photographers had a bite to eat, we moved on to an Astro-Turf space-filler close by. Does anyone remember this photo?

Space-filler Astro-Turf project! (Personal Image)

Unfortunately, there were SO MANY PEOPLE when we got there with our photographers. In the shot above, there was barely a soul around, but with our photographers, people kept flooding in and out – kids, people with dogs, families. So our photographers were able to improvise and asked us to sit in the big couch in the centre (see that Astro-Turf on the right of the image above? That was a HUGE couch). While we sat there, relatively still, they captured the movement around us.

It was an AMAZING shot and I wish I could show you guys, but we haven’t gotten the pictures back yet.

From the Astro-Turf project, we moved to Cathedral Square. These shots were a lot more sombre (considering the damage done to the Christchurch Cathedral in the earthquakes), but we were also able to use the space around us and have some fun with it. By the time we were done with the Cathedral Square we moved on to the famous “Container Mall”, otherwise known as the RE:Start Mall.

The RE:Start Mall on a busy Sunday. (Personal Image)

That picture was taken during our tour with GP’s dad. During the e-session on Wednesday there was barely a soul! It was fabulous. We were able to get awesome pictures of us in the main square, among the colourful containers, and we even got some pictures of our disappearing Fritz’s Wiener lunches! (I recommend Fritz’s Wieners for those who like hot dogs).

At about 4:30PM, the sun started setting and our photographers got snap-happy with the lighting. We got a lot of kissy-photos during that time, and as I was saying – I was more than happy to kiss on my man!

By 5PM, we finished our shoot, giving us a whopping 6 hours with our photographers!

We enjoyed each and every single moment with them and were able to not only get fantastic photos but enjoy their company. They got a pretty good tour of the city centre as well, so I’d have to say it was a win-win! 😉

We can’t wait to get our photos back. I’ll definitely be sharing some of them on this blog!

Rain, Rain, Go Away… No Seriously, Rain, GO AWAY!

Guys, I’m freaking out!

The weather forecast is looking pretty hairy for GP and I on our engagement shoot.

Lookie here:

Weather forecast on Wednesday 24 July in Christchurch, New Zealand // Image taken from metservice.com

As you can see – it’s raining on Wednesday. “Showers. Light winds.” to be exact…

I LOVE the rain, but if it does rain on Wednesday, it means we have to find an alternative place to do our photoshoot! I don’t know if our photographers can photograph in the rain, and don’t want to push them into a situation they’re not comfortable with!

Before we checked out the weather forecast, we were fairly certain what we wanted out of our shoot. You see, on Sunday, we toured Christchurch with GP’s dad and were able to get a good feel of the place. The tour was originally to check out the progress of the city two years on from the February 22 quake, but an email from our photographers also turned the tour into a “where to go for an interesting photoshoot” day.

GP’s dad was an awesome tour guide, and took us through the residential red zone of Avonside. Last time we went through there, GP mentioned that he wouldn’t be surprised if zombies came shambling out of the dilapidated houses. It’s sort of sad to see, but the city is getting much better.

From there, we moved to the Cathedral Square, which has finally opened up, and were able to get a glimpse at the Christchurch cathedral. GP’s dad mentioned that it would probably be good to get some pictures of the cathedral, and we agreed. It is a quintessential part of Christchurch’s history, and therefore, GP’s history as well. As we continued to tour through the centre of the city, we formed a good plan for the shoot.

We would start the photoshoot in the Cathedral Square, in front of the Earthquake-ruined cathedral there – to pay remembrance to the Earthquake that shook GP’s city. From there, we wanted to move to another (happier) area – the space fillers surrounding the square. Like this:

GP and I on the Sunday, being big kids on the space-filler armchairs and couches set up next to the Cathedral Square // Personal Image

 

From there, we’d move to a street called New Regent St which is just. so. charming. (Side note: the Rendezvous Hotel is there, where we’ll be staying for GP’s 30th birthday 🙂 ). I (unfortunately) don’t have any pictures to show you guys since all we did there was buy coffees, chat and move on. We then wanted to move on to the RE:Start Mall, which is otherwise known as the “Container mall” – a shopping district made out of shipping containers (very cool and creative place).

A busker (‘The Mullet Man’) performing in the RE:Start Mall square. Can you see the shipping container café in the background? // Personal Image

There’s also the infamous “Cardboard Cathedral” in front of the Latimer Square. (Ironically enough, the Latimer Hotel was one such venue we were potentially thinking of having out wedding). But that’s not really ‘complete’ as such and GP isn’t too happy to be taking a picture with it!

Alas, if it rains heavily, we may not be able to do the shoot outdoors. And we’re both RACKING our brains on where to go for an indoors shoot. As you can see, our Sunday tour was absolutely GORGEOUS! The sun was out, and it was a nice, cool day. I’m just hoping the forecast is wrong…

We could potentially travel out of town to do the shoot, which may be an idea if the weather decides it hates us in Christchurch. I don’t know any places to go though, so GP will have to take charge.

Does anyone else have ideas for an indoor shoot!?

Parka – Check, Coat – Check, Scarves – Check, Birthday present?

Hey guys!

Two more days ’til we fly, and I’m excited! And also, stressed.

Why is it so hard to pack for winter!?

I think I’m just worried we won’t fit everything, but I’m pretty sure my doubts are unwarranted and unfounded. This here is a list of things I’m bringing over to Kiwi-land. It’s not complete, ’cause I’m not sure what GP wants to bring over, but most of these are for a colder climate than Sydney. Right now it’s about 9 degrees there, compared to the local weather of 16 degrees here. So yeah… I’ll be freezing my badonk off. We’ll also be hitting the snows as well as the Hot Springs in Hanmer Springs, where GP has informed me that it will be SNOWING. I’m UBER excited!

Yee, real snow! ❤

Here’s a breakdown of what I’ve sorted so far:

• 1 x winter Parka
• 1 x windbreaker (GP’s – my parka should do this job fine)
• 2 x coats for ei (one for e-session and casual wear, and one for more formal-type wear)
• 1 x coat for GP (for e-session and casual wear)
• 3 x scarves for ei (packed 2, wearing the other)
• 2 x snow gloves (1xGP, 1xei)
• 4 x gloves (1xGP, 3xei)
• 2 x board shorts (1xGP, 1xei)
• 2 x one-piece swimsuits
• 1 x sarong
• Assorted tights, thick socks, underwear and thermal wear!

I’ve also packed GP’s birthday present in the suitcase. I know he reads this blog, but he doesn’t know what the birthday present is, so I’m safe in the knowledge that he won’t find it!

Hahaha! MINE IS AN EVIL LAUGH!

MINE IS AN EVIL LAUGH!!

Anyway!

I know this was a totally unrelated post to the wedding, but I really am eager to be going to NZ. I love going there and it’ll be my first Winter in Kiwiland. Which will be documented by our photographers! (Did I mention that our photographers are awesome?) Can’t wait to see all of my Kiwi friends too! 😀

Kiwi lady-readers, UNITE!

(Alternative Title: I’m flying on a jetplaaaaaaaaaane –)

In three days! EEE!! ❤ ❤ ❤

GP and I are headed to the land of the Kiwis (AKA New Zealand)!

We’ll be staying there for three weeks, where we’ll also be celebrating GP’s 30th birthday and our 3rd year dating anniversary. I’ll try to keep up with my weekly blogging while I’m over there. 🙂 We’ll be hanging out with friends, enjoying the company of GP’s family, and just chillaxing. We’ll still be working while over there (I do research and he does computer-related stuff – we can carry our work with us), but it means we can enjoy each other’s company. We haven’t really been able to just do that in a while, so I’m excited!

In two weeks or so, we’ll also be having our engagement shoot! YAY! We’ve already got our clothes chosen and I think we’re gonna look like sexy bitches!

Unfortunately, now I gotta figure out how to do my nails, hair and makeup while I’m over there. My nails are black and the polish is chipping (read: they look FUGLY) and my hair is currently highlighted with a vibrant red dye. I’m hoping the VIBRANCY will dim a little, but I’m ok with vibrant. As for my skin, it’s JUST clearing from having an oil meltdown.

In most situations, I’d just get my momma to do my hair and makeup since I FAIL at being a girl. But since we’ll be in NZ, I’ll have to consider either asking GP’s momma if she’ll be ok to help out OR *LE GASP* do it myself! Or maybe you Kiwi girls wanna help?

Seriously guys, me + makeup = train wreck. I also have no idea how to use a curling iron or blow dry properly.

(There’s also, you know… salons, but I’m cheap…).

As for nails, I’m thinking of just getting a manicure the day before or something… They’re like… $NZ20… so like… $AU15…. or something?

Any of my Kiwi readers able to help out with this dilemma?