Our Wedding <3

Our 10th wedding anniversary is now exactly one month away.

We pulled out our own album and enjoyed a little trip down memory lane. Overall, it was a really special day for us.

There are things that we would change about our wedding - for sure. I think that most people look back and would tweak something, at least. However, what we would not change is the most important thing: each other.

As we approach 10 years, we are grateful for our wedding day but, most importantly, each other (as well as our wonderful daughter, Chloe, and our sweet kitten, Coco Mittens: what makes up our little family).

Photographer // Lady Jayde Photography <3

Venue // Abbey Boutique Hotel <3

Wedding: B+T <3 (Karana Downs)

Brooke & Tahlia.

<3

We met Brooke & Tahlia before accepting their non-refundable retainer or signing the contract. We were drawn to their laid-back, easy-going, fun-loving natures. They remained true to themselves on The Big Day and celebrated their wedding in their backyard. (We love when couples do whatever is important to them, whether that is a wedding in a chateau, villa, cathedral, winery, mountain - or backyard! It does not matter as long as it is somewhere important to both of you.) Brooke & Tahlia welcomed us as guests and treated us as guests, too - including warmly welcoming us to help ourselves to their delicious curry & slider stations. We want to wish the lovely Brooke & Tahlia the very best for their future together - we hope it is full of wonderful memories! Here are ~120 of our favourites from the day.

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Wedding Dress: Wilde Willow

Bridesmaid Dresses: ASOS

Groom's Suit: Politix

Cake: Katie Young’s Cakes

Florist: Flowerlovers Brisbane

Hair & Makeup: Meg Pond

Catering: Gourmet Street Food Catering

Celebrant: Ellen Arrowsmith

Music: Shelby Hamilton and Yuri Villis

Car: Bruce Hutchins

If your crown is ever crooked, we wish for a tribe to fix it up - just like Tahlia’s! <3

What a delight to capture the beautiful bond Tahlia has with her mum! <3

Information :: Consolidation

We were recently bringing our Facebook page up to date and created an “About Us” album in the process. We included a few links containing information about us and realised that it has been a little while since we have consolidated it all in one place on our blog. So here we are:

Us - Pete & Em - living our best life in Karnataka, India, on Christmas Eve, 2014.

Information :: What Motivates Us

Hope this finds everyone well and happy! :)

We have recently shared a few things about us and our priorities, including this list for why we provide two shooters as part of our wedding package. However, one topic we have not discussed yet is what motivates us in this field of wedding photography. So, we sat down and came up with a few primary motivators.

Therefore, please find below just some of the things that motivate us:

  • The fact that documenting your love through visual storytelling is a huge privilege!

  • The people we shoot with - encompassing both clients and fellow vendors. You are all a source of inspiration and never-ending wonderful ideas.

  • The creation of something that we want you to look back on for years to come and enjoy. This is crucial for us. We choose not to get swept up in current editing trends or genres, for example, as it is only a matter of time, and that particular style will no longer be in vogue. We want our work to be as timeless as the choice you make to love each other.

  • Working with the numerous factors that come into play - in most cases - for an image to be memorable (lighting, composition, and so on). Working within these well-documented parameters to create something magical & unique is an opportunity we welcome.

  • How easy it is to get lost in the moment. It is not uncommon for us to find cuts and bruises that we didn’t realise that we had acquired during a shoot! We honestly just get lost in the moment and the combination of the distraction & the natural high kicks in.

  • We are both romantics at heart; weddings are so full of energy and love, and it is hard not to get excited about that.

  • The personal challenge to create something fresh. Part of the work that goes on behind the scenes is researching whatever venue we are shooting at, for example. We do this so that we don’t overlook anything our client might want. However, we also do this to challenge ourselves to produce something we didn’t find in our research. Ultimately, we don’t want to get lost in the crowd.

  • Our beautiful city of Brisbane, Queensland! So many photogenic nooks and crannies in and around our hometown. :)

Oh, and detail shots of delicious food… but that’s more me (Em) talking here ;)

Shoot & Share 2019

We are thrilled to share our results from this year’s Shoot & Share Photo Contest, our first year of participation. It was a last-minute decision (we only remembered to submit in the final hours before the competition closed so mad-panic-grab-at-50-almost-randomly-selected-images lesson learned: we are marking the date on our calendar next year! #parentlyf).

Here is a description of the Shoot & Share Photo Contest in their own words: “The Shoot & Share Photo Contest is the world’s only free & fair photo contest. Enter up to 50 photos in 25 categories. Anyone can enter photos, and it’s totally free! View the photos randomly and vote for your favourites. No one knows who took the photos, but everyone votes for the winners. The photos with the most votes win!”

In total, 583,150 images were entered in 25 categories. By the final round, 174,215 unique voters had participated from 144 different countries. They had spent 15,809 cumulative days casting over 90 million votes. It was quite the adventure progressing through the 12 rounds of voting!

As the final results are now available, we want to congratulate the photographers who had significantly better results than we did. They have truly inspired us. We are looking forward to putting some of that inspiration into good use - with our own spin, of course. We are looking forward to next year’s Shoot & Share Photo Contest already.

In terms of our results, feel free to check out the image below:

Results for Poppy & Sage Photography from Shoot & Share 2019: x1 Finalist, x1 Top 10%, x3 Top 20%, and x3 Top 30%.

We are grateful for both the opportunity and the votes cast for our images. I (Em) want to:

a) Recommend the competition for fellow photographers (or anyone really!). Honestly, just do it! We watched from the sidelines last year mostly driven by intimidation. If you have been considering joining in, make 2020 your year! Here are the categories so hopefully some resonate with you:

WEDDING

The Wedding Couple
The Bride
The Groom
The Wedding Party
Ceremony / Reception
Wedding Details

PORTRAIT

Birth
Newborn
Babies / Toddlers
Kids
Teens / Seniors
Families
Maternity
People Portraits
Pets / Animals
Lifestyle / Documentary

WEDDING/PORTRAIT

Engagement / Couples
That Just Happened
Emotion / Excitement
Passion Portrait
Styled Wedding / Fashion

PERSONAL / OTHER

Share Joy
Creative Projects
Phone Photography
Travel / Landscape

b) Most importantly, take a moment to acknowledge Pete. Our image that placed as a finalist was one that Pete took (this image alone was “favourited” - or shown some love - 45 times by voters) and was edited by me (I edit all of our images):

 
 

Our image that placed in the Top 10% was also one that Pete took:

 
 

I am so incredibly proud of his talent and unique eye. Just in the time I have known him (10 years!), Pete’s growth has been exponential, and he teaches me. As I recently shared on Instagram (check out the accompanying image Pete took here that has since placed in the Shoot & Share Photo Contest), “Photography has always been my (Em's) baby. Pete came along and, to be honest, my passion frustrated him sometimes. Understandably so. If I go to some place I have never been before (especially overseas), I feel naked without the camera. I always rationalise the situation by stating that we may never visit x place again (we both favour new adventures as opposed to reliving fond memories). Also, I don't want to rely on my long-term memory. Photography had to either be shelved under an individual hobby category (with me being more mindful of his feelings and compromising somewhat) or Pete would jump in the photography world, too. This is some straight fire he shot recently. I am learning from him. <3“.

Lastly, two more of Pete’s shots for good measure… yep, I am loud & proud ;):

 

Thank you for sharing in our delight and we’ll be over here counting down to next year’s contest. ;)

 

~~~

 

P.S. I was going to leave this post at celebrating Pete’s outstanding work but then I realised that one of my images is the beautiful half, Samantha, of the couple that includes the handsome groom (Johnré) above so - hey, why not include it, too! They are a lovely couple that we have been truly delighted to work with.