introducing mr. and mrs. lagden-shepherd

it's been a hot minute since i've taken any photos - and here we are with family portraits and a wedding in less than two weeks. yesterday i had the absolute privilege of taking photos at the wedding of jack and kayla lagden-shepherd. my friend kelly knows them well and when asked to photograph their wedding, asked me to come and help as a second shooter, and i was only too happy to.

it was very warm and sunny, but it was the most beautiful day and we worked so well together. we've really managed to get some beautiful shots and i am loving them more and more as i go through them.

the wedding was held at brookleigh estate on great northern highway in the swan valley and oh was it beautiful. so many gorgeous buildings, tree lined drives and the most stunning courtyard for the reception, plus the sweetest lake side ceremony. it's actually the first time i have ever been into the estate, which is incredible, considering how close we live!

the most special moment of the day for me, was watching the bride, her mother and the bridesmaids quickly stop and have a prayer before walking down the aisle. what a beautiful thing to enter into a marriage, knowing god will guide your path. it was so meaningful to me.

kayla and jack were just so much fun! they giggled along with us and our directions as they snuck kisses and enjoyed every moment of newlywed bliss. i just loved them.

kayla and her ladies 

and the newly pronounced husband and wife... they really just couldn't get enough of each other

and were so happy to go along with all our suggestions for photos.

my favourite parts of the buildings were absolutely these gorgeous entrance doors, i had them over there quick smart for a shot and i am so glad i did. look at that!!

and i still can't stop giggling at this shot. i called out to a bunch of the guests for a shot and it's honestly like a shot from vogue. what a cracker.

we had the best day together and i felt so lucky to be included in such a fun day. i will second shoot for you any time kelly mandin. congratulations to jack and kayla! ❤

 

jae + jesse

this past saturday i had the amazing opportunity to take some photos for a friend on her wedding day. i was their temple photographer and it was such an honour. they are a beautiful couple and i loved being able to capture the beginning of their "happily ever after"

congratulations jae and jesse! ♥

a wedding gift made with love

as i posted about a few days back, my beautiful friend aniwa and her husband myron got married last week. we have become very close and share a wonderful friendship and love for the gospel. 

my dad performed their marriage ceremony and i was asked to do a reading at the wedding, so i chose something that spoke of the purpose of marriage within the gospel and the importance of being together as husband and wife. but then, what to give as a gift? i found the perfect solution, in having my reading placed over a beautiful photo of them that I'd snapped at the wedding. my new found friend from lemons that are pink in the uk was only too happy to oblige in making one up and i was thrilled with the results!

♥♥♥

The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly declared more than 20 years ago in the Family Proclamation, that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve was as husband and wife, that they would have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children.

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion and work.

In True to the Faith it also says: If you are married, remember that the friendship and love between you and your spouse should be your most cherished earthly relationship… Remember that marriage, in its truest sense, is a partnership of equals, with neither person exercising dominion over the other, but with each encouraging, comforting and helping the other.

♥♥♥

and clearly they loved it too...

happy days are ahead m & a, this is just the beginning. i love you both!

aniwa and myron get hitched

on saturday my beautiful, beautiful friend aniwa got married to her love myron. it has been such a long time coming, but from the minute they committed to the wedding, everything you can imagine just slotted into place and worked. they were so happy all day long and i am so thrilled that they can finally call each other husband and wife.

the wedding was at baldivis farm stay and was such a gorgeous place! the set up was just beautiful out in the paddocks and wonderfully rustic  

my love and i

my mama and dad. dad was the celebrant at the wedding and did such a good job. i was so proud of him. aniwa had me do a reading as well, i was so touched to be included in the wedding in such a special way. 

joseph and his favourite person in the world, his aunty dom

and madeline and aniwa! she was so excited to see her all dressed up as "a beautiful wedding girl" and was just chuffed to have been invited to the wedding. 

what a lovely day we had, thank you for inviting us to your wedding m + a. we love you so much and can't wait to watch as you embark on your happily ever after ♥

10 years later...

ten years ago today, doug and i knelt together in the temple and promised to love each other, not just for this life, but for what comes next... and during those ten years, there has been good times, some really bad times... but it remains the best decision i have made to this day. 

i decided to revisit my wedding photos and pop some up for our anniversary and so many wonderful memories came flooding back.

i was born in fremantle and my family moved to the bush in clackline when i was just 4 years old. i have a neverending love for fremantle though even to this day and for some reason, every time we go there, it's like coming home. for years i carried a dream in my head of having a photo in the whalers tunnel on my wedding day, and with the help of our amazing photographer, we made it happen. it is by far my favourite photo from the wedding and i never tire of seeing it. 

it was a stinking hot week when we got married. it was 37, 38, 36 degrees celcius, then all of a sudden on our wedding day it was 23. what a miracle. to this day i still cannot believe it, but it was a beautiful day. perfect in every way.

one of the most wonderful parts of my wedding day was having all my brothers there to share the experience with me. they remain one of the most important things in my world and i am so grateful to have grown up as the youngest child, with three wonderful brothers to keep me grounded and remind me who i am.

we were surrounded by the most important people in our lives... and although i see so many people who fall out of touch with their bridal party members, our love for them remains the same. i chose my best friend jennifer, one of my oldest and dearest friends alexandra and dougs sister dominque, with my oldest niece laura as a flower girl. douglas was backed by his three "best men" as he called them, his two best friends from his childhood michael and james, as well as his cousin matthew and another cousins son matthew douglas (named after those two!)

i was super lucky to have my makeup done by michaels wife penny (who hilariously i have known since i was 11, so random that we ended up marrying friends) who is amazing and did an incredible job. i have never felt more beautiful in my entire life. 

i love our photos. i still love to look at them and i am forever grateful for the patience of our photographer, a friend from church who stayed with us for hours so i could get what i wanted. i had so many ideas (and i was obsessed with photos even then) and was thrilled with the results.

this sweet little girl asked her dad the night before the wedding what a flower girl was meant to do. he told her to carry the train of my dress and to carry my flowers if i needed her to. she was incredible and such a sweetheart. she would continually appear and i would feel the end of my dress being lifted into the air and see her sweet smiling face. she is so special to me and i am so grateful to be her aunt.

the boathouse on crawley bay was a quick stop, our limo driver pulled into the bus bay to drop us off and then pulled into a side street while he waited. i love this place. i would pass it so often driving the work cars and i knew i needed to have this shot. 

you'll notice i have a veil on in just this photo and not any of the others. a veil wasn't in my wedding dreams but i always wanted to have one photo of it blowing in the wind. it was my mothers and i love that we got this shot. it was my something borrowed for the day...

one of the most wonderful parts of my day was being able to walk into the reception on my fathers arm. having our ceremony in the temple does not allow for the tradition of a father walking his daughter down the aisle, so it was wonderful to share this brief moment with my dad. he is truly the most wonderful man i could have been blessed with as a dad. 

doug's cousin matthew was in charge of reading the "telegrams" and well wishes from the relatives that couldn't make it to the wedding. he did such a good job and we were really impressed. more so when we found out later on that all of the pieces of paper he was reading from were blank. every single one... and he was just making them up as he went along. he's always been a joker, so really this didn't come as a surprise. 

our speeches were hysterical. there was so so much fun and laughter and it was just so wonderful to be with people we loved. we were all especially amused when dad started his speech telling all our guests about how doug asked his permission to ask me to marry him one afternoon when they were out on the farm shooting. dad apparently retaliated with "you realise i am holding a shot gun don't you." it always makes me laugh to think about it because doug said when it was his turn to talk that it was a case of marry me or die trying. dag. 

of course i stuck with tradition...

something old: my booties that i wore on my blessing day, attached to my bouquet (along with two two fabric horseshoes. mum always wanted to have a horseshoe on hers and when she tried to order one along with her flowers she was told by the florist "oh no darling,you don't order one, someone will give you one" they didn't, she was upset and so i had one for me and one for her

something new: my jewellery

something borrowed: my mothers veil

something blue: a pendant that belonged to my dads mother, it's a simple gold pendant with a blue stone set in it. i had it tied to the strap of my bra with a piece of blue silk ribbon

and this cake. it was so incredible. it was exactly what i asked for and tasted so good. 

it was the most amazing day of my life, bar none and i have nothing but wonderful memories. ten years down and an eternity to go... i can't wait to see what comes next. ♥

five and a half years later...

in just 9 days - doug and i will have been married for 5 and a half years - freak! what a long time. it embarasses me to admit that my finished wedding album arrived on monday. yep that's right after all this time, i have just completed and ordered the album that i honestly meant to do years ago. but i must admit it was worth the wait - it looks really freaking good - and the best bit? $45 bargain i picked up on scoopon - hardcover, with 60 full colour silk magazine style pages. and... i made it myself!

scoopon

last year a friend of mine introduced me to scoopon - an online deal that's emailed to you each day... cheap hair appointments, half price dinners, golf deals, photobooks, pretty much anything. Most of them are pretty bored and the delete button on my computer gets a real workout, but one caught my eye in this case, canvases for $40 each - printed, finished and delivered to your door. so... i bought these for jen and mat for an extremely belated wedding present.

so easy - all i had to do was go to the printers website, upload the pictures, check they were where i wanted them, clickclickclick and they arrived a few days later.

and... they look amazing!! :)