Category: Couple Shoots

Indieberries Engagement Shoot

by gaby

A few years back, my dear friend Lenore sent me a link to a South African blog called indieBerries. Think you’ll like this, she said. And that was how I entered the deliciously barmy world of Che, writer of fun blog posts, drawer of hilarious cartoons, scrapbooker extraordinaire. Che is one of those people you instantly like, even just via the internet – she’s bubbly and warm, creative and ever so slightly mad. She also makes beautiful stationery, which I used as a thin pretext to get in touch years ago (she kindly wrote a guest post for me then). So of course, when she got proposed to in spectacular fashion and started planning a wedding, I declared myself her new bestie. Conveniently, she was going to be in London for a few months, so I’ve since got to spend some time with her and she is exactly as I’d imagined – which means that I dig her a lot in person as well as online. All of these would have been reasons on their own that I’d be excited to feature her engagement shoot with fiance Warren (or ‘The Warr’ as I can only ever think of him after Che dubbed him that on her blog – it’s fine, he calls me SBB), especially when I found out that their photographer was none other than the awesome Anneli Marinovich. But when I discovered that they had the CUTEST concepts for their shoot, I knew it would be one of my favey couple shoots ever. First, Che and Warren brought the ‘love locks’ tradition to London, adding their own little lock of love to Hungerford Bridge and throwing the key into the Thames. Then they headed for the London Eye, and had a quintessentially London picnic, where each gave the other a love letter to read while Anneli snapped away. What I love most is that these concepts weren’t just used as props – they were catalysts for genuinely romantic and emotional moments between these two lovebirds, and the expressions of happiness on their faces just say it all. They both seem to glow in each other’s company – just imagine how amazing their wedding is going to be! Be sure to read on below for details on the shoot, and for the AWESOME story of how they met (make sure you head over to indieBerries for how he proposed too!). Che and The Warr: huge congratulations!Read More

Camps Bay Engagement Shoot

by gaby

Okay, I have to be honest, I try not to feature too many beach engagement shoots. I know, I know, but when I was growing up in PE it became this thing that everyone who got engaged did – dress up in jeans and plain white t-shirts, and get photographed running down the beach at Sardinia Bay. I have looked at about a hundred of these albums (sorry, PE friends), and I think it scarred me. So I only feature beach shoots that I am totally in love with, and today’s e-session for Jeff and Josephine definitely qualifies. Kerry and Luis of Piteira Photography have perfectly captured the incredible light of a Camps Bay sunset – I can’t believe it was already four months ago that I was sitting with my lovely friend Robyn drinking martinis and looking out at this exact sunset just before coming back to London. Like all of Kerry and Luis’ images, I just want to wallow in the dreaminess. Josephine and Jeff (who live in London) were out in Cape Town for their wedding, which you can see in all its glory over on The Pretty Blog.Read More

London Park Engagement Shoot

by gaby

I have such a sweet engagement shoot for you today, submitted by Wimbledon-based photographer Maxeen Kim. She sent over Cameron and Weronika’s super sweet story as proof that South African men can be romantic – don’t you love it? (Actually, while my dating history reads like a small corner of the United Nations, I haven’t actually dated that many Saffa men myself, so I couldn’t comment either way, but it’s nice to know Cameron is making our boys look good!) Weronika is actually from Poland, and the two lovebirds met when Weronika was hunting for a flat-share. Four years of dating and trips to both South Africa and Poland followed, before Cameron booked a surprise flight to Paris for Weronika’s birthday (somewhere she had always wanted to visit). She thought that was the big surprise, but in fact it was an Eiffel Tower proposal! For their engagement shoot, they chose to recreate a picnic in the park – something they often do in London – and incorporate a fan souvenir from their Paris trip. Cute, non?Read More

Wine Farm Engagement Shoot

by gaby

Almost thirteen years I’ve been living overseas now (how the hell did that happen?). People at home often ask if I get homesick, and the truth is, mostly I don’t. Not that I don’t love my home country or miss my family, but I think mostly if you just don’t indulge it, it goes away. Although someone should have told that to me three months ago when I was on a solo road trip through Limpopo and Enya’s Exile came on the car stereo (ugly cry deluxe), or about five minutes after I finished watching Invictus. Seeing today’s engagement shoot was another one of those moments. Not only are Kara and Lance a truly lovely couple, but they recreated their engagement on Lance’s family farm, Anura (where our Real Life Bride, Cheryl, was also married). It brought rushing back to me the absolutely breathtaking, awe-demanding beauty of the Cape winelands, and what it was like to wake up there every day for my four years at university. It sort of made me hurt a little, right in my heart, the way you do when you see your first love again. But in a good way, I think. It’s a tribute to Vibe Photography that the pics are not only a glowing keepsake of Kara and Lance’s pre-wedding happiness, but a celebration of the countryside they love so well. Perfection. Enjoy. Now, ahem, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to play some Toto. (Oh, and speaking of Toto, how CUTE is their dog?)Read More

Engagement Shoot Allsorts

by gaby

Styling an engagement shoot is never the easiest thing – how do you settle on the perfect look and location to sum up the two of you as a couple (and make you look hot)? After all, you might be a couple who like to glam it up on a Saturday night, but think there’s nothing better than wellies and a walk in the countryside on a Sunday. One way that many couples work around this is to rock two or three different outfits during an engagement shoot, and today’s is a perfect example of how to do that beautifully! Megan and Eugene were photographed by Inecke de Kock in three different outfits and locations, and each says something special about the couple. I love their save the date calendar idea, as well as how they had fun including some of the local kids in their more formal shots. So cute! Thanks for sharing, Inecke!Read More

Motor Museum Engagement Shoot

by gaby

After a super chic wedding this morning, I have a lovely engagement shoot for you this afternoon! I’ve only ever driven past the Wijnland Motor Museum in Paarl, but what a photographer’s paradise it is! I love the background that the old cars create for these gorgeous pictures by Chrstine Watters, and the couple, Glenn and Viv, make amazing models – isn’t it the best when you can see how comfortable two people are together, and how they make each other smile? So darn cute. Thanks for sharing this, Christine!Read More

Love Letter Engagement Shoot

by gaby

Good morning, SouthBound brides… I have The Loveliest engagement shoot to share with you this morning! A couple of weeks ago, I noticed I’d had a new follow on Twitter from a photographer called Dear Wesleyann, who is based in Florida in the US. I happened to click through, and OMG, blog crush. I absolutely loved the style of Wesleyann’s website, but more importantly, I fell head over heels for her beautiful photographs. Which is saying something, considering how many lovely images I see every day. Her light, bright, clean and joyful style really appeals to me personally, and I soon got lost in her archives of pretty! I knew I had to share my special find with you, so I immediately fired off a mail to Wesleyann, who very kindly agreed to let me feature Tracie and Mark’s love letter-themed engagement. Eek! So that was the first exciting part. The next was when I read Tracie and Mark’s story, and why love letters are so important to their relationship and not just a nice prop – in fact, they incorporated the theme into their beautiful wedding as well. Bottom line? It adds up to one of my favourite e-sessions ever.Read More

Travel Themed Engagement Shoot

by gaby

Just when I think I’ve seen every new idea in engagement shoots, along comes a session that shows me that there are infinite ways for a clever couple (and a clever photographer) to express themselves. Alana and Chris are keen travellers, and I love how, together with the awesome Jacki Bruniquel, they used maps and even a written list of favourite places to highlight this in their pictures. Not only are they absolutely beautiful images, but they’re the kind of personal, meaningful ones that will be treasured for a lifetime.

Here’s Alana with a bit more about their (suitably jetset!) proposal:
We try to travel and explore quite a lot and I tend to be the one who puts our lofty plans into action…Chris knew that if he tried to book a trip somewhere it would be extremely suspicious so he just hijacked a weekend in Cannes, France that I had booked for us! He produced a ring out of nowhere while we were at the top of a hill in the Old Town, perched on an stone wall with a stunning view of the sun setting over the sea, eating macaroons we’d bought at a market earlier that day. It was so simple, happy, romantic and so perfectly us.Read More

Paris Couple Shoot + WIN an Engagement Video

by gaby

Hello friends! Hope you’re all enjoying your women’s day! I have an absolutely stunning wedding coming up later, but first, I am super excited about this couple shoot. Why? Because it’s shot in the most romantic city in the world. I mean, who doesn’t love Paris? I must admit, considering that I live so close, I have spent shamefully little time in this amazing city, but it’s still one of my favourites. So I was very excited when Helene of Wedding Light Photography got in touch to let me know about a fabulous competition they are running to shoot an engagement video for one lucky couple in the most romantic city in the world. And not just any engagement video, but one based on Yvan Attal’s ‘Kisses from Paris’ – head over to their blog to find out more about their concept. To win, all you need to do is tell them the story of how you and your fiance met and the winners will get to hop over to ‘gay Paree’ to look lovingly at each other while Wedding Light create their masterpiece. Sounds like a great way for you UK-based brides to spend a weekend, no? Anyway, to celebrate this awesome competition, Wedding Light were kind enough to let me share one of their stunning couple shoots, based on a walking tour around the City of Light. Gabriella and Park (great name there, Gabriella!) were actually on their honeymoon when these were taken, and they make such a special souvenir of their time there. And can I just say, that Gabriella is rocking the awesomest Gucci dress – I think this has to go down as my favourite couple shoot outfit EVER. So sit back lovelies, and prepare to be transported.Read More

Vintage Aviation Engagement Shoot

by gaby

Goodness me, but I love this shoot! A few weeks back, the lovely Alana Meyer contacted me to share Nikki and Wesley’s eshoot, and I absolutely fell in love with the cheeky 1940s vibe, the couple’s cool black and white styling, and the backdrop of old planes and vehicles. Not to mention how gorgeous the couple are (don’t you think Nikki looks a bit like Lindsay Lohan, but back when the LiLo was stunning and sparky and not a washed out media hag, obvs?). Alana’s done a brilliant job of capturing the fun these two obviously have together, and it all adds up to some really memorable couple pics.Read More