First of all, a huge HAPPY CHRISTMAS to all my SouthBound Brides! Hope you had a lovely day, and an especial shoutout to those of you who got engaged under the mistletoe! I’ve had a very chilled day (and I do mean chilled – rain galore in London) and full to the gills with delicious food (homemade chocolate fondant, nailed it!) I have just settled down to watch the Downton Abbey Christmas special and to share a tiny bit of inspiration from our fabulous sponsors, who I have asked: What’s your favourite festive tradition? I love hearing about their Christmas traditions, and have even included one of my own! Here’s hoping that whatever traditions you incorporated this year, you had a wonderful time, and here’s to good things in 2013. (PS Just to up the pretty stakes, I have included some of my absolute favourite Christmas tables from around the blogs this year, yay!)
Hello friends! As I mentioned in my post earlier, from now until the new year we’re going to be focusing on the best of 2012, so to kick things off, I asked my lovely photographer sponsors to share their favourite picture from 2012. Not an easy thing to pick, I imagine, since they have all shot so many lovely images. But it’s great to see a variety of special moments, beautiful light, interesting angles and colours. Which is your favourite?
Hello friends! Time for some more awesome supplier inspiration – today we’re meeting the fantastic Christine Watters of Christine W. Photography in Cape Town and hearing a bit more about what inspires her, and her thoughts on SA weddings. For those of you who still want some lovely inspiration next week, SBB will be right here with the very best of 2012 ahead of the new year, including style guides to our favourite weddings that I know you’ll love. This weekend is all about inspiration boards, so be sure to pop in for those as well. But for those of you going off the grid from today, here’s wishing you an amazing Christmas (or whatever you’ll be celebrating) and I look forward to catching you right back here next year. ANYWAY, back to the lovely Christine. ;)
Hello Christine! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat to us today. How did you get started as a photographer?
It all started in a sort of, “I have to do it,” moment. I had studied media and communications, with a specific focus on feature writing and then photojournalism. While working in a photography studio for a while, I spent every free moment scouring the web, always ending up on the latest wedding blog or pouring over images on wedding photographers sites. I then reached a “now or never” point at the beginning of 2011, took the leap and started my business.
How would you define your style?
I like to describe my style as a mixture of feeling and knowledge. I love it when I feel like I can almost breathe in the feeling of an image. Soft, light images, that take a small moment of emotion and pause it… forever. I’m always trying to tell a story of events, while focusing on the finer details of love, laughter and everything in between. I love creating romantic and unique photographs that reflect a couple’s individual style but that also make my stomach flip with excitement.Read More
When one of my friends gets engaged, I always advise them to sit down with their groom and pick three things that mean the most to them – three things that they will spend money on, that they won’t compromise on. And then, to some degree, to let the other things go. Every couple chooses different things, but if it was me, I know the first thing I would be prioritising: photography. It’s no secret that I’m in LOVE with wedding photography, of course – I couldn’t do what I do if I wasn’t. (And lucky for me that I can be a blogger, because I sure as hell couldn’t have been a photographer!) I love the way a photographer can capture those moments that you might miss (after all, a bride can’t be everywhere) as well as the ones you will never forget. I love how good they can make you look (anyone who says differently is lying), and I love the way that a great photographer has a sense of narrative, so that the pictures tell a story all on their own. Having spent so much time chatting to photographers, I also know how much hard work, knowledge and passion goes into their work – it really is worth every penny. At the end of the day, your pictures are the one physical thing you really can carry with you from your big day – nothing else really compares. So photography would be at the top of my list.
If you agree, then there’s one homegrown talent that you really have to meet. Claire Morgan is a photographer whose work I have admired since I got started in this industry – every time one of her weddings pops up in my Reader I stop whatever I’m doing and take a peek. Originally from South Africa, she’s based in Austria for much of the year, where she shoots the most beautiful, luxurious European weddings in incredible locations, and gives to each of them a sense both of drama and intimacy. And Claire hasn’t just shot in Vienna – she’s worked in the Seychelles, Armenia, New York, Italy, Greece, Mallorca and Chile, among others. Her work is regularly featured in top magazines and blogs – Grace Ormonde Style, Wedding Magazine, Style Me Pretty. I’ve even been lucky enough to feature some of it here. She has a slew of awards and honourable mentions, but she’s still incredibly lovely and down-to-earth. In short, she’s just the kind of photographer you want at the top of your list. And even better, she is available to shoot in South Africa during summer months – contact Claire for more info.
But enough telling you how awesome Claire is. Time for you to see for yourself… after all, as I said before, the pictures tell a story all on their own…Read More
Happy Monday people! For those of you who haven’t yet gone on holiday, I have some lovely inspiration for you today. First of all, it’s time to meet another great supplier (or two, in this case). Last week, I shared some Christmas table inspiration from Green Goddess, and today we’re going to chat to the two lovely ladies behind the name, Coral and Chantell.
Hi ladies! Tell me a bit about your company. Green Goddess Flower Studio is named for the green arum lily, indigenous to Southern Africa. We are a boutique floral studio offering a very personalised wedding flower and décor service. We are big on attention to detail and it is our hearts’ desire to get to know our clients and really amaze them with the beautiful and unusual work that we love to do. We also do flowers for other special occasions such as birthday parties, corporate functions, product launches and love doing commercial work that requires out of the box thinking and results.Read More
Time to meet a new friend! It’s been such a pleasure to introduce you to great new suppliers through the Days of December, promotion, and today we’re getting to know Marinda of Saffron Functions. I think personality is such a huge part of choosing your suppliers – particularly photographer and planner. You have to find someone you click with, so a Q&A is a great start. I asked the lovely Marinda a few fun questions, and here’s what she said…
Hi Marinda – thanks for chatting to us today! Tell me a bit about your company.
I started Saffron two years ago. I’m very passionate about food, flowers and functions and after working in the floral design side of weddings and functions in Stellenbosch for seven years, I decided to combine my knowledge of food and co-ordinating, as so many of my clients wanted the ‘whole’ package from one supplier. Hence the name Saffron as it is has the food and floral connection, and is a flower with three stigmas (representing food, flowers and functions).Read More
If there’s one wedding trend that South African brides and grooms have embraced wholeheartedly, it’s lasercut stationery. I think this has a lot to do with the talented stationers and designers we have in SA, especially Doodles Laser, who have really made this form their own. I love seeing Doodles work crop up in the weddings I feature (as it frequently does), and spotting all the new and exciting ideas that the team come up with. I was also lucky enough to work with Leigh from Doodles on a shoot earlier this year (see it now in the latest issue of Wedding Inspirations) and she is such a pleasure to work with, and full of awesome ideas. But what’s the best way to incorporate lasercut into your wedding decor? We’ve rounded up three clever ways, with lots of eye candy! All stationery below is by Doodles Laser.
Good morning friends! Today we have something a little different for our inspiration board. It’s no news to you that I’m a fan of Cape Town photographer Cheryl McEwan‘s work as we’ve been working together for some time, but I’m delighted to feature her as one of our Days of December sponsors. Since an image is worth a thousand words, I’ve trawled through Cheryl’s archive (the happiest of tasks, with her dreamy style and attention to detail) to come up with a brand new SBB inspiration board. Cheryl’s a keen traveller (in fact, her husband Sven proposed to her in the middle of their world travel adventure!) so although she is based in South Africa for much of the year, I wanted to pay tribute to that love of travel in my choice of theme. And I personally find nothing more inspiring than a little trip to Italy. I took the palette for this board from Cheryl’s pic from the Cinque Terre, the muted mishmash of Mediterranean colour, sun bleached walls and intricate detailing that immediately sets a warm, summery tone for a wedding. Use heavy urns and candelabras, with platters of fruit instead of flowers on the tables, and of course plenty of wine! This makes me think of long Sunday afternoons and long tables, family, friends, laughter. All those things that make an Italian feast, a sweet life, and a beautiful wedding. Head over to Cheryl’s blog to see more of her gorgeous photography, including weddings, couple shoots and some personal travel gems.
Good morning, friends! As you may have picked up by now, I’m passionate about the South African wedding industry, and for the last while I’ve made it my mission to connect couples with great suppliers. I know that sometimes those small business owners with limited advertising budgets have a difficult time, but that doesn’t mean you want to know about them any less, right? So a few weeks ago I launched a promotion called the Days of December, and I’ll be introducing you to a whole family of new blog friends throughout this month in a series of posts. We’re all working hard to make sure this isn’t about boring old adverts, but rather the same high quality editorial content you expect from SBB. You can find all of the suppliers here through the month, but today, we’re meeting the first: Craig of My World Creations, a videographer from Port Elizabeth. I’m always hearing from brides how not getting a videographer is their one regret, so it’s always great to come across someone who can produce something beautiful to complement your photography. Craig has spent some time answering my questions about his business and his advice for brides and grooms, and sharing some of My World Creations‘ gorgeous videos with you today!
Hi Craig – thanks so much for chatting with us! Tell me a bit about your company… My World Creations was established in 2007. At the moment, we are a two man team with myself concentrating on the editing and the main camera work. I have chosen to specialize in video because of the medium’s “story telling” ability. I feel that there are so many little moments and feelings that pass us by that cannot and should not only be captured by a photograph. I love to capture the essence of how the day felt.
How did you get started in videography?
I got started totally by accident, actually. When looking for a career change about eight years ago a friend asked if I did not want to help him with some video work on the side. With that the bug bit and I knew that this was something I wanted to pursue.Read More
Get ready, because I’m about to quote a Katherine Heigl film. I know. Sorry. But when I was putting together this month’s gorgeous Sponsor Showcase full of ‘first look’ moments, I kept remembering what she says in 27 Dresses: “You know how the bride makes her entrance and everybody turns to look at her? That’s when I look at the groom. Cause his face says it all you know? The pure love there.” And it’s true, isn’t it? You only have to look at either the bride or the groom as she makes that walk up the aisle to see pure emotion written all over their faces – definitely one of my favourite moments in any wedding. It’s also one of the hardest to photograph – impossible (unless there’s a second shooter) to get an angle on both bride and groom, and difficult to capture without being intrusive. I think that’s why I’m a fan of the ‘first look’ photoshoot, where the bride and groom share this private moment ahead of the ceremony (and the pics are always amazing). Fortunately, the photographer sponsors here on SBB are a talented lot, and they’ve once again opened their albums to share some absolutely beautiful, inspiring images that show off their different styles. If you’re still looking for a photographer for your big day, be sure to click through from the photos or links to see more of their work, and they could soon be snapping your own first look moment!
