First Look location: Gerroa Headland
Portraits and Reception: Coolangatta Estate
You might notice the absence of ceremony photos in this set.
That’s because Indiana and Nathan kept their original date of 11th July, 2020, which was in the middle of the wormhole that was the COVID lockdown period in NSW. They were married in an intimate ceremony at their regular Church with only the officiant and their witnesses present.
They still wanted to celebrate with their family and friends, though, and kept all their vendors on retainer for when lockdowns lifted and we were allowed to (carefully) party again. Unfortunately this also meant no dancefloor, and no mingling, and a COVID marshall on standby – but we still made the most of it!
In lieu of their ceremony, we started off the day with prep at two separate locations. I had the wonderful Kelly as my associate shooter on this day, she did an amazing job of being a fly on the wall with the men while I was having trouble stifling giggles with the ladies. Both sets of folks were loads of fun! The wedding party and our newlyweds donned their wedding attire for the first time for a super-special first look.
Perhaps in an error of judgement, we picked the exceptionally picturesque but also exceptionally windy Gerroa headland as our first look location. Despite this, everyone’s hair actually held up quite well, a testament to the HMUA’s skills for sure. Nathan also swears he was definitely not crying, and it was the wind; I still doubt this, but feel free to judge for yourself when you look over the emotional first look photos.
Because of the lack of the ceremony, we got extra time to take more photos, which meant more time having an absolute blast with the wedding party. The ladies exuded sass and cheeky humour, with the men also keeping us all in stitches. The result was a super fun set of pictures which are great to keep flicking through time and again.
We followed the bridal party shots up with a private set with just the newlyweds amongst the vineyards, the greenery of the vines after a nice soak the week before and the most stunning sunset clouds I’d seen in a very long time. It was intimate, heartwarming and perfect.
Even though we were not allowed to stand and mingle with guests, there was still much conversation, laughter and love shared through the speeches and over dinner – there was a lot of catching up to do, after all. Because dancing was still not allowed, Kelly and I surprised our Indiana and Nathan by finding a vacant room at the back of the restaurant, set up our flashes, and allowed them to have their own private first dance moment to finish up the night.
Still one of my favourite moments in my career.
