This was my second wedding in a row where we got to race around in golf carts scouting out photogenic locations. How cool is that?

Nicky and Nick had a beautiful outdoor ceremony at Clearwater in Christchurch, and from my very first dealings with them were super relaxed and trusting of me. Christchurch was hot and sunny, and a large part of the wedding day was spent just hanging out, enjoying the fine weather. Nick played some mini golf with the boys. Nicky and the girls enjoyed their luxury hotel room complete with balcony overlooking the lake. The sun discreetly hid behind a cloud for the ceremony and then popped out again. After dinner, the kids ran about on the big lawns, infront of a pretty pink sunset.

Considering at one point there was a possibility the hotel couldn't be used for the reception due to earthquake damage, I think the day turned out pretty well. Which was fabulous, considering Nicky and Nick are such lovely, genuine people.

Well, what can I say? I've been looking forward to this wedding for a long time. It was just one of those days I knew would be amazing. The people, the details, the locations, the ideas... Michelle kept in touch with me and let me know how the planning was going, and her excitement about the wedding was infectious.

Everything was beautiful and stylish, but at the core of the day was a very simple, meaningful ceremony at the gorgeous little wooden church on the peninsula. Then there were drinks and canapes at Tautuku, cricket on the lawn, great food, speeches, a photobooth, cigars, music, dancing... and a very sweet couple, totally in love.

A LOT of images below, because Michelle and Jonny had to wait a bit longer for blogging than usual....

Ok, so I wrote some lovely things about Amy and David, and then my internet crashed, and I lost the lot! It's now almost 1am, so I'm going to be brief.

Amy and David are two very sweet, down to earth Aussies. Except Amy is English, but she moved out to Australia as a child. They wanted a destination wedding somewhere fabulous, and chose Stoneridge, just outside Arrowtown. Such a fabulous venue, with a cute stone chapel overlooking the mountains and vineyards. A simple wedding with their closest family and friends who all flew over for the occasion. The 3 course dinner was fabulous - I know because A&D insisted Liana and I sat with their guests to eat it. Lush.

That's all for now! Here are the goods:

Helene and Nick met in London, on a train. He offered her some gum, and.. she likes gum. She is from Venzuela and is half french half spanish, and he is from Dunedin, so their families live on different continents. They only wanted a really small, simple wedding, but planned a slightly bigger one for the sakes of family and friends, and it was gorgeous. I got to meet everyone at a drinks reception the day before, and it was lovely to see people over the course of two days, chatting, becoming friends. Helene's family and best friends flew over from South America.

The wedding was emotional. Nick's mum sewed hundreds of sequins onto Helene's dress and it was lovely to see her reaction when she saw Helene wearing it that morning. Oh and Nick's reaction when he saw his wife to be. Actually, everyone's reaction when they saw Helene!

There were lots of tears, lots of jokes, lots of beautiful accents, lots of dancing. If you want some crazy skilled dancing at your wedding, why not invite some Latin Americans?

Helene trained as a makeup artist in a previous life, so she did everyone's makeup! One day, I am also going to look that good in my dressing gown...

May and Rob met in Dunedin but now live in Melbourne, so they planned their entire wedding from there. They managed to plan the date for the windiest day of the year! Albeit we're only in the second week of 2012... but still. The plan was for them to meet at the railway station, and then have some fantastic panoramic photographs along the coast, ending up at Orokonui Eco Sanctuary for a simple ceremony. Landscapes aren't really my forte, so I spent some time planning the shoot and picking out spots we could use. Turns out, we couldn't use most of them because just standing out in that wind was ridiculous! The kind of wind you can lean into and it will hold you up. Nevermind your hair.

We did what we could with a couple of spots that were more sheltered. One of which was Carey's  Bay at Port Chalmers, where a fire broke out just as we were shooting some portraits. We got in the paper! If you read it, ignore the quotes from me, I sound a bit dim.

Rob and May are such lovely people, and have a really sweet way with eachother. Even in all that fierce weather, you can still tell they are totally in love.