Last year this time...

...I was freaking out. It was T minus 5 days, and I was completely overwhelmed and stressed and just generally being a weepy, snappish mess. I don't think I'd ever want to go back there, but I wouldn't trade the actual five days later for anything.

I'm so glad I have this blog, because I've forgotten so much of that time. This excerpt from this post on the 29th of October last year made me laugh:

I have Bride Brain (def: a sieve). I left today to go print the menus and table listings. Halfway there I realised I'd forgotten the cardboard I was to print on. I turned around, went home and got it. (Actually I went upstairs, patted my cat, Gollum, grabbed some water, went outside, locked the door, realised I still didn't have the cardboard, unlocked and went back inside). Got to the print shop and discovered I hadn't embedded the fonts in the documents, so they were all Arial. Yuck. Back I went home again. Returned finally, printed the stupid things, had the lady there slice them up so I wouldn't have to, got into my car, realised I had no food for supper, hurried back to the supermarket and then came home.

Attempted to breathe.

I can still feel my panic. But in the end, it was worth it, because I have this:

and this:

and this:

Mr Ruby Slippers and I are going on a mini anniversary holiday to the Drakensberg on Thursday. Our actual anniversary is on Saturday, and we'll return home on Sunday (in time for my rehearsal, boo). I can't believe it's been a year. They say the first year is the hardest, and we have had a few bumps along the way, but on the whole I'd say being engaged was a lot more stressful on our relationship. That was when we were snappy and short-tempered and weepy (me) and frustrated (him). Planning a wedding isn't easy on a relationship. If you can do that, the first year should be a breeze!

Happy almost one year, Mr Slippers! I love you.

My third wedding

Here are some pics from my third and most recent wedding. This one was at Avianto.


Bear with me; this sword is going to make a lot of appearances in this post. And I love swords. They're so swashbuckly :-)



Perfecting the "Blue Steel" gaze...

Mark offered his sword to Cheryl in a very gallant, "white knight" scenario during the ceremony. Aw.








I HAD to use the sword as a prop to get a great "ring shot"!




I fell in love with this lavender field:

What a nicely-timed butterfly:


Cheryl wanted a shot of her pretending to slay Mark. They were such fun!

And the sword appears for cake-cutting again...


Aha! A cake smash! Whoohoo!


She loved it really:

During the reception we pulled Mark and Cheryl out for some sunset shots:



Lovely. Congratulations, Cheryl & Mark, and thanks for being fun and willing to do anything!

My second wedding

Early on Friday morning, Tanja (for whom I was 2nd shooting) and I trekked out to the game lodge of Zebula, near(ish) Warmbaths, for the wedding of Jerry and Patricia. Typically we got there much earlier than we needed to be, but at least that gave us time to check into our awesome digs and look around the property. Later I'll show you some animal snaps I got, but for now, here's the wedding:


Our winter skies just slay me:




Yes, yes, I said no animal pictures, but while we were waiting for Patricia to arrive this awesome zebra turned up to see what was going on. Unfortunately I frightened him away with my scary camera. I love the way he just strolled across the golf course!






If only everyone could leave the ground simultaneously:










This setting sun rocked my world, which is why there are so many pictures of it!



I could die from gorgeousness overload.

Tomorrow

The nerves have hit again. I have my next wedding to shoot tomorrow, and apparently I am doomed to spend every day before a wedding running around in fits of agitation and listlessness. I even feel like cleaning, just to do something. Hmm, actually, that's a good thing. I never feel like cleaning! Onward and upward, kitchen floor, bathroom floor, dishes, ironing and excessive tidying up!

Let's not get carried away. I'll probably be tired after the first floor.

So tomorrow's wedding is a semi-destination one, which means that Tanja and I will be sleeping over there. Man, I hope they have a good breakfast. I love hotel breakfasts. :-) Especially if they have tons of cut fruit. Om nom nom.

I realised that because I've been posting my own photos, this is no reason to stop my "Photo of the Day" series. So here's one from Stephanie Williams. It's a fashion shoot, not an actual wedding, but this picture might be the loveliest "bridal" I have ever seen in my life. I want to frame it, except that would be a bit...weird.

My first wedding!

Firstly, I need a new, proper photography blog. I'm in the process of organising it! I've asked Mr Ruby Slippers to design my logo (because he has art skillz), but he's having a bad time at work so I'm not rushing him. Why is it that one of us always has a miserable job? I just got out of mine, and now his has morphed into manager of shit at company McCrap. Anyway. I'm not in the hugest rush to get my own photography site because I am in no way ready to start advertising my skills as a solo photographer (I'm still a fledgling learning to fly), so I figured I'd put some photos from Saturday up here. Be gentle :-) I know full well that this is nowhere near where I want to be as a photographer. But we have to start somewhere.


Katlego was such a beautiful bride who made my job so easy. Put it this way: we saw her before she had her make-up on and I thought she already had.



The guys were such fun. The guy on the right looks uncomfortable because he didn't have his cufflinks so he couldn't pose properly. Oops.






Gorgeous.
Look at her eyes in the shot. Could she BE more excited?


Sweet moment between Katlego and her Maid of Honour after the service.










Thanks, Tanja, for letting my second shoot my first wedding with you! And thanks to the bridal party for being so awesome and to the Moon & Sixpence for being just as fabulous on Saturday as you were last year on my big day.