“Oh my gosh Lisa! I feel I’ve been saying that a lot to you. but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever have so many photos that are just perfect! You really did get every bit of the wedding and I can feel the emotion and laughter of it. I can almost smell the place! Is that weird? Its everything I remember and more!”
Melissa and Peter got married in June at the amazing Blackdown Tablelands, which is a beautiful National Park in Queensland, Australia. It was the most beautiful wedding and the sun shone all day long!
GETTING READY
Melissa got ready at her and Peter’s home with her parents and her maid of honour, her sister, and the atmosphere was full of excitement. They then jumped into a 4×4 to get to the ceremony. On the way to the ceremony we stopped a couple of times to get portraits of Melissa. Once, next to their neighbour’s house which had the most awesome rusted car. And the second time about halfway up to Blackdown where Melissa stood as far towards the edge as she could for me to get the perfect shot. Peter got ready at Blackdown he’d had his stag do there the night before and was camping up there with loads of their guests.
THE I DO’S
The ceremony was a beautiful service in a clearing. This is the first wedding that’s ever been hosted at this particular area in the national park. Melissa and Peter had special permissions because Peter is a ranger there. The ceremony area was absolutely beautiful and it looked like it had been made for a wedding. During the ceremony they had a beautiful reading. It was such a personal service and a real tear-jerker. After the ceremony had finished we gathered their guests together so that they could throw confetti over Melissa and Peter, this was a different kind of confetti shot to the ones I normally do but I really liked how it was set up.
AFTER THE CEREMONY
The reception was in a different clearing at Blackdown at the venue. They chose Blackdown Tablelands because it’s where they always wanted to have their wedding and it’s so meaningful to them. It was a real bush wedding, which was just wonderful. Most of the guests had to camp overnight after the wedding because it’s quite dangerous to drive out of the national park at night due to how many wild animals there are around there. I love shooting Australian weddings because the people are so chilled. When Melissa and Peter showed me around Blackdown when I first arrived I was absolutely blown away by it. For couple portraits I knew they could literally take me anywhere and they would look amazing.
They lots of homemade games in the afternoon, and live music in the evening. The homemade games were brilliant, they had “Splat the Rat”, “Guess the Guest” and Pinball! They decorated the venue with festoon lights and bunting, because it fitted with the time of year. Even though it’s summer for us in the UK in June, it was their winter. This meant it was going to start getting dark around 5pm. When I spoke to Melissa before their big day I put a big emphasis on the need for lots of light when it gets dark. The festoon lights they used were perfect, they lit everything up well and looked beautiful.
For dinner they had a hog roast, which was gobbled down in seconds by everyone. They didn’t just have one meat option but FOUR, there was so much food, it was brilliant! The first dance was a romantic slow dance, and they finished off the evening with chilled fireside hangouts and hot chocolate.
The most memorable part of the day was the ceremony, because it was so emotional.
Melissa and Peter’s wedding was totally epic and just the happiest occasion. Here’s their wonderful big day!
If you’re planning a destination wedding, get in touch!
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