Schalk & Michele’s wedding was held at Schalk’s family farm in Wellington, Welbedacht. The reception was a very stylish event under a bedouin tent, over-looking their magnificent dam. With Michele’s experience as an interior designer, the details were nothing short of absolutely gorgeous! With loads of white (my favourite colour!) and touches of green.

When I saw Michele’s wedding dress, I totally fell in love with it! And those shoes were to die for!!

You’re going to have to be patient for this page to load, because I just couldn’t choose less photos. There were too many moments I loved! Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy!

ps These photos are not allowed to be copied/published or used on any other site/blog/publication etc. with out prior permission of Christine.

Second Shooters: Vanessa De Villiers & Iaan Van Niekerk
Co-Ordinator: Janneke Bosman
Venue: Welbedacht, Wellington
Dress: Kobus Dippenaar
Hair: Jeanette
Make-up: Algria
Flowers & Decor: Petals – Flower Walker
Cake: Maggi from Edible Art Cakes
Videographer: Cape Town Weddings
Catering: Escoffier Catering
Music: Prime Circle and DJ socks

Mario and Demi are both Greek and when they booked me for their wedding, in Bloemfontein, I was very excited! I’ve never photographed a greek wedding before, so this was a highlight on my calendar.

Iaan and I arrived at the airport, where the AMAZING Liezl met us. (yes AMAZING!!, because she is the most friendly, energetic, consistent, professional and passionate co-ordinator I’ve ever worked with!)

The wedding day started with the tradition of ‘dressing the groom’ at Mario’s parent’s home. All the men of the family danced around Mario, to the beat of authentic greek music. They carried his wedding outfit with them, as they danced around him, as a sign of blessing. To be honest, this was a very emotional part for me. So special and honoring.

The ceremony was held in a small orthodox greek church, lead by their family priest, all the way from Greece.

The most interesting and extremely exciting part for me was the dancing. Something I’ve never experienced, but only heard of. The traditional dances was something like out of a movie! Everyone joined in and partied till the early hours of the morning.

*I’d like to apologize to Mario, Demi and their families for waiting so long to see their photos. Thanks for your patience and grace under these circumstances. It was an honor to be a part of your big day! I hope you enjoy the photos. * Christine

Assistants & second shooters: Iaan Van Niekerk & Christine Harding & Maryke Venter
Co-Ordinator: Liesl

There will be a few blog post following new week, with some of last years weddings, some new portrait sessions, new for the new year, as well as the update with the whole story about the robbers and how they were caught! But first, tonight we have the wedding of Tharine and Schalk on the blog.

Tharine and Schalk enjoyed their wedding day on the same venue, Iaan and I got married on, in 2010. Therefore, Kleinevalleij has a very special place in my heart! Here are some of my favourite moments of their wedding day…

Thank you to Yolande Marx and Iaan for assisting and second shooting on the day!

ps. This couple, along with all the other couples from 2011 have been eagerly waiting for their photos on my blog. I apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience dearly! 

My dad phoned us in the morning to tell us they broke into our new house. Iaan and I just moved there a week ago and things were still half unpacked. But now EVERYTHING is gone. All electronics, all cameras, all lenses, all my hard drives. Our tv, all my jewelery & engagement ring, some of our kitchen and every single thing in our offices. (except my laptop that I had with me)

At this moment I’m kinda lost for words and my thoughts are all jumbled up. Our new house. Privacy. Security complex. All our stuff. Stuff that’s personal. All our traveling and personal photos. All my photos from my career. Everything I’ve ever worked for. Gone.

Basically I just want to ask, if you see anything that was in my kit or any of my western digital hard drives for sale (or my engagement ring) online or in a cash converters or cash crusaders, please let me know.

Also a R10 000 reward will be paid to anyone that returns my harddrives and data. Please spread the word. Even if they return it anonymous. All hard drives were stored in a plastic see through crate with lime green handles. All hard drives were western digital. +- 15 powered ones (the size of a brick and +- 12 small black ones.

Thank you for everyones prayers and support.

x

Renette and Benn also requested that I come through to Cape Town to take a few ‘typical’ Cape Town pictures for them. They wanted some photos with the city and mountain in the back, as a memory of the location, as they live in Singapore. So we sneaked in a few photos, before they joined their guests for dinner.

If you’re a regular visitor to my blog, you would have seen one of the spot I like to use for these kind of photos. The spot is perfect. It is elevated above the city, so you get some mountain and city in the background. But apparently you actually need a permit to shoot there, as it’s an unfinished highway and this I didn’t know… So as usual, I just took them there and started shooting, but without knowing they were shooting a Hollywood movie on the same spot, far in the distance.

While we were shooting, 5 cars rushed by us with a huge camera on a truck and there we were perfectly in their background… At that stage the sun was setting and they only had two shots left and we ruined the one…oops! Well, at least Benn and Renette will never forget that moment :) (I’ve added one shot where you can see the cars coming towards us :D)

enjoy!

For her final year she had to work on a full collection. Here are some photos of the fashion shoot I did for her portfolio, as well as a few pics of her final fashion show.

If you’d like to follow her fashion blog, go to www.lydiameintjes.com

The photos will be on my website in February, after the full story is published in the Sarie February edition. So make sure you buy a copy! :)

My mom was the miracle worker in the past four months. She has been our project manager and she has been keeping the whole project together. Iaan and I had some ideas, but she and my dad made it happen.

I never knew anything about building, but I found out much more as the project continued. Thank goodness my mom knows so much! :) And one thing I learned is that the paint colours are NEVER what they look like on the sample sheets :)

Amongst the house building, I realized we had to be out our current house by 30th November. Candice (my other miracle worker and PA) was the chief in charge of packing, organizing and keeping me sane. Candice took up the task of packing up our offices and parts of our house. While I was editing with one hand and answering emails with the other, I helped her to ‘orginize’ the packing in such a way that we still know where everything was, because in the back of my mind, I knew we probably have to stay with my parents for a few weeks before we can move into our new house.

So why am I writing all of this. Well, basically just to let you know moving, packing and building a house is super exciting, but loads of work and stress. Yesterday, we finally moved out of our old home and the boxes are standing in storage till we can move into the new place. Because of all of this, I still have a few emails waiting to be answered. But I’m working with all 10 fingers at the speed of white light. So I promise they will be answered soon. And some blog post coming your way too :)

Amongst all the chaos and boxes and duck tape and a random informal office setup in my parent’s dining room, I’m happy. I feel this is a beginning of a new season. And to top it all, my dear friend Lizelle Lotter posted the photos of our styled shoot in the raw, unfinished house today. Iaan and myself had the idea of doing a shoot in our new house and I’m so glad we did it!! What an awesome shoot to remember this new beginning (click HERE to see the full shoot). Thank you to Foci for their lovely couch!

Blessed, blessed and blessed is all I can say.

Thank you to Lizelle for the AMAZING AWESOME photos! And thank you to everyone that’s making this dream come true, especially my dad that’s helping us!! We are forever and ever grateful. Thank you to mom and dad putting up with all our stuff in your dining room. We promise this is not a permanent arrangement! 

I woke up the morning of the 8th of October and when I looked out of the window, I realized it was going to be a ‘I’m definitely wearing my boots’ day. The rain was pouring down and it was totally over cast. And yes, I was booked to shoot Jürgen and Julia’s wedding that day.

The two of them flew in from Austria and wanted to get married on the beach that day, but needless to say, the wedding was moved inside their guest house in Camps Bay. So with very few options outside, I found a gorgeous little corner with white walls and a little roof, that worked very well for the photos. The white and rounded window on the left gave me the feeling like I was in Greece :) (yes I have a wild imagination :)

Lucky for us, it dried up for a few minutes after the ceremony, where we could do some photos on the beach. But my favourite of all, is that black and white portrait. How goegous is her eyes!! Love it!

Enjoy! x

Wedding Co-ordinator: Nadja & Jeannette Conradie from Prime Moments