Johnny and Laurence's Blues Point Wedding. Rain and Sun

I’m going to start off this post with a lesson to other photographers. The challenge of wedding photography is dealing with all sorts of unexpected conditions (and people on occasion). “Expect the unexpected” is the motto but sometimes it trips you. Our weather in Sydney at this point had been somewhat in the style of the sky falling in torrents. The wind was howling. The humidity high. The temperature on the rise for today’s Blues Point Wedding.

Walked into Laurence’s hotel room, pulled out the cameras, and put one of them up to my eye to capture the first shot of the day and they suddenly had condensation on them everywhere. Oh no! I’ve really only experienced this in the reverse in Singapore when walking out of air conditioned hotels to the outside world and they fog up for up to half an hour as they acclimatise to the new conditions. You certainly can’t take shots in that time cause it’s all on the inside. The only way around it is to try and get the conditions where you are, to match where you were. So I was opening doors and adjusting air/ con temperature controls as furiously (and outwardly calmly) as I could.

They righted themselves soon enough but it’s never fun when you’re in the middle of it. Expect the unexpected but realise that sometimes you just have to be calm and patient.

Laurence had multiple dresses and jewellery chosen for her Blues Point Wedding day. She looked amazing in her different changes, for the ceremony, the tea ceremony, the reception and going away. Some beautiful choices!

Johnny was getting ready with his groomsmen a couple of doors away in their apartment. What stuck out was the note on the bedroom door with the jobs list. Like many a groom everything had been crossed out except for one – “Write speech”.

The bridesmaids, meanwhile, were discussing the inclement conditions with the hope that it all might clear up before too long. It certainly hadn’t for the week at all. Not a moment had gone by without rain. “I just hope it goes away today” Laurence said more than once.

We loaded into the cars and did the short drive around to Blues Point where a temporary marquee had been set up to help keep the rain off. The ground was saturated and Laurence really, really needed the escort of her parents to walk the aisle to Johnny and the water logged ground closed in on her beautiful heels.

The ceremony finished. It was still raining. We started taking family photos, with the backdrop of the harbour, and then, within ten minutes the clouds had parted. The sun was beaming and the sky turned blue across the city. Hope became reality just like that.

The rest of the day remained utterly beautiful, a crisp clean city with a weeks washing scrubs up rather nicely.
We took photos underneath the harbour bridge at one point. Laurence and her bridesmaids stood together with the bridge in the background as I lay on the ground to take the shot. The next thing I know a bus load of Chinese tourists have unloaded for the view behind me, then stood with their cameras shooting the same shot. There’ll be forty repetitions of my bridal party shot back home in China now.

Anyway, let the images tell the story of another fabulous wedding in Sydney. A couple surrounded by their family and friends enjoying the celebration of love.

Congratulations Johnny and Laurence. May you enjoy a very happy and prosperous life together.