Melbourne Photographer | Wedding and Portrait Photography | Kids Photography | JD Blog » city

Traditions and Cultures in Melbourne Weddings

JD — Mon, 30 May 2011 04:10:28 +0000

One of the great things about being a wedding photographer particularly in Melbourne is the diversity of cultures and traditions that you are privy to witnessing on a wedding day. I have learnt a great deal over the years from photographing Italian, Greek, Indian, Chinese, Turkish (and the list goes on) weddings. You learn a lot about what weddings mean to different cultures, most of these traditions have been around for centuries and are so important to them and who they are.

I am seeing more and more that the bride & groom don’t necessarily know then ins and outs of all the traditions and are guided by the elder statesmen of the family so to speak, it is great that these couples respect their heritage and family enough to continue these traditions.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Jo & Allan’s wedding which featured an Asian tea ceremony. I have had the pleasure of photographing a few of these at different weddings, the bride & groom offer each family member some tea one at a time and in exchange they give the couple a red envelope with a gift of money. I believe it is done to formally introduce each other to their families and welcome them. It is also a sign of respect as the ceremonies are started off with the Matriarch/Patriarch of each family down to the youngest.

As well as the tea ceremony they had a traditional ceremony and we captured the bridal party photos in between the two at some great locations around Melbourne

Wedding at Docklands – Melbourne

JD — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 04:47:00 +0000

Nicole was a bridesmaid in her sister Penny’s wedding that I photographed a few years ago and it was her turn on Sunday where she married Neil. Nicole has to be commended on the amount of work she put into making this wedding such a spectacular event, especially the room Maia’ at docklands and the cake toppers were brilliant, check out the photos below.

The weather was perfect and we had plenty of time in between the ceremony and reception to get some great location shots around Melbourne. The MCG was our first stop as Neil is a mad footy supporter, here we were going to get some fun shots with the boys having a kick but the groomsman forgot the football so we improvised with the flowers instead. He made up for it by helping me out with the off camera flash so all was forgiven.

I had a blast shooting this wedding and can’t wait to start putting the album together when they return from Bali.

Weddings are Back – Leonda by the Yarra

JD — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:36:52 +0000

What fantastic weather we had on the weekend, the sun was out and for a moment there you could feel spring in the air, pity it was short lived. It stuck around long enough for Julie & Anthony’s wedding on Sunday though and I used the sun and glare to spice up the photos and add atmosphere to the images.

They got married in a beautiful church Hawthor and then onto Leonda by the Yarra for the reception and a few locations in between. We had a great day and I thoroughly enjoyed photographing the wedding and also working with wedding movies who did the videography for the day. It was all finished with some traditional Hungarian dancing to start off what I’m sure was a big night of celebrations at the reception.

Enjoy

groomsmen enjoying a scotch

old school

cheers

to cool for school

the grandparents

beautiful Melbourne day

designer portrait

fun in the park

graffiti photo

Melbourne

coffee break

pageboys - how cute

dancing

Royce Hotel – wedding

JD — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:04:46 +0000

We photographed our first wedding for the year on Saturday after a nice break and it was good to get back into the swing of it. Natasha & Andrew were a fantastic couple to work with, it is great when a couple put their trust in me, they allowed me to change one of the locations because of the heat without any trouble and it worked out great.

I tested a new lens for some shots (see shot below) it gives a really different artistic look and I am going to use it on most of the weddings I shoot for certain situations. There is nothing worse than boring wedding photos and this lens just gives me another piece of equipment to keep my images fresh and exciting.

All you brides to be don’t forget about the big bridal expo on the 24th of January at Jeff’s Shed, pop in and say hi.

groom

wedding dress

flower girls

bride and mother

bride

beach

bridal party

hosier lane

wedding dance

Rain on your wedding day

JD — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:38:44 +0000

We had three weddings this weekend all which were interrupted by rain. As a wedding photographer it’s not the rain that bothers me but the bride & grooms reaction to it. If they are stressing out and worried about the weather it makes it quite difficult to capture that natural candid style of photography. Luckily and to their credit all the couples didn’t let it spoil their day or mood and consequently we got some great images of all the weddings, they were all great sports and we had a bit of fun running in an out of the rain.

You can still get great shots regardless of the weather you just have to be a bit more creative and patient and change the plans accordingly which is what we did on the weekend. Back up plans are a must in Melbourne and two of the ceremonies were changed at the last minute but both couples had the hindsight and organisation to get it done without any stress.

So if it rains on your wedding day don’t let it spoil your day, we can still capture great images and incorporate the rain as part of your wedding story.

bride

bridal party

cover from the rain

bride & groom

dancing up a storm

paparazzi

romance in the rain

cheers

wedding dress

fun in the rain

under the cover of parliament

Collins street

hosier lane

Melbourne Wedding Photos

JD — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:22:59 +0000

On Saturday we had our first wedding for a while and it was good to get out into the Melbourne cityscape and get some great pictures. Eric & Elaine and their bridal party braved the cold weather and turned it on for the camera and as a result we captured some great photographs of their big day. We started the day in Hawthorn & Kew for the getting ready images then onto St. John’s of Toorak for the ceremony. With the rain holding off we had time to go to Parliament & Carlton Gardens before heading back to the beautiful Langham Hotel for the reception.

With all the weddings we shoot we capture the day as it happens and not get caught up in posing or staging the day too much and go for a much more natural fun style. Approaching the day this way puts the couple at ease and allows us to capture the moments that unfold at a wedding truthfully and in a relaxed fashion.

In the end it is all about having fun and enjoying the experience after all it is your wedding day!

The little blue box – every brides dream

The sun was out early so we used it to our advantage to get this great portrait of Eric

This is a great photograph of Elaine’s dad seeing her in her dress.

The bridal waltz

Elaine made sure Eric’s Bonbonniere had a special message.