welovepictures

Champagne Valley, Drakensberg | Gareth and Carrie Wedding | Super Special Sneak Peak

2012-01-03T11:54:00.011+01:00

* Disclaimer : None of the following images have been staged or doctored in any manor what so ever. That would be lame and not awesome.

We have been dying to share a sneak peak from Gareth and Carrie's wedding for way too long but we have just been too busy to find the time. The wait is now over.

Gareth and Carrie tied the knot in the epic Champagne Valley in the Drankensberg Mountains in Natal and could not have married in a more spectacular setting. Spectacular settings need spectacular couples and these two were certainly that! Easy going, up for anything and more fun than you can imagine, they really made documenting their day a breeze. They are amazing and we'll never forget them! How could we ever forget the bride that took a tumble doing the ultimate can-can and got up laughing harder than we were? It was pure gold! Thank goodness the D3s skips along at 9 frames per second or we might not have this gem to share.

There are so many amazing images still to share from this wedding. We'll do our best to have them up soon. :)

love
welovepictures

P.S If you are running on a slower internet connection give the black and white image time to load as it is a GIF animation. It's worth the wait though. :)

Our Mini Break | Onrus, Western Cape South Africa

2012-01-03T11:54:00.010+01:00

December is a busy time for us. Really busy actually. It's made even busier by the Christmas holiday break and New Years right at the end of it too. We covered weddings on the 30th and 31st , so to recover, and before another big run in january, we decided to catch a few days off at Kate's parents home in Onrus, just outside Hermanus (wale watching heaven) in one of the most beautiful parts of the Western Cape.

It's been all sun, sand, swimming and nothing else besides big lunches and lots of beer. We even found time to dork around in the gorgeous evening light.

We hope you have all found the time to do nothing at all these holidays. It really is good for your heart and your soul. :)

love
welovepictures

West Coast Wedding I Strandkombuis - Yzerfontein I Kobus & Lynette Part Two

2011-12-23T15:28:00.009+01:00

As promised, here's Part Two of Kobus and Lynette's sweet-sweet Kaapse Liefdes Fees!
Yep, told you. This was a killer wedding.

Thanks Kobus and Lynette!
Stay awesome!

love,
welovepictures

Westcoast Wedding I Strandkombuis - Yzerfontein I Kobus & Lynette Part One

2011-12-22T15:09:00.007+01:00

Friends, this is likely to be the last wedding we feature this year so we thought we'd make it an extra big & special post! Plus, this is such a beautiful wedding, we couldn't help ourselves!

So here is Part One of Kobus & Lynette's Kaapse Liefdes Fees at Strandkombuis in Yzerfontein, Western Cape. This must be one of our all-time favourite venues and one of our all-time favourite couples! These guys were amazing, they couldn't stop grinning from ear-to-ear --- and neither could we! We love falling in love with the bride and groom, it makes photographing them so much more fun!

Kobus and Lynette, weloveyouguys and thank you for being beautiful and awesome people.

Be sure to check back for Part Two tomorrow - it's going to be wild!
pssst... lots of smooching and te-quilaaaaa!

P.S We know you're wondering who did the beautiful stationary and the awesome cake and it's none other than our favouritest Anelle from Seven Swans and the sweet Anneri from Nelle Cakes. You're welcome :)

love,
welovepictures

Elgin Wedding I Rockhaven Farm I Graham and Mariam

2011-12-21T18:57:00.017+01:00

Yes yes we know - another huge post. We've noticed that they have been growing steadily, but we just cannot help ourselves. Having been blessed with so many beautiful and visually amazing weddings in recent months, we have struggled to keep the numbers down. Leaving great images out is tough.

Graham and Mariam were married at one of our favorite venues in the Cape, at Rockhaven Farm, in the Elgin Valley. The super team from Elgin Weddings put the event together and did a wonderful job.

When we met them at our studio many months ago, Mariam told us that she didn't really have an idea of what she wanted in terms of photography but she knew she just loved our candid style. She wanted pictures that were real and focused on the guests and not entirely on them. She was spot on. We loved her.

Graham, who really is a great guy, was a little more difficult to pin down. He was smooth but not in a slick cat way. If you know what we mean. He was quiet but smiled a lot. At the wedding we struggled to find anyone who could confirm what he actually did for a living. Instead we heard what sounded more like a preferred list of interests : classic cars, being in a band, beach-bats at Clifton and advertising. We finally had a better idea of him, - priorities not profession. We loved him.

With such an amazing couple and too many things to tell you all about this spectacular wedding we thought our highlight reel might give you a better idea.

From the top :

gorgeous flowers,

classic American cars,

Graham's bespoke tailored suit, made by Astor and Black, with his name on the inside,

beautifully dressed people from all over the world,

Mariam's wild wild sisters,

The Haroun Murray Curry feast - prepared by Mariam's Auntie's,

over-sized bibs for catching stray curry,

Graham's old band coming back together to perform for one night only,

laughing, laughing and even more laughing. So much laughing.

What a wedding!

love

welovepictures

Beach Family Portrait | Hermanus

2011-12-20T22:34:00.004+01:00

We have said yes to very few family portrait requests over the last couple years. Mostly due to inconvenient timing or a heavy wedding workload. We said yes to Elizabeth Kershaw's request though and we are ever so glad we did.

We had a great time this evening in the (not so little anymore) fishing village of Hermanus on the south coast of the Western Cape, South Africa. The family were great fun, the light was wonderful and then amazing at the very end of the session and we really enjoyed the change of scenery - both geographically and photographically.

Here's a small teaser from the start of the session at the beach.

Enjoy.

love
welovepictures

Irene Garden Wedding I Ruan and Antoinet

2011-12-20T14:17:00.005+01:00

Ruan and Antoinet, an Accountant-dream-team, got married in the beautiful little village of Irene. They planned an outdoor ceremony at Jansen huis, on the lawns of a grand Farm house owned by family friends, and across from Antoinet's parents home.
The reception and party was at home, smack in the middle of her Mother's beautiful garden, full of scents, blooms and spring-time!
These guys were so easy to photograph - damn good-looking, huge smiles, belly laughs and bear hugs - this is why we love what we do!
The ceremony was somewhat interrupted by an unexpected highveld storm (oh how we've missed those in the Cape!), but nothing could stop this crowd. They just all cuddled up next to the bride & groom underneath the massive apple tree - the sweetest and most intimate way to be included in a couple's exchanging of vows. And oh-so typical of those awesome highveld storms, it had passed by the time they smooched their first kiss!

Ruan and Antoinet, thank you for being so damn beautiful and letting us document your day!
Stay awesome!

love
welovepictures

Street Portraiture | Obs Fest | Cape Town

2011-12-11T10:29:00.007+01:00

Long before wedding photography was a part of our lives and even longer before photography was a job, the streets were where we spent our days wandering with a camera. Many of those days were spent with my good friend Otto Schulze and they are days I miss dearly. If you have never walked the streets in search of pictures then you have missed out on something very special. Grab your camera and go. Now.

Often you have no idea what you are looking for so you walk and you just look. Sometimes for ages but eventually that moment does come, where you are pulled towards someone for a reason you might only figure out on the way up to them. It might be the way they are dressed. A look on their face. Sometimes it isn't even at all clear why you are drawn to this stranger in the street, but it is already happening. You just have to go with it. There is always a moment of uncertainty, a period where you aren't sure what will come of this conversation. Most often they say yes. Sometimes they don't. Either way street photography forces you into interactions you might never have - all for a picture.

This weekend saw the coming of the annual Obs Fest in our little village of Observatory in Cape Town. Spun as an arts festival it's really a music festival on the streets of this well known arts and culture hub. We were dreading it. Apparently 15,000 party people descended on Obs last year and partied in the streets till stupid o'clock. Our house is inside the festival road closure zone so we imagined the chaos that might go on outside our door. We had planned to take the dogs and leave the city for the weekend but in the end the festival turned out to be a major disappointment. It could barely be called a festival in fact. Charging R70 entrance for a day was one reason it seemed the people stayed away. Bad organization seemed to be another. Either way we were relieved.

Obs village was a ghost town. You could walk down the middle of most of the streets where cars might normally be. Although it was a really low turnout there was still a great mix of people out on the streets. A few real characters too. Obs is known for this mix of hippies, artists, students and professionals and even its own local chapter of Nigerian gangsters. Everyone gets on fine. Strange as it is.

The following pictures are from two hours on the streets of Obs Fest and the first street portraits I have shot in probably five years. Thanks to everyone of the strangers that said yes. You made my weekend.

The Streets - oh how I have missed you.

Travis

Cape Winelands Wedding | Webersburg Boutique Wine Estate | Alan and Caz | Sneak Peak

2011-12-09T14:53:00.006+01:00

We lucked out again last weekend with a gem of a couple, Alan and Caz. It was our first wedding at the Webersburg Boutique Wine Estate, near Stellenbosch in the Cape Winelands, and another chance for us to work with Kim and Kate, our favorite girls from Wedding Concepts. They once again did an amazing job putting an epic wedding together for these very special people.

We just had to share something small from the wedding and decided on this image of Alan and Caz on the dance floor, completely unaware of everyone around them. It was one of so many of them interacting like this. It's our job to watch a couple for a night and so, it was never very long before we would see Alan lean into Caz to kiss her cheek or put his arm around her and gently pull her in. Sure, every newlywed couple is like this, but there was something very different about the tender and reassuring interactions between them, that made our job so easy.

We can't wait to share the rest with you all.

welovealan&caz

love
welovepictures

Destination Wedding | Mauritius | Mohan and Jacqui | Part 2

2011-12-05T17:09:00.011+01:00

Mohan and Jacqui

The Sands Resort and Spa

Flic and Flac, Mauritius

July 2011

We sat for the longest time trying to cut back the number of images for Mo and Jacqui's post but we just couldn't. Two posts it had to be. Part two picks up after of the ceremony on the beach and details the two portrait sessions we shot on the day. So forgive us if it looks like the post jumps around a bit. The first was before the ceremony began in some tough mid-day sunlight, but we managed to get some great stuff out of it. If this group had not been such a great laugh this may have been a lot more difficult. Our second session with them was post-ceremony when the mist and cloud gave way somewhat. The weather in Mauritius changes so quickly. We never really knew if we were up or down but again we worked with it and got some really beautiful, intimate images with them. They were so easy in front of the camera.

The reception was also broken up in two. A formal dinner out on the deck followed by a good "get-down" in the resort conference room. Things started to swing from here and we couldn't help but join in. One of the craziest love booths we have ever shot went down that night. This is what happens when you let a bunch South Africans and Australians loose in tiny conference room on an island in the middle of the Indian ocean. Some of our favorite images from the wedding came from this part of the evening and just looking at them takes us right back to the island.

enjoy

love

welovepictures

Destination Wedding | Mauritius | Mohan and Jacqui | Part 1

2011-12-05T16:21:00.014+01:00

Mohan and Jacqui

The Sands Resort and Spa

Flic and Flac, Mauritius

July 2011

July was a bumper month for welovepictures. Within ten days we covered weddings on the island of Mauritius and in Canada. More polar opposite destinations you could not find, but if you asked us to pick a favorite, well, we couldn’t. welovethemboth.

Mo and Jacqui, who are Australian, have a great love for the island of Mauritius and, after traveling there together on a few occasions, decided it would be a great place for their families to come together to celebrate their wedding. Jacqui’s folks, originally South Africans, moved to Australia before Jacqui was born and so the island was the ideal half-way destination for the families from Australia and South Africa to meet.

This wedding took some doing though. Planning a wedding is tough. Planning a wedding in a country that is not your own (without a wedding co-ordinator) really is an amazing feat. Just imagine packing suitcases full of decor items, only hoping that they arrive safely. We’ve all had bags lost by an airline at some stage right? Thankfully, this is not one of those stories and we’re glad to say everything arrived safely.

A small, but special, group of family and friends from all over the world joined them on the island and spent the week hanging out together at The Sands Resort and Spa, Flic and Flac. The Sands is everything we imagined it would be: private beach, hundreds of palm trees and an infinity pool overlooking the ocean. We couldn’t believe our eyes. We couldn’t believe we had escaped the wet winter weather back home in Cape Town for this!

The wedding was like no other we have ever experienced. These guys wanted the celebration to reflect their own mix of cultures and backgrounds rather than the everyday western wedding traditions that didn’t resonate with them. Jacqui wore an epic burgundy dress! Awesome! Mo, who is half-Indian, looked amazing in a traditional Indian outfit. They hung out together before the ceremony. No surprise at either end of the aisle (note the homophone! haha!). The bouquet wasn’t tossed but rather presented as a gift to each grandmother during the ceremony - a small and sweet gesture of thanks for a great examples of love and longevity in marriage. It was great to see such a personal and laid back approach to the wedding formalities. It says a lot about Mo and Jacqui. They really are wonderful people.

The weather was perfect until just before the start of the ceremony but didn’t seem to bother anyone, least of all Mo and Jacqui. They took it in their stride and with big smiles. They were getting married after all.

Thank you so much guys, we had such an amazing time with you an your family for the few days we were there. You spoilt us.

This post is broken up into two parts because there’s just too much to show you all from this amazing wedding. Part Two to follow tomorrow.

love

welovepictures

Jacqui’s is a real talent too. Check out her work here.

Destination Wedding | Toronto Hunt Club, Canada | Scott and Andrea

2011-11-20T15:46:00.010+01:00

The Toronto Hunt Club
Toronto, Canada

We remember the afternoon we received the e-mail from Scott and Andrea requesting our rates to cover their wedding in Canada. Wait, Canada? We had to read it a couple of times before it sunk in. Happy dances followed immediately after realizing it was a legitimate request. And so began the process of figuring out how we could make this destination wedding happen. We have God's amazing timing to thank for the fact that the wedding day fell at the beginning of our proposed trip to The States, dubbed "the honeymoon we never got to have". (We posted some of those images here before) We certainly didn't mind adding a few extra days to head over to Toronto. Who would?

Scott, a game designer, and Andrea, a Senior Visual Designer for R/GA, live in San Francisco but were planning their wedding celebration a little closer to their family homes in Canada. They settled on the historic Toronto Hunt Club, established in 1843, perched high above Lake Ontario, just outside downtown Toronto. You could not imagine a more epic location.

After months of anticipation we boarded the plane headed for the U.S more than a little excited and admittedly, very nervous. Ahead of us lay 6 weeks, away from home and our dogs, thousands of miles traveling the West Coast of America by road and a wedding in a country we had never even been to. But we were ready for it all.

After a short stop with Otto in Denver, our home-base for the trip, and to collect our new Nikon D3s, we headed off to Canada excited to meet Scott and Andrea for the first time. We arrived in Toronto at the height of summer, grateful for the heat after a few brutal winter weeks in Cape Town. The downtown area is large and bustling. The architecture is a beautiful mix of old world and super modern. Toronto has a wonderful energy to it and at the same time gave us a great calm vibe, that must have something to do with the insanely large Lake Ontario that it sits next to.

We met them in the bar of the The Hilton, Toronto and immediately felt at ease with this amazing couple. We talked about micro-breweries and wine and heard all about the final arrangements for the wedding and were delighted when they asked us to join them and their family for dinner that evening. We had a great time with this beautiful family who made us, the couple who had come all the way from Africa, feel very much welcome. Our nerves about the wedding fell away :) The wedding was beautiful and the weather really was perfect for it. It was a pleasure to document such a genuine love fest without the pretentious atmosphere we sometimes pick up on at weddings. We felt more like honored guests than service providers and will for ever be grateful to Scott and Andrea for bringing us over. Oh and also - for introducing us to Poutine. ;)

love
welovepictures

Elgin Valley Wedding | Rockhaven Farm | Sneak Peak

2011-10-30T22:51:00.003+01:00

We spent a wonderful day at Rockhaven Farm in the epic and beautiful Elgin Valley with Graham and Mariam for their wedding yesterday. The sun came and went throughout the day but there were spectacular moments as it reached out from behind the clouds uplifting the hills and orchards that surrounded us, giving everyone some much needed relief from the chill in the air. Summer hasn't come to Cape Town just yet it seems. But it didn't seem to bother this amazing crowd.

Congratulations guys.

love
welovepictures

Modern Bush Wedding | Red Ivory Lodge | Lindsey+Hayley

2011-10-27T22:36:00.025+02:00

Like most around the world the wedding season in South Africa runs through the warmer months of the year but there are a select number of weddings that take place outside of the season in Autumn and Winter. For those of you living north of us this may mean cold, wet weather and even snowy days and long chilly nights. In South Africa almost the opposite is true. Our winters are embarrassingly mild. With most days not far off European summer days. The evening temperatures may be low but during the day, the African sun is warm and energizing.

Lindsey and Hayley celebrated their wedding at Red Ivory Lodge, just as the leaves began to fall and the intense African sun pulled back a little for the long dry Winter ahead. Red Ivory is one of our favorite venues in Gauteng. Originally a modern home built into the hills above the Haartebeespoort Valley, it has recently found new life as an intimate, modern bush wedding venue. It's really special. The panoramic view of the valley, through the floor-to-ceiling glass which runs across the length of the venue, is EPIC!

When we met Lindsey and Hayley for a chat over breakfast in Cape Town they amazed us with the unusual story of how they met. Hayley told us how she picked up a copy of Runners World Magazine and just had to know who this fine man (Lyndsey) on the cover was. Lyndsey, leaning back in his chair in his signature smooth cat way, just gave us a smile as if to say "...and now, here we are getting married." It really is too awesome for words. So we'll leave it up to the pictures from their wedding day.

It was a real family occasion and one where even the friends at the wedding were like family. It's very easy to document a wedding like this as there really aren't any barriers. We were invited into every situation, and very often with a smile.

Congratulations guys. :)

love

welovepictures

Beach Wedding l Strandkombuis l Cape Town

2011-09-25T20:26:00.005+02:00

We could not wait to share this small sneak peak from Kobus and Lynette's "Kaapse Liefde Fees" (loosely translated as Cape Love Fest for our non-Afrikaans friends) which took place yesterday at Strandkombuis on the west coast not far from Cape Town.

We cannot stress how beautiful and amazing these two people really are. They spoiled us (yes us) rotten on their very own wedding day, said yes to everything we asked of them and made sure that every moment together ended in fits of giggles.

Amazing couples make amazing pictures. It really is that simple.

love
welovepictures

Cape Town Wedding | The Old Mac Daddy Hotel | Elgin Valley

2011-09-16T16:46:00.006+02:00

Francois & Jane
17th July 2011
Old Mac Daddy Luxury Trailer Park,
Elgin Valley,
Western Cape.

We say it all the time, but man-oh-man do we get to work with some rad people! Francois & Jane came all the way from Melbourne, Australia to tie the knot at Rockhaven Farm and celebrate at the Old Mac Daddy in the Elgin Valley. It was a small, intimate wedding of only 40 guests where everyone ate at one big table, kind of more like a dinner party, but with more dancing, happy tears and a bride and groom.

Francois and Jane are some of the coolest, sweetest and motherflippen good-looking people we've ever met. Yes. Ever. If they stayed in Cape Town we'd totally be best friends with them. So we were bummed when Francois graciously asked us not to share pictures of him on the interweb. He explained his reasons and we understand his desire to keep their intimate wedding, well, intimate. We'll always respect our clients wishes, but it really was tough looking at one of the best weddings we have ever covered, and realizing we could not share any of it with you, friends. We know you'd love them too.

BUT! We can, however, share the beautiful details and awesome decor that Jane and her family put together for this super day. Oh my - I almost fell on my bum when I walked into The Old Mac Daddy. Happy bunting, beautiful flowers, doilies everywhere! Yes, it was a Maike-dream-come-true wedding (besides our own wedding of course). No wonder we were loving these people so much! The hotel, and it's grounds, really are one of the coolest venues we could ever ask to photograph at! Future brides: be warned, welovepictures may be bouncing off the walls if you mention you'll be getting married here! ;)

Anyway friends, that's enough rambling from me and this post should have been up hours ago!

Francois and Jane, we really hope that one day you'll live in Cape Town so we can be maatjies (best buddies, for those not from South Africa). Thank you for allowing us to share your intimate and super beautiful wedding with you, we hope you know how lucky we feel! youguysareawesome.

Happy Friday, friends!

love
welovepictures

welovepictures

2011-09-16T14:32:00.003+02:00

We've been desperate for good weather the past few days. Cape Town spring hasn't quite come around just yet. Wet and misty is good for a few days but nothing beats bright blue skies and body warming heat from the sun.

Today they sun came back. :)

Between 1pm and 2pm, it's power hour in the studio. It's our favorite time of the day, the light streams all over the studio. This is an important time on a gorgeous day like today - it prevents us running out of the studio and down to the beach to join everyone else slacking off work in the sun. We've got too much going on to slack off now.

Ok so we slacked a little to take, and upload these pictures. ;)

love
welovepictures

P.S Gareth is unfortunately not here, we say unfortunately but he is in fact in Zambia at the moment assisting on an FHM calender shoot. In his element - no doubt.

Seattle, Washington l Wedding

2011-09-06T16:25:00.003+02:00

Travis second shot a wedding with Otto from Otto Schulze photographers while we were in the U.S. recently. He was super excited about it. Bouncing off the walls excited, as it had been years since they had shot together. Although it was hardly work for them, rather more like hanging out. Which is what most best friends do, they just chose a wedding to do it at.

They came back with some amazing stuff. Here's one of our favorites. :)

love
welovepictures

SARIE Bruid - and guess who's on the cover?

2011-08-29T21:24:00.003+02:00

Wowzers! Eeeeeeek! Huraaay!

We have been keeping this little secret for weeks now! So we are so super-duper excited to finally be sharing this awesome news with you today friends!

We didn't think anything could top having Richard & Casey's Sailor Wedding featured on the previous cover of the SARIE Bruid Magazine, but being on the cover ourselves is pretty motherflippen special!!! Plus they did a lovely feature of our wedding inside as well as featuring some more of our work!

welovesariebruid!

We can't wait to get our hands on one - aaaah we want to come home!!!

P.S Once again, all credit goes to ourawesome friend and big brother Otto Schulze for being the best photographer EVER!

weloveyouotto!

love,
welovepictures

USA Road Trip Part One - Denver to Seattle

2011-08-28T18:59:00.006+02:00

Oooops, we just realised we skipped the first part of our road-trip - the epic 2-day drive from Denver to Seattle :) There was a lot of driving. Winding through true cowboy country as we made our way through Wyoming and Montana.

We stayed over in in Bozeman, Montana where Otto ate the 'best burger ever' apparently. You'd expect that kind of statement from a place with Steer trophies all over the walls.
And then for breakfast and 'the worst coffee ever' when we stopped in a tiny town called Rainier, surrounded by forests and mountains. It was beautiful.

And then there was more driving... Hours on the road passing mountains, forest, more mountains, epic clouds, wind turbines and more forests.

love,
welovepictures

USA Road Trip Part One - Seattle - Portland #2

2011-08-28T05:53:00.003+02:00

We couldn't help ourselves - there are just too many great pictures.
So here is #2 of Seattle to Portland.
Yes, that's a wall full of bubblegum.
And yes, that is a thrift-heaven.
And yes! that's a REAL photobooth!

love,
welovepictures

USA Road Trip Part One - Seattle to Portland

2011-08-27T00:48:00.010+02:00

Hello friends!

As we write this post, we are sitting in Denver, CO, on the porch with our dear friends, Otto and Lindsay, enjoying the summer heat, sipping ice water and cold beer, and doing absolutely nothing. In other words we are having motherflipping good time. We've had a few too many good locally-brewed beers, gained a few kilos from a little too much over-indulgence and all in all had a killer four-week holiday/honeymoon. In a few days we will be boarding the plane again for a 27 hour trip back to our sweet-sweet home in Cape Town. But right now, we don't want to think of that.

We've finally had a chance to sift through all the images from our 14-day road-trip along the West Coast and through almost 5 States. We're having an awesome honeymoon, as those of you following us on Twitter and Instagram already know :) It's definitely been worth the wait. We thought we'd share a few of our favourite pictures in our favourite cities and of our favourite moments. They are random moments and we've only selected our few favourites :) These pictures don't even come close to summing up the entire trip, for that we'd end up working too hard, having to edit them all and we're still on holiday so no thanks. Plus, sometimes we just didn't feel like picking up a camera, but instead just soaking it all up with our eyes and hearts.

We have been truly blessed to be able to have done this trip and we thank our awesome friends, Otto and Lindsay, for borrowing us their car for 14 days and sacrificing their AC and for putting up with us in their home for two weeks. weloveyouguyssomuch x We also want to thank my sister, Silke, for house- and dog-sitting while we're away, she's a rockstar, and we all know that our dogs are spoiled girls. Danke Bebi x And lastly we want to thank our awesome sweet-sweet Jesus, for without him this trip would never have been possible and all the places we'd visited are awesome because of Him.

Enough blah-blahing - let's get into Seattle and Portland!

We spent a weekend in Seattle, where Travis and Otto covered a wedding together - check it out here. I spent the weekend happily running from one hipster shop to another and spending a little too much money. On the last day we went street shooting in Pike Place Market, Seattle. Home of the first Starbucks and the famous fish-tossing-fish-mongers. Then Otto flew back home to Denver to his wife and their beautiful daughter, and we started our roadtrip down the West Coast towards San Francisco. First Stop, Portland, Oregon. The home of our favourite Author, Donald Miller. We almost tweeted him to beg him to have a cup of coffee with us, but then we worried it might be a little stalkerish. So we ended up enjoying the city, it's massive micro-brewery culture and it's awesome, humbling nature surrounds- waterfalls and Mt Hood- instead. Yep, this was the first time I got to see snow. And yes, I'm wearing sandals, but Portland was really hot when we left for this adventure!

We'll try to post a few pictures of each significant part of our trip in the next few days and sum up as best we can the immensity of the fun we had. Or maybe you should just come visit us in our Studio in Cape Town and hear about our adventures - we're a lot funnier in person.

pssssttt... be sure to check back for a Sneak Peek of Scott & Andrea's wedding in Toronto, Canada. Coming soon-soon!

love,
welovepictures

Made In the USA

2011-08-12T11:06:00.002+02:00

It's 2 am in a The Day's Inn Motel in Santa Rosa, California, 1 week into our road trip and nearly 3 weeks since we left home and this is the very first moment we have had to blog an update for you all.

Truth is, it's too late in the evening for writing something coherent enough with the right mix of big words and adjectives to describe our adventure so far. We've spent a lot of hours on the road in the past few days and we're having a blast but we're just tired after it all. We're in San Francisco till Sunday and so very little driving till then. We'll have to try again tomorrow. :)

chat soon

love
welovepictures

Louis & Nadine's Garden Wedding

2011-08-07T05:43:00.005+02:00

Oh wowzers! If ever there has ever been a wedding-post that was INSANELY overdue, it would have to unfortunately be this one... and these guys are some of our favorite people! (friends, we're so sorry you had to wait this long. we suck)

Meet our awesome friends Louis and Nadine!

Nadine is a rock-star. A little less the a year ago, she single-handedly co-ordinated our wedding. After a hugely underestimated and massively failed attempt to DIY the whole thing on our own, Travis and I realized we needed the super powers of our insanely talented friend Nadine, and she jumped in short-notice and made sure our wedding ran smoothly. It's thanks to her that our day turned out the way it did :)

A few months later (and much to our anticipation) Louis (yep, the Louis Minnar) finally popped the question, and so with huge smiles and delight we could finally return the favour - and shoot their wedding! Yay!

Louis and Nadine got married in our hometown, Pretoria, in the lovely leafy area of Brooklyn, in their parents beautiful & lush back garden. We knew this one would be a killer, with Nadine's sweet style and Louis multi-talented skills, it turned out to be one of our favorite weddings ever. Psssst... we're allowed to be biased. Loads of good friends, endless giggles and huge laughs, beautiful food (!!!) and a little too much wine, means Louis & Nadine receive our '2011 sweetest wedding award' :)

Louis and Nadine, thank you SO much for a beautiful wedding, for your awesome love and above all His love, and for all you have done for us and mean to us. weloveyou.

love,

welovepictures

Wedding at Old Mac Daddy Elgin - Sneak Peak

2011-07-24T20:35:00.003+02:00

We are literally walking out of the door to catch our flight to the USA but we just had to share a sneak peak of this. Jane and Francois got married at The Old Mac Daddy, Elgin Valley last weekend.

It was awesome!

More soon...

love
welovepictures

Destination Weddings l Mauritius - Sneak Peak

2011-07-20T19:08:00.011+02:00

Mohan (Mo) and Jacqui planned their destination wedding, held at the Sands Resort and Spa in Mauritius, all the way from Perth, Australia. It was our first destination wedding and so it was with great, and obvious excitement, that we boarded the plane for Mauritius.

We cannot lie, we were giggling like children when we arrived at the Sands Resort and Spa which sits right on the water, with it's own private beach and has more palm trees than we could count. Yes, we tried but gave up. We were to distracted by a ridiculously calm, blue ocean that stretched out in front of us.

A small and close group of friends and family, just over fifty in total, flew in from all over the world to celebrate the wedding with Mo and Jacqui. It was a wedding with many beautiful and awesome differences, and one which we are glad to share a small sneak peak with you now.

Mo and Jacqui, your are amazing people. You made us feel a welcome part of the small but special group of people at your wedding. We are so grateful that you brought us all the way to Mauritius to document your celebration.

love

welovepictures

Sneak Peek: Louis and Nadine

2011-07-19T12:19:00.004+02:00

We are super excited to share this Sneak Peek with you today friends!
Our awesome chommies Louis and Nadine got hitched!
And wowzers! What a wedding it was!

More coming soon-soon!

love,
welovepictures

Sneak-Peek: Kobus & Lynette Love Shoot

2011-07-04T16:14:00.002+02:00

Sometimes it's worth putting yourself and your clients in an uncomfortable position for the awesomeness of great pictures. In this case we all nearly froze our a$$es off on the beach at Big Bay, Cape Town, yesterday evening. It was totally worth it though. The light was perfect.

Thank you Kobus and Lynette, you were patient and full of giggles all the way through.

We will be covering Kobus and Lynette's wedding at Standkombuis in September. Can't wait. Also, look out for a super-awesome collaboration between welovepictures and Seven Swans Stationary for their wedding invitation, coming soon.

love,
welovepictures

P.S Click here and here to appreciate these bad boys in full-screen-awesomeness.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

2011-06-23T17:24:00.003+02:00

While sorting through our archives we found this really special image from a wedding we covered a couple of years ago.

We think it speaks for itself. ;)

love
welovepictures

Luff Booth?

2011-06-22T17:13:00.005+02:00

Sometimes...ok, most of the time, we can't help ourselves and we just have to jump into the Love Booth at a wedding. It's just too much fun people! This weekend Kate and Travis covered Lindsey and Hayley's wedding in Joburg while Maike was resting and of course, they made an appearance in the Love Booth.

love

welovepictures

Wim & Endri's sweet Free-State Farm Wedding

2011-06-21T16:29:00.010+02:00

Wim & Endri
23rd April 2011
Smithfield,
Free State

Ohwowee! What a wedding!

Wim and Endri, our new and awesome Namibian Architect friends, got married in a tiiiiiiny-sweet-and-lovely-sleepy Free State town called Smithfield. We knew this wedding would be a killer when we received their Invite via e-mail (a super cute printable invite that included a video with instructions as to how to fold the invite into an Origami bird) and we could hardly contain our excitement as we stepped off the plane in Bloemfontein, trying hard not to bounce up and down with delight.

Endri grew up in Smithfield, so naturally they decided to get married on her parents family farm (oh so lovely!), with the ceremony being held in a eucalyptus forest and the reception at the farm house.
The weather was a little devil and did not play along, but man-oh-man was it special to witness these guys getting married in the rain surrounded by huge and happy smiles from their soaked family and friends. But it wasn't all grey, the sun decided to peep out just in time for their Portrait Session and quickly dried us up again, plus we got some killer shots in some of the most beautiful light!

The evening ended with rounds of Namibian Shooters and red lid-noses and rosy cheeks and everyone danced the cold away!

Wim and Endri, congratulations and thank you for letting us be part of your awesome wedding! It was well worth the wet feet and freezing cold! :)

love,
welovepictures

This one deserves a post on its own...

2011-06-21T15:30:00.002+02:00

Although the full post of this wedding is coming up later, we couldn't wait to share this one with you... it deserves an entire post on it's own, it's just that special.

love,
welovepictures

Sneak Peek: Wim & Endri

2011-06-20T14:11:00.002+02:00

With only a few weeks to go before we're off to shoot in Mauritius and Canada and with all the weddings from the season piling up in the editing heap, we've had little time to do regular posts. We've been heads down, slaving, grafting, labouring, slogging away... you get the point :)
But today we've got a super special Sneak Peek of the wedding that will be posted tomorrow.
Wim and Endri, you guys are awesome.
More coming tomorrow, promise!

love,
welovepictures

We Just cant help ourselves...

2011-06-08T15:32:00.004+02:00

More from the Chraxie wedding celebration.

love
welovepictures

Sneak Peak : Chris and Maxie. Wowee our friends are married!

2011-06-08T11:08:00.006+02:00

This is what happens when Northern California meets Pretoria.

So we are mad excited to share this sneak peak, with two favourites from Boys and Girls prep time! Chris and Maxie, our very good friends, got hitched this past weekend in Pretoria, at Imperfect Perfection.

Chraxie, weloveyou!

love

welovepictures

Pieter & Marlize's beautiful Autumn Wedding

2011-06-07T13:56:00.004+02:00

Pieter & Marlize
16th April 2011
Dornier Wine Estate,
Stellenbosch,
Western Cape

Pieter and Marlize tied the knot a few weeks back on a glorious Cape Autumn day at the beautiful Dornier Wine Estate in Stellenbosch. Gareth and Kate // welovepictures (too) were there to photograph the action.

Congrats Pieter and Marlize!

love,
welovepictures

Rob & Amy's Classic Rock n Roll Wedding

2011-06-02T19:26:00.002+02:00

Rob & Amy
9th April 2010
The Forum,
Bryanston

Once again, this post is way overdue and huge apologies to Rob and Amy for featuring their wedding only now! Sorry friends!
Extra-extra special biiiiig post just for you, guys - plus it was too hard to whittle down the pictures - there are just waaaaay too many great ones!
What a beautiful & classic wedding with an awesome and bad-a$$ Rock 'n Roll twist! This was picture-lovers-bliss and what a bliss it was! ;)

Happy weekend friends!

love,
welovepictures

Toby & Nicole's lovely Autumn Wedding

2011-05-27T12:35:00.003+02:00

Toby & Nicole
09th April 2010
Buitenverwachting Wine Estate,
Cape Town,
Western Cape

Friends! We have just the thing to warm your hearts on this chilly Friday morning.
Remember these two lovelies from this sweet Invite Shoot?
Toby and Nicole got hitched a few weeks back and Gareth and Kate // 'welovepictures (too)' were there to document the fun!
What a great wedding!
Congrats Toby and Nicole!

love,
welovepictures

Eben & Charne's Little Birdie Wedding

2011-05-24T09:45:00.007+02:00

Eben & Charne
26 March 2011
Meerendal Wine Estate
Cape Town,
Western Cape

Wow - this post is so overdue! Thank you Eben and Charne for your patience and love! An extra special BIG post just for you! This wedding was a labour of love from the bride who designed and lasercut all the stationery and signage herself. We loved the little Birdie theme and the good-looking people and awesome weather made this wedding a joy to photograph!

love,
welovepictures

Francois & Adri's fun Farm Wedding

2011-05-03T15:30:00.006+02:00

Fancois & Adri
2nd April 2010
The Cow Shed,
Mpumalanga.

Francois and Adri got hitched at one of our favourite places in Mpumalanga, at the beautiful and awesome Farm-Venue, The Cow Shed. Gareth and Kate // 'welovepictures too' were there to document the love, and what a lovely day it turned out to be! The weather in Mpumalanga can be somewhat bipolar this time of year, but Francois and Adri couldn't have chosen a better day to tie the knot. Glorious sunshine and good-looking people topped off with beautiful decorations diy'd by the bride, friends and family made this wedding a breeze to document!

love,
welovepictures too

P.S psssst... we spotted some familiar goodies from this wedding that are available from our favourite Hiring Vendor In Good Company. If you like what you see here, give our friend Julie a shout!

Mark & Bridget's BESTEST wedding EVER!

2011-04-28T16:43:00.008+02:00

Mark and Bridget
19th March 2010
Welgemeend, Cape Town,
Western Cape

Meet Mark and Bridget, a photographer-writer team, and oh! what a great husband-wifey team they are!

Bridget McNulty contacted us a little less than a year ago and very matter-of-factly informed us that we'd be photographing the BEST wedding EVER on the March 19th 2011.

You can imagine our curiosity and excitement when, a year later, we arrived at Welgemeend and found this to be quite true! We were blown away by the love and attention Bridget had poured into every little detail from the tiny succulents to the awesome Skinny La Minx Seating Chart to the 1000 Origami Cranes (999 folded by Bridget, 01 folded by Mark :P), to the Watermelon Lings and Pop Rocks and the 'Book-Ring-Pillow' and and and! Wowzers!

Utter photographic bliss!

Thank you friends, for letting us be part of the BESTEST wedding EVER! :)

Oh, and I almost forget to mention the Super-Moon! The Moon appeared a whole 30% larger on Mark & Bridget's wedding night. Even Nature was celebrating this awesome union! :P

love,
welovepictures

Paul & Simone's beautiful Farm Wedding by welovepictures too!

2011-04-19T17:04:00.010+02:00

Paul & Simone
20th March 2010
New Oaks, Franschhoek
Western Cape

Friends! Do you remember these two lovely faces from this Love Shoot?
Well, we are so excited to say that Gareth and Kate // 'welovepictures too' have done it again! They absolutely rocked this wedding!

Meet Paul, one of Cape Town's top Restaurateurs, and his new, awesome Super-Model wife Simone!
These guys got hitched on a beautiful Farm just outside Franschhoek and it was a childhood-dream-come-true for Simone to get married on her family Farm, where she grew up.
The wedding was 'Alice in Wonderland' inspired, with beautiful romantic touches from red roses to amazing strings of Fairy lights, which gave it a super stylish and elegant touch.
All in all, this wedding was one big party from the Jewish traditional dances to the late-night partying and bad-ass Love Booth posing!

Love,
'welovepictures too'

Lovely Package

2011-03-24T11:28:00.002+01:00

welovepackaging.
These guys are on their way to America filled to the brim with Neill & Holly's beautiful pictures.

Sneak Peek: Mark & Bridget

2011-03-24T08:50:00.002+01:00

'The bestest, bestest, BESTEST wedding EVER!!!' - Bridget McNulty

Philip & Anneli's colourful Forest Wedding

2011-03-22T10:04:00.001+01:00

Philip & Anneli,
19 February 2011,
Forest 44,
Stellenbosch,
Western Cape

Philip and Anneli tied the knot at the awesomely beautiful Forest 44 just outside Stellenbosch. We loved all the colourful decorations that Anneli DIY'd from the pom-poms to the Yay-flags and everything in between. Plus they are just about the cutest couple ever! Oh and how cool are those shoes?!

Thanks for a lovely wedding, friends!

love,
welovepictures

Marco & Lydia's Trash the Dress

2011-03-21T12:16:00.000+01:00

Do you remember the sweet couple from this Love Shoot and this lovely wedding?
What a joy it was to hear that Lydia wanted to trash her dress!
And we'd be the lucky ones to shoot it!
In Langebaan!
Lucky us!

we love A Skyline on Fire

2011-03-14T18:08:00.006+01:00

Meet our awesome friends Werner and CF who are A Skyline on Fire.
Travis recently shot this video for them (all the post production was done by Werner... duh. We're photographers :P)
Anyway, we're so happy to finally show it off!
Plus it's the most beautiful song and we have to show our friends off too :)

Malcolm and Fleur's Wedding at Casa Labia

2011-03-08T17:21:00.007+01:00

Malcolm and Fleur
6th February 2011
Casa Labia,
Muizenberg,
Western Cape.

Friends, have we ever mentioned just how lucky we feel to be wedding photographers?
Not only do we get to witness and document LOVE between the coolest people on earth, but every single wedding is so DIFFERENT and unique - this awesome job of ours never gets boring!

Malcolm and Fleur's wedding was no exception - if anything, it must've been culturally on of the most interesting weddings we've ever photographed.
Malcolm and Fleur live all the way on the other side of the world in Hong Kong. When we had our first Skype meeting with them we were super excited to hear all about the different Chinese and Jewish marriage rituals we were going to witness at this wedding. Oh yeah!
And what a celebration of culture and marriage it was! From the Grooms Table to the Tea Ceremony to the Hora. Wow! We were blown away!

As if that's not enough to make us feel super special, we were also the lucky ones to photograph the very first wedding to be held at the fantastic Casa Labia in Muizenberg. EVER. That's pretty cool. We're not going to talk too much about this since we think words alone would not give this gorgeous national monument justice.

Malcolm and Fleur, thank you for letting us be part of this beautiful celebration - stay awesome!

love,
welovepictures

Roger & Nicky's sweet Farm Wedding by welovepictures (too)

2011-03-03T16:54:00.002+01:00

Roger and Nicky
25th February,
Addington Farm, Empangeni,
KwaZulu-Natal.

Oh wow - what an exciting day!
Friends! You are about to see the very real and very awesome and very FIRST wedding photographed by the latest addition to the welovepictures team, our great and incredibly talented friends Gareth and Kate, also more recently known as welovepictures (too).

We never doubted our friends could pull it off (duh...), but man-oh-man! did they blow us away! This wedding was beautifully captured and we can quite honestly say that we could not have it done it any better ourselves! Well done friends!

Roger and Nicky tied the knot on a working Sugar-cane Farm in Empangeni (also known as the other side of the world for all our fellow Cape-Townian friends). The farm has been in Nicky's family for over a hundred years and we love how she incorporated this nostaglic-vintage theme into her wedding. It was a family feast - from too much laughter and good food to Love-Booth madness and late-night dancing!

Love,
welovepictures (too)

Chris & Tina's Victorian-City Wedding

2011-02-23T10:54:00.006+01:00

Chris and Tina,
15 February 2011,
Hazeldene Hall,
Johannesburg

Chris and Tina got hitched two weeks ago at the beautiful Victorian-built Hazeldene Hall in old-city Jo'burg. We have photographed at a LOT of venues all over the country, but we were left speechless by this place. The building has been beautifully restored and almost all of the Victorian features and fittings are original - making the building a gorgeous, historical monument. It was so easy to photograph there. And we love old stuff.
Chris and Tina (or as their friends call them Christina - how awesome is that?!) are the quirkiest and bubbliest couple we've ever photographed. Not only are they two insanely good-looking people, but they are best-best mates and are constantly joking with each other - which means loads of big laughs. It was easy to photograph them too.

Thanks for an awesome wedding Christina - we had too much fun with you guys :)

love,
welovepictures

Voytek & Tamem's Wedding in The Conservatory

2011-02-18T15:23:00.006+01:00

Voytek & Tamem
22 January 2010
The Conservatory,
Fraanschhoek,
Western Cape

Voytek and Tamem tied the knot on a crazy-windy but gloriously-gorgeous sunny day in Fraanschhoek at one of our favourite venues, the awesome Conservatory.

These guys make a super team, as any stuntman-architect team would.
Naturally.

It was a awesomely-fun wedding with loads of good tunes by Heather Honey Bee (check out Kitty, Daisy and Lewis - wowzers!), good food and a little too much wine! Thanks for a killer wedding guys!

love,
welovepictures

Wimpie & Carla's colourful Wedding

2011-02-17T06:34:00.003+01:00

Wimpie & Carla
15 January 2011
Red Ivory, Hartebeespoort

Wimpie and Carla tied the knot a few weeks back at the beautiful Hillside-Venue Red Ivory, set into the Magaliesberg overlooking the gorgeous Hartebeespoort Valley.

It was our third time at Red Ivory, and what a pleasure it always is to shoot there!
Wimpie and Carla and their friends were a wild bunch which meant loads of laughs, a little too much red wine and late-night boogy'ing!

love,
welovepictures

Love Shoot by 'welovepictures too'

2011-02-16T09:34:00.003+01:00

Remember the sweet shoot our dear friends Gareth and Kate // 'welovepictures too' did for Toby and Nicole's wedding invite? Well, they've done it again. They rocked this love shoot with Paul and Simone on Bakoven beach near Camps Bay. Plus you'll be seeing more of these two pretty faces because Gareth and Kate are shooting their wedding in March! Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for this one - it's gonna rock your socks off! :)

love,
welovepictures (too)

Chupi and Bubs Honeymoon Shoot

2011-02-09T09:16:00.003+01:00

Our awesome friends Johnny and Mireille got married the other day and they decided to spend a few days of their honeymoon with us in Cape Town. Lucky us!
We had so much fun running through Kalk Bay with our sweet friends and our cameras!

Oh and how gorgeous does Mireille look in that dress? Made by none other than our favourite local designer the super-talented Sarah Jane Webber of I Love Leroy!

Love,
welovepictures

Pieter & Ingrid's Fynbos-Beach Wedding

2011-02-07T19:07:00.003+01:00

Pieter & Ingrid
Strandkombuis,
Yzerfontein,
Western Cape

What a happy day! We've been so excited to blog about Pieter & Ingrid's beach-love wedding!

Too many happy moments, awesome people and the most lovely venue (definitely in the top three!)! All the decor was made with love by Ingrid and her friends and she used only fynbos for her center pieces - so darling! Plus, how amazing is Ingrid's dress? Made by none other than her very own super mom!

This was an intimate and real wedding, the kind of wedding that reminded us of our own, a celebration of so much love, so much laughter and late-night bum-shaking! Thank you friends, for allowing us to celebrate with you!

love,
welovepictures

Chupi and Bubs's awesome French-Vintage Wedding

2011-02-03T13:48:00.005+01:00

Johnny & Mireille
8th January 2011
Pappa's Real Food,
Pretoria.

Oh yay! We are so excited to share this wedding with you today!

Meet our awesome and favourite friends Johnny and Mireille aka Chupi and Bubs Oberholster.
They tied the knot a few weeks ago at the awesome Pappa's Real Food Eatery in Duncan Yard, in none other than our old hood, Pretoria. Johnny and Mireille have been living in Melbourne for the past two years and when we heard that they finally got engaged, a little happy dance around our studio was in order.

What a joy it was to photograph our sweet friends' wedding!

We met Johnny & Mireille three years ago at a bar in Pretoria. On a Sunday. We were all there for the same reason: Jesus. An awesome community called 3rd Place used to meet in this bar every Sunday and it was at this bar that we met many of our best friends. And what a joy it was to to see them all again after living in Cape Town for the last few months! Especially messing around with them in the Love Booth - way too much flippin fun! I chucked a few of us in there, I just had to show off my husband's beautiful face :)

Chupi and Bubs, thank you for being our beaches over the last years and for being your dorky awesome selves and we're missing you so much already! We are so happy to have you as our married side-kick friends! :)

Oh and make sure you check back next week for the sweet Honey-moon Shoot we did with them here in Cape Town! x

love,
welovepictures

Lesego's & Lize's Yellow-African Wedding

2011-02-02T13:03:00.006+01:00

Lesego & Lize
19 December,
Family Farm,
Johannesburg

Oh my, what a wedding - we've been so excited to blog about this one. Lesego & Lize tied the knot on a beautiful farm on the outskirts of Jo'burg. We were super bummed not to be able to shoot the traditional African wedding the day before, but feel so blessed to have been a part of their 'second' wedding, which was a super quirky mix of Lesego and Lize, two awesome families, two insanely-cute twin girls and lots of colour, love and joy!

What a celebration! Thank you friends! x

love,
welovepictures