Well, this was an absolute treat! When Nikita and Carl contacted me to be their wedding photographer, I could tell they were going to be a super fun couple. Turns out, I was so right!

Held outside on the roof at Chancery Chambers, their ceremony was fun, earnest and very them. Nikita and Carl chose Matt Warman as their celebrant and he did such an amazing job, it was a truly beautiful and touching ceremony. The rooftop views were super cool!

And of course, why would you not stop in at Krispy Kreme on your way outside? (Shout out for the free donuts, Krispy Kreme!)

Nikita and Carl, thank you SO much for choosing me to document your (extremely rad) wedding day!

Brides flowers: @WeddingFlowerStudio

Makeup: @LauraWilliamsonMakeup

Hair: Mel from@turningheads.hair

Decorations and Catering: @littlewolfbite

Cake: Hayley @donut_kill.my.vibe

Dress: Astra Bridal @astrabridal.northshore

with alteratons and purple customisation done by La Belle Bridal Creations @la.belle.bridal.creations

Celebrant: @MattWarmanCelebrant www.facebook.com/mattwarmancelebrant

This Taupo wedding photographer was stoked to travel up to Auckland for this magnificent celebration. ❤️ Just beautiful. Thank you for having me, Nikita and Carl!

I've been studying towards a Diploma in Photography (finished it, nailed it!) and for part of it we needed to make a website and pick a theme. I'm not one to make things easy on myself so I chose to create images that drew inspiration from NZ music lyrics (of course!). It was crazy fun, and a massive job, I may have cried, ok, I did. Lots. It was overwhelming with such a tight deadline, but I got there, yussss! Now I'm newly qualified, very exciting!

The website is:

Here is my favourite photo that didn't make it in to the set (with the lovely Grace from Taupo Academy of Dance).

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Well, if there is one thing I've decided to do this year, it's learn like a mofo. I've NEVER been quite so obsessed with my job as I am right now, because really, who even gets to go to work and see the magic that is true love?!

So... I've been a little crazy in love with learning new things in photography. Which is how I found myself tucked in the the magnificent Chateau Tongariro with a rad bunch of hip and talented photographers from around the country to learn from the sorcery of Chris Turner from christurnerphotographer.com . He's a dude that is a dynamo behind the camera and a very open book, you ask him something and he's just transparent. It's a super cool attitude and one that I'm so down with.

Little story time... 9 years ago, stranger Chris emailed me and said "I've booked a wedding, do you have tips for me?" and I gave him some (probably ridiculous) information (that I thought was right) and he ran with it and now he's just flying... I'd shot one wedding and I don't think I ever told him that until recently haha.

So that brings us to a wicked workshop! It rained, my car got waylaid, I had to go home instead of stay because my sweet wee baby hugs me all night haha, but I had a fabulous time, met some incredible people, hugged beautiful people I haven't seen in ages and learnt a hell of a lot. I even got to bond in the hot pools in Taupo with the wonderfully innovative wedding photographer, Mala from malaphotography.com

Make up for our beautiful and resilient model was done by Michaela at www.facebook.com/MichaelaKayeMakeup/

Our models were Tracey and Hayden - they were incredible in the face of the Desert Rd weather!

Here are a few photos from my time xx

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4 score and 9 years ago... Well, ok, not really that long, but it WAS the long lost summer we had at the beginning of the year, I had the pleasure of photographing this wonderfully gorgeous family. It was like photographing old friends, they were so neat. Little Miss definitely kept us entertained!

Here are a few images for this divine fam bam xx

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Gosh. Where do I even start. When Lucinda enquired with me, I was so glad to have their day free. Their wedding sounded amazing, and as time went by, it was gorgeous seeing their plans finalise. Suddenly, the day was upon us.

It was clear to me that Lucinda and Dylan's number one priority was family. They just wanted to get married with their nearest and dearest by their sides, and that is exactly what they did.

They had stumbled across one of Taupo's gems, the tiny Oruanui Church, for their venue. At 107 years old, this church is steeped in history and meaning. Imagining all the souls that have walked in those doors was overwhelming - how amazing to get married in such a special place.

In a wonderful ceremony, conducted by a family friend, Lucinda and Dylan were married. It was beautiful to see so much love in that room.

Following the family photos, we scooted out to a spot that Dylan and Lucinda had found earlier. Now, I thought we were going for a big hike, so I whipped off my nice shoes and put on my manky old runners - only to be picked up in a flash car and delivered right to the spot. 😂 I wasn't looking very fancy, but it was super comfy and very functional.

We made photographs in a magical forest, photographs that their three gorgeous children, and perhaps one day, their grandchildren, will hold. It is such an honour to be chosen to document a wedding, and it's one I will never take for granted.

Lucinda's hair: Hifashion Hair - Taupo

Lucinda's flowers: The Flower Girl - Taupo

Here are some of my favourites images from the day.

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I've been having LOTS of fun making night images this past week as part of my Diploma in Photography work. Night photography has never really been a huge interest to me, but having made a few images now, I can see a whole lot of magical things I can do. I know this isn't new knowledge to most of the world, haha, but I got there in the end.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few images with your from around Kinloch, Taupo. Hopefully I will be out a bit more now that nighttime isn't 1am anymore. 😂

First up, we have the luxurious Kinloch Club. So stunning, and an amazing wedding venue AND just down the road from me.

Wedding photography Taupo, Taupo wedding photographer, Waikato wedding photography, Taupo photographer, photographer Taupo

Chelsea and Cole's engagement session was so beautiful. They laughed and had fun and we made some awesome photos together!

I met with Chelsea and Cole on the beach just down from my home in Kinloch. As a Taupo wedding photographer, I've been blessed to see so many amazing shoot locations, Kinloch will always be one of my favourites.

Chelsea and Cole were over from Canada and we were lucky we were able to make the planets align with timing and weather, in fact, it turned out to be just the most delicious evening. It's always fun to photograph such a neat couple, so much chemistry and clearly so much love.

Engagement shoots are turning into a favourite of mine. What do you think, should I add them into my wedding photography packages? Shoot me a comment and let me know what you think!

Gosh, what a beautiful day it turned out to be when Annaliese and Ray got married at Huka Falls Resort, right here in Taupo. I woke in the morning to drizzle, but it had cleared to reveal a most wonderful clear, blue sky.

Here are a few sneak previews from Anna and Ray's special day. It was so full of love and laughter ❤️ I can't wait to share more.

These were Anna and Ray's amazing vendors:

Venue: www.hukafallsresort.com

Flowers: www.bloominflowers.co.nz

Makeup and Hair: www.beautyonlocation.co.nz

Celebrant: www.facebook.com/LadyJaneJoy

Man, this was SO MUCH FUN! This year I entered the Shoot and Share contest for the first time. It's such a rad photography competition - everything is anonymous and votes are cast by the public (you are presented with 4 images, you vote for your favourite - over and over for as long as you like, until your eyes are filled up with too much incredibleness, haha).

You don't get to know how you are going until the competition has ended. It's so much fun and I'll DEFINITELY be entering next year.

Anyway, out of nearly half a MILLION entries, I had one 10 10% and top 20%. I only entered a few this year, so I was very happy.

Here's to growing and making more great art this year!

Taupō is just a little town in New Zealand. We have a population of about 24,000. We have a massive amount of natural wonders, and they are so beautiful that it can be hard to see beyond that. We have Lake Taupō, Huka Falls, forests, mountains, rivers, meadows, rolling hills, everything we could dream of.

And, we have just had the carnival come to visit! I only thought about shooting there near the end of their visit, but once I thought about it, I became obsessed, haha. So off we went.

Here are some of my favourite photos from the carnival.

Hello again!

I thought I'd take a moment to show you one of our new Presentation Boxes for weddings. We've been experimenting for a while with different ways of presenting images to our gorgeous and loved clients who have chosen the deluxe full day package... It didn't feel right to just shoot off a link into cyber space when we've worked so closely together, and I'm a lover of giving gifties. Sooooo after lots of different styles, we're working with these lovely boxes.

These boxes come complete with an engraved wooden USB with your images loaded on to it in high resolution. These are in both colour, and in black and white. There is space for your lush 6x4" prints (which is wonderful and delights me because I do sound like a banshee yelling "PRINT YOUR PHOTOS" for about 76% of my waking hours - it is that important to me).

In fact, the fastest way to make me cry is to send me photographs of your printed images hanging in your house. <3

(Also, do you love my Persian table runner as much as I do, hiding there behind the box, heh...)

I'm such a believer in actual, tangible photographs and products, so it has really made me a happy little wedding photographer to know that I can deliver these lovely boxes that I'm so sure might be opened by sweet wee grandchildren in the future.

I had the delight of dressing my baby up today and making some fun photos of her in an outfit I wore as a baby. She's at such a wonderful age, all smiley and she just melts me. I'm making an effort this coming year to reach out and try new things so I'll be blogging a little more.... because one of the things I'd like to try is not being awful at blogging regularly! While I'm primarily a wedding photographer, I do photograph other things as well so I should really show you some of them, hah!

Here we go, a teeny sweetie. <3

What a huge year!

I would love to take this moment to thank everyone for their very appreciated support through this massive year. 2017 has seen Connect Photography begin to branch out into Taupo weddings, we've rebranded, we've upped our Presentation Box game, created a spanky new website, met a cascade of wonderful couples and people AND this is all just the beginning. On a personal level, we've planned a wedding, had a baby and flat out adored every moment we've had so far in Taupo.

Last year, on Christmas Day, my gorgeous partner proposed to me and we are getting married in March '18. It's definitely given me a new perspective and understanding for the couples I work with!

I can't wait to be married to this beautiful soul.

So, I hope you all had a VERY merry Christmas, and I hope that next year brings you all the achievements and sweet memories you could hope for. <3

Every once in a while a wedding comes along that is so incredibly different! This was one of those. How delicious, a school themed wedding! It was so fabulous to get to know Kylie and Matt as the day progressed. Their wedding was one that was very much focused on their beautiful family, and their ceremony left a shimmer in many eyes.

So perfectly matched, Kylie and Matt prepared for their day, with their siblings. Both of these lovely people are hilarious, which made for a day full of laughs and love. <3 Congratulations Kylie and Matt!