CAMPS BAY – KYLIE AND NICK

I met Kylie and Nick at Camps Bay Tidal Pool just before the coronavirus erupted .  They had flown in the day before from Boston in the USA.  These cuties are getting married in Canada next year.  They were taking this opportunity to introduce Kylie’s parents to Nicks hometown.

When we first got to our location, the weather was a bit grey but having experienced Camps Bay quite a few times, I asked them to be patient as I had a feeling that we would get a glorious sunset!

We were definitely spoilt that day as the light was pretty incredible at times.  I just loved how the light highlighted the nooks and crannies of the majestic beauty of the Twelve Apostles mountains.

Nick and Kylie

Although Nick is from Cape Town and Kylie is from Canada, they actually met in Boston, USA as they are both working there, however not in the same industry.

Nick is in finance and Kylie is a midwife!

I must admit that I thought Kylie would handle the chill factor at the beach that evening as she is from Canada.  But I think the jetlag got to her and quite quickly she was covered in goosebumps.  Although Nick did an amazing job of keeping her warm.

Kylie was a trooper and stayed around until the skies suddenly erupted with the most amazing colours.  It definitely made getting a bit chilled all worth while. A few days later the world our world changed as we had known it.  Within days flights were cancelled and traveling became a bit of a taboo.  Kylie and Nick were continuously on my mind wondering whether they got to enjoy the rest of their holiday and whether they travelled home safely.

I will definitely keep this gorgeous young couple in my prayers especially as Kylie is a nurse and will be working in the danger zone at times.  God Bless and stay safe!

Previous Rickety Bridge Wedding!

8 things to do in Camps Bay!

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Mo and Ray

This Table Mountain proposal was very special.  Mo had put a lot of effort into planning this special event.  Initially, I was contacted by Ray’s sister on facebook but Mo soon took over.  He was thorough in checking details to make sure his gesture would be a total success.

Mo flew Ray down to Cape Town for a long weekend and to keep Ray in the dark, he pretended that he booked me for a couple shoot.  I met up with them at Camps Bay and continued the pretence of a couple shoot.

The plan had always been to do the proposal on top of Table Mountain and we then persuaded Ray to take the photoshoot up to the top of Mountain.  Luckily going to the top of Table Mountain had been on her bucket list.

Mo was fortunate in that the queue for Table Mountain was non existent on that evening.  He was able to buy his tickets and progress straight to the cablecar.  Kind of unheard of for a trip up Table Mountain.  I definitely think this Table Mountain proposal was written in the stars.

In spite of it being cold and windy on the mountain, Mo was eager to pop the question!  As soon as he had asked a fellow tourist to video his proposal on his phone and made sure the tourist was in position, Mo straightaway got down on his knee while Ray was enjoying the view!

Ray was quite emotional while Mo popped the question but as soon as was possible was quick to say Yes!

Furthermore, I must admit that hiding this blackboard in my camera bag was a total mission.  I actually had to change bags in order for it to fit and consequently left my ID to prove I was a local in the wrong bag.  On this occasion, luckily I had left the other bag in my boot so I was able to run back and grab it.

Previous blogpost!

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Sarah & Jan

ClaraAnnaFontein was a stunning backdrop for this  engagement photoshoot.  Sarah and Jan were one of the couples who won my engagement photoshoot giveaway.

They were such a sweet couple and an absolute pleasure to photograph and furthermore, I thought their story was quite cute too!

Their story!

They met on a cold winters night in a pub in Stellenbosch that was holding a quiz night.  A friend introduced them and they became friends but Sarah then finished her studies and went travelling to Thailand and unfortunately lost touch with Jan.

When Sarah returned to South Africa, her friend was then dating and later became engaged to Jans twin brother.  Jan was obviously asked to be Best Man and Sarah was asked to be Maid of Honour and then rest as they say, is history!  Jan never let her out of his sight again!

It wasn’t too long before Jan popped the question and asked Sarah to be his wife.  He whisked her away to the Seychelles and got down on bended knee!  And how could she say No!

So they will be tying the knot next year at Beloftebos!  Which is pretty perfect for this gorgeous girl as she is a lover of nature and flowers and Beloftebos will frame her beauty perfectly!

I genuinely enjoyed my time with this sweet couple!  Sarah is a warm and friendly girl with a heart of gold.  Jan could not have chosen a better person to be his soulmate.  These two are extremely comfortable and happy together.  They truly belong together!

Previous blogpost here!

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Kyla’s Curro Matric Dance

Hawksmoor House never disappoints but when you add a beautiful, young girl and handsome gentleman, then the results are mindblowing!

This venue has always been one of Cape Towns hidden gems and I was excited when Kyla’s mom told me they had chosen Hawksmoor as their pre-drinks venue for their family and friends.

Imagine my excitement when I saw how exquisite Kyla looked in her stunning soft pink romantic gown and then to blow me away even further, her father had arranged a beautiful old school Rolls Royce!  It was definitely fit for a princess and Kyla was definitely a princess that evening.

All we needed was a Prince!

While Kyla waited for her prince to arrive, we took the opportunity to play in the beautiful Blue Barn.

The Blue barn was absolutely magical.

And then Connor arrived!  A prince fit for a princess!  It was actually hard to believe that these two people had never met each other before.  Their moms had organised for Connor to be Kyla’s date for her matric dance.  It was a perfect match.  Connor was the perfect gentleman to this young beauty.

These two could definitely be Oscar winning actors in the future as it was hard to believe that they had never met before this day.  I definitely got the impression though that this would not be the last time they would see each other.  I could definitely see a few sparks!  If I am wrong, then give them the Oscar now!

A shout out to all the talented suppliers who made Kyla’s day magical!

The pretty dress was made by Leonie Jardim.

Hair and make-up was done by the talented Clarita Smit!

The beautiful hairpiece was from Lovisa

View previous blogpost here!

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Cape Town City Centre

Xoliswa and Armand entered the engagagement photoshoot giveaway and were one of the lucky winners.

We arranged to meet at the new rooftop bar  Gorgeous George.  What is more gorgeous than a beautiful couple being flirtatious over cocktails.

This cute couple met at a function where Xoliswa was doing promotional work.  Armand couldn’t take his eyes off this exquisite young lady.  They have been together for seven years while Xoliswa finished her studies at AAA Advertising and started her career.  Armand is originally from Congo and works in the Tourism trade in Cape Town.

They recently had their African traditional wedding in the Eastern Cape with all their friends and family.  Xoliswa is one of three girls and Armand is one of nine boys!  The traditional wedding was without a doubt very festive with all their siblings!  They will be having their Western wedding at Belair in Paarl in November.

These two lovebirds are heading to Canada after their wedding.  South Africa will definitely be losing out and Canada is definitely gaining a talented duo!  Although luckily for us they do tend to return after a few years of gaining experience and earning some of the mighty dollar.  To be honest, while you are young and gorgeous, why not!  Go travel the world, experience other cultures and spread your wings.  Life is meant for worthwhile experiences and what better way to experience new adventures than with your soulmate.  But before they go, let them have the best wedding with all their loved ones!

Armand and Xoliswa started off this engagement photoshoot being quite shy.  Especially in front of the crowd on Gorgeous George’s rooftop garden.

So after a cocktail or two, we escaped the prying eyes and headed for the streets of the Cape Town City Centre!

Previous post can be viewed here!

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Anderson & Jackie

This windy Blaauwberg Beach proposal took lots of planning on Andersons’ behalf.

Anderson and Jackie have been a couple since high school.  They have encouraged each other through high school and university.  Both of them had difficult courses.  Anderson is a qualified Chemical engineer and Jackie is a Chartered Accountant.  Both Jackie and Anderson knew what their end game was.  There was never ever any doubt that they would be together.

Where it all started!

They met at Pinelands High School in Cape Town.  They have now been together for nine years!

Anderson recently moved to Pretoria to take up a position as a chemical engineer.   For the last couple of months this has been a long distance relationship.

He definitely felt it was time to take the next step and to propose to his lady love.  He had no doubt that it was Jackie he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

But trying to get the logistics of the proposal correct was quite a challenge.  He had to make one trip to Cape Town to officially ask Jackies’ parents for their permission.  This was difficult to do without Jackie figuring out what he was up to.   Another challenge was to keep it secret for another two months until he was able to get some leave in order to fly back to down to Cape Town and pop the question.

Organising me as the photographer was the easy part as Jackie had always wanted to do a couple shoot.  So he gifted her the couple shoot as her Christmas present!  Her sister actually asked her if he was going to propose but because they had asked blatantly, it threw Jackie off the scent.  She didn’t think they would be so obvious plus she thought he would propose on her birthday in April!  Needless to say that is exactly what the family were hoping!

When Jackie turned around after admiring the view and found Anderson on his knee she was totally blown away!  She hadn’t had a clue!  It was pretty magical!

These two are perfect together.  They are perfectly in tune with one another.  Relaxed, comfortable and natural with one another.  I am excited to see them tie the knot!

Alex and Carl luxury wedding can be viewed here!

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The best time to have a photoshoot in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris is at sunrise! As most tourists are not out and about yet. I must admit I had moments of wondering how crazy we must be as I rode through the silent streets of Paris but once we were there and I started to see how the place started to get busy, I was happy with our choice. And there is something very special to see a sunrise over Paris! Definitely worth an early morning start.

Strangely enough, we rode past the exact same location at sunset that evening and when I saw the crowds I was extremely relieved we had chosen sunrise.

I had so much fun with this gorgeous couple and was so very excited for both of them when Heine popped the question a few months later in The Alps!

It was so very special to meet up with them again in Cape Town and to do an engagement shoot for them! Watch this space to see that special shoot! It was amazing!

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Engagement shoot

I am so excited for this beautiful young couple who have recently got engaged and set the date! I have no doubt that this will be a beautiful wedding as Heine and Inge are perfect together. You can feel the love, support and respect between them.

Where have you seen them before

If they look familiar, then its probably because you recently saw them on my blog or instagram account. They were the gorgeous couple who met me in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris during my recent trip to France. Check out the Paris photoshoot here!

A jewel fit for a queen!

It was very exciting to see on social media when Heine dropped his knee and popped the question about a month later in the Italian Alps. Heine had her gorgeous ring made by a talented, local Cape Town jeweller, Gerhard Moolman who has apparently been their family jeweller for many years.

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Bryce and Angelique

This perfect Cape Town proposal has been in the planning for a good few months. Bryce had bought the engagement ring while Angelique was on an overseas hockey tour in Holland. He knew exactly what he wanted to do to make his proposal special for his ladylove. He wanted to take her away for a weekend and it had to be rustic and where nature was the main drawcard.

The downside was that they both had very busy schedules and trying to organise a surprise proposal with so many elements became difficult. Firstly all the cabins were fully booked, secondly Angelique was writing exams and finishing her university course and thirdly Bryce was fully booked with hockey coaching and tournaments and lastly, my availability dates also had to be consulted.

But life has a way of working out and these two were meant to be together and so the stars aligned and the universe made a plan. Copia Eco Cabins phoned Bryce and said they had had a cancellation and would he be interested in the first weekend of 2019! Bryce knew that he and Angelique had their first free weekend before heading off to a hockey tournament up country. All he had to do was double check if I was available and luckily I was. The stars had aligned, we could go ahead a plan this surprise engagement.

Bryce and I came up with the plan that I would contact Angelique and ask her if they could help me out as a couple had just dropped me for a photoshoot that I was doing at the Cabins in order to give them some content for their instagram page. If she had really done her homework, she would have realised that Copia Eco Cabins have plenty of content for their instagram page but hey it worked and she fell for it hook, line and sinker!

The cutest moments was when she got to the cabin and was so excited about the shoot and said the container cabins were awesome and she thought that this would be a perfect proposal spot. I was slightly worried that she had cottoned on but luckily she hadn’t.

Bryce definitely scored brownie points for his choice of the location. It was romantic, peaceful with no internet connection! Bryce had also got his mom to purchase all the supplies for the weekend! And when Angelique realised that this was the spot for her surprise proposal she was beyond elated.

Like most ladies, she couldn’t wait to tell the world that Bryce had put a ring on “it”. The most important people knew and were able to be phoned but social media had to wait! We all promised that we wouldn’t post until she was back in the land of the “internet” and could make the big announcement herself!

We all had a celebratory glass of champagne with the happy couple and then we all left them to enjoy this special time.

Congratulations Bryce and Angelique! You are absolutely perfect for one another!

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London

Iwan and Leandri

London Town was calling!  I did a quick pit stop to London before my trip to France and I caught up with past brides and future brides!

I was looking forward to having this lovely couple in front of my lens in the full swing of Autumn!  What a joke!  England was having one of their best summers and who would have believed that the sun was out and the flowers were still blooming!  All my winter clothes stayed at the bottom of the suitcase!

Leandri was one of my past brides and it was awesome to meet up with her and Iwan.  Four years ago, when I captured their wedding, I thought they were pretty perfect for one another.

  Iwan and Leandri are now living and working in London.  Living abroad will test most relationships but this one had strong foundations from the very beginning and they have become a very strong and united partnership.  Their love and respect for one another is obvious to anyone who meets them.

Leandri was absolutely gorgeous on her wedding day but I have to admit, she has matured into an amazing beauty.  She is one of those ladies whose beauty shines from within!  I truly felt as if I had a supermodel in front of my lens!

As anyone who has been to London knows, there are always tourists around and St Pauls Cathedral is probably one of the busiest tourist attraction due to the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer all those years ago. Luckily though, if you walk around St Pauls you will find spots that are not as busy and its easier to do a photoshoot.

I have always had an amazing time in London.  I can’t believe it was only a year ago that I was last here with my husband and had toured the  Cotswold and Oxford.  Its amazing how much changes in a year.  Last year we were living in Dubai.  We travelled to London and ended up meeting up with Suzanne, my friend from Dubai ….and a year later, we are back in Cape Town and Suzanne is now living in London and graciously hosted my sister and myself during our stay in London.  How small the world has become, and how fortunate I am to have friends around the world!  I count myself very blessed!

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