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!

The post ClaraAnnaFontein engagement shoot appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.

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!

The post Windy Blaauwberg Beach Proposal appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.

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!

The post A perfect Cape Town proposal appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.

Table Mountain maternity shoot

Sophie and Yonathan

Table Mountain was a gorgeous backdrop for Sophie and Yonathans maternity shoot.  This beautiful couple are from Ethiopia but met each other in California, USA, where Sophie was studying and Yonathan was working in IT.  They plan on heading back to the States for the birth of their little boy.

Luckily, we had no rain on the day of the shoot although the wind pumped and was freezing!  Not too bad on the side of Table Mountain but the wind on Signal Hill was gale force!  In fact it was pretty scary!  It was a case of take a few pics and run back to the car, warm up a bit and then brave the elements for another few minutes.  I am pretty glad that we persevered as when Table Mountain lit up with the setting sun, it was pretty awesome.

The post Table Mountain maternity – Sophie and Yonathan appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.

Couple Photography – Cape Town

What more could I ask for!  A couple in front of my lens captured in the most beautiful place in the world, Cape Town, on a cold, winters day!  Most people think I am mad but I love winter!  Its my most favourite time of the year in Cape Town.    The landscapes are green and lush, the weather is wild and moody.  Moody weather lends itself beautifully to emotive photography.  I have to admit though, it does take very brave souls to be photographed when the weather is freezing so when I find volunteers I don’t think twice.  And these two mad hatters asked me, what are the chances!

Sinead is my niece.  I am sure if anyone goes through my website or blog, they will find her in quite a few posts.  Shane, has also featured once before but as a model for a styled shoot that we did a few years back.  Funny enough they are now a couple and I didn’t introduce them!  I thought he might look a bit too “bad boy” for my school going niece, even though I knew he was quite a softie and very likeable. I am lying ….I didn’t give it a thought!  I have never ever had to find dates for Sinead, she manages quite nicely on her own.

 If any couple is looking for wild, moody, emotive photography ….then I am your gal!  Give me a shout!

The post Couple Photography – Cape Town appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.

Danielle and JJ are such a cute couple.  Danielle is super tiny and JJ is super protective.  Danielle had a pretty good idea of the kind of location she was looking for as she is a Graphic Designer and had already envisioned the look that she wanted for her invitations.  Her instructions were there had to be mountains and different colour vegetation.

Now, to be honest, I did kind of get a bit nervous.  Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a major aversion to heights and if I have to drive along mountain passes I am even worse.  So my heart pumped a bit of custard, I am not going to lie.  Luckily, one thing I love more than I hate heights and that is photography.  Photography pushes me out of my comfort zone and because Danielle had already got my creative juices going, I decided to just grit my teeth and rather annoy the whole of Cape Town who were driving behind me!

So Cape Town drivers, if you ever get stuck behind a slow coach going up a mountain, spare a thought for me.  It might just be me, a photographer who so desperately wants to get some cool images but is petrified of the heights and the S-bends!

Danielle and JJ, you guys made it all so very worthwhile.  I would do it a thousand times over to have such a cute and playful couple such as yourselves in front of my lens!

I can’t wait to see what you do with your invites!

Their wedding can be viewed here!

The post Danielle and JJ’s engagement shoot appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.

Celeste & Marinus

This Blaauwberg engagement shoot was so much fun.  Celeste and Marinus were game for so much and nothing was too much trouble from running around in bikini’s to jumping into the ice cold Atlantic Ocean.  And their laughter was such great medicine for me that Sunday as I had come down with flu after stepping off a plane from Dubai.  I can honestly say that these two lovebirds were absolute naturals …as they really had no choice as I could not project my voice for love nor money that Sunday …but as you can see from the pics ….I had nothing to worry about ….they made my work easy peasy!

These two lovebirds were introduced by a friend four years ago and have had a long distance relationship over the last couple of years as Celeste works in Iraq and has been commuting between Iraq and Cape Town to have rondevous meetups with her handsome man.  On occasions they have met up in far distance lands for romantic getaways but they have now decided to take the next step and on 21 May they will be exchanging vows and becoming Mr and Mrs Du Plessis at the stunning venue, Nooitgedacht in Stellenbosch.

I know Celeste is beyond excited as she is doing her last stint in Iraq before heading home to become a “Mrs” …and I am just as excited as I know that I am going to have so much fun with this gorgeous couple against the beautiful backdrop of Nooitgedacht.  But first, Celeste and I have to do with one more stint in distant lands before we head back to the beautiful Cape Town for one gorgeous wedding taking place in our gorgeous winelands!  Definitely an awesome reason to head back to the beautiful Cape Town for!

The post Blaauwberg engagement shoot appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.

The post Cape Town Couple shoot | Luan & Joni-Lee | Melkbosstrand appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.