This is where the spotlight shines on all of the amazing weddings that we shoot !

Today the spotlight is on Jasmine & Dan !

Wedding Day Theme

  Initially it started off as “travel” – Daniel and I spent 10 months backpacking overseas so we thought naming our tables after various places we’d visited might be a fun way to personalise our reception. However, as we progressed with planning it became more about our journey together, and the people along the ride with us. In the end it influenced a lot of our decisions – everything from the guest list to our ceremony readings

The proposal

Easter long weekend 2011. Daniel took me out for lunch, ostensibly to celebrate a career milestone. After lunch he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! After the proposal there was a car waiting to take us to Palazzo Versace for the night, where he’d arranged for our dear friends to decorate the room with dozens of roses and a bottle of French champagne or two!

The Finer Details

Ceremony location:  St Stephen’s Cathedral – Reception location:  The Brisbane Club -

Wedding Dress Pronovias, purchased from Tara at White Lily Couture. Tara was wonderful in helping source gorgeous lace sleeves for what was originally a strapless gown.

Wedding bands and engagement rings:  Original Diamonds by Jason Withers – Priest:  Father Morgan Batt

Wedding Coordinator:  Ourselves!

Decorator  Amy O’Donnell of Jada Flowers and Ylana Ratcliffe of The Brisbane Club did an amazing job of decorating the Main Dining Room.

They entertained my every whimsy (including importing a special kind of tree branch for our table centerpieces!), and their efforts and talent certainly showed.

Hair:  Alisha – Hare’s Hair – Cathedral length veil for the ceremony and a crystal headpiece for reception – both from White Lily Couture.

Bridal party attire:  White Lily Couture and Bella Donna Bridesmaids

Make-up:  Melissa Coleman – Flowers:  Amy O’Donnell – Jada Flowers

Stationery:  Magpie Press (New Zealand) for the invitation suite, DIY for the rest (highly NOT recommended!)

Cake:  Cake Inspirations – Videography:  Ben Amos, Innovate Media

Entertainment:  16 Strings for the ceremony and Radio Club Band for the reception.

Dan sent Jasmine a special gift which contained a box of letters to be opened on specific dates in their future together, today was the first one to be opened.

Funniest Moment:

Our reception venue was glowing with hundreds of tea light candles, which made for a beautiful but hazardous atmosphere! While we were saying our final goodbyes one of our guests had to “drop and roll” when her dress caught on fire!

Favourite Wedding Day moment:

There were so many special moments throughout the day. A few of my favourites were receiving Daniel’s wedding day present (poor Melissa had to re-do my makeup after a few tears!), saying our marriage vows and the quiet moments we spent alone between the ceremony and reception. Of course, having all of our favourite people in the same room to celebrate afterwards was pretty awesome, too!

Special thanks to:

Our parents, for making our dream wedding possible. My mum and sister, whose unwavering excitement about our wedding day was contagious, even during late nights when Daniel and I were printing menus, orders of service and arguing about the aesthetic merits of different fonts (seriously, don’t do your own printing!). Also to our bridal party and our guests – everyone went to a lot of effort and expense to attend our wedding and we cannot say thank you enough. It is the love and support of our family and friends that really made our day perfect. Special thanks, too, to Father Morgan for helping us prepare not just for our wedding, but for our marriage.

In your experience what did you value most about using Ben Clark photography ?

The images on Ben and Lisa’s blogs really do speak for themselves. Plenty of our guests had decent cameras and captured some beautiful moments, but the truly amazing photos are the ones that no one thinks to take - like the reactions of our guests greeting us outside the church – or where the location, lighting and composition are absolutely perfect. From all the photos we’ve seen so far, you can tell which ones were taken by Ben and Lisa – they are the ones that still give us goosebumps or bring tears to my eyes (even after seeing them 100 times) because they capture the emotion of our wedding day and bring those special memories back to life.

Advice for other brides-to-be:

It’s the best feeling being married to the love of your life! When you’re stressing over details, the weather, or when the joy of planning a wedding starts to wear off a bit, just remember that at the end of the day you’ll be married.

 Jasmine and Dan, Lisa and I had a ball with you guys and look forward to catching up when you’re back in Australia.

Please feel free to leave your comments below .

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This is where the spotlight shines on all of the amazing weddings that we shoot !

Today the spotlight is on Christina & Nick

The Proposal

In December of 2010, Nick popped the question after waking me before sun rise on the beach. I thought I was dreaming when I saw the sparkling ring and was so excited the day had finally come.

We got married on the 21st April 2012, which was exactly 11 years to the day since we started dating in high school.

We we’re married by Father John Boyd-Bolland at The Little Flower Church in Kedron and after our guests joined us at Rydges Southbank for our reception.

Gown: By Brides of Desire, West End – Bridesmaids dresses: Ineke Dress Designs – Bridesmaids head pieces: By Le Mura Millinery
Groom and Groomsmen attire: Strictly Formal in Milton
Makeup & hair: An Eye For Style – Cake: Exquisite Wedding Cakes – Flowers: The Lush Lily
Transport: Two beautiful 1957 Chevrolet bel air’s
Honeymoon: China and Thailand

Favourite wedding day moment:

Our favorite moment was walking out of the church holding hands as husband and wife.

Special thanks to:

Our parents, family and friends for making our day so perfect and enjoyable.

Ben’s quality of work and professionalism was comforting and enabled us to relax and enjoy the day knowing that he was going to capture every special moment.

Advise for brides to be:

Take time out to pamper yourself and spend time with those closest to you during the week leading up to the wedding day. On the special day, relax and take in every moment. !

Christina & Nick I had lots of Fun with you guys and I’m sure you’re enjoying your time away !

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Ok Ok OTHER than angry birds my true passion is Weddings, I just love em !

So rewind to the 3rd of October 2009, Kylie & Steve had their Wedding up at Jondaryan Wool Shed surrounded by family and friends, it really was a beautiful wedding !

So beautiful in fact that Steve & Kylie’s wedding image has been gracing the front page of my website since then !

Of course the image I’m talking about is this one below.

So last week Kylie & Steve were down from Mt Isa and brought little Emmiline with them, it was time to catch up once more and this time with a little person included.

So below are a few of my favourites from the days shoot.

Kylie & Steve it was so nice to catch up with you guys again and see your little family growing !

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This is where the spotlight shines on all of the amazing weddings that we shoot !

Today the spotlight is on Belle & Luke !

Belle & Luke aren’t your average couple, they are two beautiful souls who like to do things a little differently.

So when they first told me that they were going to have a picnic/wedding/afternoon tea I was not suprised at all, you see both Luke and Belle dedicate a lot of their time to working with kids both here in Australia and in missionary’s overseas, so friends and family were top of the list when it came to wedding priorities.

What a beautiful day it was too, as soon as the ceremony was finished everyone enjoyed a basket of goodies on their picnic blankets, right there in the park!

  I remember talking with Belle on the wedding day and mentioning that most couples that choose me as their wedding photographer are more about the people at their wedding rather then the “stuff”

It’s easy to get all caught up in what colour flowers you’ll have or should the boys ties match the Brides Maids Dresses, and don’t get me wrong these are important issues but without your friends and families there to support you and be there with you on your special day then what’s the point…??

After you’ve had your honeymoon and the cakes all gone, you’ll look back at your wedding images in the years that follow and as nice as the image of your shoes and bouquet is, I guarantee you’ll treasure most the images of your family and friends, those moments caught as you laugh with your partner and you’ll be taken back instantly to your wedding day.

Belle & Luke share a secret that we all learn at some point in our lives, and that secret is that friends and family are irreplaceable and you should spend time with them now, not later.

The Proposal

We’d been together for a bit more than a year and good friends for three years before that.  Belle had a friend in the Philippines getting married and since I (Luke) have a sponsor child in the northern part of the country I thought I’d come along and then we’d go and visit my sponsor after the wedding.  Turns out some good friends of ours also have a sponsor in the Philippines and were planning to visit him as well so we met up after the wedding and travelled together.  I thought it’d be pretty nice to propose to Belle back in her home country so I picked out a ring about a month before we left and kept it on me the whole trip just waiting for the right moment.  That moment came when we were staying with our friends at a small beach shack hotel in Bacolod in the Visayas region.  It was raining for most of the time we were there and we were all itching to get out to see the beach after a few days of watching movies in our room.  One morning the rain passed just long enough for us to go for a walk so we jumped at the opportunity and so did I.  Belle though it od that I brought my bag on such a short walk but I needed it to hide the ring box until the right moment.  We told our friends that we wanted to go off on our own for a bit so we left them and kept walking.  That was when I proposed, with the sound of a man singing Michael Buble out of tune on a karaoke machine and the waves splashing at our feet I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.  At first she squealed, then she laughed, then cried so I got the full spectrum of emotional responses which is so Belle.  After that we went back to our friends and decided to see how long it would take them to notice.  We played cards as it was still raining, all the while Belle flashing around her new ring.  It wasn’t until later that Arthur noticed the ring and it took him a second to take it in.  He quickly went and got his wife Kylie and their two girls saying they had to see something.  Naturally Kylie screamed and we celebrated together that night.  Arthur and Kylie were our God parents at the wedding which is a tradition in the Filipino culture and their two girls played special roles in the ceremony as well, Ellie as the flower girl and Brie reading Song of Solomon 8:6-7

I know what you’re thinking, Luke’s shoes look too cool to be wedding shoes, and you’re right !

These aren’t just any shoes, they’re TOMS Shoes – With every pair purchased, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One.

Find out more here –   TOMS Shoes

The Details

Ceremony & Reception: Crockatt Park, Woody Point – Belle’s Dress: Curitthy Couture, Philippines – http://www.facebook.com/Curitthy -

Wedding bands and engagement rings: Bride’s – 2mm white gold band from Gillette’s Jewellers, Brisbane Groom’s – 8mm tungsten carbide from Titanium Kay, New York

Brent Sweeney, Senior Pastor, Bracken Ridge Baptist Church conducted the ceremony

Decorator: Judi Harland (mother of the groom) Hair: Leanne Wiseman – Hair piece: Curitthy Couture – Bridal party attire: Kirsten Dart – Make-up: Karla Strachan

Flowers: aisle of origami flowers by Naomi Wecker, Kylie and Eloise Conomos – Stationery: recycled paper from Eco – Cake: cupcakes by chef Aileen Manalo Go – Entertainment: Steven and Andy Packer

Honeymoon: one month in Thailand which includes:

• 8 nights in Phuket (we got stranded in Bangkok during the first tsunami warning after the Indonesia earthquake a few weeks ago – and got to stay for a night at the Novotel Airport Hotel for free – very fancy detour! hehe)
• 11 nights in Khon Kaen – one of the homes of Ban Meata (House of Mercy) for HIV orphans – Mercy International
• 4 nights in Bangkok
• 7 nights in Koh Samui

Funniest Moment: Best man’s speech – when James introduced the other woman in Luke’s life (Bebe, his baby doll); when Kobe (our ring bearer) started barking at a random dog and his human passing by (right in the middle of the ceremony)

Favourite Wedding Day moment:

Bride’s – when Luke sang the song he wrote for me.

Special thanks to:

too many people to thank really… it was a spectacular day which would not have been as wonderful without the people who loved us so generously during the 15 months of our engagement.

It was an emotional day … There were lots of laughs and a few tears too, but what’s a wedding  without lots of emotion ..

In your experience what did you value most about using Ben Clark Photography ?

Our day was such an unusual celebration that we knew we needed someone who was professional, flexible and able to capture the moments that we would not necessarily see. We loved that Ben and Lisa were so on-the-ball while being relaxed at the same time. It allowed us to let loose and just enjoy the day, and feel confident that our memorable day would be captured in the best way possible. Thank you Ben and Lisa for being part of our special day. We really enjoyed having you both with us, and we would recommend you both to all our engaged friends.

Advice for other brides-to-be

Savour every moment of your engagement and wedding day, and remember that it’s your relationships (your other half, family, and friendships) that truly matter – not the stuff.

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This is where the spotlight shines on all of the amazing weddings that we shoot !

This week the spotlight is on Kim & Grant !

The Proposal !

After being together for 10 years, Grant proposed by putting together a photo book containing photos of us during the 10 years we have been together.

The last page had ‘Will You Marry Me’.

Details !

Ceremony location: Broadway Chapel at Woolloongabba – Reception: ‘The Landing’ at Dockside

Gown: Sugar and Spice – Wedding bands and engagement rings: Michael Hill Jeweler -  Celebrant: Judith Duff

Decorator: Bridal Bliss – Morningside  – Hair: Rebecca Calvert – Bridal party attire: Bella Donna Gowns

Make-up: Rebecca Calvert – Flowers: Flowers In Bloom – Queen Street -Stationery: Cards and Pockets

Cake: Cheesecake Shop

Entertainment: Paramount Events – Transport: Tic Tac Tours -

Honeymoon: Cruise through the Adriatic Coast (Europe) followed by Canada

Funniest Moment

Having a photo booth at our reception – and the next day looking through the guestbook at all the guests photo strips and comments next to them. And also 2 of our friends having a ‘dance-off’ at the reception!!

Favourite Wedding Day moment: Our Daughter Maddison, who had just learnt to walk that week, being the first to walk down the isle.

Special thanks to

Both of our parents for all of their support, and our friends for keeping us sane during the whole wedding planning process. And of course all of our guests that attended, for providing us with some of the funniest and happy moments that we can keep with us forever.

In your experience what did you value most about using a professional photographer ?

Not having to have the worry that someone didn’t capture all of those special moments.

Advice for other brides-to-be:

There is only so much planning and stressing you can do to make sure its all perfect, but once the day arrives its all out of your hands! There is no problem that can’t be fixed (and you will have so many people around that would quickly jump up and take care of things if a problem did occur), so just relax relax relax, have fun and enjoy the day!

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This is where the spotlight shines on all of the amazing weddings that we shoot !

This week the spotlight is on Sarah & Scott

The Proposal !

November 2010 at sunset on Seven Mile Beach in glorious Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands which was our home for 4 years. We returned to Brisbane to live in September 2011.

All the Details

Ceremony and Reception: Hillstone, St Lucia – overlooking the golf course

Gown: Leggenda Bridal – Coral Gables, Miami, Florida, USA (alterations done at Paddington Weddings, Brisbane)

Wedding bands and engagement rings: Diamonds Direct – Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Cake: Kristie Rickman – Queen of Cakes

Transport: White Rolls Royce – A Golden Roller

 Celebrant – Belinda Macartney authorised celebrant

Wedding Coordinator: (Claire Ridley @ Hillstone) – no other coordinator, just me and Scott!!

Decorator – Organised as part of package through Hillstone – Dave and Sandee Newton at Always Fabulous Flowers www.allfabflowers.com.au

Hair: Julie Goddard Hairdressing, Wooloowin 3857 1009

Hair slide, earrings etc – Paddington Weddings Bracelet – Swarovski, Shoes – Nine West, Veil – Leggenda Bridal – Coral Gables, Miami, Florida, USA

Honeymoon: not doing one immediately but we hope to travel to Germany later on in the year (Scott has signed up to do the Berlin Marathon)

Funniest Moment: when the celebrant accidentally introduced us as Mr and Mrs Bassett (brides surname) instead of Mr and Mrs Brittain!?!?!?

Favourite Wedding Day moment: finally being able to say “I Do!”

Special thanks to: all our wonderful family and friends for traveling so far – from all over Australia, NZ, Singapore, Indonesia, Cayman Islands, USA

In your experience what did you value most about using Ben Clark Photography ? They understand the day, they know what they are doing so well, minimal fuss, very organised, know how to handle family photos with minimal stress! helps to calm the bride and groom, piece-of-mind knowing you have the best person possible capturing all the moments of your wedding day when you know that you can’t!

Advice for other brides-to-be:

Be very organised! you can never have enough lists! stay calm and keep breathing throughout the ceremony, you are beautiful so remember to smile the whole time, enjoy every moment of it as time flies by so fast, have a great time on the dance floor and don’t sweat the things you can’t control.

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This is where the spotlight shines on all of the amazing weddings that we shoot !

This week the spotlight is on Saravan & Kin !

As Wedding photographers we’re always confronted with different wedding ceremony conditions, it could be sunny, it could be wet, it could be snowing ! Well today it rained, oh boy did it rain … Usually I’d have umbrellas  on hand but as we were at a resort and my car was nowhere near us we were taken totally by surprise and it didn’t just rain, it POURED !!! As you’ll see in the images that follow. But to their credit Saravan & Kin decided that no amount of rain would stop their beach wedding from going ahead !

The Proposal

The proposal – Television Tower in Sapporo Japan. This was not a planned location as I was carrying the ring with me all the time but waited for the right time to pop the question. This television tower basically looks like a scaled down version of the Eiffel Tower. So I thought to myself that ironically, this campy version of the Eiffel Tower, would make the perfect location for the proposal. Once we were at the viewing area, which had sprawling views of the Sapporo city skyline, I chose a quiet corner to do the deed. While she was sitting down, I got down to one knee and asked her if she would do me the honor.

She paused for a long time (or what it seemed to me) as she said she was too surprised. But she did say yes!

The Details

Ceremony location: Hyatt Coolum Resort – On the resort’s private beach

Reception location: Initially planned at the resort’s village square pool but switched to one of the banquet rooms due to adverse weather looming.

Gown: A 2nd hand wedding gown we picked up in Hong Kong. We had a look at hundreds of dresses, but for some reason, this particular dress caught Kinuko’s eye and she bought it almost immediately.

Engagement ring was ordered through Diamonds international. On doing my research I already knew what I wanted, so it was easy for me to choose the ring. Wedding band was purchased during our holiday in Singapore and it was an eternity ring with small diamonds all round the circumference.

Celebrant:Robyn Solomon, Wedding Coordinator:Kelly Edmonds (Hyatt Regencie’s in house planner) Decorator: Cloud 9, Hair: Amy from Particulart, Hairpiece made from orchids through Cloud 9, Bridal party attire: The bridesmaids dresses were ordered online through lightinthebox.com. Amazing website for dresses in general, Videography: Daniel Tupas, Make-up: Amy from Particulart, Flowers: Organised through Cloud 9,Stationery: Self made through ordering paper online and made via watching tutorial videos online. Entertainment: We played games during the reception. One included, blindfolding the bride and lining up all the guys in the room to let the bride feel the stomach of all those boys. If the bride guesses the groom correctly, she wins!

Ok at this point we were getting close to Kin arriving for the ceremony, everyone had seen the dark clouds looming.. We’d checked the radar to see what was coming but nothing showed. Without any warning whatsoever the heavens opened and it didn’t just rain, it poured !!! It poured for what seemed like forever !! There was probably about 6 of us huddled under the only umbrella within running distance. Most of the guests retreated back up to find cover off the beach but everyone was drenched by this time so we stayed on the beach and photographed the mayhem ! What great memories to have ! Even with the best planning sometimes things turned pear shaped and you just have to roll with it.. Kin & Saravan didn’t let a little rain ruin their day and after the downpour we continued with the ceremony !

Honeymoon: Planning for a honeymoon in Thailand. Will only be able to after I accrue more leave!!

Funniest Moment: All the guests fleeing from the beach, when it started raining very heavily within a couple of seconds.

Favourite Wedding Day moment: Everyone coming back for the ceremony despite being heavily drenched before.

Special thanks to: My MC kirana, who despite all the running around and talking to people to figure out stuff, still managed to get the show moving at a good pace and overall did a great job as the MC

In your experience what did you value most about using Ben Clark Photography ?

If we didn’t use Ben Clark Photography we definitely would have missed out on those priceless shots when everyone was fleeing from the rain. In my case Ben stayed back in the rain and was still taking pictures.

Advice for other brides-to-be: Don’t let small hiccups on your wedding day, derail you. Take these small hiccups as small contributions to the memories of your wedding day and go with the flow!

Thank you Saravan & Kin I had a ball photographing your special day and it will be one to remember for all involved !

Ben

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Every year at about this time we tear our hair our trying to find unique images that we think might do well.

Well after all of our images were judged I’m very happy to say that I scored 5 Silver awards and 1 Silver Distinction !

Lisa scored a Gold Award !

This year the images that we entered were mostly travel images from our recent trips overseas to the USA.

I’ll be posting up the images here after the Australian Awards are over mid year.

But I’ll give you a sneak peek ! The image below of NYC did score a Silver Award .

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This is where the spotlight shines on all of the amazing weddings that we shoot !

This week the spotlight is on Jen & Kevin !

The Proposal !

 Kev proposed on a gondola ride in Venice after convincing me to go away for the weekend to watch Leinster play rugby against Treviso in the Magners League.

The details

Gown: Pronovias Mercadal, bought in Ireland

Wedding bands and engagement rings:  Kev had my engagement ring especially made in Dublin.

Wedding Bands are simple bands bought in Brisbane which we had engraved with our wedding date.

Celebrant: Robyn Mills, Hair:  Baylee Allure, Bridal party attire: Roger David for the suits and the dresses were made by my sister Cathy.

Make-up: Baylee Allure, Flowers: Joanne Vecchio from Posy Florist, Stationery: We did everything ourselves,

Cake: Marie Volz from Designs by Marie, Cake Topper by Cake Toppers Ireland

Funniest Moment: The snake!  Trying to get everyone together for a group photo when a baby snake decided to break up the party!

Favourite Wedding Day moment: There are too many! Both Kev and I shared the same favourite wedding moment – when we saw each other for the first time in the chapel.  My second favourite moment was when we were finally announced as Mr and Mrs Greene!  We were also surprised with a video message from our friends in Ireland which was totally unexpected!

Special thanks to: Everyone that helped make our special day the day that it was – without the support of our friends and family, the day would not have been possible.

In your experience what did you value most about using Ben Clark Photography – Everything!  Ben and Sam were so easy going and fantastic to deal with. They made the whole experience fun!  It was like doing a photo shoot with some of our mates – plenty of jokes and giggles!

Advice for other brides-to-be:  Delegate all last minute jobs and don’t sweat the small stuff! At the end of the day if something isn’t right, chances are, no one will notice anyway!

Honeymoon: A few days down the Gold Coast to be followed by a trip to Ireland later in the year/early 2013

Jen & Kevin we had a ball with you guys !  Lots of laughs and lots of beautiful images !

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The WPPI conference in Vegas is always a big attraction to us photographers, 16’000 photographers all in the one casino to learn, share ideas and generally have a good time.

But I must say it was the days leading up to the conference that I’ll always remember, myself and 4 other photographers driving from Vegas to the Grand Canyon and back in 3 and a half days !

That’s just under 900 miles all up, that’s almost 1500 kilometers !! We did a lot of shooting in that time and visited many places in our travels.

Amongst our favourite places were Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Antelope Canyon and of course the Grand Canyon.

It was a load of fun driving the highways and if you’re thinking it might be for you then all I can say is do it !!

So after our RV trip through the desert we had two nights in Vegas before heading over to New York for 5 days, New York Pizza is fantastic !

As much as I loved my time away it’s always nice to come home and now a week later I’m back in Wedding mode and this weekend kicks off what is going to be a VERY busy year !

Below are two of my favourite images from the trip, I’ll post more in the weeks to come but I can see a book developing from the many images captured in my travels.

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