When I got the call in April of 2010, Tara asked me if I was available to fly out and photograph her wedding, I was honored.  I said yes!  Fast forward many months, they had their ceremony at Cerretti Chapel, Saint Patricks Estate in Manly, the same amazing rustic old Church that Nicole Kidman got married at.  The whole wedding weekend of festivities was located just north of Sydney, Australia near Manly & Dee Why beach towns.  We recently posted the casual portrait session of these two surfers from down under that we shot the week before the wedding.

The entire wedding day was full of smiles of family and friends.  Keep in mind that it rained the entire day of this wedding, every other day that week was  70+ and sunny.  Even despite this, Tara didn’t let the weather faze her. Her motto for her attitude was taken from a church sign she saw that said, God knows more than Google.  Just before she drove past that sign, she had been searching Google for rainy day solutions to making her wedding a success, and praying about how things would work out.  As she saw that sign, she realized she should not worry, but that she just needed to trust that everyone  she had hired and her family and friends would help, and God would make everything turn out.  And lastly, rain never stopped anyone from smiling!  I think you’ll see no record of rain revealed on her face!  I did my best to make sure I had an assistant covering her with our sunbounce gear so that we could make sure that she didn’t get soaked.  All I can say is that God answered her prayers.  She got the wedding of her dreams, even though it was raining, we had soft light, which I love!

After the beautiful Ceremony at the Chapel Estate, we headed to the beach to get some of the shots she wanted most. I’m very happy with how those turned out.  Then her reception was at the Hardbord Diggers, at Freshwater Beach.  Her wedding was simple yet classy, modern and full of family & friends from Tahiti, Samoa, Hawaii, and all over Australia.  Upon hearing the character and the integrity described during the speeches, I was further impressed with this whole family and why I was there was even more important to me.

Enjoy this wedding, because I certainly did! A special thanks to my assistant Tim Williams for his great shots and help.

Tara’s Dad, Wayne, or as the family calls, Wayno, was SO proud. This long time surfer dad dressed up very sharp.

How beautiful is the inside of this church!  Wow.  Incredible.

Here is a far away view of the St Patricks Estate grounds. positioned on a bluff overlooking the Manly Beach Cove.

Below is Teagan, her little sister walking back to the Limo as they all headed away.

Unscripted sweetness, thats the way I’d call Dave as how he was as a groom on his wedding day.

This is the old Bus stop, a perfect place to wait for the limo to pick them up while they stayed dry from the rain.

Perfect A-frame waves behind this surfer couple.  So fitting.

They went on to spend their honeymoon in Thailand for 2 weeks. Wow!. were they eager to get away or what,I could barley keep up with them!  Tara & Dave saved themselves for their wedding night. (you know what I mean) They said it was the best thing ever and I believe them. Its what Rachel and I did as well!

Congrats guys, have an awesome life and I know we’ll cross paths in Hawaii or Australia again soon!