Hi everybody Rob Bampton here thanks for taking a few moments to read J'adore Weddings blog. Today I will be walking you through my experience with Ben & Kylie at Summergrove Estate. J'adore was recommended to Ben by a mutual friend & from there we had decided to meet up for coffee. To me that is a good sign when the client wants to meet up it's clear that they value their wedding photography & video, this is also an important part of building that relationship we so often talk about.
For those who have read my blog before, they know how important connection to my clients is & how strong I feel making an impact on the end result. I really got along well with these guys from the moment we sat down & I instantly felt like they are my kind of people. So immediately we built that trust, we kept in touch & discussed ideas in the lead up to the wedding & had decided that we would meet up at the venue the day before the wedding to spend some time together, whilst also having a look around the venue, discuss timing etc. Although it is over a hour travel for me to get out to Summergrove Estate I think this time together is priceless.
When I saw both Ben & Kylie on the wedding morning it really was such a warm welcome, I knew it was going to be a great day. First we covered the grooms preparation, In the private villa, before heading over to the Bridal room Kylie's hair & make up was done by Tegan Woodford, her dress supplied by made with love bridal collection - The Frankie Dress, the bridesmaids didn't take long to start tearing up as they saw Kylie in her dress for the first time.
I also asked them both to read a letter they received from each other, quality audio especially letters like this are great when it comes to telling our bride & grooms love story. Summergrove Estate is one of my favourite Gold Coast Wedding venues, I really do love these all in one venues where the whole wedding from start to finish can be all in one location. One of there features is the ceremony setup, with a amazing view the hinterland.
The moments that followed at the ceremony were special to me, it really is hard to believe I get paid to be part of these amazing moments, seeing Ben's tears as his young son Harvey walk down the isle, then as he kneeled down to get a big Harvey hug, I was certainly in tears myself, I really feel that because I am feeling these emotions it helps me to capture them and retell the story through my images and video. Following Harvey was Kylie, seeing Ben's reaction change was priceless I felt like immediately he got a burst of excitement with a tinge of nervousness, with the accompanying smile from ear to ear. It was a heartfelt ceremony & I love the thought that Harvey will be able to look back & watch each moment as we sync our multiple camera angles & professional audio which turns into a ceremonial masterpiece.
We had a 17 person bridal party which was my biggest to date & during the photos section they where ready to party that's for sure. So we got some group images before sending them back of to the bar while we stole the bride & groom for the remaining time before the ceremony, This wedding also marked the first collaboration Of myself with Dean & Karen Agar, Dean had been a long time friend & also mentor, so having him join me for the photos section was great and the results speak for themselves. Moving into the reception Ben's background in dancing showed as well as a few members of the bridal party. As everybody made their entrances with accompanied dance moves. We moved into the speeches section which was a great mix of fun, laughter & emotion.
Sooo it's time to hit the dance floor for the first dance as Kylie is waiting while Ben is talking to the DJ she realises that the song that started playing wasn't the song they had picked, following this we all see Brother Jesse and Joel move onto the dance floor followed by Ben, at this moment everybody realises what is happening as the 3 of them who have been dancing together since they where 10 started to perform a dance for Kylie. For me this moment was magical and is the reason I do what I do. In a effort to keep this secret even I didn't know this was coming but I just let the emotion of the moment flow & I flowed through a few different point of views mainly trying to keep it from Kylie's view. Then moving around to show the crowds reactions and then moved back in close to cover the intimate moment they share.
I knew this moment was special what I didn't know was the reaction it was going to receive online. After I posted this video to Facebook the reaction was AMAZING. With only a few days later having reached over 300,000 people & then being contacted by the local news channel asking for permission to use the video along with Ben & Kylie's contact information then only a few hours later hearing from them saying they just did a interview then that night seeing it appear on the news. I know this isn't about me but it really did touch me the fact that this moment had touched so many people & reading all the comments from people saying how it effected them, then seeing it on the news was magical. To add to that I was in Fiji at the time shooting a destination wedding & was already on cloud 9. Again I would love to hear from you! Please comment on our blog. Let me know what you think of the images and videos.
