Who says the wedding dress only gets one outing?
Cornelia and Johnny had already celebrated their wedding when we met in Wellington to create something a little different.
Back in their wedding attire, we spent some time wandering around Parliament and Parliament Library, creating a fresh collection of wedding portraits without a ceremony starting, guests waiting or a reception timeline quietly ticking away in the background.
And honestly, there is something rather lovely about getting to put the wedding clothes back on and do it all again.
A wedding portrait session in Wellington
Without the schedule of a wedding day to work around, we had plenty of time to explore the area, make the most of the beautiful architecture and gardens and create a mixture of classic and more creative portraits.
Cornelia looked incredible in her gown, Johnny brought the blue suit and bow tie back out, and Wellington gave us a gorgeous backdrop to play with.
The whole session could simply be about creating photographs of the two of them.
Classic, creative and a little less rushed
Wedding-day portraits don’t need to take hours, and I never want photography to pull you away from your guests for half the day.
But a separate portrait session gives us a completely different kind of freedom.
There’s time to wander. Time to experiment. Time to try something and see where it goes.
For Cornelia and Johnny, that meant creating everything from the beautiful, classic portraits you’d expect in a wedding gallery to photographs that were a little more playful and creative.
And because they’d already done the whole getting-married part, there was absolutely nothing left to be nervous about.
Twelve years together
Cornelia and Johnny had already been together for 12 years, and that familiarity came through so naturally in their photographs.
There was no need to manufacture chemistry or turn every moment into a pose. I could give them direction when they needed it, then let them move, talk and laugh together.
Those little moments in between the more polished portraits are always worth watching for.
“From classic to creative, we absolutely loved the results!”
Which is possibly the best summary of this session.
Beautiful wedding photographs don’t all need to look the same.
There can be space for the classic ones, the creative ones, the romantic ones and the ones where you’re simply having a really good time together.
Cornelia and Johnny’s session had a little bit of everything.
Want another excuse to wear the wedding dress?
Whether you didn’t have enough time for portraits on your wedding day, the weather had other ideas, you’d love photographs somewhere completely different or you simply want another excuse to put your wedding outfits back on, an after-wedding session gives us the freedom to create without watching the clock.
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