Sandra & Paul's Wedding - Tamryn Lowe Photography

Weddings / 13 Jul 2016

Sandra & Paul’s Wedding

One of the best things about Sandra & Paul’s Wedding : Chocolate mousse cake! Yup, chocolate mousse cake!!

Those of you who read my blog often know how much I love wedding cake, but this was a total game changer!!

Introduction to the cake

I need to emphasis how amazing this cake is because Sandra told me about it before the wedding. And I got excited to know I will be getting a legal piece of cake. Sometimes I have to go into ninja mode to steal a piece. But this cake I totally underestimated!

When Sandra told me she was going to be having chocolate mousse cake I just presumed it was like a normal chocolate cake. Maybe a bit more moist? Maybe it didn’t quite taste like chocolate so they just named it chocolate mousse. But I really never got any more excited than normal about the cake. Which, let’s be honest, is still pretty excited. Although it did strike me as slightly odd that Sandra did mention the cake quite a few time. But, hey, maybe she was just a cake lover like me?

But anyway on the night of the wedding Sandra went to cut the cake. The cake looked super yummy! My heart started beating a bit faster. Sandra & Paul fed each other some cake. They both pulled the ‘yum face’. My heart rate increases a bit more. And they walk away and allow guests to come get cupcakes. I can hear my heart in my ears. I have to force myself to step away from the cake and allow all the guests to get a cupcake first. I’m busy holding down my hands to try not steal a cupcake. Eventually I cant handle it anymore and have to walk away before I just rugby tackle the cake.

Stealing cake

I go off and shoot some dancing and get my heart rate back to normal. Then I spot the cupcakes again! I waltz over and snatch a cupcake! Before I even start walking away I start trying to peal the paper off. Except it keeps breaking, and feels like very weird paper.

I’m still in the middle of the reception hall and can’t really allow the guests to see that the photographer can’t take her paper off her cupcake, so I make a bee line out the door. I stop just round the corner, do a speedy check on the cupcake and discover there is in fact no paper, it’s in white chocolate!!! I take a giant bite, and my life changes forever.

The Cake!!

There was chocolate mousse and there was cake, it really was a chocolate mousse cake (cupcake) AND THEN just when you think you have tasted the worlds best creation, it gets even better! I have no clue what was right at the bottom of that cupcake but it was divine! Some kind of cranberry something or other? I don’t know. Just trust me it was amazing!

The incredibly sad part of this whole experience is that no other wedding cake is ever going to be the same again. Unless every single one of my couples from now on have chocolate mousse cake. Wedding cake just isn’t going to be as exciting any more.

** PLEASE NOTE: I was not paid to say good things about the cake. HOWEVER, if I did happen to get fed this cake on a regular bases I would write anything the person feeding me the cake asks me to write! Jokes, I would be too busy eating cake.

River Place Lodge

This venue has to be one of my favorites.

It is absolutely stunning, Riani and Ken (wedding coordinator and manager) are simply the best. And the food is truly amazing! Especially their calamari! That calamari is to die for. To put it into perspective, I don’t eat fish. I just don’t like it. But at this wedding I decided to try the fish, and it was amazing! I now officially eat fish, only at River Place though. But I digress. again. Food, it’s such a distraction!

Sandra & Paul’s Engagement shoot / Wedding Shoot

Sandra and Paul had their couple shoot at River Place a few weeks before their wedding. They loved their pictures so much they wanted the same on their wedding day! Especially the one!

This was a very very similar shot that I had done with a previous couple and I loved it so much I decided to do it just for Sandra and Paul’s couple shoot.

When they asked me to redo that shot it was a bit of a mixed emotions feeling. I don’t really like doing the exact same shots at weddings, but at the same time it was a shot they loved and I loved.

Shoot spot scouting

So luckily when I arrived I went exploring, I’ve been to the venue tons of times, but between the constant upgrades and of course the constantly changing seasons, I always feel better after doing some exploring and getting up to date with how the venue is looking on the day of the wedding.

Unfortunately, when I happened to get to my spot for this photo the tree was gone! It’s winter so it wasn’t quite gone, it just had no leaves. I somehow still managed to convince myself that I must be mistaken and I must have taken the picture using a different tree, but even after physically going and looking for my tree it was evident that my tree was leaf-less rendering the photo impossible. Luckily I had a bitching moment to my assistant and later on he went and found a tree (with leaves) that we could use and still get a very similar shot!

The Couple Shoot

The rest of the couple shoot we stuck to doing similar shots as the ones Sandra & Paul loved from the couple shoot. And of course throwing in some others!

We even got a behind the scenes shot of me in action!

The Reception

First dances are always one of favourite times to photograph – although I seem to say that about every stage in a wedding – but first dances are really really one of my very favorites!

And party pictures!

Always super fun. I think this may be the reason I always stay so long at weddings. When everyone is out there dancing and having a blast, you can’t help it but catch some of the happy fever!

You also get to sing along to cool songs in relatively loud voice and not be able to hear how terrible you actually sound (and hopefully no one else hears either)! Major bonus!