Coralee & Alex – Photographers

Hayley and Heath are awesome! So is their dog Kal! We’re photographing this lovely couple’s wedding later this month in Raglan. It’s been sitting there on the calendar for over a year now and we’ve been counting down the days! Can’t wait! When Hayley suggested they drive up from Hamilton for a bit of an engagement shoot before the wedding – we couldn’t resist! The question then was, where we should go. It turns out, Heath had never been to Piha before – so that solved that….off to Piha we went! The sun was low and we played in the dunes, racing against it as it sunk over the Tasman. We weren’t allowed to go right down to the beach until the very end – apparently Kal can’t resist the water! He couldn’t either…definitely had a decent dip! It doesn’t get much better than this. Hanging with mates…..sand, jandals, bringing along the dog! It all makes for some fun photographs of one happy little family :-)

Hayley, Heath, THANKS SO MUCH for missioning it all the way up to hang out with us! You’re too cute and we had a great time! Wedding is just around the corner now. We’re counting down as much as you are!
C&A xx

Alex and I had the pleasure of photographing Hayley, Heath and doggie Kal last Friday on Piha beach! Lovin these two, and so flippen excited for their wedding on Raglan Beach in Nov!! ♥ Hooray for beach weddings!! ♥

Jess and Clint missioned it all the way up from Hamilton for us last week. It was probably the most gale-force windy day we’ve had all year, but the date had been made and we decided to venture forth anyway. Alex licked his fingers to see where the wind was coming from. Ok, that’s not true….he picked some grass and let it go to see which way it would fall…nope, not true either. He actually just looked out the window at which way all the trees on our street were heavily leaning and decided we might have some luck in our favourite little sheltered Herne Bay beach. Unfortunately, his predictions were wrong….it was still like a hurricane down there!! Nevertheless, it all worked out for the best. Jess and Clint were as chirpy as ever as we couldn’t help but make awesomely cute photographs of them both. In between wrangling with our giant reflector which was acting more like a sail we played on the beach and by the rad old boat sheds. Look at them! Too cute!! You’d never know it was like 100km/hr winds that day!

After braving the winds for quite some time we headed up to Jervois Road where we did manage to find a quite little brick wall in a corner away from the elements. The sun was at the perfect height and we made some pretty hot shots of just the two of them there too. Two of them as in, not that third thing…the wind!

We’re so stoked that we get to head down to Taranaki this summer to be there and celebrate with them both on their wedding day. Can’t wait! Jess, Clint – we had an awesome time hanging with you both. Thanks for coming all the way up to visit! We’ll get a disc in the post for you and can’t wait to catch up again soon!

C&A xx

It’s always been our plan to photograph our clients just like their our best friends. We reckon that when we’re all mates and comfortable together that the photographs will reflect that. We get to know people before we photograph them….and then we get to know them ever more when we do photograph them! Sam and Joe are case in point. We love these guys! Both Sam and Joe are involved in the surf clubs at Piha and Karekare, so it was a natural choice that we all caught up at Joe’s family’s place at Karekare and had a play in the dunes for their engagement shoot. Their wedding is taking place next month at Piha. We can’t wait! We tried to head to the waterfall at Karekare but there was a big shoot going on with one of the guys from home and away all topless and doing sweet fitness moves….so onto the beach we went. How cute is Sam in her Ugg boots!? It’s too easy to photograph people like Sam and Joe. Too much fun. We didn’t want it to end. After doing a few laps on the skateboards on the street outside Joe’s place we retired to the garage for a drink. The perfect West Coast style drink……we lifted the couches out of the garage onto the driveway and sat and chatted the evening away. Sam, Joe….legends! C&A xx

We first met Andy and Ariane early one morning on Skype. It was late night for them in the UK where they currently live and we chatted like old friends about weddings and travel! The second time we met we were lucky enough to be visiting them in LONDON. You might remember this little teaser of their engagement session at Brighton. What fun we had! We spent a day exploring London and Brighton….seeing the sights, visiting markets, messing with soldiers at the Queen’s Guard, and drinking great coffee together….It was one of those typical chilly, rainy London summer’s days. I’m sure it was sunny at some point….but I only can remember that freezing sideways rain Coralee had them out in at Brighton. Such troopers :-)

Anyway….skip ahead a few months are there we were hanging with Andy and Ariane back in New Zealand on their wedding day! It wasn’t quite summer yet…..but the blossoms were really trying their darndest to be out in time for their return to NZ. It was our first NZ wedding since being back from Europe and we were pumped! It was awesome to see some familiar friendly faces at The Ambers on the day. Alison Brewer singlehandedly did all the girls’ beautiful hair and makeup. Anna Sandford created the amazing flowers for the day. She was even down at the reception venue, Number Five arranging these incredible table settings with epic flowers in dozens of vintage bottles of all shapes and sizes.

The ceremony was an intimate one with just close friends and family joining the lovely couple under the cover of a marquee to shelter from the chilly wind. This is one smiley, laughy, happy, most cool family….Coralee and I were having a field way with our candid shots as everyone celebrated. Check them out below! We ate yummy treats (I was particularly fond of the pink macaroons!) and enjoyed some home-made Lemonade Ariane and Andy had whipped up the day before. The hot coffee served from a Nespresso machine was so delicious that Coralee and I are pretty convinced we need one of our own now!

Earlier that week we’d all visited the The Ambers together and decided it was going to be a bit of a muddy trek venturing out into the property for photographs…..that’s when Coralee suggested GUMBOOTS! Ariane was all for the idea and went and got herself some cute polka dot ones. Andy’s dad polished up his trusty gummies with some silicone spray so they looked shiny and fly for the day. I worried as we trekked through the long grass that this was a bad idea….that Andy and Ariane might never forgive us….but guess what!? We had a great time….no wedding dresses were harmed – and we all are just so stoked with how the photographs of the day came out.

Andy, Ariane – you must be back into the swing of things in London by now. It was an absolute pleasure to hang out with you both on all of the above occasions. Let’s all go visit Brighton again sometime – on a sunny day! We’ve got a little package winging its way across the ocean to you leaving this afternoon! Any requests for some NZ treats? We normally send Pineapple Lumps to our overseas clients by default (unfortunately I can’t send a Huffer Pie from the Food Room – it mightn’t make the trip).

Such a great day – we want to do it all again!

C&A xx