Karien and Josh Mount Annan Botanical Gardens Wedding

March 15, 2020

What’s better than a wedding? A SURPRISE WEDDING!
K + J planned a beautiful day out in the sun at The Australian Botanic Garden in Mount Annan with a twist – all their guest thought they were coming to their engagement party!

The lead up to their day even had me ready to burst with the excitement of the surprise and it spoke to my inner stealthiness when we arrived at the gardens and had to sneak our gear into the hidden ceremony location. We arrived just in time to capture the boys climbing through the scrub to secure their spots at the arbour while we headed over to the engagement party to capture J’s Dad making the announcement.

As he called everyone over and started to apologise that K+J wouldn’t be making it their engagement party today their guests exchanged those quizzical glances of wondering if they were missing something just as he let the secret out and announced they would like to invite them all to their wedding!

There was cheering, clapping and faces filled with the genuine smiles of people who were so excited to be there for these two gorgeous humans.

We headed over the ceremony space with the guest and captured those moments of J greeting everyone, but my favourite part was watching their grandparents with their huge smiles making their way to their seats.

K and her girls arrived and met up with the sweetest little page boy I’ve ever seen to get ready to make the quick dash from the car park to the ceremony location without anyone spying them as J waited somewhat patiently for his beautiful bride to arrive.

The look on his face as he watched his girl walk down the aisle towards him will be one I’ll remember for a long time. He was filled with so much pride and love that seeing the moment the tears came even had me holding my tears back behind the camera.

We headed out around the ground of the gardens after the ceremony to have some time to let loose and have fun with the wedding party before we whisked K + J off to drive around the grounds to all the spots we planned with them for those shots of just the two of them.

The finished off the afternoon with a chilled party featuring the musical stylings of the wonderful The Bells Duo and a huge buffet from True Blue Spit Roasts. My little Peony kept the beverages full and protected that beautiful cake until it was time for speeches.

Guys, I can’t stress enough how amazing it makes a day when the speeches are on point and these guys certainly didn’t disappoint. The boys filled theirs with hilarious stories of all the shenanigans they would get up to together and the Dad’s spoke from the heart as everyone gathered to listen.

The day was perfect in every way for these two beautiful people and we couldn’t be happier that we were the ones who go to capture it for them.