Michael and Melanie – August 2008

L’Aquila hosted Michael and Melanie's wedding.  This was the first double wedding I have had to do.  Michael’s sister got married on the same day.  They also wanted to book me as their wedding photographer, but Melanie booked me first!

We did the wedding party and wedding couple shoot before the wedding.  Some of the shots we took at L’Aquila and then moved 5km down the road to the Sammy Marks Museum.

L’Aquila’s gardens are beautiful and they have a couple of nice water features with birds, including swans, wandering around.  The Sammy Marks museum on the other hand has a lot more buildings to play around with.  The old stables and sheds especially provides loads of great photo backdrops.

Michael and Melanie were very relaxed.  I think the fact that I did their friends’ wedding the previous year helped.  They knew me a bit and they had an idea of what to expect.  We had loads of fun.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful.  A bit difficult to photograph as we were two wedding photography companies and a videographer present.  L’Aquila’s chapel is not the biggest in the business and we had to really watch our steps not to trip over one another or to get in each others way.  I wouldn’t recommend this kind of setup, but on the other hand we would also not like to photograph a double wedding on our own.

As mentioned in a previous post, L’Aquila’s reception hall is stunning and their staff five star quality.  The venue is extremely spacious inside and decorated in a classy and romantic way.

 

So what would a Greek wedding be without smashing and stomping of plates!  Plates were carried in by the waiters in loads and the guests wasted no time in smashing them to pieces.  As soon as the stomping turned slippery the staff cleaned up the floor within a minute or two and the dancing could go on.

Both brides threw their bouquets at the same time.  I wonder how the all the single ladies chose which bouquet to dive for?