Red roses and gold rings
Red ran through Christie and Charles’s day from the very first frame. We started with the details: two gold wedding bands resting on the lid of a floral box, tight round bouquets of deep red roses, and a spray of red flowers laid on tulle beside her perfume. Charles’s black jacket hung ready with a red silk pocket square tucked in. A single strong colour makes detail frames easy, because everything already belongs together, so we kept the backgrounds plain and let the red do the talking.
A relaxed groom’s morning
At Charles’s place the morning was easy-going. He chatted on the balcony in a graphic T-shirt while a mate in a hoodie leant on the rail, and an older couple stood in the bedroom doorway smiling as he dressed. An older man stepped in to straighten his collar and tie. We made one black and white frame of Charles by a corrugated roller door, hand at his chin, because plain metal and side light suit a quiet portrait. Then he walked out past the long white stretch limousine waiting on the drive.
Lace at the bay window
Christie got ready at the Eltham Gateway Hotel, just along Main Road from Ballara. Still in a floral robe, she stood checking her lace gown where it hung in the bay window. Then it was on: long lace sleeves, a fitted shape and a quiet moment at the curtain. Her dad grinned in the dark hotel doorway, and the bridesmaids in red lace pinned her veil while she held her roses. The flower girl, in a little black faux-fur jacket, smiled shyly at us. Hotel rooms are compact, so we used the window as our only light.
A bracelet and a red lipstick
Before they left, Christie leant down to fasten a bracelet on the flower girl’s wrist, a crown of red flowers in the little one’s hair. Then she touched up her red lipstick in a mirror with her veil drawn back, and we framed Christie and her reflection side by side. Outside, she posed on a timber staircase with a bridesmaid in red and two loved ones, then came down a flight of stone steps between calla lilies and bare winter branches. Late winter light is soft all day, so we never had to chase shade.
A sign for Charles
The white limousine pulled up at Ballara on a strip of red carpet, and her dad offered his hand as Christie stepped out, gathering her skirt. While the bridal party lined up beside the car, the page boy held up a hand-lettered sign telling Charles that here comes his bride, with the flower girl in red standing proudly beside him. We shot the arrival low and close to the car door, so the long limousine filled the frame and the red carpet led the eye straight to Christie.
Eight sides and a wiped eye
Inside the eight-sided chapel, timber panelling and tall pointed windows of patterned glass wrapped around the front. Charles waited in black with red roses on his lapel, his groomsmen in red ties beside him. The bridesmaids came through the arched doorway in red lace, then Christie appeared on her dad’s arm with a loved one in teal on her other side. Charles wiped his eye before she reached him. At the front, Christie wrapped the loved one in teal in a long hug. With bright windows behind the groom, we exposed for faces and let the glass glow.
Vows, rings and a tear
The celebrant had the room laughing early, and Charles grinned back at Christie through the vows. In the pews an older couple listened closely, and a woman in a red dress dabbed away a tear while the people beside her smiled. Christie looked up at Charles with her whole face lit, the rings went on, and they kissed beneath the timber ceiling with the bridesmaids in red on one side and the groomsmen on the other. Christie signed the register with her roses on the table, and a bridesmaid in red lace signed after her.
Low sun and a tall hedge
They walked back up the aisle to applause and straight into hugs outside the chapel. We gathered every guest on the drive in front of it, with a flare of low sun breaking over the trees. Some of our favourite Ballara Receptions wedding photos come from this part of a winter afternoon, when the sun sits low and rims hair in gold, as it did when Charles kissed Christie’s cheek. A tall clipped hedge made a clean green wall for the bridesmaids in red, and the groomsmen crouched on the lawn while the page boy climbed onto Charles’s back.
Black, white and red inside
The ballroom carried the colours through, with a tall black, white and red cake trimmed with roses. Before dinner, the children had the empty parquet to themselves and raced across it. Christie and Charles made their entrance hand in hand, then had their first dance under the chandelier, her head on his shoulder. Later Charles danced with an older guest in red, Christie spun a little boy around the floor, and the bridal table laughed through the speeches. We finished outside under festoon lights against a stone wall, foreheads touching.
