“You work, you play, and then, one day…  Love…  Just happens!”

That little quote was on the wedding invitations sent out by Angel and Neels for their wedding.  The South African blogging scene’s wedding of the year happened yesterday at Helderfontein Estate in Johannesburg, and I was very privileged to get asked by Angel and Neels to be the photographer for their special day.

Sheena wrote a blog post the other day about how Angel and Neels’ met, and in fact, there have been quite a few blog posts across the blogosphere recently about this amazing couple and the way they have touched people’s lives via the net over the last few years.  The blog post written by Cath and read out on the day, actually made me cry. As a result, the hall was filled by local bloggers and tweeters, and in fact a few even travelled from Cape Town and Durban to share this special day with the couple.  In fact, Don Packett (who was the MC for the reception) relayed a conversation he’d had with Paul Jacobson where they were discussing that should the event implode for some reason, that Twitter would be a very very quiet place  in South Africa

The rest of the webosphere and family and friends from across the world that couldn’t attend watched the event live via a Ustream channel (the first wedding to live stream in South Africa) and by following the conversations on Twitter with the hashtag #AnGlugWedding.  Cool hey?!

Angel looked like a dream… and Neels’ face when he saw her for the first time was just incredible (they’d decided to have a First Look, and met up before the wedding and we did most of their couple photos then which was a good idea considering the light was gone by the time the family photos were finished)

The dress was designed by Christa B, it was just so very Angel.

The wedding was superb and every detail was so well thought out and everything went like clockwork on the day   Angel organised the whole occasion herself, and outsourced everything apart from making her own cupcakes… which were absolutely divine!

It was just an amazing day and evening… filled with love and laughter.

I was seconded by Kat Forsyth for the day… it was the first time I’d worked with another photographer at a wedding, and I did enjoy it… apart from me forgetting a few times that she’d already taken certain photos and then trying to do them again.  All the photos in this blog post are my own (I know… too many but anyhoo)… and she’ll post a few in the next few days.

I just loved Neels’ face when he saw her for the first time before the ceremony (called the “first look”). It’s awesome doing it that way, because by the time the ceremony started everyone was a lot more relaxed.

We then did the couple shoot…

There were a few minutes to spare before the ceremony, so Angel relaxed in the bridal suite and following the #AnGlugWedding hashtag on twitter for a bit

Isn’t her dress just gorgeous?

Angel and Neels’ shared some cupcakes after the ceremony before we went to do the family photos, and the guests started having fun in the photobooth

The MC for the evening was Don Packett

… and he played the funniest game with them… they know each other quite well…

… awww and the first dance was beautiful… all their hard work paid off

The guys doing the live streaming…

And there are a few more photos in an album on my Facebook page too…

Venue: Helderfontein Estate
Wedding Coordinator: Angel Conradie at Angels Weddings and supported by Angela Blythe
Dress:  Christa B
Hair: Natasha
Makeup:  Felicity
MC:  Don Packett
Saxophonist: Rike Coetzer
Live streaming videographer: David de Caires
DJ:  Shattered Glass
Photo Booth:  The Photo Corner