For a lesson in making your wedding day a reflection of your personalities and a damn good party.  Professor’s Mr & Mrs J Lo will provide. These two and all their guests had a whale of a time with lots of laughing and sore faces from smiling. We had way too much fun watching the day unfold from pony cuddles, bagpipes, men in kilts, attempting golf, vaping at sunset, to stabbing a haggis and other knife related activities. This day was like a carnival ride with good food, hilarious speeches and whiskey to complete the day  at the picturesque Ohariu Farm. Make it your day, put your stamp on it and dare to be authentic, yeehaw!!

Check out more of Jody and Josh’s day on the wedding albums page. 

“Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one is a life diminished” - Dean Koontz

I share my lockdown bubble with these 3 crazy critters and some humans but lets face it, the dogs are more interesting and willing to stray in front of my lens. These are our fur babies (from left to right) Kali the White Shepherd, Loki the Mini Schnauzer and Stella the Rottweiler mix. All three have very distinct personalities and are as much a part of the family as each of us humans and I’m sure many people out there can say the same for their beloved pets. They are keeping us sane during this time of isolation.

The difficult part of this post is this, Stella due to complications with old age and a recent battle that was won with cancer but left its mark, is going to take her final trip in the car tomorrow. Because of all the restriction due to Covid-19 we can’t be with her when she is put to “Sleep” so we have to drop her off in the car park at the vet and say goodbye. We have an awesome vet practice here who were so loving during her cancer battle so they know her well and Stella loves going there. This gives us some reassurance but I know it won’t make it any easier to hand her over. We are preparing to start lockdown day drinking, wearing Pj’s all day and binge watching Netflix. 

Coping mechanism humour aside, my thoughts and love goes out to everyone else dealing with a loss during this time and having to cope with it in your reduced world with no funeral or gathering of loved ones to help the process. Life as we knew it has changed, a shift of seismic proportions has happened and just like an earthquake, we were not prepared for it. We are forced to face ourselves in survival mode and we will never be the same.

“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” - Audrey Hepburn

Ever since I was a child I have always been fascinated by photographs that made me feel something rather than how amazing it looked. A photograph is a moment frozen in time and this is what really gets my interest. I have been known to be that weirdo who will happily spend ages looking through old photos of people and places I have no connection with because these images each have a story to tell and I find myself wondering about what was happening, what people were thinking and talking about in the moments before and after they were taken. Photographs are the keepers of our faded memories and stories of our past.

Going forward with 2020 and Covid - 19 which, let’s face it, will forever be intertwined in our recollections, we first and foremost need to do our best to ride this storm and keep ourselves and others safe and healthy so we can come out the other side and continue with our plans for life.

My plan is to keep catching these moments and telling stories of love and life with them.