Leandra and Darren's love is on another level..... that's exactly where they met, high in the sky aboard the aircraft they both worked on. Darren's a pilot who safely carries the lives of many passengers to and from their destinations, but on this day his only thoughts were for his beautiful bride Leandra, who beamed with happiness and simply looked stunning.

We did experience some rough weather on the day but the spirited bridal party managed to safely negotiate the conditions and we came away with some beautiful images.

The day could not have taken off and landed so smoothly without the professional and creative services of Shirley from Tiara's and Tantrums, and James from Red Ivory was always on hand and his genuine interest and close attention ensured that the venue provided a level of service that was 1st Class.

Jo Fonseca

 

I'm really excited about this post, for two reasons..... the photos from Leandra & Darrens engagement shoot are absolutely gorgeous and the second reason is tomorrow I'm shooting their wedding. If the love these two have for each other is a predictor of the great wedding, then it's going to be spectacular.

 

Jo Fonseca

 

Why do I love wedding photography? As a keen photographer who started out many years ago taking "happy snaps" of my travels and then progressing to landscape photography, captured on a medium format camera loaded with black & white film-  which I spent many hours developing & printing in my darkroom - I never pictured the personal satisfaction that social occassion photography would bring me.

I hope Jean and Robert, two very lovely people who I had the priveledge to photograph on their wedding day, are as thrilled with the memorable images I captured of them and their friends and families sharing the day with them. There are so many to choose from, but here are just a few for now.

 

Jo Fonseca

A selection of some of my favourite images.

Jean & Robert, like many young couples who are in love, are about to get married - and so I met them at their wedding venue to get to know them a little better before the wedding day.

Can't wait to capture some more beautiful pics of the two of you on your wedding day!

 

I posted a sneak peek on my  FaceBook page. and now I have more images from the  wedding of Lauren & Nick right here now that they've returned from their envious honeymoon on the Serengeti to view the migration.

Jo Fonseca

 

Here's my favourite image from Rob and Vanessa's wedding in the beautiful Highlands of Zimbabwe. For a change, the rest of the images can be seen in this video

It's well worth the pause whilst the video downloads. The Soundtrack is courtesy of one of Rob's good friends and awesomely talented artist Ryan Koriya.

I've only met Van and Rob when they were away from home, and so it was a great opportunity for us to meet up at their house, which has an amazing view of the mountain (you know which one). And as Van recounted the story of how Rob proposed to her by rolling out a massive "Marry Me" poster on the side of the mountain, I snapped some relaxed images of this beautiful, fun and visibly in-love pair.

We headed down to Camps Bay for sunset and then finished off with a view overlooking the Cape Town city bowl and waterfront.

I think the resulting photos speak for themselves:

 

Jo Fonseca 

 

What a beautiful day Fleur and Grant had on their wedding - everything came together for them, their family, close friends, the weather and thanks to Shirley Ogden, their wedding planner, it looked spectacular. Fleur was absolutely breathta...king in her elegant bridal gown and I remember thinking to myself - as I took the pic of Grant as he laid eyes on his new bride for the first time - that he looks like a young man who just got to fly a plane for the first time.....

Here are many of my favourite images, a few more than I usually post, but I just couldn't whittle them down any more than this.

BTW: Most of the people you see here are commercial pilots, so if your flight was cancelled on this day, it was for a good reason.....

VENUE: Buitengeluk

PLANNER: Shirley Ogden

MAKE-UP ARTIST: Sarah Swoon

FLORIST: Fields of Colour

MUSICIAN: Kirsten

MY ASSISTANT: Doug Place (Who is so good that he's shooting my wedding later this year).

Jo Fonseca

Fleur and Grant are both jumbo jet pilots for a major airline carrier, very cool.... until you try and get 2 airline pilots, some photographically suitable aircraft and their photographer together for a photo shoot! You need to have a lot of luck.... or someone like Grant who managed to pull a few lear jets and a Jumbo out of his hat on the day. You guys looked great and you were a blast to photograph.

Look out for their wedding pics from their beautiful day..... coming soon.

Lauren & Nick have a special place they love going to and when we braved the winter morning to catch the sunrise, I could see why. It offered 360 degree views of the city and has beautiful sandstone buildings to offer as well. And Lauren's "special" hot chocolate was an added incentive for me to get up that early. Besides Lauren's frostbitten toes we had a great time creating some hot pics and giving the 3 of us a chance to get comfortable with each other in preparation for their wedding day.

Jo Fonseca

 

Pam & Eric called me up to ask me to photograph their early morning picnic to celebrate their family's get-together on Father's day. It was a very special event as Pam's pregnant sister and her husband had come home from Sydney to surprise her, and to bring little Meagan to meet her new cousin Ashton. It struck me while I was photographing that I had captured so many life-events for these very special people, 3 of the couples in the group's weddings and more recently I snapped a few pics when Ashton presented his happy face to the world. It made me remember why I love capturing these special occasions in peoples lives.

 

Jo Fonseca

 

 

Skyla's family were all together for Mother's Day and she asked her mum Shirley to have a family shoot done to remember the ocassion. I've met Shirley because she is a wedding coordinator - her business is Tiara's & Tantrums and if you are planning a wedding I would personally recommend the services of a wedding coordinator like Shirley. My fiancee & I can bear testimony to the pressure of arranging our upcoming wedding and from personal experience, our wedding coordinator has done so much to help us minimise the fuss and the stress of the "tiara's and tantrums" surrounding  the wedding planning!

I like to capture family photo's in natural surroundings, be they at the client's home or in a nearby park, as opposed to the sterile studio environment, and you can see the reason for this in the selected images we captured on the day. If you're wondering why Skyla is such a happy looking kid, it's because of all the love her family shows to her and to each other, love is a contagious thing for this beautiful family.

Jo Fonseca

I assisted Doug Place on this shoot, mainly as his lighting assistant - but I managed to get a few shots of my own, the rest can be seen here.

 

Jo Fonseca