Charlotte & Gabriel | A Church Wedding, a Bubble Exit & the Best Kind of Low-Key
There's a scripture that gets read at almost every wedding I've ever shot, and for good reason — "Love is patient, love is kind... it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." Cliché? Maybe. True every single time I watch it play out in front of my camera? Absolutely.
Charlotte and Gabriel had the right idea from the very start. No twelve-hour timelines, no three costume changes, no stress-sweating in a bridal suite at 6am. Just a beautiful church ceremony, their favourite people, and a reception that felt like one big, joyful exhale. Honestly? I'm taking notes for my own wedding.
Can We Talk About the Engagement Session for a Second?
Okay, slight tangent, but I don't get to gush about engagement sessions in blogs nearly as often as I'd like, so bear with me.
Before we even got to the big day, I got to spend an evening with Charlotte and Gabriel in one of my absolute favourite spots on earth — the Glasshouse Mountains. No fuss, no frills, just two people soaking up being engaged, with the mountains doing all the showing off in the background.
We wandered through the trees as the light went from gold to pink to that deep, moody blue that photographers dream about. Genuinely, I was stoked with these images. There's something about shooting couples somewhere wild and open like this — you strip away all the wedding admin and it's just two people who really, really like each other. Which, at the end of the day, is the whole point.
Here's the thing about engagement sessions that I think gets underrated: they're not just a pretty gallery to post on Instagram (although, yes, also that). They're basically a practice round for your wedding day. It's the first time you and your photographer get to work together — you learn what it feels like to have a camera on you, I learn how you two move together, what makes you laugh, whether you're a "hold my hand tighter" couple or a "let's be goofy" couple. By the time the wedding rolls around, there's none of that awkward first-time-in-front-of-the-camera stiffness. You just already know what to do, because you've done it before.
Charlotte and Gabriel walked into their wedding day photos completely at ease, and I have zero doubt their engagement session played a part in that. If you're on the fence about booking one, this is your sign — it's genuinely one of the best investments you can make in how comfortable and natural you'll feel on the day itself.
Engagement sessions start from $450 if one isn't already included in your wedding package, and I promise it's worth every cent of pre-wedding-day confidence it buys you.
The Couple Session — Maroochy Botanic Gardens
A month later, we regrouped for their couple session at Maroochy Botanic Gardens — and if the Glasshouse Mountains gave us drama, this location gave us pure romance. Lush rainforest canopy, that golden late-afternoon light filtering through the leaves, and two people who, somehow, got perfect weather again. (At this point I was starting to think they'd made some kind of deal with the sun.)
Doing this session a full month out from the wedding turned out to be one of the smartest calls they made. It meant that on the actual wedding day, there was zero pressure to sneak off for "the photos" — they got to just be at their own wedding. And as a bonus, they had these portraits printed and displayed at their reception, which might be one of my favourite styling touches I've seen. Guests got to see the two of them at their most relaxed, dreamy, golden-hour best, while the newlyweds got to actually enjoy their night. Everybody wins.
Wedding Reception — 26.06.26
Charlotte and Gabriel had their wedding reception at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Augustine Heights, surrounded by family and the kind of love that's been building for a long time. While the ceremony itself was a private, sacred moment I wasn't there to capture, I got to step in for the reception — and what a reception it was.
The speeches were the perfect mix of laughter and happy tears (you know the kind — where someone's trying to get through a sentence and everyone's just letting them take their time). Their first dance was slow, sweet, and exactly as tender as you'd hope. And then — plot twist — these two absolutely tore up the dance floor for the rest of the night. If you'd told me beforehand who the secret dance floor legends of the night would be, I would not have guessed correctly.
There's something so lovely about a small, low-key reception like this one — no army of vendors to coordinate, no rigid timeline to chase, just family, friends, good music and two people who clearly couldn't be happier. Sometimes the best weddings really are the simplest ones.
They closed the night out with an epic bubble exit, glowing newlyweds disappearing into a cloud of bubbles while everyone cheered them off. Honestly, there's no better note to end a wedding on.
The Little Things That Make This Job So Good
On the night, Charlotte and Gabriel gave me the most beautiful handwritten card, plus a very cheeky little box of treats that I very much enjoyed (wedding photographer secret: we're always hungry by the end of the night). It's these small, thoughtful moments that remind me why I love what I do.
Charlotte and Gabriel — thank you for having me. Getting to know you both was one of the highlights of my year, and I genuinely can't wait to hopefully be there for more of your life's milestones down the track. Sending you both so much love.
Planning a Wedding on the Sunshine Coast or in Brisbane?
Whether you're planning a church wedding like Charlotte and Gabriel's, a low-key elopement, or something entirely your own, I'd love to be part of your story. As an award-winning Queensland wedding photographer (ABIA Award winner and multi-year Sunshine Coast's Choice recipient), I photograph weddings and elopements across the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Toowoomba, Hinterland and Scenic Rim regions — and I'm currently booking wedding packages for 2027 and 2028.
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And if an engagement session isn't already built into your package, it's an easy add-on from $450 — the perfect way to get camera-comfortable before the big day, and a beautiful set of images to enjoy long before you're even at the altar.
Whether you need full-day documentary coverage, an intimate elopement package, or just want to chat about adding an engagement session to your plans, let's talk about how to capture your day exactly as it happens — real, unscripted, and completely you.
