Rob & Angela's tiny wedding at The Farm, Cape Kidnappers

It is hard to imagine anywhere with more beautiful views of New Zealand’s ruggedly beautiful coastline than The Farm at Cape Kidnappers. But the exclusive nature of the luxury lodge has meant I haven’t been able to share images from a real wedding shot there before. So I’m really excited that Rob and Angela so generously have let me do so, but also that their tiny wedding was perfect in every way - not just beautiful to look at, but emotionally quite special to be part of.

Only four guests attended Rob and Angela’s wedding at The Owner’s Cottage, which is tucked into the native bush and hills atop the dramatic cliffs of Cape Kidnappers, a familiar and much-loved part of the Hawke’s Bay landscape. Apart from documenting the intimacy and joy of this beautiful little wedding, I had a really big challenge set to me by Angela - see if I could catch her straight-faced dad smiling. Game on!

I’m used to wedding selfies but Rob is the first groom who’s ever asked to borrow MY camera to take a photo of his bride. He knows what he’s doing and I had a spare so why not? It set the scene for some fun times as we made our way to the coastline first by golf buggy then 4x4. The couple are from the US and UK but wanted to embrace the culture of the place they now call home so some Maori traditions were part of the ceremony and Angela was quick to trade her heels for Red Bands in order to leap over farm gates and have a cliff-top twirl. As for the teddy bear? It’s a long story involving lots of air miles, just run with it…

After way too much fun, we headed back to the Owner’s Cottage where the chef was creating something special for a relaxed family wedding lunch. My job was done and it was one of those days where I just couldn’t believe how lucky I was to get to be really creative AND be part of something so intimate and special for two very cool people. Thanks, Rob and Angela, for just being you!