Over the years we’ve had plenty of unusual wedding enquiries but my first meeting with Katie & Simon was totally unique. I was at a concert with my friends Zak & Bianca, waiting for the brilliant Lissie to take the stage, when a guy walks over and asks if I’m Steve Gerrard. That guy was Simon. He’d become aware of my photography when I’d photographed one of his (and my) favourite musicians, Gemma Hayes. So, when he and Katie got engaged years later, I was already on his radar for wedding photos.
We chatted briefly and agreed to meet up somewhere quieter at a later date to chat about specifics. I knew straight away that we were going to get on brilliantly, and I now consider them both friends more than clients.
The fact that they were planning a wedding in Franschhoek, near Cape Town was a complete bonus. I’ve done a lot of travelling in my lifetime but had yet to visit anywhere in Africa. I’d heard great things about Cape Town but was completely unprepared for how beautiful the area around Franschhoek is.
The wedding day itself was unseasonably hot, nearing 40 degrees celsius, and was held at the Holden Manz wine estate . The backdrop of the mountains was spectacular and everything about the wedding was perfection. Highlights included the emotional moment when Simon’s daughter played a piece on the piano, the local children’s choir surprising everyone with a fantastic show, the great speeches, the fire dancers and some serious shape-throwing on the dancefloor. And a frog!
Thanks to everyone there for making me feel so welcome, but most of all to Katie and Simon for trusting me to capture it all for them. One wedding I will never forget! And I truly hope I get to take Evelyne and the boys to that part of the world some time…
Beautiful story. Just gorgeous stuff.
Thanks a lot.
amazing work !
Thanks a lot Tomasz