This is the third post in the series, you can read the first post here and the second one here.
After taking the group and family photos (next post!) we rushed off to get the location shots done. We only had a certain amount of time as it was late afternoon and the sun was already getting low. Our first stop was just across the road for some shots with the Chevy and in the nearby cemetery which s my favourite one in Brisbane. To avoid causing any offence we opted to only have a few photos taken by the oldest graves which were from the late 1800s.
The next location was in Upper Brookfield, at someone’s property. There’s a long story behind why wanted photos here which help give context as to why the next lot of photos exist and why it ended up being one the best times I’ve ever had in my life.
Back when I was a teenager (I think I was maybe 16 or 17) mum took me to visit a customer of ours to see his animals. Derek collected interesting animals which might have been a bit iffy except he clearly loved them dearly and looked after them wonderfully. To this day one of my fondest memories growing up was of him calling his camels over and having them bound over to us and nudge me for pats and cuddles. A couple of months before the wedding, mum and I were driving around Upper Brookfield scouting locations for wedding photos and we inadvertently came across Derek’s place again because I spotted a giant stag in a paddock and climbed through stinging nettle and rocky terrain to see it more closely. As it turns out he was one of approx 80 deer and Derek saw me scrambling around and came out to say hello. We chatted for a bit and as we were leaving he offered to let us come take some of our wedding photos on his property with his deer.
Cut to my wedding day with us all climbing a steep, rocky hill (in heels, might I add) to get photos near the deer, only to be greeted by his last remaining camel (who’s 1.5 tonnes and named Mitchell) who was quite happy to pose for photos with us. We were soon joined by two fat pigs who wanted in on the action, as well as a tiny black horse who cantered up to us with gusto!
And then, without us doing a thing to persuade them, they all lined up perfectly for this amazing photo which I will absolutely treasure forever:
Kristina screeched at us to quickly pose so she could get the shot and it turned out like absolute magic. But the fun wasn’t quite over yet because Mitchell the camel took quite a liking to Kieran and kept nudging him and nibbling his hair until all of a sudden he opened his mouth and gently bit most of Kieran’s head! It’s apparently a sign of affection and Kieran insists it didn’t hurt, but it was the most shocking and hilarious thing any of us have ever seen.
We ended up running well over time because of our adventures and because walking down a super steep, rocky hill in heels with sweaty feet is very hard, slow work. But it was so much fun and absolutely exceeded my expectations beyond anything I could have possibly hoped for. Our main reason for going there was to get some creepy shots with the deer and dead trees in the background, but instead we got some ridiculous, unique photos with a range of awesome animals. Sure, they weren’t particularly on theme but they were 110% perfect to me!
I’d like to thank the following people for helping us out during this part of the day:
- Kristina, again, for being awesome at her job and getting such magnificent shots with her impeccable timing and sense of direction
- Kieran, for being a proper animal whisperer by keeping the dog Rudi from escaping and being totally nonchalant about being bitten by a camel
- Erin and Sarah for preventing me from falling on my arse, holding my enormous skirt up and protecting our precious bouquets
- Derek, profusely, for letting us take advantage of his beautiful property and fabulous animals
