Kate and Tim

If you’re anything like me, you’re starting to feel the chill of the winter air. So today’s shoot of Kate and Tim from Skipping Stone Photography on Sydney’s Bronte Beach seems like just the right fit for a cold Saturday!

Kate has quite the story to tell of her romance with Tim, and because I am as much in love with stories as I am with photographs, I do hope you enjoy it like I did. “Tim and I met in January 2009 at the Wagga Wagga Australia Day Picnic Races. Tim was living in Wagga Wagga at the time and I was there for the weekend with my best friend to catch up with friends who lived in the area.

At this time Tim and I were both in relationships with other people. We had such a fun night out after the races with all of our mutual friends and then we went our separate ways. The day after meeting Tim, my best friend said to me ‘Tim is the man you are going to marry – he is a great guy’. I was a little confused, since she would never usually say something along those lines, especially since I was already in a relationship. I guess she saw something that I could not see at the time and just had to comment on it.

About 7 months later, Tim had noticed that I had commented on Facebook that I was heading to Wagga Wagga for the weekend. He decided to send me an email to say hi and said we should catch up while I was in town. At the last minute my trip was cancelled, so I sent him an email to say I wasn’t coming, but that it would have been great to catch up.
This was the start of the most amazing time of our lives! The emails between us went back and forth for a few days. The relationships we were in when we met had both ended and we were hitting it off exceptionally well. Emails turned into phone calls and within a week of chatting Tim surprised me with a trip to Sydney to visit. It was the most amazing weekend ever – we laughed non stop! Tim and I never had the first date uncomfortable feeling; it was like we had been together forever from day one. Being with Tim has always been the most natural feeling I have ever experienced.

For about 2 months we flew back and forth between Wagga and Sydney every weekend and then quickly established that a long distance relationship was not for us. Tim asked me to move to Wagga Wagga to be with him and without any hesitation I said yes. We lived in Wagga for about a year together before Tim was offered a position in Sydney. While we were sad to leave Wagga Wagga, our house, our dog and all of our friends, this move to Sydney was just the next adventure in our relationship.  The move to Sydney was great – we were closer to family and the beach, which we loved. Tim and I spent countless weekends at Bronte Beach, lying on the beach in summer and in winter huddled up in Swell Cafe reading the papers and enjoying long brunches with friends and family.

At the end of 2010 Tim received a call from a work associate in the USA offering him a position within their company. Living and working overseas was always something Tim and I wanted to do together and the offer was too good to refuse. Tim accepted the position in January 2011 and before we knew it we were packing up our life in Sydney, bound for the USA.  On the day I received my USA visa, Tim and I were going out for a dinner we had planned weeks ago – date night!  Tim suggested before we head to the restaurant we should have a few drinks to celebrate my visa being approved. As we pulled up to Double Bay, Tim said he had a thought – since it was a nice night we should go down to the bay with a bottle of wine for a few pre dinner drinks by the water. Little did I know Tim had already been down here to see if this was ‘the right spot.’

Before I could sit down, Tim held both my hands and starting telling me how excited he was for our big move and that he loved me more than anything in the world. Down on one knee, he asked ‘WILL YOU MARRY ME, I WANT TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH YOU’ – without any hesitation I said ?YES, YES, YES!!!!?
Tim had packed my favourite bottle of champagne into the bag I thought had a bottle of wine in it. Tim had the bottle of champagne chilling in the boot of his car for 3 hours before I got home from work, so it was ready to go.

The next day Tim had another surprise – he had booked a sea plane to fly us to Jonah’s at Whale Beach for a long lunch to celebrate even more. The day was amazing and one that I will never forget.  After the most amazing weekend of our lives so far, we had only 4 weeks left in Australia before our move to the USA. Between all the frantic last minute planning, we were able to squeeze in a fabulous engagement / farewell party. We were so touched; all of our friends from all over Australia made the effort to come and celebrate with us. It was such a special night.

For our engagement Tim’s family surprised us with the most thoughtful gift – a photography session with Skipping Stone Photography at our favourite beach, Bronte! They wanted us to remember this special time in our lives and also have gorgeous photos we can take with us to the USA to remember our favourite place in Sydney.
As we were pressed for time, the only time we were able to fit the photography session in was the afternoon before we flew out, which turned out to be the same day I had Root Canal therapy! Swollen and only just able to crack a smile without too much pain, we met Nick Stewart from Skipping Stone Photography at Bronte Beach.
The photography session was exactly what we needed after a frantic few weeks of packing, planning and celebrating. We had such a fun afternoon just being together, relaxing and enjoying this special time in our lives! The pain of the root canal quickly passed with the excitement of the shoot! We are now settling into life in the USA and are enjoying planning our wedding, to be held back in Australia in 2012. It will be a huge celebration as it will be the first time we will see all of our friends and family in over 9 months. We cannot wait!!!”

Photos by Skipping Stone Photography