Margaret River Bush Engagement Shoot

Peter and Khrystyne

Pete and I met at a mutual friends party in April 2009 and clicked immediately, we did long-distance for a year (Pete in Bunbury, me in Perth) until I moved to Bunbury. We eventually moved to Perth for my career and have recently bought a house.

In March of this year Pete took me for a picnic during the day, and afterwards we went home and relaxed. He suggested we get a coffee that night, unfortunately being Perth the only place open near us was this horrible café where we had average coffee and terrible cake! We went for a walk afterwards, it was a hot night and we walked along the Swan River before sitting on a bench to watch the city skyline. Pete was very nervous and I knew what was coming. It was a busy night and he kept waiting until people weren’t near us. At one stage he went to get down on one knee and people walked by, so he awkwardly pretended he was just adjusting his pants and sat back down! Eventually he proposed and of course I said yes. It was casual and messy and 100% us.

We met our photographer John Rice at a bridal fair before we were engaged, needless to say poor Pete was dragged to that by me. We decided to have our engagement shoot in Margaret River as we often spend weekends down there visiting wineries and exploring the town, it’s our little escape from city life. We thought getting back to basics for our shoot was the perfect way to display our relationship.

The photos were shot right next to a road in Boranup Forest but it seems like we were in the middle of the bush. It was done in May, perfect weather for a bush shoot. We used lots of props, I painted wooden hearts blue, bought oversized teacups, a blanket. I wore a skirt by Wheels & Dollbaby and top by Bardot, shoes by Zu. Pete wore a grey suit & hat he brought from eBay and a pocketwatch as well. The suitcase was borrowed from my sister. It used to belong to my Great Grandmother and I am so glad I used it in the shoot, it was my favourite prop. The parasol was hired from White Fete Events. John was a great photographer, super relaxed and loved our ideas. He was very creative and we fed off of each other’s vibes. He made us feel relaxed and Pete said that he enjoyed the shoot, something to be said as he usually hates photos! The lighting was magical, I can’t believe how lucky we were with the weather that day.

From John Rice: “I knew this would be a fun shoot when I first chatted to Khrystyne about her ideas. I loved all the cool props that she was going to use which included hand painted love hearts, a picnic blanket and a tea set. This got my imagination running and I thought about a wonderful stretch of Karri forrest in Margaret River where I live. The scale of these tall straight trees and the lovely light would be a great location for the portraits. The shoot was great fun, Pete & Khrystyne were so cool to work with, they were open to ideas and I think importantly they were not shy to show the love they have. I get excited about photographing the connection between two people and when people are willing to share their feelings it takes the photographs to a whole new level.”