This is going to be a mammoth post and I’m not talking the woolly kind! Kristi and AJ’s West Coast wedding at the stunning Strandkombuis restaurant on the dunes was amazing! A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!! Surfers to the core, this could not have been a more perfectly chosen spot. Beaches, dunes, salt pans, rustic luxury, relaxed elegance, decor details to die for and the best fish soup this side of Paris – in fact Parisians will be calling for that recipe. So many elements of their day were specially crafted over evenings of many a glass of wine (so I’m told ) with their wedding genius bridesmaids, Kim and Kate of Wedding Concepts fame. Their attention to detail really shone through, even down to the fact that since they got engaged they have been collecting driftwood which AJ made into the menu board below as well as the huge hand-crafted wooden heart behind their table. Dedication and creativity hand in hand.

Kristi and AJ, I’m so delighted that you chose me to share such a perfect day and I am totally blown away by your zesty ‘take life and make it’ attitude. My crystal ball predicts so many happy years ahead for you two!

PS: check out Kristi and AJ’s ‘Love About Town‘ engagement shoot

So we are going a little masculine this week – silvers, greys, metal, glass and vodka! My hubby got a pasta machine for Christmas and I’m mortified to admit we haven’t used it yet! After watching Ilse (from the wonderful Food Fox) make this tagliatelle in minutes I am resolved to give the machine a dust off, buy some ’00′ flour and get in touch with my inner Italian Mamma! See the full recipe here on the gorgeous Pretty Blog.

“We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came.” John F. Kennedy

It’s not always easy living so far away from Cape Town and ‘where it’s happening’, but I love where I live – the quiet beauty of the mountains and calm wilds of the fynbos covering the hills that run down to the sea. I know how lucky I am

It’s such a treat for me when couples decide to shoot their Lovebirds engagement session close by and I love it when special couples like Anzel and Johan are happy for me to lead them around my stomping ground to find those unique spots and hidden locations where we can photograph. I love this shoot so so so much and hope you will too.

Does a chocolate cake need an intro? How about three chocolate cakes?? This fantastic bake-off came about as a result of hours of deliberation over who had the best chocolate cake recipe of all time, so Ilse (of the Food Fox fame), Nicola (of the Pretty Blog fame) and I decided to put it to the test! Here are the phenomenal (I may be a little biased ) recipes from last week’s Food Fox column on the Pretty Blog. Anyone up for trying all three and giving a verdict?

So…hard…to…choooooose the sneak peek from this shoot! Too many gorgeous ones of the stunning Anzel and Johan! Enjoy and more coming soon.

I used to love going over to my grandparents house in the July holidays. We’d sit watching Wimbledon over endless cups of tea and rock buns. Dinners consisted of my gran’s legendary chicken casserole or egg and toast soldiers, but more often than not pudding was always an apple crumble that we’d spent the afternoon making – weighing out ingredients on an old pounds and ounces tin scale. A happy, simple time. This recipe from The Food Fox for The Pretty Blog’s weekly food column is a real hark back to that style of cooking (and living!) – easy, quick and fragrantly delicious! Thanks Ilse, another winner of a recipe!

This is absolutely one of my favourite couple shoots of all time

Olivia and Craig decided that instead of having a photographer to document their whole wedding, they would take a different approach completely and we would just do the couple shoot together. By 1 pm on the day of their wedding it was as dark as dusk and when we met up for the photo session after the ceremony it had been raining non-stop for the last 4 hours. These are the times when you start to think twice about taking your gorgeous couple through barbed wire fences, over rubble and off-road terrain in their wedding shoes and into abandoned ruins for the only professional photos they are going to have of their wedding day, but I had a vision for this shoot and Olivia and Craig were up for something different! I’m just thrilled with how these turned out and days like this really affirm for me that this ‘job’ is not a job at all but a real deep seated passion. Enjoy!

I’m not sure why but one of my best memories from living in England for all those years was of having fish and chips on a cold, pebbly Brighton beach with my mother who was visiting us from sunny SA. We sat in the freezing wind, watching a bleak and grey-dull sea, feeding the seagulls the last of our hot, salty, vinegary, plumply battered fish and chips from Bankers – the best chippy on the South Coast (in my humble opinion). It seems another world now that we are back on home shores, but this recipe for me is a way to relive that little moment of everyday happiness – so simple and so perfect. Another great one from Ilse for The Food Fox’s weekly recipe column on The Pretty Blog.