I met Chris and Sharlene almost three years ago at Sharlene’s sister Jackie’s wedding. Sharlene was Jackie’s bridesmaid, and Chris drove me around everywhere showing what’s going on. I really clicked with them there and then already.
I was thus very glad when Sharlene phoned me about a year ago to say that she and Chris are now getting married and they want me to be their wedding photographer. They were getting married on my birthday (and you don’t always have a birthday on a weekend to party on), but what the heck, this is really awesome people that I personally like a lot.
You must know that Sharlene is this VERY organised person. I knew from the beginning things will run like clockwork, and it did.
They got married at Avianto near Krugersdorp and they did a lot of the decor themselves. Chris is a very handy type of guy, and he made all the wooden decor on the tables himself. It really looked awesome.
Sharlene is a beautiful classy lady, but with a makeup artist like Karin Roode on your big day you can be sure you will look like a million dollars, and she did. Chris was blown away when she walked down the steps in the amphitheater where they were getting married. A beautiful setting outside right next to a river. The ideal romantic place to tie the knot.
After the ceremony they went to the bridge at Avianto, lots and lots of wedding couples before them have secured a lock onto the bridge. Now it was their turn. Their futures were locked together from this day on.
We had an awesome time during the shoot and caught the sun at just the right moment.
The evening was a big celebration of family and friends. Chris and Sharlene. I love you two, you know what you want in life, and you work very hard to reach your dreams. I respect you for that. May the sun always shine on your marriage.
I asked Them how they met and got engaged. I especially love the engagement story, make sure you read that.
How we met:
Chris and I met in April 2011. I was assisting an events company to find medics to work at a cycling event. Chris was one of the last people that i called, he agreed to work at the event, on his terms and conditions of course. I had to promise him that he could work on the quad bike for the day. We met face to face for the first time at 04:00 on the Sunday morning of the event. During the briefing, Chris suggested that we should all exchange cellphone numbers, just incase the two way radios that we had did not work due to the Magaliesberg mountain area that we were in ( To this day I’m still not sure if this was a strategic move on his behalf, or just destiny). The next time that I saw Chris on that day, he was soaking wet, covered in mud and freezing cold, but smiling from ear to ear. He attempted to go up a steep hill next to a river with the quad bike, and let’s just say that the hill won! A few weeks after the event i received an SMS from Chris inviting me to have coffee with him. We met a few times, and the better we got to know each other the more inseparable we became. We officially started dating on the 16th of June 2011.
How we got engaged:
Chris and I both worked for different emergency companies that required us to be on standby for any emergency after normal office hours. One afternoon in May 2015, as the sun was setting , Chris called me to a nearby park to assist him with a critical patient. I was 2km away so it didn’t take me very long to get there. Chris sounded nervous, which was abnormal for him, he is normally very calm when treating patients irrespective of what is wrong with them. I was mentally preparing myself for a very difficult patient. As I arrived at the park, I parked behind Chris car and called him to let him know i was there. He sounded even more nervous, he let me know that he was ontop of a rocky hill in the middle of the park. I took all of my equipment out of my car and started making my way to him. He was obviously watching me because he called me as I reached the bottom of the hill to let me know that I could leave some of the heavier equipment behind as I wouldn’t need it. As i reached the top of the hill I initially didn’t’ see him, and then all of a sudden he was there. He took the equipment out of my left hand and turned away from me, taking a few steps. He then placed the monitor on the ground, turned around and went down on one knee. The sun was setting behind him, it was beautiful. I was so shocked when he asked me that i couldn’t even speak, I just stood there with tears streaming down my face. He hugged me and said to me “You didn’t even say yes !”. At that point we both burst out laughing and I said “Of course it is a yes”. Chris arranged a surprise dinner afterwards with some of the most important people in our life, they also had no idea what was happening. When we arrived they all noticed the ring on my finger almost instantly, it was a amazing way to share our news.
Photographer: JC Crafford
