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How to avoid feeling overwhelmed during your destination wedding planning

October 24, 2014

Wedding planning can be such a HUGE deal for brides (and couples, or whoever is doing more of the planning), especially the kinds of wedding I’m involved in (destination weddings, in Thailand) where there can be even more to think about than a regular wedding close to home. You see, being a young wedding photographer living and working in Thailand, I luckily get to discuss these sorts of things with my brides and industry peers and I’ve come to realise that wedding planning can actually get really overwhelming, really easily if you’re not careful and don’t know where to look.   Of course overwhelmed means stressed and stress CAN mean no fun and everyone wants to be the fun, happy and carefree bride!  If you’re well organised, can narrow it down, and know what you want your big day to be, I’m sure your wedding day will end up oozing the very air that you dream it will have! So, your man just popped the question which opens up a whole new set of questions you both need to think about to actually plan the big day, and you might be wondering… where to start? This is my guide to avoid becoming overwhelmed

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[CMW] My passion…

October 20, 2014

When I was 15 or 16 or so, I picked up an SLR camera for the first time. It was my sisters’. All I remember is that it felt good, and I felt passionate about taking photographs. At the time I wasn’t any good, of course but I remember this one time when we were out at a party with my dad and a family friend who was into photography gave me some of the first tips which really helped me… “Put your camera into ‘M’ (or Manual Mode) and don’t turn it back”… and I’m so grateful for that because ever since I’ve had my cameras in ‘M’ it has pushed me to learn more about photography and improve on my mistakes a lot in the early stages. I had always wanted to go into photography at university and study it, but I changed my mind at the last minute and went with hospitality management as I thought it would be too hard to turn my then hobby into a career. After finishing my first year in uni, I decided to continue working in hotels as I was happier working at that time. I then went on a trip

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[CMW] I’m Cherry… your wedding photographer in Thailand!

October 19, 2014

Good afternoon… I decided to join a blogging challenge called the Feel Good Blogging Challenge which will require me to write a post each day for the next 7 days! How exciting! In this first post I’ll be introducing… me! So, here we go!   Hi, I’m Cherry as you might already know 🙂 I’m a photographer based in Thailand on the gorgeous island of Koh Samui (although right now I’m on holiday visiting my family in Australia!), however I LOVE to travel and love it when clients book a destination wedding or love story session anywhere else in Thailand! I live with my boyfriend, Nek (who is in Australia with me right now) and between us both, we own 3 businesses, so it can get a little busy at times 😉 I have loved photography since I was young and I wouldn’t be happier doing anything else for a living! Wedding days are so much fun and I love spending the time to get to know my clients leading up to their big day so that by the time their wedding day does come around, we’re great friends already! I started blogging a few months before I had started

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[travel] CMW Photography in Australia!! Cairns, Sydney and Melbourne, here we come!

October 7, 2014

Did you know… CMW Photography is heading to Australia? I am happy to announce that I’ll be offering Love Story Photography sessions in the following locations over these two months! Cairns – 15th October Sydney- 7th November Melbourne – 17th November Share blog post with anyone you think might like a Love Story Photography session! Contact: hello@cherrymayward.com To past, present, and future clients: you have made my job a dream come true and I can’t believe I get to live the life I LOVE in Thailand and be lucky enough to visit my family back in Australia as well! Thank you so much! HAPPY TUESDAY!   ……….……….……….

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Villa Riva Koh Samui Wedding: Sue & Sjaak

September 6, 2014

Sue decided to book me after her friend Rosanne recommended me, so thanks Rosanne! When I met Sue before their wedding day, I just fell in love with how friendly, open and chilled out she is… totally my kind of bride! With Sjaak (pronounced Jaak) being Dutch, Sue Brittish and them both living in South Africa together you’d wonder how their love story came together… it’s a sweet one. They’ve actually been friends for AGES before they decided to marry one another and merge their lives together 🙂 They got (legally) married a few months ago, back in South Africa, and wanted to have more of an informal ‘celebration’ of their love in front of close friends and family. With some of their closest friends living on Samui, and both Sue and Sjaak loving Thailand,  particularly Samui so much, it made sense to have their wedding celebration here. They rented out Villa Riva for weeks, and had all their guests stay with them in the villa to spend time together before their beautiful wedding day. The views from Villa Riva are simply stunning, take a look.  The girls excitedly got ready together, having their hair and makeup done… 🙂 Sue and

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Chaweng Beach Trash the Dress Session: Ashling & Cormac

August 30, 2014

The trash the dress option immediately popped out to her, and so she wanted reassurances on how to clean her dress before committing. I sent her a link where a previous bride explained how she cleaned her wedding dress to a sparkling brand new white and Ashling was hooked. I got a yes! You might remember the gorgeous Ash and her lovely husband (!!) from their beautiful wedding day at Bandara, they were a treat to get to photograph and I had such fun with the bridesmaids and groomsmen! So we scheduled their trash the dress session for about a week after their wedding day, to be on a lovely spot on Chaweng Beach which Nek and I had been testing out (snorkelling, haha) before hand. This spot, at this time of year has the clearest, cleanest water you ever did see (on Samui), which makes it PERFECT for us to get some lovely shots in the water. Soo…. without further ado, check out this awesomeness for yourselves! See what I mean, how beautiful is this spot of beach…? I suggested to start with we spend some time out of the water first, and I’m so glad we did…  

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[honeymoon] Claudia & Danny, The Saraan, Chaweng Noi, Koh Samui

August 29, 2014

They decided to get some photos on their honeymoon last minute, while they were on Koh Phi Phi just before they came to Samui… and we all agreed it was definitely a good decision to make! Claudia and Danny were so FUN to photograph, I loved getting to know them a bit during the time we spent together at their hotel and on the beach. All the way from Canada… they made the most of their honeymoon and traveled to a few different places in Thailand and they loved it. We started off getting some photos in their sea view villa at their resort by the beach, The Saraan. They had a private plunge pool between their villa and the sea which looked so inviting… I wanted to jump in haha 😉 Claudia picked some Frangipani from their garden and was smelling it for the first time… now they’re both in love with Frangipani 🙂 On the beach, we had this little boy who followed us for most of the way and was getting in our photos… he wanted us to play soccer with him 🙂 When Claudia asked me if they should go in the water, I was like….

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[wedding] Ashling + Cormac, Bandara Resort & Spa, Bophut, Koh Samui

August 21, 2014

They met at work in a restaurant, on Ashling’s first day nearly 15 years ago, she’d already caught his attention after walking into the kitchen… apparently that night the restaurant guests had to wait a little longer than usual to get their desserts. Since then they’ve moved and travelled together and made a good story of their own, have a beautiful home together in Australia, and the proudest parents ever! This is just the beginning of a new story they get to write together though, and I’m so happy and honoured to have been asked to be a part of their beautiful wedding day! They chose the Bandara Resort & Spa, Samui as their wedding venue, and what a beautiful resort to hold a wedding! Ashling had this gorgeous dress which I fell in love with at first sight…. sigh.. Ashling… what a name! I’d never heard it before, but during their speeches I found out it means ‘dream’ how beautiful! The girls had some sparkling while they got ready together chatting about their holiday & helping to turn Ashling’s nerves into excitement… Dany of Samui Hair did all the girls’ hair as well as Ashling’s makeup, she did a beautiful

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[destination love story] Miren & James, Sha Ha Beach, Sai Kung, Hong Kong

August 14, 2014

Ahhhhh….. THIS session has been a long time coming (in sharing it on my blog that is!)… It just makes me so happy every time I look at these pictures because THESE TWO.. they are great friends of Nek and I. Let me pull back a bit and tell you some more. I first met Miren (pronounced Mee-den) -one of the most gorgeous + beautiful people I know, inside and out- and James, who is friendly in the best way and you can just fall into conversation (about anything) with him so easily… more than 3.5 years ago when Nek first introduced them to me.  They used to live on Samui with us, teaching English (and Spanish) at Samui International School and we used to go Stand Up Paddleboarding (see my guide of things to do on Samui, featuring Miren in the photos and James behind the camera, he’s forever documenting their travels & adventures) together and enjoyed the island lifestyle together for a while.. August last year, they moved to Hong Kong. We were sad to see such good friends go but knew we would see them again. So when my yearly visa ran out this year in June, we contacted them

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[vow renewal] Chris & Diane, Ban Sabai, Bang Rak, Koh Samui

August 12, 2014

They were born in Manchester, UK and met a whole 32 years ago! Their love story is filled with laughter, love, and now families of their families with grandchildren one of whom (a gorgeous baby girl) was just born a few weeks ago 🙂 We talked a bit in email, but that was nothing compared to real life… these two are such a lovely couple to get to know in person. Such an inspiration, to still have the kind of chemistry they do after being married for so long. Chris, being the romantic that he is… planned a 15th vow renewal in Kenya, which is now 15 years ago. So it was only fitting to have another one for their 30th anniversary which on holiday in Samui! They renewed their vows in a very Thai setting on the beach of Ban Sabai, a beautiful Thai retreat and spa, the perfect location for some traditional Thai surroundings, such a gorgeous place! Jacqui of Samui Weddings and Events helped them plan the day, and did a great job at coordinating and styling everything, it was so beautiful!! They had four traditional Thai dancers escort them to the ceremony spot on the beach 🙂 Where

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[holiday] Lynn & Yuanyuan, Lipa Bay Resort, Lipa Noi, Koh Samui

August 5, 2014

They met one day in China, and fell in love.  At the time Lynn was living in the US and convinced Yuanyuan to move there with her. So this year’s holiday to Thailand called for some photos of the two of them together. They stopped over in Thailand for a short holiday in Samui and Chiang Mai before going back to China to visit their families and apply for Lynn’s yearly student visa in America. On the day we had scheduled to have their photography session, the weather was less than ideal… I’m talking wind, white skies and scary looking waves and we did talk about the idea of changing to another day, but in the end decided to stick to it, and I’m SO happy they did!  We started off with some photos in and around their resort, the Lipa Bay Resort. I had never been to this little resort, but I loved it’s quiet charm, gorgeous landscape of plants and flowers… Then we headed to the beach for some fun photos, despite the weather! We thought it would be best to keep the kayak on shore, considering the rough waves and untrustworthy current. I love how much fun

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[engagement] Sébastien and Céline, Nathon Beach and Taling Ngam, Koh Samui (PART 2)

August 2, 2014

They met at work in Belgium (where they are both from) while Céline was interning, Sébastien was able to boss her around, a little to much, she said. Finally one day, she agreed to go out with him for some after work drinks, and as they say, the rest is history 😀 Even though Céline didn’t speak much English, I still had such a ball with the both of them, getting Sébastien to translate everything for me was so funny! In the end, Céline knew what I meant even before he’d had the chance to translate it into French. If you haven’t already, be sure to read Part 1 of their story, the actual PROPOSAL, it was such a beautiful evening, and Céline was totally surprised, but as you can guess, she said ‘Yes’!! We started off by stopping on Nathon Beach and got some beautiful photos on the beach there…     I’m so happy when I get lovely clients like this… Céline was just so happy to be ENGAGED and have photos take with her love! We all had so much fun and I hardly had to tell them to do anything, Céline and just Sébastien walked, danced,

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