Robbie and Kate, Private Residence, Constantia. This wedding begins way, way, way back. It all started on 2nd May 1986 when a young lad by the name of Robert stepped onto the planet. Now Robert, together with his older sister Rachael and his younger brother Josh, kept his Uncle Warrie and Auntie Hellie pretty darned busy during those early years. I can’t confess to ever changing any of their nappies, but I’m certain Helen did on more than one occassion. And ooooh, those baby-sitting nights – what fun we had playing ‘hiding-go-seek.’ And the braais, the videos we made, the days running up and down Langebaan beach. Then of course there was the year 2000 New Years Eve fancy dress party. Epic. As the years passed, there were the Rugby World Cup get-togethers, matric dances, more braais, more great moments. And then in walked Kate. And Roberto changed in an instant. He wore nicer clothes, brushed his teeth, grew a designer stubble, became an extremly sought-after Brewmaster, stayed home and held hands, went to sleep early, made his bed, didn’t leave his toys lying around, sucked in his gut when Kate walked into the room. Actually, he didn’t change at all – it’s not his style. But he did do the Brewmaster thing.

So that’s the very, very brief version. The fact is, Hel and myself have walked a very long, exciting, sometimes emotional, sometimes silly, but always awesome road with this mad Irish bunch. So when Rob asked Kate to marry him, I sort of muscled my way in to do the photography honours. I’m extremely appreciative they handed me the privilege of shooting their wedding. Ag, if they’d said no, I would have sneakily shot it anyway – like ‘whateva.’ And what another legendary day it was. After the ceremony we headed off to Kate’s Uncle’s house for an afternoon and evening of just what you’d expect from this bunch of very fine people. It helped knowing about at least half of the guests very, very well. Some maybe too well. So I had to hold myself back somewhat for fear of getting overly involved in the celebrations with the resultant blurry photos to prove it. Still, it was excellent watching everybody getting down and doing their thing. After the wedding, Rob and Kate decided to run away from their family and friends (which is probably quite a bright move on their part) to live and work in the sunny, warm and balmy UK. We miss you chaps. But hey, life happens and anyway, you know the saying: ‘Go big or go home.’ I reckon you’ll go big. But we’ll always here at home if and when you decide to come back with your 3 girls and 2 boys. And so to finish off as your Grandpa Ozzie would have wished it…

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.