Mount Tomah Botanic Garden, Blue Mountains

Claudia & Marcus

Claudia and Marcus were married on a warm summer afternoon in the formal gardens at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden, surrounded by their children, family and closest friends. It is a setting that suited them, natural, steady, nothing forced about it.

Claudia got ready nearby with her Brazilian crew, loud and full of colour, at an Airbnb not far from the gardens. It felt like a proper celebration before the ceremony had even started.

Mount Tomah has its own micro climate, and I have seen it more than once. You can be driving up on a clear, sunny day and arrive to find the gardens sitting under thick fog, or the reverse. Whatever the conditions, the venue holds up. On Claudia and Marcus's day it was lush and green, and even with the heat outside, it felt cool under the cover of the temperate rainforest.

After the ceremony we wandered through the gardens together, keeping things loose and unhurried. Claudia and Marcus were fully present with each other the whole time, easy and connected, which made my job simple. I am always drawn to the green of the forest here, and the gardens mix hard landscaping with the natural surrounds in a way that gives the photographs real contrast to work with. It is an unusual choice for a wedding, but a wonderful one for anyone who loves nature. Beautifully manicured, well away from the tour buses that fill so much of the mountains, and within minutes of a handful of cliff top lookouts if you want those too.

This was not a day built around spectacle. It was about commitment, and about the family Claudia and Marcus have already built together. Watching their kids take it all in was a quiet reminder that a wedding is not really the start of a story. It is a chapter in one that is already underway.

It was a privilege to document a day this grounded in connection and honesty.