Hotel in Umhlanga | Jacki Bruniquel Photography

The Best Of: The Oyster Box Hotel Weddings

by Jacki Bruniquel | Aug 16, 2017 | Best Of, Real Weddings

A while back the marketing ladies from The Oyster Box Hotel asked me if I would be open to them using some of my imagery on their website. This beautiful Umhlanga hotel is one of my favourite places to photograph weddings in the whole of South Africa so I was more than happy to comply! I have shot A LOT of weddings at The Oyster Box during all my many years of being a wedding photographer and whilst gathering the images together I realised it would make a fabulous celebratory blog post!

This luxury five star hotel is a prime South African wedding destination for so many reasons! It overlooks a pristine beach housing the iconic Umhlanga lighthouse, the decor in the hotel is breathtaking which for an artist like me is so inspirational, the service is through the charts, the food is absolutely delicious and the staff are all so friendly. If you are a couple who are looking for a classy wedding by the beach without the beach sand, this may be the venue for you!

I got a bit teary looking through all of these pics as I realised how many beautiful moments and special people I have photographed over the years in this gorgeous hotel. Every couple different, every couple with their own story, every couple open and willing to allow me into a momentous milestone in their life to tell their narrative with my camera. I have also worked with some amazing suppliers whom I will mention at the end of this post!

The Oyster Box has as a list of highly qualified and reputable suppliers. Some of the preferred suppliers who are recommended by the The Oyster Box are:

Wedding Planning: Ginny Eslick weddingplanner@oysterbox.co.za www.oysterboxhotel.com 0824140265

Hair and Make up stylists:
Lindsay Nixon – 082 554 3006 nixonmakeup@gmail.com
Charelle McAllister – 079 888 8777 charelle.mcallister@gmail.com

Hair Stylist: Drew Christie – Drew – 082 335 4625 evolve@comit.co.za

Décor and Floral Specialist : Sue Baxter – Sues Flowers, 083 289 7782
Suesflowers@telkomsa.net
Website link : www.wedding-flowers-durban.com
Facebook : Facebook Sues Wedding Flowers Durban

DJ/Music specialist – Vivian Westergreen – 082 454 7223 info@djvivian.co.za

Wedding Stationery and Printing:
Janet Haw of Fuchsia Designs
www.weddingstationerydesign.co.za
0767068594 | info@weddingstationerydesign.co.za

Wedding Cake specialists:
Nicole’s Luxury Handmade Indulgences, Making Life Sweeter – 082 654 0749
nicoles@telkomsa.net

Lauren Lee Cake Couture
079 544 2388 www.laurenleecakes.co.za
laurenleecakecouture@gmail.com

MARRIAGE OFFICIATORS for the Ceremony:
Wessel Wessels – 079 898 0392 wessel@glenridge.org.za

Rev AJ Haasbroek – 082 921 6475 or ewo@telkomsa.net

Michael Alexander – 0609975408 alexander@clfc.co.za

Oyster-Box-Top-South-African-Wedding-Photographer-Jacki-Bruniquel

Review on the Sigma 50mm 1.4 and 35mm 1.4

by Jacki Bruniquel | Jun 22, 2015 | For Photographers, My approach to Photography

If you had to ask a wedding photographer what their favourite lens is, chances are they will answer a 5o mm prime. The 35mm prime is also becoming increasingly popular with wedding photographers and has long been loved by photo-journalists. I am a little different! If you have a look at what is usually on my cameras you will find my 24-70mm 2.8 Nikon and the 70-200mm 2.8 Nikon. I choose lenses based on how quickly they focus, how sharp they are and what kind of result, and or effect, they give me. Lenses are, at the end of the day, a tool! I love my Nikon zooms, I have gotten pretty used to operating with them and trust them both implicitly!

I have never really gelled with the 50mm prime, and have never tried a 35mm prime, but an old dog needs to learn knew tricks and I am always open to learning new ways of doing things so when Michael from Sigma got hold of me to ask if I would like to test out the Sigma 50mm 1.4 and 35mm 1.4 art lenses I jumped at the chance!

I have been blown away by these lenses! They focus incredibly fast, they are sharp as tack, the bokeh that they create is just so pretty and the price of them is really reasonable, which is a great advantage for us South Africans on a weak Rand. If you were in the market to buy a prime lens I couldn’t recommend these enough!

I took these pics at a recent wedding during the bridal prep and pre wedding shoot. Thanks to Bhav and Yash for allowing me to experiment on you!

The image below was taken with my Nikon D700 Sigma 50mm F4 1/200sec ISO 400 The effect on the sides of the bride was created with a couple of crystals I found in the room at the hotel they got ready in ie Teremok in Marine Drive, www.teremok.co.za

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The image below was taken with my Nikon D4 Sigma 35mm F2.5 1/200sec ISO 1200

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The image below was taken with my Nikon D700 Sigma 50mm F7.1 1/200sec ISO 1200

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The image below was taken with my Nikon D4 Sigma 35mm F1.4 1/125sec ISO 3200

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The image below was taken with my Nikon D700 Sigma 50mm F2.8 1/125sec ISO 800

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The image below was taken with my Nikon D700 Sigma 50mm F4.5 1/200sec ISO 1200

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The image below was taken with my Nikon D700 Sigma 50mm F2 1/320sec ISO 400

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The image below was taken with my Nikon D700 Sigma 50mm F1.8 1/1000 ISO 100

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The image below on the right was taken with my Nikon D700 Sigma 50mm F3.5 1/200sec ISO 800 and on the left Nikon D700 Sigma 50mm F3.5 1/125sec ISO 1600

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Huge thanks to Teremok for allowing us to shoot in your beautiful hotel ….. It is truly lovely! Brides and grooms if you are looking for somewhere elegant and photographically pleasing to get ready for your big day check out ….. www.teremok.co.za