gill maheu photography: professional lifestyle portrait photography based in Annecy, Geneva, Rhone Alpes

awww what a great afternoon – let me introduce you to the brilliant Jessica and Fabrice who are tying the knot in June this year.  We had originally arranged the engagement shoot for the week before but it was one of those awful grey dreary rainy days with no hope of a break in the weather soooooo… we postponed and met up last Sunday.  The weather although threatening at first behaved and off we went … they are both firefighters so where would we go but the fire station, how cool is that ?!   love in the firestation !   Apart from absolutely totally falling under the charm of Jess & Fab who are such great fun and are magic together, i was also a bit taken with "ZonZon" … a charming if slightly elderly 1968 VW fire-engine who will have a starring role in their June celebrations.  Enjoy !

come back in June to see their wedding – it’s going to be fantastic

i love love love the first time i meet a couple face to face – i love the way they look at each other, i love the way they tell me all about their plans for their big day, the surprises they have planned, the people they have coming .. i love learning about the venue and how they chose it, i love the sneaky conversation while Husband-to-be isn’t listening about ‘the Dress’ … but i extra specially love the engagement shoot part of the meeting.  Just watching them together as they react to each other and forget about camera nerves – they relax and have fun and you can see their love for each other just shining out  – it’s gorgeous

these shots are a few of my favourites from recent engagement shoots used as Save the Date cards to send out to guests before the official invitations go out … a fabulous reminder of a very special moment in their lives…

 have a look at some more engagement shoots here

wow – now this was a pre wedding shoot with a difference !  Stéphanie and Mario contacted me about photographing their wedding towards the end of last year and they had very definite ideas about their pre wedding shoot – they wanted it to be different, and different it definitely was … and great great fun … and colourful and just brilliant !!   I left the idea side of things with them and we agreed to meet at the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle in the centre of Geneva …  but before we even got as far as the inside of the museum we were sidetracked by the wall painting in the best car park ever !   There is art all over the walls  – gorgeous bright colours just perfect to set off this fab couple … and THOSE boots (wow – gorgeous gorgeous – i want some !!!)

Once we were inside the museum (and had checked that we were allowed to take photos) we had great fun setting up the shots against the bright colours of the exhibits.  It turns out that they had both been frequent visitors to the museum when they were little so there were all sorts of memories (but we couldn’t find the crocodile !) , and the globe Mario is holding seemed like a direct reference to his amazing watch company  Magellan Watch . 

And for part two of the shoot ..?  we went to a car wrecking yard …. told you it was different.  The cars, the colours, the textures and Stéphanie & Mario ….. just brilliant!  and to top it off Stéphanie found an angel amongst all the broken cars – a perfect good luck sign !

I can’t wait for part one of their wedding celebrations in just under a month ! 

 the abbaye de talloires is going to be the stunning venue for Naomi & Thomas’s beautiful october wedding … so it was the perfect place to meet up for their pre wed shoot.   we chatted for ages about their plans, explored the venue and then set off to take some shots around the grounds of the hotel and down by the lake.    they are brilliant together and always laughing and teasing each other – huge smiles all the time, great fun to work with.   ooooh and if you are wondering …  the t-shirt is for naomi not new york, for another couple of weeks or so her surname starts with a ‘Y’ so it is just perfect !  

enjoy these images …

 their wedding images part one & part two  x