Perino & Kaera

My husband, Perino and I agonised over photographer choice. We didn’t want the usual wedding photos, where people are posed in typical ‘bride-groom’ scenarios – as for us this would mean standing awkwardly like shop mannequins attempting romance. In addition, while Perino is really photogenic, I am spectacularly not. I am the one in the photograph blinking, eating, or laughing – but not attractively so! I felt it would be a challenge for whomever we chose to make me the traditional ‘beautiful bride’, and more so, more importantly for both of us, to capture our wedding as natural moments; capturing our relationship with our families, and the quirky spirit of ‘us’ as a couple, rather than representing us as something that we are not.

We found Jaco after hours of searching, and looking at almost 100 portfolio’s on-line.  Jaco’s take on wedding photography was exactly what we wanted – only to discover he was based in Cape Town. I think I actually had a cry when I realised that. But the universe had other plans for him – and it tuned out he would be in Joburg on our wedding day. It was to be his first ever Joburg-CBD wedding.

We could not have picked anyone more perfect for our personalities then this amazing photographer. He just ‘got’ us from the beginning, and we allowed him complete control, giving him no direction – other than “Don’t make us look fake”. For Perino it was really important that the photographer would be a ‘guy’s guy’, easy to get along with and have fun with on the day –  while for me, this was not quite as important , and I wanted someone that I wouldn’t be aware of all the time (so he would get some of those natural shots rather than my standard ‘deer-in-headlight’ freeze). Jaco managed both of those things – and you can see it in our amazing photos. Months after our wedding, I still have people coming to me and saying that ours are the best photographs they have ever seen (and by our age, we have certainly seen a lot of weddingphotos!). He captured our worldview, and our view on life together as a couple, totally. I would recommend Jaco in a heartbeat – not only as the most wonderful photographer, but has a really great person – one who we still want to hang-out with.