10 tips for an epic pre wedding photo shoot in New Zealand

With our borders now open again, New Zealand has enjoyed welcoming back our international visitors for their pre wedding photography. With a huge range of settings, locations and regions to shoot in, it’s often hard to know where to start when booking your photo session in from abroad.

Here’s a set of 10 tips to guide you through our beautiful country.

Twin Peaks Heli Pre wedding, Wanaka.

1. Plan your trip in advance.

While Kiwi vendors are usually at home rolling up their sleeves and helping out where we can, we are often booked up in advance with weddings, other shoots and holidays, especially over the Summer months (December-February). Make sure you book in your trip as early as you can.

2. Lean on local guidance.

Many planners and photographers can help out with becoming a one stop shop for organising other vendors, such as hair, make up, flowers, helicopter flights and transport. Save the hassle of trying to co-ordinate multiple vendors from abroad and work with a trusted photographer or planner to help out.

Roy’s Peak Heli Pre wedding, Wanaka.

3. Determine you locations.

Locations can sometimes works well together, while others have quite a distance between them. Wanaka and Queenstown work well as they’re only one hour away from each other, however Queenstown and Tekapo often need to be well planned or set over multiple days as the travel time between locations is three hours away. Refer to tip #2 to get recommendations on what locations will work nicely together.

4. Determine your season.

While any season here in New Zealand will work for a pre wedding shoot, June and July are often the coldest and difficult to navigate with weather. December, although is much warmer, is also on the unpredictable weather list with the transition to Summer from Spring. Any other time of the year is recommended, we get warm summers, lush springs, colourful autumn and snowy winters. Take your pick!

Vineyard pre wedding shoot, Lake Wanaka.

5. Forget the weather forecast

Being on a small land mass in a giant southern ocean, our weather is very unpredictable for the most part, especially in the alps. We’ll usually check in on weather a day or two before your shoot and make any call needed to postpone or navigate to a new location. Keep in mind that some of the best photos come from wild weather patterns!

6. Pick your sunset location.

We often only get one sunset during your shoot. We need to make sure you’re set up in an epic location for it. Also keep in mind sunset can be as early as 4:30pm in winter, and as late as 9:30pm in summer. This may also guide you in how many locations you’d like to undertake.

Stormy clouds above a Lake Pukaki pre wedding.

7. We’re in the wild.

This refers to often being quite remote, away from a place to change outfits, food outlets, fuel etc. We will often do attire changes in the back of the car (tinted windows supplied!) in the middle of nowhere. We will also bring some food, drinks and snacks along as a lot of cafes and food outlets are usually either closed after 5pm or simply a long way away.

8. Embrace the less popular locations.

Searching the internet is great for showing visitors ideas of where to go to take pre wedding photos, but in reality we’re just replicating a popular photo set up. While I’m not against this, I find it much more satisfying taking couples to a place they would never had planned or thought of, without the internet fame but with equally as good views; Experiencing the real New Zealand.

Remarkables Queenstown pre wedding hike.

9. Keep it simple.

We get asked if we can have several outfit changes along the way, if we can have a white horse, or if we can do 5 regions in one day. I’ve always found a single outfit change, less ambitious amount of locations and a simple itinerary works much better, as it allows my couples to actually relax and enjoy their shoot, and see our beautiful country side at the same time.

10. Prepare for our climate and terrain.

Last but not least, if we’re in the alps, we’re often exposed to cold weather and not just in winter. Some summer days can get chilly too! Bring something warm that your happy to have in the photos. Same goes for footwear, high heels look great but often aren’t the ideal shoe to tackle steep rocky terrain. Flat shoes or even boots win every time here, especially in the snow.

Snowy pre wedding shoot via four wheel drive access in Queenstown.

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We hope that helps with planning your pre wedding shoot here in New Zealand. Andy and Lisa are well versed with organising and creating photo experiences in Wanaka, Queenstown and throughout the South Island and beyond.