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Top Wedding Photo Locations in Adelaide CBD

Over the years of being an Adelaide wedding photographer I’ve been able to explore the Adelaide CBD and find a multitude of spots that are suitable to take wedding couples to to have their photos done without having to worry about having photo permits of permission to do so. So I thought I’d put together this list of wedding photo locations in Adelaide so that other have no need to do the scouting themselves.

I’ve purposely put this list together for those who do not wish to purchase a photography permit to use the area, and are only of those locations within the Adelaide CBD that are considered ‘public space’ and therefore need no prior arrangements to be made to have photos taken there. A good example of a popular wedding photo location in Adelaide that will not be on this list would be the Adelaide Botanic Gardens – as couples need a photography permit to have their photos taken within the gardens.

List of my favourite Wedding Photo Locations in Adelaide

Veale Gardens

If you’re planning on also having your ceremony in Veale Gardens, then you will need a permit from the council, but if you’re just looking to have your photo shoot done, then no such permission is needed. Located in the southern park lands, Veale Gardens boasts beautifully manicured lawns and a man made river sweeping through the whole garden area.

There are a number of different rock pools that also make for a great setting for wedding photography. One of the best things about Veale Gardens though is the variety of photos you can take here, as just behind the gardens is a small gum tree forest and a rather unkempt area for a more rustic feel to your wedding photos – something you’d usually have to travel outside of the city to find.

Veale Gardens wedding photo
UNder the tree in veale Gardens
Couple portrait at sunset in Veale Gardens

Himeji Gardens

The Himeji Gardens are also located in the southern park lands, and right nearby Veale Gardens. Himeji Gardens is  build to commemorate Adelaide’s sister city relationship with the Japanese city of Himeji. The whole area is designed to look pretty as it’s a properly designed garden with the Japanese aesthetic in mind. Wedding ceremonies are not allowed to take place within the gardens, but you are able to walk through and take your glamour photos within.

Just be sure you try to use the gardens during it’s opening times. The best times to visit are during the autumn months as the Japanese maple’s start to show some incredible colours.

Couple dancing in the Himeji Gardens
Sunset in Himeji gardens
Couple in the Himeji gardens doorway

North Terrace

The old buildings along North Terrace, coupled with some of the nice trees and art installations along the road make North terrace one of my go to wedding photo locations in Adelaide. Many of the old buildings along here belong to the Adelaide University campus, but I felt as though the campus itself deserved it’s own mention on this list.

Under a tree on North Terrace
Under an archway on North Terrace
Wedding couple under flowers
The egg
Bonython Hall

Adelaide University

The Adelaide University campus itself has some wonderful spots hidden around the place as it’s such an old campus. One such spot has romenesque columns lining a walkway towards a door. This one spot – quite close to the Torrens footbridge – has become a huge hot spot for wedding photography often having to queue up behind other wedding couples wanting to have photos done there on a Saturday.

bride and groom at Adelaide University
Adelaide University
Adelaide University
Bride and Groom in Adelaide University

Old Police Barracks and Migration museum

The old Police barracks are located right behind the South Australian Museum and library. It’s a beautiful old building which is very much hidden from view and you’d be forgiven for not knowing it was there unless you had specially sought it out. It is public space, however can also be booked for wedding ceremonies so it would be best to enquire before your wedding day if it was being used or not before heading down there to have photos done.

Behind the Adelaide Museum
Adelaide museum wedding photography
Adelaide Museum engagement
Adelaide Museum
Adelaide Museum

Rymill Park

Rymill Park is one of the main venues used for the famous Adelaide Fringe festival held each year in February and March so if you want to have photos in Rymill Park during that period of time, it may be tricky. Rymill Park has a wonderful pond and beautiful trees and path ways meandering about the area which makes the spot one of the popular wedding photo locations in Adelaide.

On the bridge
Rymill Park wedding photo
Together under a tree
Next to the horse and carriage

Rundle Mall

Rundle Mall is the home of Adelaide’s defacto mascot of the Mall’s Balls art installation. Everyone from Adelaide knows the spot in Rundle Mall as an easy point of reference within the city. As a wedding photo location, it’s better suited at night, as there will not be as many random people in your photos, and it allows for the pretty lights that line the area to be used in your photos.

Walking down Rundle Mall
Rundle Mall Wedding
End of Rundle Mall
Rundle Mall Wedding by SvenStudios

Adelaide Arcade

When thinking of wedding photo locations in Adelaide, the oldest shopping precinct in the city fits the bill nicely, with centry old architecture, and the ability to explore above the main shops a bit, it makes for a nicely unique spot to have your photos done.

Wedding by Svenstudios
Wedding by Svenstudios
Wedding
Adelaide Arcade

Old Adelaide Market Area

One of the lesser known wedding photo locations in Adelaide is the old market area on East Terrace. The lane ways off Charlick cct and Vardon ave have some great scenes available for a wedding photographer – particularly during the autumn months as the trees are starting to turn some nice shades of yellow and red.

Looking back
Kisses

Wilson Parking Hindley St

Bit of an odd place to think about having your wedding photos done is in a car park, but the Wilson Park on Hindley street actually opens up onto it’s roof enabling your wedding photographer to get a unique perspective on the Adelaide skyline if that’s you’re thing. Sorry I only have some shots of batman to demonstrate what I’m talking about 🙂

Batman looking around
Batman cosplay looking out over the city of Adelaide

Elder Park

Elder park is the area where every postcard of Adelaide is shot from. The park is surrounded by a lovely stretch of the river Torrens, Adelaide oval, the Festival theater and convention center. One of the main draw cards as one of the best wedding photo locations in Adelaide is the huge rotunda sitting surrounded by beautifully manicured lawn. There is also the King William street bridge and of course the river itself.

Adelaide Botanic Park

Leading straight next door to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens though is the Adelaide Botanic Park. A popular spot to hold wedding ceremonies and have photos taken with the multitude of pretty Moreton Bay Fig trees. The area is often used for live music events so some of the park may be cordoned off, and is a nice spot to hold a family picnic so if it’s a nice day, expect a lot of other people using the area while you’re taking photos.

The fig trees scattered throughout the park have amazing roots that lend themselves well to wedding photos and at certain times of day the sunlight will seep through the foliage nicely.

bride and groom walking between the trees of Darwin’s Botanic Park
Adelaide Botanic Park wedding photos
bride and groom in Botanic Park

Torrens foreshore & footbridge

The Torrens meanders throughout the northern part of the Adelaide CBD and winds past the northern entrance to Adelaide University. At that point there is a pretty footbridge that traverses the Torrens river. You can use the footbridge itself as one of the great wedding photo locations in Adelaide, but there are also some hidden spots nearby like weeping willow trees and some nice footpaths.

Couple on Torrens footbridge
On the footbridge
Next to the torrens bridge
Near the Torrens

Adelaide is a very pretty city, and it was designed to be so! This list is therefore not an exhaustive list of wedding photo locations in Adelaide, but more of a guide to give you an idea of some of the more popular, and in some cases lesser known spots to head to with your wedding photographer!

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What are the most important wedding photos on a wedding day?

As a wedding photographer that has been capturing weddings for almost a decade now, I’m acutely aware of the importance of having good wedding photography done. Everyone has their own idea of what the most important wedding photos you should have captured, but it takes a keen idea and a creative mindset to really think about when and where these situations are going to occur. These are the sorts of shots that evoke emotion in the viewer after the day has ended, the shots you smile and laugh at, or cry thinking about and they happen all day long. The most important wedding photos to capture in my mind are the memories you’ll cherish forever and even look back on, so I’ve decided to put together a little bit of a list to answer the question of ‘What are the most important wedding photos on a wedding day?’ starting right from the beginning of the day.

What are the most important wedding photos on a wedding day?

There are dozens of lists of wedding photos you ‘need’ to have done around the internet, titled like ’87 Wedding Photo Ideas You Definitely Need to Capture’ or ’20 Must-Have Photos on Your Wedding Day’ but really having a list like them and then meticulously ticking each one off on a wedding day just increases tension and stress when it should be a moment in your life where you can be youself with the person you love. I feel as though wedding photography is more about the showcasing of the coming together of two separate personalities into one union, and I capture this by considering all the moments on a day I know is going to happen through experience. I have made a list of some general photos I know will always be treasured, written and explaied in a way that doesnt force you to ‘do this’ or ‘take a shot of the sunset through the veil so that you can see the hairs on the tip of your nose prickup when you kiss’. More moments in time that I’m considering as a natural wedding photographer – not something you should worry about 🙂

My list of most important wedding photos on a wedding day

The invitations and other homemade knickknacks

If there’s anything that would cause you stress like nothing else, only to forget about what you were stressing about the day after your wedding – it’s all the personal and handmade details you came up with for your decor on your wedding day. All the more reason why to capture them in photographs for you to actually remember what you were stressing about leading up to the day!

Invite
Harry Potter Wedding Bouquet
wedding sign
Home made jam
Wedding art
Heart

Accessories

Similar to the made made knickknacks, the accessories you’ve picked out for both yourself and your partner are items you spent painstaking time stressing over – but are perhaps the ones you won’t forget, but are pretty anyway so deserve a photo 😛

Wedding shoes
Wedding Rings
Bridal jewellery
Engagement ring

Getting ready

Leading up to your wedding ceremony is a time of day you’re likely to completely forget if it werent for your wedding photos due to the emotions you’re feeling and simply because it’s just before the biggest moment of your life, soyour mind will completely wipe the part before it in your memory. It’s als the last moments of time you aren’t ‘connected’ to your spouse, so it’s a nice way to remember the last moments you’re not married 🙂

Getting ready
Getting ready
Girls fussing
groom almost ready

Moments showing personality

Capturing the essence of the personalities of the couple in front of me is the absolute essence of what modern wedding photography is all about to me. If I can show an album of a wedding they hadn’t attended to someone, and they can tell me a little about the people involved, that means I’ve done my job in capturing the emotion and ‘story’ of a wedding day in my photography.

The boys getting ready
Having fun in the veil
Fun wedding guest
Silly faces

The portraits

Weddings are full of traditions. One of these is having a portrait done – they don’t have to look like you’re manniquins, but they are expected in a wedding album, just as a nice simple photo documenting what you  and everyone involved looked like on your wedding day. These photos are often the ones people keep as hairlooms, so they may be the most important wedding photos on a wedding day.

Bride looking out over Santorini’s Caldera
Smiling bride
Bride at front door
Groom looking for bride
Smiling groom

Items that wont last

Often you’ll have items at a wedding that are used only once and after that they are discarded. Just as you stressed over your accessories, homeae things, etc. These items need to be documented too.

Helicopter and homemade pinata
Guest gift
Gifts
In streamers

The bridesmaids and groomsmen

Probably the most important people in your life – as you’d want them right next to you for support as you make the biggest desicion of your life. Of course you’d want photos of them!

Bridesmaids
Bride and her bridesmaids
The Groomsmen
Bridal Party
bridal party near cart
Boys walking together

Parent’s first look

This is always a fun part of the day – perhaps geared more towards the bridal side of things, but it’s always nice to see the reaction on the faces of you parents once you’ve been dressed and are ready to make the plunge. It’s traditional for the father of the bride to not see the dress fitted on the bride until her wedding day, so it’s nice to get that reaction 🙂

Dad’s first look
Dad’s first look
Dad’s first look

Bridal approach

Running on from the father of the bride first seeing the bride once she’s fully dressed, it’s then tradition for them to walk together down the aisle towards the wedding ceremony. While weddings have evolved over the years and everyone does their own thing, this is possibly still the most followed tradition.

Bridal approach
Bridal approach
Bridal approach

Groom’s first look

Just as the father of the bride gets to see her all dressed up for the first time, then it’s the groom’s turn as they walk down the aisle. It’s always great fun to see how the groom will react! Sometimes they are smiling, others in tears, and occasionally they can only look everywhere BUT their bride! 😀

Groom’s first look
Groom’s first look
Groom’s first look
Groom’s first look

The venue

The venue is the backdrop to your entire day, and you’ve probably spent a fortune getting it to look exactly how you dreamed it would. It’s important to capture it just as it is on your day. WHo knows? perhaps you’ll revisit the spot in 50 years with your great grandkids and reminice with that photo in your hand?

Santorini Wedding Ceremony
Driving toward Chateau Tanunda
Coriole Winery Wedding
Alm tree arbour in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens

Emotion during the ceremony

Weddings are an emotional time in your life – the laughter, the tears and smiles are all moments pure of your feelings on the day, and during the ceremony you’re probably only thinking about the person you’re holding hands with! These photos are the type of shots that make you remember that moment in a way that you simply would not be able to otherwise.

Bride and Groom laughing
Smiling bride
smiling groom
Teary Bride

The first kiss

Perhaps the most traditional of traditional wedding photography – the first kiss. The first kiss symbolises your union as a married couple and marks the beginning of your life together. Although this doesnt happen at all ceremonies – in particular the Catholic tradition.

First kiss
First kiss
First kiss
First kiss
First Kiss

Emotion after the ceremony

These are the hugs and kisses, along with the exchanging of gift horse-shoes and knickknacks that guests would place on your arm, or your dress depending on your tradition. Your guests are these as you deemed them important enough in your life for you to invite, so having a photo of them showing actual emotion I feel is more imporatant than the usual ‘stare at the camera’ group shots you might usually get from your guests.

Greeting guests
Mum hugging bride
Hugging guests
Hugs
Hugs

The exit

The exit of the bride and groom as they walk back down the aisle can be one of the most iconic shots from your day, and it can also be a disaster 😛 It’s one of those shots on a wedding day everyone expects to get, but circumstances mean that it’s just not possible unless you make plans for it. Often it’s the case that guests will be swamping the bride and groom for hugs, which means that they are separated from one another when they should be together walking down the aisle. But all that being said, when it is planned and the flower petals are flowing, the shot can be spectacular.

bridal exit at st francis winery
Exit
Exit
Bridal exit
Walking back down the aisle

The ‘pin ups’

These are the shots you print and frame on your wall. The ‘money’ shots, or pinups – the reason why you chose your venue!

Santorini wedding photography
Under Semaphore Jetty
Lightning
Amongst the olive trees
floating veil

The bridal party

Usually around the same time as the ‘pin up’ shot we’d also do a nice bridal party shot with both sides of the aisle now together in a big group shot.

bridal party amongst trees
Bridal party
Bridal party
Bridal Party under a tree
Bridal Party
Bridal party walking about the Middleton Beach Huts

The elderly

The elderly members of your wedding congregation have seen you and your family members grow up – they know the hardships and challenges you’ve gone through to get to this point in life, and they would be feeling emotions within that simply cannot be explained unless you’re a grandparent or elderly youself. Weddings are about families coming together, and remembering who was there with you on your day. When you think about it that way, photos of your elderly guests can be most important wedding photos on a wedding day. The elderly with on on your day may not reach your 20th anniversary, so it’s really nice to have a nice photo of them happy to be at your wedding.

Dancing
Dancing
Drinking tea

The young ones

Similar to the elderly, the young ones probably wont remember that well what hapopened on your day, and from your perspective, it’s nice to have photos of them while they were still little and cute. Kids can really make a wedding day that much more special with them running about doing kids stuff, it’s nice to have them involved.

Kids dancing
Kids running around
Kids being cute
Little one’s tie
Flower Girl in Window
Page boy

The decor at the reception

Much like all the other stuff you’ve stressed over for the last 6 months, the decor at your reception is only going to be set up like this for your night, then will never look as good again – so I need a photo!

st francis winery wedding reception
Darwin Surf Club Wedding Reception
SC Pannell Wedding Reception Hall
Serafinos Wedding Reception
Mortlock library reception

The cake

The design of your wedding cake, and it’s topper represents your combined personalities and taste. It’s a beacon to your guests about how you guys see yourselves as a couple. And they also look amazing, so I need a photo 🙂

Wedding Cake
Wedding cake
Wedding cake
Cake in Olivers Chaff Shed reception hall
Wedding Cake

First Dance

The tradition of the first dance at a wedding dates back to the 16th century when aristocats of Europe would begin their party with a display of their finery by starting the dance before their guests. These days it’s because a romantic notion that the first dance represents the first steps along the life together as a married couple.

First dance
First dance
Serafinos Wedding First Dance
First dance at Mawson Lakes Hotel
First dance

Parents

Your parents have seen you grow up from a little baby to the person you are standing with your loved one on your day. The emotion they are feeling watching you get married can be overwhelming and having that captured in a photo is a treasure that cannot be reproduced.

proud mumma
Mum helping
Dad looking on
Dad looking on
Dad looking on
Smiling Mum

Silly photos

The silly photos are the ones you might have interspersed within your wedding albums simply to make you smile and remind yourself on why you married this wierd person sitting next to you. Weddings arent all about the formalities, it’s about fun, personality and making memories that last forever.

Silly girls
Star wars wedding at Auchendarroch House
Guys having fun
Having fun with the glasses
Laughing bridal party
laughing bride

This list is of course not an exhaustive list of the most important wedding photos on a wedding day, in fact while writing this blog I’ve thought of so many more and every wedding is different and other important photos can be taken! But hopefully this gives you a little idea on what are the most important wedding photos on a wedding day that I have experienced as a wedding photographer over the years!

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Having Kids at your wedding? Things to think about

Kids running around

Having kids at your wedding

Being a newly minted Dad, and a qualified primary school teacher, I know how it is having young children about, and when thinking about your own wedding day, chances are many of your guests will want to know if they can bring their kids, or if they are close enough to be a part of the bridal party. In my opionion, as a wedding photographer, kids can make for some of the most memoriable moments of your day, however as a Dad I know they can also be a huge pain in the bottocks! Having Kids at your wedding can both be super sute and awesome, while also being super tiring and annoying, really depends on the personalities of all involved when considering if you’d like to have kids at your wedding! I’ve put together a few pros and cons regarding having kids at your wedding!

Kids dancing
Page boy
Page boy

Pros

Awesome Photos!

Kids can be super cute and having them at a wedding can make everyone there just beam with smiles due to how cute they can be! Little suits on boys, flower girl dresses on little girls, they make for great moments in time and therefore amazing photos to treasure forever more. It can also make any otherwise (too) playful kids to feel important and have a job as part of the wedding.

Gets people on the dance floor

If you have the type of family who may not be super keen on the whole dance floor idea, just have a couple of kids at the reception and you’ll be sure to have it utlised! Kid’s confidence in dancing have not yet been smirched by years of embarresment yet, so they’ll be sure to jump up and dance their little hearts out and hopefully pull others up too!

Child like awe

Theres nothing like seeing a child all dressed up and excited to be a part of something as special as a wedding. Having kids at your wedding brings a sense of awe and childlike wonder to your day, Children have a way of making everything more fun, as this day will be a special one for them too! They have probably told their whole school and counted down the days; you can’t help but smile with them as you share their excitement.

Kids playing in veil
Running kids
Kids

Cons

Kids can be noisy

Unfortunately kids dont always know when to keep their mouths shut, or when to stand still and not bang those toys against the pews. There will be occasions where a baby will be crying, or otherwaise being distracting. Hopefully its not as you exchange your vows!

Higher costs

Accomodating for kids on a day that’s already quite expensive can make the day that much more expensive. You may need to shell out for entertainment, perhaps a nanny, or games to keep them busy, and you will also need to feed them which adds to the guest list. This is probably the biggest reason why some people disallow kids at their wedding!

Need to keep things PG

There wont be any dirty dancing, loud music or drinking as it’d be a bad influence and traumitising to fragile little minds. So if you’re planning that type of wedding, you may wish to reconsider having kids at your wedding.

Groom and baby
Baby

Some things to think about

I was kindly sent this funky infographic detailing some things to think about when considering having kids at your wedding from people at the Wedding Band Shop. Have a bit of a read and hopefulyl it’ll help you make a decision!

Kids at weddings

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How to keep your wedding photography safe

  • How to keep your wedding photography safe 1

How to keep your wedding photography safe

As a wedding photographer, I’m acutely aware that the wedding photographs I take and provide to you on your final USB may well be the only way you can reminisce about your wedding day, a year, decade or 50 years down the line. As such I’m keep to present this short guide on how to keep your wedding images safe from your special day for years to come. Losing or otherwise damaging your wedding photos is often a huge concern of wedded couples and can cause much grief if they truly are lost, but with some easy steps you’ll be able to avoid this heartbreak.

USB ribbon

Keeping data safe starts with your photographer

Before you consider booking in your wedding photographer or videographer, make sure they have a clear process for backing up and keeping their data safe. Any wedding photographers worth their salt will have their digital photos backed up and secured in multiple ways as they know that their livelihood and business depends on it. It should be the worst thing in the world for a wedding photographer to lose a wedding!

They should use multiple cameras on the day with possibly a third redundancy – preferably with dual memory card slots so they are backing up on the fly, they should also be able to describe exactly what they do with your data after your wedding to keep it safe.

What should you do once you receive your photos?

Copy everything on the USB you receive to your computer immediately. That way you’ll have a duplicate copy of all your memories straight off the bat. However, the expected life for an average computer’s hard drive is only 3-5 years, while a USB flash drive is expected to be anywhere between 5-10 years, which means that that USB drive is more likely to outlast you computer’s hard drive – which is one reason why it’s the current method of choice for photographers to provide your files.

Personally as a professional wedding photographer I keep an archival backup of all my work on two different physical hard drives both on site and offsite (in case of local disaster) Which means I have over 200 weddings backed up in duplicate at all times, While my most recent year’s work is further backed up on 3 further separate hard drives connected to my computer for editing.

But that’s just me, you only need to worry about your own wedding photos, so you can also keep multiple backups of your digital files like I do. But you can also take advantage of cloud based services such as Google drive, which is free to a point – you just need to take the time to upload the (rather substantial) size of your wedding USB. This is probably the most robust way to secure your digital files, but still isnt 100% perfect.

Framed Print

Print your photos

The absolute best way to keep your memories and wedding photography safe is simply to print your photos and display then on the wall, or in a wedding album. Just imagine 20-30 years in the future and you’re showing your children or grandkids your photos from your wedding and you whip out the USB drive you were given. They’re likely to laugh at the antiquated technology you have in your hand, and computer may not even have a USB drive that suits anymore. This would be like putting out a roll of film, or slides and firing up the slide projector.

It’s already happening with the recent shift to USB-C based technology rather than the more traditional rectangular USB2 or 3.  But with a wedding album, you will not have that issue with your precious memories. Books haven’t changed in hundreds of years and will last the test of time. Your grandkids will be flicking through the pages and laughing at your outdated haircuts and zany clothes choices – or your otherwiuse most precious moments in no time!

Premium Album

What can you do if you have lost your digital files?

Hopefully this never happens to you, but it’s just the unfortunate fact that technology does fail, and it’s no secret that hard drives in computers are often the most common thing to fail. So what can you do to keep your images safe?

First, contact your wedding photographer – if they are anything like me they’d have every photo they’ve ever taken backed up to wazoo like I do on multiple external hard drives in a fireproof safe and be able to send out a replacement copy ASAP. That said however many photographers only back up to a certain point – be it 1 to 5 years – so that may not be possible.

Damaged or lost files on a hard drive or SD cards can be recovered using certain backup softwares, or if that doesn’t work you can send the hard drive to professional data recovery centers that may cost quite a bit. Just make sure that once you have discovered that your photos have been lost you immediately remove the hard drive from your computer to prevent any data still on the drive being overwritten accidentally.

If your device has had water damage, immediately unplug the device and let it dry completely and you may be lucky with it coming back to life, otherwise a professional data recovery service may be your only option.