Artistique Photography by Nicolette
Planning your Outdoor Wedding
These days most of the weddings I photograph are either at the beach or in a garden / park setting. An outdoor wedding offers more flexibility than church weddings as you can select your favourite beach, park or garden, and the Central Coast NSW, has many beautiful beaches to choose from. I got married just 3 years ago on the beautiful Toowoon Bay Beach. When considering a beach wedding there are a few things you need to consider:
- You need to consult with your local Council for permission for your beach wedding to take place. Often your marriage celebrant will do this for you.
- Check the tide times and I always take a tide chart to a meeting with a bride and groom planning a beach wedding. After all, you don't want a narrow beach and high tide to coincide with your ceremony and photographs.
- Footwear: High heel shoes are not practical on the beach and you will find my "Link" tab on my website (www.artistiquephotographybynicolette.com.au) has a link to "Fancy Free Feet", which is for bare feet on the beach with a simple ribbon decoration (as per the photograph of me at my own wedding below). Remember to remind your guests that high heels are not suitable and consideration for prams and wheelchairs as well.
- Weather: You also need to take into account that the weather may change, so always have a back up venue and a quick way of notifying guests at short notice. Umbrellas are of course a good idea and I have a wide selection of colourful wedding umbrellas for the bridal party, but these are mostly used as props.
- A garden or beach wedding is certainly worth considering and what I personally like about it is we can go back to our special spot on the sand whenever we want to!
