How does skipping the whole politics of planning a big wedding, and grabbing your nearest and dearest to witness your “I-Dos” in a cliff-top nuptial overlooking the stunning Lake Wanaka sound? Well that’s exactly what Alex & James did! They planned an epic Queenstown Elopement when they decided that they wanted their immediate family members to be standing right by their side, as they married each other whilst standing on top of the world! Alex & James chose a multi-day package – which included 3 x sessions (including the Wedding Day) to truly capture their story in their destination! I created this package, because I truly believe that the excitement of an elopement comes from the whole adventure of it, and just capturing your wedding day doesn’t quite capture the whole story! For their first session, we went exploring around Moke Lake, followed by burgers and beers at the famous Fergburger Queenstown. The following day, they invited me to join them and their family on a private wine tour (it’d be rude not to, right?) which was the perfect way to get everyone together to have a good time, and it also gave everyone a chance to get to know this random lady with a camera attached to her right hand! By the end of the tour, I truly just felt like another member of the family! By the time the Wedding Day came around, I had a great time capturing my newly adopted family (and all of that oozy love) as we were whisked away in 3 helicopters to witness Alex & James say “I Do” at the top of Coromandel Peak. What a ride! The weather was great, there was love in the air, and our cheeks were sore from smiling so much. Afterwards, we snuck off to the famous Lochnager to get some intimate portraits before meeting the family back at the famous Botswana Butchery for a beautiful banquet style dinner to finish off the day!

I am so grateful to these two lovebirds for trusting me to capture their adventure, their way! I just have such a gooey soft spot for Elopements & the untraditional and still pinching myself that I get to do this for my job!

Scroll down for a sneak peek of our 3 days together!

Enjoy
x

VENDORS //

MAKEUP & PHOTOGRAPHY: Nikita Pere
HAIR: Claire from Beautiful Bridal Hair 
VIDEO: Shot Over Wedding Films
FLORALS: The Vase – Gypsy West
DRESS: Isabella Longginou 
HELICOPTERS: Alpine Adventures 
CELEBRANT: Your Big Day (Charlotte Winkel) 
JEWELLERY: Molten Store // Brides Ring by Windfall Jewellery // Grooms Ring by Cartier

MULTI-DAY ELOPEMENT

DAY 1: MOKE LAKE & FERGBURGER ADVENTURE

A quick 20min drive out of Queenstown, and you get to the incredible Moke Lake. This little outback paradise is such a breathe of fresh air away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist hot-spot that is Queenstown. We didn’t really know what to expect out here, but the lighting was perfect (we missed Golden Hour because of those retched mountains, but it was still so beautiful to shoot in), the lake was still, and the friendly horses made our trip! Would love to head back out this way to do the Moke Lake Glamping which is perched on top of the hill overlooking the lake – the views would be spectacular!

QUEENSTOWN MULTI-DAY ELOPEMENT

DAY 2: FAMILY WINE TOUR

What a better way to loosen up the family, than forcing them all to go on a Wine Tour together? At the end of the day there were quite a few of us that went a little over the budget on purchasing some beautiful drops of Otago Pinot Noir! The South Island have the perfect conditions for Pinot grapes, which is right up my alley as I love a good red!

Stoneridge Estate Winery – www.stoneridge.co.nz

Gibbston Valley Winery – www.gibbstonvalley.com

Waitiri Creek Wines – www.waitiricreek.co.nz

Kinross Winery – www.kinrosswine.co.nz

QUEENSTOWN ELOPEMENT PHOTOGRAPHY

DAY 3: HELI-WEDDING AT COROMANDEL PEAK

One thing I noticed about shooting a destination wedding in Queenstown, is how tight-knit the Wedding community is over there! Each vendor would sing the praises of the others, and they all genuinely love working together. It was lovely to be a part of! And Alex really did hand-select all of the best vendors who worked together to make sure her perfect day ran smoothly! And what a perfect day it was. Even the weather turned it on! Apparently its very rare that it’s not either raining or overcast on Coromandel Peak, and these two were blessed with bright blue skies! Shoutout to Lee from Alpine Adventures for sorting out the logistics of balancing THREE helicopters on top of that peak so we could get everyone up there safely!