Spectacular Hawkes Bay Winery Wedding in New Zealand by Golden Hour Studios

Today’s location is nothing short of drop dead spec-TAC-ular. We’re heading for the hills, or more specifically, the beautiful rocky peaks of New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay. NZ’s south island often gets all the glory as the more scenic island – and if you’ve ever seen the likes of Lake Wanaka or Queenstown, you’ll understand why . . . – but today’s backdrop on the north island is every inch as stunning. Destination weddings are all about the scenery, and we certainly have that box ticked today! Fiona and Karl put their total trust in photographer, Jesse of New York’s Golden Hour Studios, and I think you’ll agree that the results are pretty amazing. Keep your eye out for the moment when a perfect ray of sunshine beams straight down from the clouds onto the bride. If this blog post had sound, I swear that you’d hear a choir of angles singing right about then!!

From the Photographer: After my near 30 hours of straight travel, Fiona & Karl picked me up from the airport. We immediately set out to tour around the Hawkes Bay area in search of locations to do photos on their wedding day. As we drove closer to their venue, I spotted an incredible mountain backdrop called Craggy Range and knew immediately I had to make photos there with them. We quickly realized there was one problem. The land I wanted to shoot on was owned by a family of sheep farmers. I thought that was the end of the plan until Karl insisted we drive up to the family’s home to ask if it was possible to shoot some photos during their wedding. In classic Kiwi fashion, not only did the family welcome us onto their property, but they drove us around in their own truck so that I could pick out the perfect spot. What I loved most about this what that we would be able to make truly one-of-a-kind pictures where no one else has. And when the time came to shoot during their wedding, we had some of the most incredible light I have ever seen. Working with Fiona & Karl was a dream for me as a photographer. They left every decision regarding photos up to me and what I thought would be best. Fiona wound up wearing sneakers most of the day because of all the climbing I had them do on Te Mata Peak. Highly recommended to future adventurous brides! They even let me decide where exactly they should hold their ceremony at the Black Barn River Room which turned out to be another amazing decision because we had a breathtaking sunset as they became man and wife.

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