Sydney Opera House · Bennelong Point, Sydney NSW
Destination Pre-Wedding · Region: NSW - Sydney CBD · City: Sydney · Venue: Sydney Opera House
Pierre swept Jeannette off her feet on a street in The Rocks while she was still in a red dress. Then the veil went on, and the white shells of the Sydney Opera House floated behind them across the water. Later came high kicks on the sandstone at La Perouse and a passing ferry at Bradleys Head. This is their whole session, every stop in order, sitting beside our featured edit.
Red dress in The Rocks · The sails across the harbour · Harbour wall under the bridge · Cliff edge at Cape Banks · Ferry and jetty at Bradleys Head
We began Jeannette and Pierre’s session before the gown came out, walking a street in The Rocks with the Harbour Bridge rising over the trees at the end of it. Jeannette wore a red dress and ankle boots, and Pierre scooped her up and carried her down the road, both of them laughing. We stood back across the street so the bridge filled the background behind them. A big, silly lift in the first few minutes is one of our favourite ways to loosen a couple up. Nobody poses while they are being carried.
Gown and veil on, we found a sandstone wall with the Sydney Opera House across the water. The breeze lifted the veil straight across the lens, so we let it: the white shells sat soft behind the tulle while Pierre leaned in and kissed Jeannette’s cheek. Then they sat together on the wall, heads touching, her white bouquet in her hands. This is the frame most couples picture when they ask us for Sydney Opera House pre-wedding photos. A longer lens pulls the shells in close, so they read big behind you.
Under the bridge, Pierre could not resist the harbour wall. He leapt along the top of the sandstone, bent double mid-stride, while Jeannette held her veil and laughed beside him. We kept them walking along the waterfront path, the veil streaming behind and the bridge’s steel arching overhead. Then we stepped well back for a black and white frame of the two of them walking over a zebra crossing beneath the bridge approach, brick warehouses beside them. A wide frame with small figures shows where you were, which matters on a day with this many stops.
Out at Cape Banks the sandstone breaks into overhangs above the swell, and we went for scale. From a neighbouring ledge we framed Jeannette and Pierre small on top of a jutting shelf, Pierre sitting while she stood with her veil lifting. Then the mood flipped. Barefoot on the rock, Pierre kicked one leg up as if he were dancing, Jeannette laughing beside him, and a moment later he dipped her low over the stone. From higher up we looked down on them with green water swirling below. Give a couple a silly move and the real smiles follow.
We ended on the north side of the harbour at Bradleys Head, where the Opera House and the bridge line up side by side. Jeannette and Pierre walked the water’s edge with the veil trailing, and as they stood on the old stone wall a green and cream ferry slid past behind them while a few drops of rain landed on our lens. On the jetty, a few locals stood at the far end, and we kept them in for scale. Our featured edit of the session, with the market kiss and the veil finale, has its own page.
For Jeannette and Pierre the building was a backdrop seen across the water rather than a place to stand. The session opened in The Rocks with a red dress, sandstone stairs and a market street, then the gown and veil went on for the harbour wall with the shells across Sydney Cove. After the walk under the bridge we headed out to Cape Banks at La Perouse for the cliffs, and finished at Bradleys Head, where the Opera House and the bridge sit side by side.
The day was grey and breezy from start to finish, and the wind became part of the session. It caught the veil at the harbour wall and on the cliff tops, sending it out over the water in long sweeps, while the cloud kept the white shells and the white gown from glaring against each other. At Bradleys Head a few drops of rain landed on the lens as a ferry passed, and right at the end a hazy sun glowed over the harbour for our softest close frames under the veil.
At the harbour wall we kept our distance and zoomed in, which stacks the shells up behind the couple even though the building is well across the cove. On the overhangs at Cape Banks we split our time between a neighbouring ledge, which kept them small against the rock and swell, and a higher shelf looking down onto green water. At Bradleys Head we worked along the old stone edge so the city, the bridge and passing boats lined up behind them, and waited each time for a ferry or a yacht to cross.
Start in an everyday outfit before the gown, as Jeannette did with her red dress; it gives you a second look and eases you both in. If the forecast is breezy, choose a long, light veil and let it fly rather than fighting it. Jeannette and Pierre went barefoot on the rock at Cape Banks, which made the playful moves easy, so a small bag for shoes is handy. And leave a little slack in the plan for harbour traffic, because a passing ferry gives the frame its sense of place.