South Australian Museum Weddings
Vows under an 1850s stone staircase, then a party on the lawns behind North Terrace.
The South Australian Museum sits on North Terrace in the heart of Adelaide, beside the State Library and the Art Gallery. Behind its main building is a hidden heritage quarter: the former Police Barracks of 1851 and the Armoury of 1854, built in limestone with red-brick dressings and a slate roof, with the twin external staircase added in 1857. Ceremonies run in the courtyard, with the stone staircase or the old stable walls behind the couple, and receptions take over the lawns inside the stone archway and wrought-iron gates, open air or under a marquee.
We photographed Sarah and Joe’s heritage wedding here: vows on the red-brick path under the Armoury’s twin staircase, champagne and beers in the courtyard, a second-dress entrance through the Gothic archway and a dance floor that kept going under a fairy-lit clear marquee.
Photographing a wedding at the South Australian Museum
The courtyard is enclosed by sandstone, red brick and red pavers, so afternoon sun bounces warm light back into faces and the old walls glow. Keep the couple out of the hard shadows thrown by the staircase, and use the archway, the leadlight windows and the top of the stairs for portraits without leaving the grounds. After dark the verandah lights, the lit Armoury and a fairy-lit marquee carry the night photos.