Port Stephens wedding photographer: Salt, sand and sunset
As a Port Stephens wedding photographer an hour up the road in Cooks Hill, we know these bays by which way they face.
That one fact decides where the sun sits in your photos, which beach stays calm in a southerly, and whether your sunset lands over the water or behind the hill.
Which way your beach faces
Port Stephens is a harbour with an ocean coast on its doorstep, so two beaches ten minutes apart can face opposite ways.
Pick a place: the needle swings to the way its shore looks out, against the two red lines where the sun sets at midsummer and at midwinter.
Faces northAcross the water all day
The marina and foreshore look north across the port to the hills on the far shore. In this part of the world the sun travels across the north, so it sits over the water through the middle of the day: we turn you round to put the bay behind you and let the light come over your shoulders.
The Nelson Bay guide
Faces north-westWinter sunsets over the port
A long curve of calm water inside Tomaree Head, facing up the port toward the entrance. The headland shelters it from southerly winds, and from May to August the sun goes down across the port in front of it.
The Shoal Bay guide
Faces westSunset over the water
A point of land reaching into the port west of Nelson Bay, with water on three sides. Its western shore faces close to where the sun sets for much of the year, so the light at the end of the day comes straight across the bay at you.
The Soldiers Point guide
Faces south-westSummer sunsets down the beach
Birubi Point, where Stockton Beach begins its long run south-west past the Worimi dunes. In summer the sun sets down the line of the beach, so the sand, the surf and the sunset all fit in one frame.
The Anna Bay guideWedding photography in Port Stephens, season by season
The bays here are busiest from Christmas to the end of January, when the foreshore fills with holiday crowds and every beach car park is full by ten. Weddings in those weeks work best early in the morning or late in the day, and on a weekday if you can.
Autumn is our pick: the water is still warm, the crowds have gone home, and the air is clear after the summer haze. Winter brings the whales past the heads and sunsets over the port from Shoal Bay. Spring is windier, with wildflowers on the headland walks and the light getting long again by October.
Wherever you marry, we'll come up a few weeks before to stand on the spot at the same time of day, so the plan is built on what the light actually does there, not on a guess.
Two we'd recommend
Both look out over the bay, one from the marina at Corlette and one from Soldiers Point.
Each page walks through the drive up, where the afternoon light lands and the corners we'd photograph you in.
Asked about the bays
Do you charge travel to Port Stephens?
No. Nelson Bay is about an hour from our studio in Cooks Hill, and Anna Bay, Shoal Bay and Soldiers Point are all within that, so there's no travel fee and no accommodation to add. If you'd like photos at sunrise the morning after, we'll drive up for that too.
Do we need permission to get married on the beach?
Usually, yes. A ceremony on a council beach or reserve needs a booking with Port Stephens Council, and anything on national park ground, such as Tomaree Head or the Worimi dunes, needs approval from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Apply early: approvals take time, and popular spots get booked for summer Saturdays.
Can we have photos on the sand dunes at Anna Bay?
Yes, and they're some of the most striking frames in the region. The dunes are within the Worimi Conservation Lands, managed jointly by the Worimi people and National Parks; driving on them needs a permit, and a commercial shoot needs NPWS consent, which we apply for. We walk in from Birubi Point, so wear shoes you can take off, and expect sand in everything.
Why book a Newcastle photographer for a Nelson Bay wedding, rather than one from Sydney?
Being an hour away means we can walk your venue and beach a few weeks before the day, and come back for the morning after, without charging you for flights or a hotel. It also means we've stood on these beaches in a southerly, and know which bays stay calm when the wind turns.
What about the wind on the day?
Plan for it. Coastal afternoons in summer often bring a sea breeze, and a southerly change can arrive with very little warning. Veils go everywhere, so a few clips sewn under the edge help; we choose a sheltered bay for the portraits if the wind turns, and some of our favourite frames are a veil caught sideways.
Will we see dolphins or whales?
Possibly. Bottlenose dolphins live in the port all year, and humpback whales pass the coast on their migration, roughly from May to November. We can't schedule either, but if they show up during the portraits we'll make sure they're in the frame.
Marry where the water turns gold.
Tell us the beach or bay you have in mind, and the month. We'll tell you which way it faces at that hour, whether we're free, and what we'd plan.
Newcastle ▸ Hunter Valley ▸ Port Stephens ▸ Central Coast