olive & bean
- Mar 20, 2020

New Zealand Beach Elopement

Golden hour beach elopement or bridal portraits in New Zealand. Wild floral bouquet and flower crown paired with simple wedding dress.

As you may have heard I (Sarah) decided to leave Vancouver winter and head to the sunny Southern Hemisphere for 6 months in New Zealand. I had no idea what an adventure I’d end up in with everything happening in the world but here is where I started 2 months ago.

To kick off this new adventure I decided to reach out to some local creatives and put together a styled shoot. It was so fun to get to know some new people (who I got to know through Instagram) and make a little golden hour beach magic. This was styled to be a casual beach elopement or wedding portraits. I loved the simplicity of the dress for the bride as well as the warm tones of the florals. We absolutely lucked out with the golden hour light creating such a warm glow on everything. We always encourage our wedding couples to set aside a bit of time for some portraits of the two of them. Not only do you end up with some beautiful photos and memories but it’s also a great time to take a breath and just be with each other amidst a sometimes busy day.

Florals were done by the amazing women at Wild Blooms NZ - an East Auckland florist duo working on weddings, events, styling and installations. The bouquet and flower crown they put together were absolutely stunning. The colours and variety were exactly what I had been envisioning! I really hope to be able to create something amazing with them again in the future!

Make-up was done by Rose and Thorn SPFX. Rose typically works in special effects and themed make up, but we had so much fun coming up with an amazing bridal look. We wanted something natural and classic and it turned out beautifully.

I also got to shoot with the amazing Claudia Williams Photography. it was really fun to be able to bounce ideas back and forth and see how another photographer works and directs the couple. And yes if the couple goes in the ocean we usually end up in there too :P

The shoot location is one of my favourite beaches in New Zealand - Muriwai Beach. It's on the west coast of the north island near Auckland. The black sand, pale green grasses and clay cliffs were absolutely incredible in the golden hour light. There was also a super cute wooden life guard tower that we took some photos at. The best part was how empty it was! We came across a couple people here and there but basically had the beach to ourselves!

One of my favourite moments of the session was when Amy and Billy ran into the ocean and played and splashed around in the water as the sun turned golden and water lit up. Would you run into the ocean and play with your new husband or wife???