Lovedale wedding photographer: Paddocks and open sky
If you're looking for a Lovedale wedding photographer, we're in Cooks Hill, and Lovedale is one of the easier Hunter drives from Newcastle: up the Hunter Expressway to the Lovedale Road exit. It's the farming side of the wine country, a few kilometres east of Pokolbin, where vineyards share the land with grazing paddocks and the roads are quiet enough to hear the birds.
Why a Lovedale wedding photographer takes it slowly
Lovedale is low, open country where the sky does most of the work, and the best photographs here let it fill half the frame.
Settlers took up land along Black Creek in the 1820s, and the district grew wheat and ran stock before grapes took over later in the century.
You can still read that history in the land: fence lines, old sheds, hay paddocks and dams sit between the vineyards.
Lovedale Road runs through the middle of it, Wilderness Road meets it, and Cessnock Airport is a few minutes away, so the odd light plane crosses the evening sky.
Venues tend to sit well back on big blocks, which leaves room to walk out from the reception into open ground.
Three stretches of Lovedale worth the walk
Lovedale Road
The main road through the district, winding past vineyards, paddocks edged with gums, and farm gates.
The low rises along it give long views west toward the hills, and its gentle curves let one frame hold the road, the vines and the ridges together. We work from verges and venue land, well clear of traffic.
Wilderness Road
A long rural road off Lovedale Road, lined with small vineyards, cottages and open paddocks.
Traffic is light, many of the fences and gateways are old timber, and the land opens out wide on either side, which suits the small-figure, big-landscape portraits Lovedale does well.
Majors Lane
A side road with vineyards and cellar doors along it, quieter again than the main roads.
It's a good place for an unhurried walk with the vines close by, and anything past a fence line is arranged with the grower first rather than taken on the day.
Lovedale is gently rolling and well out from the Brokenback Range, so the sun stays up longer in the evening here than it does in vineyards tucked under the hills.
The paddocks catch the low light right across the ground, turning dry summer grass the colour of straw and lighting up the seed heads behind you.
Autumn evenings are often still and clear, and after sunset the sky over the open country can hold its colour for a good twenty minutes.
What couples ask us about Lovedale
Will planes from Cessnock Airport be overhead during the ceremony?
Now and then a light aircraft or a scenic flight passes over, as the airfield is close by. They're brief and rarely loud enough to drown out vows, though a celebrant with a microphone helps. We don't plan around them, and a small plane against an evening sky can make a lovely frame.
Is Lovedale good for a small wedding or an elopement?
It's one of the best parts of the Hunter for it. The quiet roads and open paddocks mean two people and a celebrant can find a spot that feels private, and there's room to walk a long way out for the wide frames. Settle the place with your celebrant and the landholder first, and we'll help you find one.
What happens in Lovedale on the Long Lunch weekend?
The Lovedale Long Lunch is a two-day food and wine festival held in May, and it brings a lot of extra visitors and traffic to the district. If your date falls on it, book accommodation early, allow more time on Lovedale Road and ask whether your venue is taking part. We plan the portraits on quieter ground.
Do the wide open shots work if we're not into posing?
They suit people who dislike posing better than anything. In Lovedale we often step back a long way and let the two of you walk, talk and stop where you like, with the paddock and the sky doing the work. Nobody feels watched from a hundred metres away, so you relax without trying.
Can we have photos with hay bales or old farm machinery?
Only where the farmer says yes. Lovedale is still working country in places, and round bales in a cut paddock or an old tractor by a shed make good props in late summer. They belong to someone, so we ask the landholder or your venue first, and we never climb on stacked bales.
What should we wear for photos in long grass and paddocks?
Something you can walk in. A long dress picks up seeds and grass heads, so a quick shake and a lint roller before the reception helps. Block heels or flats beat stilettos on soft ground, and in the warmer months a little insect repellent before the walk saves itchy ankles in the pictures.
Leave room for the sky.
Tell us your Lovedale venue and roughly when you'd like to marry. We'll plan an evening walk into open ground with the hills behind you.
Newcastle ▸ Hunter Valley ▸ Port Stephens ▸ Central Coast