Sarah and Alex’s Dunbar House wedding was always going to be a cracker of a day. I enjoy weddings at Dunbar House (and similarly, weddings at Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel) because Dunbar House weddings combine a great location, lovely afternoon light, and nice ambience. In this blog post, I’m going to give you some tips that might be helpful to you if you are planning a Dunbar House wedding.
Sarah and Alex’s wedding started with the guys getting ready in Lillyfield, and the ladies having bridal preparation at the Watson’s Bay Boutique Hotel. Their ceremony was under the Fig tree at Dunbar House in some lovely afternoon light. Their wedding at Dunbar House continued into the night and was suuuuuuper fun.
A Photographers Tips on Planning a Wedding at Dunbar House in Watsons Bay
Here are my tips on planning your wedding at Dunbar House, or for that matter, a wedding at Watson’s Bay Boutique Hotel.
1. Plan for the wind. On almost every occasion that I have photographed weddings at Dunbar House or at Watsons’s Bay Boutique Hotel (which is next door), it has been windy. Don’t get me wrong – the wind can be an excellent assistant in wedding photos near Dunbar House, but sometimes the wind can be a real pain point for you as the bride. Sarah and her bridesmaids wore their hair up. This is a good option if you don’t want to worry about your hair in the wind. Having your hair in either a low or high bun keeps it neat and tidy all day.
2. Use the surroundings and go for a walk. There are some really lovely places to take wedding photos near Dunbar House. There are some obvious choices, including the Macquarie Lighthouse on Old South Head Road (but please refer to point #1 above), and also some cute little houses of all different pastel colours right in front of Watson’s Bay Boutique Hotel (which is where we photographed Alex and Sarah’s first look). Some of the below frames were captured along the waterfront, and also to the south of Dunbar House’s Fig tree (around a 5-minute walk along the water’s edge). There are some other places around, which are awesome, but I’ll save those for later discussions!
3. Make time to take some wedding photos at sunset. When I talk with my clients, I ALWAYS obtain the estimated sunset time for their wedding day. This is useful because it helps my clients to plan for some sunset wedding photos. Light is way more flattering either early in the morning or later in the afternoon, and we aim to capture some of this light in your wedding photographs. Combine this lovely light with point #2 above, and you can get some great wedding photos at Dunbar House. Here’s another hint: The Watson’s Bay Peninsula has a view back to the city, which is a westerly aspect, with the sun setting behind the city.
I hope this helps. Drop me a line if you would like some further tips.
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