A game reserve wedding is truly one of my favourite things to photograph. Josephine and Sammy’s destination wedding was an entire day of pure joy! With the safari wedding of their dreams in sight, these two Irish lovebirds headed over to South Africa for their destination wedding. This is a celebration of their wedding, complete with stories about the coolest moments, and some insight into timing the couple photos for your own game reserve/safari wedding. Enjoy it!

Lalibela: A Stunning Game Reserve Wedding Venue

The Lalibela Game Reserve spans 10,500 hectares and is home to the Big 5 (lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and leopard). They also have other predators such as, cheetah, brown hyena, jackal & caracal. Lalibela is such a gorgeous safari wedding venue. I am always impressed by the team and the lengths they go to for their wedding clients!

There are so many incredible animals within the reserve. As always, the predators dictate the set-up logistics on a wedding day (safety first)! So the team at Lalibela took control when deciding on the set-up location for this beautiful game reserve wedding ceremony. They carefully tracked all the animals and made sure it was safe for the wedding party.

Safari Wedding Prep and Slow Jams

Josephine was having her make-up done and getting BEYOND excited about slipping into her stunning 3/4 length wedding dress. Sammy was just a few rooms down suiting up. It is amazing how some things just stick in your brain – like the moment I entered the guys room and was greeted with the happiest smile and the coolest playlist. It was one filled with old-school soulful songs to cut through the nerves. And it wasn’t very long before I nicknamed Sammy Slow-Jam Sam haha! Perfectly apt! It felt like the three of us had known each other for ages (we connected on social media way back when they booked their wedding photography with me) so the natural progression of the day was so easy and HAPPY!

A Game Reserve Wedding Ceremony

Just like that, it was time for us to hop into the Lalibela game drive vehicles and head off to Jo and Sam’s ceremony! We wound our way deep into the game reserve. Finally it appeared in front of us: the perfect safari wedding ceremony set-up on the open African plains. Absolutely gorgeous! Simple, with an incredible backdrop, next to a picturesque tree. It was everything that Jo and Sam wanted for their destination game reserve wedding.

Timing Couple Photos at a Game Reserve Wedding

One of the things I get asked most often: when should we schedule couple photos at our safari wedding? (And I know I say this a lot, but I’ll say it again). If you want to flow through all the parts of your wedding day with ease, then it’s SUPER important to choose a great photographer. One who is able to confidently guide clients and communicate any change of plans with organisers. Someone who can quickly come up with a few solutions depending on variables. One thing a game reserve wedding has a lot of, is variables (animals, mud, extreme lighting conditions, wind, rain, and logistical challenges).

For game reserve weddings I personally do a few things to create flow, because 9/10 times, scheduling a traditional couple photo ‘slot’ doesn’t work:

My clients always decide what they want to do after their game reserve wedding ceremony:

If my clients want to head straight through to canapés or go back to the lodge for a meal then we’ll schedule the ceremony a little earlier and make sure they have plenty of time to mingle, chat and eat before photos. I also look ahead to find out whether they are going to take guests on a game drive so that we can schedule in their photoshoot with optimal light, but still not making them miss out on any activities. We can also combine the game drive with photos. The game drive ALWAYS coincides with best light of the day… sunset.

I make time for wedding couple photos EVERYWHERE:

One thing I routinely do (for all my weddings, even if there is an allocated photo slot) is to take extra couple photos in short bursts. Beautiful ceremony location? We take a few photos. Heading back to the lodge and see something amazing? Stop to take a few photos. Gorgeous lodge? Let’s take a few photos. Beautiful view/ light/ animals popping out at any time? Now is the time for a few photos. What this creates is a pressure-free journey for my clients. And it gives them a lot more images without compromising their time with guests.

We try get our own vehicle:

I usually ask the organising team to have a game vehicle exclusively available for my clients and I after a game reserve wedding ceremony. This might mean that we have to wait a bit whilst guests are dropped off. However, we get to snap a few couple images so the short wait becomes really fun (and productive). Importantly, it means my client’s own journey to their next destination becomes a lot more special. The wedding couple are able to take a little time out after their ceremony to be together and breathe. They can take care-free images away from the eyes of guests who would otherwise be on the same vehicle. Plus they get to enjoy every second of getting to call each other ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ (such a vibe! The happy claps that go with them saying it for the first time will never get old!)

So, the answer to the question is… Every wedding is totally different! Although we aim for that sweet golden sunlight at sunset, your photographer will be able to guide you lovingly to a place where you can have it all. Even when the afternoon weather turns like it did on Jo and Sam’s wedding day. They still had it all because their photographer was ace hahaha 🙂

A huge thank you to the team at Lalibela Game Reserve for looking after us so well!

And if you loved this post, then here are two more articles to help you on your journey: