About Photoshoots at Lake Tekapo
Lake Tekapo has been a very popular destination for Pre-Wedding Shoots, and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic our customers from overseas were keeping us very busy, going to Tekapo up to 4 times a week.
Tekapo has been a popular destination because:
- It was trendy up to 2019
- People want to take photos with the lupins
- People want to take photos with the famous Church of the Good Shepherd
- People want to stop by on the way, at the famous tree at Lake Wanaka, as well as Mt Cook
- People want to visit Mt John for its famous views of Lake Tekapo
As of 2020 however, we can no longer recommend doing 2-day trips to Lake Tekapo for a multitude of reasons.
- No Lupins reason #1: The local council is using weed-spray to kill off the lupins.
- No Lupins reason #2: Severe flooding in December 2019 killed off most lupins by the lakeside.
- No church: The Church of the Good Shepherd no longer accepts bookings for photoshoots and weddings – it’s a place of worship after all, and they’ve made enough money for the last 30+ years.
- No Mt John access: Mt John has banned wedding photography.
- Only one local Makeup Artist: You will have to hire a makeup artist from out of town.
- No backup option if it rains, otherwise you will have to pay for extra nights of accommodation & the photographer/makeup artist’s fees.
- Too many tourists on the way to Tekapo.
Instead of going all the way to Lake Tekapo, we recommend shooting around Queenstown, Wanaka and Glenorchy with a chartered Helicopter. We have many good reasons to recommend this over Tekapo:
- Less travelling & fatigue: A few mins of driving + flying on the helicopter in Queenstown, instead of driving for over 600km around the mountains just to get to a few similar looking lakes on the way to Tekapo.
- Queenstown, Wanaka and Glenorchy gets lupins too during summer between mid-November and early-January.
- Much more stunning landscapes up on the mountain tops.
- No tourists on the mountain top.
- Beautiful starry night shots without driving all the way to Tekapo.
- Easy to re-schedule for weather changes.
- Much bigger selection of Wedding Vendors such as Makeup Artists, Florists, Celebrants, Dress Rentals etc that can work as back-up options in the case of any emergency.
Scroll down for our Queenstown Heli-Wedding Portfolio