Campania, Italy
Destination Wedding photography in Amalfi Coast
Terraces cut into a cliff face, a thousand feet above the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Everything on this coast costs more time than it looks like it should, and a destination wedding here succeeds or fails on how honestly that is built into the day. The SS163 is one lane each way with hairpins and buses on it; a hundred guests moving from a church in Amalfi to a villa in Ravello is a forty-minute convoy in good conditions and considerably worse in August. We plan for fewer moves rather than more, and where a boat is faster than the road — which between Positano and Amalfi it usually is — we plan for the boat.
The compensation is a backdrop with no horizon clutter anywhere in it. A Ravello terrace sits a thousand feet above open sea, which means every portrait made there has nothing behind it but water and sky, and the light comes up off the Tyrrhenian as well as down from the sun. It is the cleanest wedding backdrop in Europe, and the only thing standing between you and it is a schedule that respects the road.
The light
Choosing a month in Amalfi Coast.
May to June
Lemon blossom, green hillsides and the clearest air of the year. Warm rather than hot, and less crowded than what follows.
July to August
Peak. Hot, very busy, hazy over the water, and a coast road that is genuinely difficult at the wrong hour.
September to early October
The best combination on the coast: warm sea, softening light, thinning crowds, and long amber evenings against the cliffs.
What has to be planned for
- The SS163 coast road is single-lane, slow and busy in season. Every transfer takes longer than it looks, and a schedule built on map distances will fail.
- Boat transfers between Positano, Amalfi and the villas are frequently faster than driving, and are sea-state dependent.
- Stairs are unavoidable. Many venues involve a hundred or more between the arrival point and the terrace.
- The cathedral steps in Amalfi are public and busy. The photographs there are wonderful and they are made among strangers.
The commission
- Coverage
- Two photographers, on site two days early, for the whole of the wedding day.
- From
- $22,000
Frames
From Amalfi Coast.
Questions
How much is a wedding photographer on the Amalfi Coast?
From $22,000 for a destination wedding commission: two photographers, two days on site beforehand and full coverage of the day. Travel is quoted at cost on top and itemised before anything is booked.
Ravello or Positano?
Ravello for the ceremony and the terraces — it is high, the views are enormous and the venues have room. Positano for the colour and the water, and for a guest list that can manage the stairs. Couples who want both should accept that one transfer between them will eat an hour of the day.
Can the whole day happen in one place?
It can, and on this coast we would usually advise it. Every move costs more time than anywhere else we work, and an hour in a minibus on the SS163 is an hour not spent photographing you.
How bad are the stairs, really?
At several venues, a hundred or more between the arrival point and the terrace. It is manageable and it is worth knowing in advance — both for the shoes and for the order we plan the portrait route in, which is downhill wherever the site allows.
When is the best month?
The second half of September. Warm sea, thinning crowds, long amber evenings against the cliffs and a coast road you can actually move on. May and early June are the other answer, greener and with the clearest air of the year.
Do you photograph from a boat?
Where the day already involves one, yes, and the coast from the water is a view your guests will not have. It is booked and timed in advance; a boat decided on at six in the evening is a boat that arrives after the light has gone.
Destination Wedding in Amalfi Coast?
Tell us the date and what you are planning. We reply personally, usually within two business days.