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Port Picture Co

Chloe & JoJo: stairs, salt air and lanterns at dusk

A coastal Port Macquarie wedding that moved from timber stairs to a windswept lookout and finished knee-deep in the ocean with lanterns as the light went.

Port Macquarie, NSW2 min read

Chloe and JoJo on the timber beach stairs in Port Macquarie

Some couples want a run sheet. Chloe and JoJo wanted the coast. When we first talked about their day, almost every idea started with the same place — the headlands, the beach stairs and the water — so we built the coverage around following the light along the shoreline rather than ticking off a list.

Groom lifting the bride on a coastal lookout with the ocean behind
The lookout, just after the ceremony, with the wind doing most of the styling.

Starting on the stairs

The weathered timber stairs above the beach became the first chapter. They are narrow, uneven and completely beautiful, and they slowed everything down in the best way. Between steps there was time for the quiet, unposed moments that end up being the favourites — a hand on a shoulder, a laugh at a missed step, the bouquet catching the light.

Couple sharing a kiss on cliffside stairs at Port Macquarie

Couple embracing beside a timber rail, bride holding a native bouquet
The stairs and the rail: two frames taken minutes apart.

Chloe's native bouquet deserves its own mention. Against the grey timber and the green of the headland it looked like it had grown there, and it pulled the whole palette of the day together.

Black and white detail of the bride resting her bouquet on a timber rail
Details in black and white let the textures do the talking.

Up on the headland

On the lookout the mood changed completely. Big sky, big wind and a lot of energy. JoJo lifted Chloe with the ocean stretched out behind them, and we switched to shooting wider so the landscape could carry some of the story.

Black and white portrait of the couple kissing on the lookout

Bride seated at the water's edge in soft light

The film

Lincoln filmed alongside the photography all day. The reel below is how the day moved — the sound of the wind on the lookout, the steps down to the sand, and the final walk into the water.

Chloe & JoJo — wedding reelPort Picture Co

Into the water

The last set was the one we had all been quietly looking forward to. As the sun dropped, Chloe and JoJo carried lanterns into the shallows. The water was cold, the dress got wet, and nobody cared. It is the frame that sums up the whole day: a little wild, completely them.

Groom lifting the bride on the sand as waves roll in

Couple embracing knee-deep in the ocean at dusk holding lanterns
Lanterns in the shallows as the light went.

They were super professional, friendly and made us feel so comfortable — the day flew and the photos are unreal.

— Chloe Davis

If you are planning a coastal wedding on the Mid North Coast and want your day told like this — photographs and film together, following the light — we would love to hear about it.

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