As you head into the final weeks before your wedding, one of the things you’ll inevitably need to tick off your to-do list is preparing a thoughtful shot list for your photographer. The pros obviously know what they’re doing, they’ve done this quite a few times before. But it’s an exercise that helps everyone get on the same page – and most importantly, it gives your shutterbug some guidance on the shots you want, need, haveeee to have on your wedding day.

Thankfully, your venue usually has several hot spot scenes that you’ll remember from your first tour(s) of the space: the ones that if you didn’t have any pics with/in front of them, did the wedding even happen? (Yes, of course it did, but iconic photo opportunities are everything – they’re one of the reasons you picked your venue!).

At Leonard’s Palazzo, we work with an amazing team of preferred photography vendors who are familiar with our trifecta of to-die-for photo areas. They have a killer sense for posing our couples in the pictures and making them look unforced and utterly beautiful. Yet, even if you on-board someone else to shoot your special day, if they hail from the North Shore’s Gold Coast, or at least nearby, all they’ll need to do is take a look at our Instagram page to see what magic unfolds on our grounds. They’ll see right away that we have three iconic spots to stage those snapshots.

In front of the building
We won’t brag, but we make a pretty stunning first impression with our palatial entrance. The fountain, the columns, the glass windows, they all work for perfect staging areas. And no pictures that we’ve seen of our hero photo hangouts look the same, either, because our couples, with their photographers, make it their own. Whether you want a shot standing next to our fountain, right outside the venue (posed with your sweet vintage ride), or artfully taken from outside at night, while you’re silhouetted on our staircase inside, you can do it. And it’ll look phenomenal!

In our gazebo
When have you seen a gazebo capture that wasn’t completely captivating? Even the candids are magical! Our wrought iron gazebo has great character, and it stuns in photos, especially at dusk and even later into the night, when our private garden is lit up and the natural beauty of the setting + the illuminated metallics on our petite pavillion just sing. We love this shot when it’s saved for one of the last of the evening. When our couples are beat from all the dancing and partying, and just need to sneak away for a special moment together – to rest their tired feet and share some secret smooches with their S.O.  

Under our chandelier
This is actually a two-fold opportunity, because the chandelier is enchanting on its own, but the staircase wrapped around it is just as mesmerizing. What we love about this vignette the most is that it is so versatile. Our brides love taking photos here while they ascend the stairs, with their dress skirts (and veils, definitely their cathedral-length veils!) fanned out behind them. We also see flawless first looks here, Cinderella/fairy tale-seeming, for sure. And one of our favorite photos of all time was taken from a creative, aerial view. With this, you saw the hanging crystals on the chandelier, the round and round spiraling of the staircase with a fountain at the bottom, and a gorgeous glance at our foregrounds beneath the glass windows.

And while we specialize in weddings with limitless wow-factor (incredible floral installations, sublimely-styled sweetheart tables, etc.), these iconic spots at Leonard’s Palazzo need no help to look incredible. They just add that much more sparkle to a newlywed couple’s shine!