Sardinia Wedding Photography: Emerald Coast & Wild Interior

Sardinia is the Mediterranean's great secret — an island of astonishing natural beauty where the Emerald Coast has water of Caribbean clarity, where Nuragic Bronze Age towers stand in hills of wild rosemary and cistus, and where the rugged interior is as empty and ancient as anywhere in Europe. For destination wedding photography, Sardinia combines natural drama with a quality of light that is simply extraordinary.

The Emerald Coast — Costa Smeralda

The Costa Smeralda in northeastern Sardinia is one of Mediterranean Europe's most exclusive coastlines — turquoise and emerald water of extraordinary clarity, granite headlands, and white sand beaches surrounded by Mediterranean macchia. Porto Cervo and the surrounding coves attract the superyacht set, but even here the landscape overwhelms: the colour and clarity of the water at Cala di Volpe or La Celvia is simply magnificent. Elopement sessions on deserted Smeralda beaches at dawn produce some of the most luminous images I make.

Southern Sardinia — Villasimius and Chia

The southern coast has some of Italy's finest beaches — the lagoons and white sands of Chia, the pink flamingos at the Stagno di Notteri near Villasimius, and the crystal waters of the Capo Carbonara marine reserve. These less trafficked coastlines offer more solitude and, in late September, a quality of autumn Mediterranean light that the summer crowds never see.

Alghero and the historic towns

Alghero on the northwest coast — its old town surrounded by medieval walls on a promontory above the sea — has a Catalan character distinct from the rest of Italy. The coral-hued buildings of the old city, the Neptune Caves beyond the Capo Caccia cliffs, and the sunsets from the bastions give Alghero a strongly individual portrait character. Bosa, 50 kilometres south — its pink, yellow, and orange houses rising from the Temo river — is one of Sardinia's most picturesque small towns.