PhotoMiyajima · Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture

Pre-wedding photoshoot in Miyajima

In short

A pre-wedding photoshoot on Miyajima costs $800 for 30 minutes in one outfit at one tide. You receive 15 edited photos, 5 with detailed retouching, within 7 days. Outfit changes and the second tide are added at $150 per extra hour; we then choose a date whose tides give both the walk-out and the floating torii, and arrange a room to change in. The shrine application is filed in advance either way.

Starting from: $800
Duration: 30 min
Edited photos: 15

Why here

Why choose Pre-wedding photoshoot in Miyajima?

A pre-wedding shoot is the one booking that can stretch to catch both faces of the Otorii. The base thirty minutes, set against the tide table, is one of them — usually the gown on the sand at the torii’s base as the water drops; with extra hours, the day can run on to a second outfit by the shore as the water returns. The shrine itself needs an application for wedding photography, so we file that weeks ahead and plan the day around what it allows.

How the shoot is planned

How a session in Miyajima is planned

The route

The base thirty minutes is the walk-out: in the gown, we walk the waterfront to the stone lanterns and down onto the sand; the train is lifted over the pools, and the wide frames put the two of you small under the torii with the shrine behind. With extra hours, the day starts earlier in a ryokan room on the island, booked as the changing base, and after the sand we return to change — kimono, or a suit and second dress. As the tide rises, the second look is shot from the shore and, if the application is approved, at the shrine’s approach, with the corridors filling with water behind you. The last of the extra time goes to the pagoda lane and the shore at sunset, and if you stay the night, the torii is lit after dark until about 23:00.

The timing

For both tides, the best dates have a low tide in the late morning and a high tide towards sunset, which happens a few times each month; we send you a shortlist when you enquire. Late March to early April adds blossom near the pagoda, and mid to late November adds maples but the heaviest crowds. Winter is mild, quiet and clear, with sunset behind the torii from the shrine side. Avoid the rainy season from June to mid-July for a white gown on wet sand, and book three to six months ahead for spring or autumn so the shrine application and a ryokan room are in place.

What’s included

What Pre-wedding photoshoot in Miyajima includes

In the package

15 edited photos, 5 with detailed retouching
Location plan, with venue applications filed in advance
Outfit changes with extra hours, with a place to change arranged
Private online gallery within 7 days

Fees and permits on the route

Itsukushima Shrine corridors: About ¥300 per adult; no tripods
Mt Misen via the Miyajima Ropeway: Ropeway about ¥2,000 return; 20–30 minute walk to the summit
Five-storey pagoda and Senjokaku: Pagoda exterior free; Senjokaku hall a small fee

Book online

Inspiration

Pre-wedding photoshoot: ideas for your shoot

Frames by photographers on Unsplash, credited below — the mood to plan your own shoot against, not our portfolio.

Photos: Yanhao Fang, Nichika Sakurai, Elist Nguyen, Sir. Simo, Svetlana Gumerova on Unsplash

Before you book

FAQ — Pre-wedding photoshoot in Miyajima

Does Itsukushima Shrine allow pre-wedding photography?

Inside the corridors only with a prior application, and the shrine sets the conditions, including whether a white gown is accepted. The shore, the sand and the torii’s base are outside that, and they carry most of the session either way.

Will a long train survive the wet sand?

It will get damp at the hem. Choose a train you can lift and carry, or a gown you do not mind cleaning; rented gowns may carry a cleaning charge. We bring towels and a ground sheet, and the gown goes on the sand only for the frames.

What does the Miyajima pre-wedding package include?

$800 covers 30 minutes in one outfit, venue applications filed for you, and 15 edited photos — 5 with detailed retouching — within 7 days. Outfit changes, with a place to change arranged, are added at $150 per extra hour. The ryokan room, shrine fees and hair and makeup ($100 add-on) are separate.

Can we have a Mandarin-speaking team on the island?

Yes, with the Mandarin-speaking assistant add-on at $70. The whole day can be planned with us in Chinese over WeChat, including the tide shortlist and the shrine’s conditions.

Same shoot elsewhere