When Chris and I were planning our destination wedding in Austin, TX, we decided to do a Honeymoon fund through Zola instead of having guests give us gifts. We had been together for 8 years and just didn’t need much - plus what we really wanted was to have an amazing honeymoon experience rather than collect more things for our home.

Another obstacle around gift-giving was that we were having a destination wedding away from our home in Denver, it would have been bananas trying to get things on a plane back home with us. Especially since we already had a ton of decoration and wine we had to lug back with us.

So virtual gifts just made sense for us!

But we realized that not everyone feels comfortable handing over money for a wedding gift so we made the registry items on our Zola registry super tangible. We decided to have all kinds of experiences such as stand-up paddleboarding sessions, sunset cocktails on the beach, snorkeling trips, coffee and meals, massages, etc.

Then we threw in some other bonus things we wanted for our trip like luggage, a waterproof speaker and sunglasses. We tried to keep it all themed around our tropical honeymoon. 

That’s when I discovered FLYTOGRAPHER through Zola!! << Grab my Flytographer discount code and get $25 off your first shoot >>

What is Flytographer you ask? 

Flytographer is a service that connects you with photographers in 300 cities all over the world so you can get a special photoshoot with your travel partner, family or by yourself to create unforgettable memories of your vacation. 

I was immediately intrigued! I love having special memories captured with Chris (because he is just so dang good looking! 😘) and I love to have photos for keepsakes. So this seemed awesome! Plus when you are on a couples vacation, sometimes it is hard to get great photos taken together when you have to ask random strangers to take your photo all the time.

How I decided Flytographer was the right choice for us before booking.

The first thing I did was check out several potential honeymoon locations that we had dreamed up such as Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Mexico to make sure that they had photographers in those locations.

Then, I stalked several photographer’s photos to see if I even liked their photography style. What I’ve learned through hiring photographers for engagement, wedding and business shoots is that you have to really like that person’s photography style because those will be your forever memories - not to mention that you don’t want to waste your hard-earned money and time on photos only to end up hating them!

It turned out that Flytographer had some really talented people in their network. So I was happy to add this super unique experience to our Zola Honeymoon fund! 

Flytographer sessions offer anywhere from 30 minutes to 2-hour photoshoots, so I registered for the Subtle Chronicler: 60-Minute Session because I know how fast time flies during a photoshoot and I didn’t want to feel rushed.

How to set up your Flytographer.

Research photographers local to your vacation destination on the Flytographer website: So fast forward 1 year and 2 months after our wedding when we were laying down the final plans for our Thailand honeymoon. I logged onto the website and looked up ‘Thailand Flytographers’ to see what our options were on the different islands we would be visiting.

There weren’t a ton of options but I noticed that one photographer named Immanuel was available in Bangkok and Koh Samui Island which was our first stop after we left Bangkok. I liked his photography style and also did a little photographer stalking on Instagram using the #flytographerthailand hashtag. I decided he was the perfect choice!

Next, fill out the availability form to see if our Flytographer choice could accommodate our dates: At this point, we were about a month and a half out from our trip and still finalizing plans but I knew 2 dates that I thought would work well for us. I sent those dates along as well as our hotel location and information about what we were looking for in a shoot.

Shortly after filling out the availability form, I was contacted by our own personal shoot concierge who facilitated communication between Immanuel and I. The concierge was super helpful and had loads of tips for us right away. She always set expectations on how long we could expect to hear back from Immanuel so we were never in the dark. Immanuel got back to us the very next day with his availability and several of great tips for our shoot.


Book your shoot: Now that I had his availability confirmed, I went to Zola and requested to cash in on our gift certificate so I could book the shoot. If you book directly through the Flytographer website and didn’t go through Zola, then you will just purchase through the sales page as normal. Zola sent me a redemption code which I just entered at checkout and was all very easy.

Set up details for your photo session: Once I booked and it was confirmed, I got an email giving me the next steps which were:

(1) Choose a route for the shoot from the local suggestions given by the Flytographer. Immanuel suggested meeting at our hotel, take photos by the rocks, the beach and also a lookout point that was just up the road from our hotel. I also wanted to shoot some photos by our private oceanside infinity pool outside of our room because it was AMAZING and also by the amazing palms that lined the walkway of our hotel.

(2) Choose the meeting spot and time based on the tips that your Flytographer tells you. Immanuel suggested that we do an early morning shoot just after sunset because it wouldn’t be very hot then plus the beach would still be pretty quiet OR he suggested an early evening shoot around 4:30.

(3) Approve your game plan once you’ve all decided on the shoot details.

Get ready to get your photoshoot on!!

My Thailand Flytographer Review:

Was Flytographer worth it? Heck yes, it was and we would do it all over again! What is not to love about having a destination photographer create the most incredible memories to keep with you and cherish from an unforgettable trip, especially your honeymoon!

Flytographer was amazing from start to finish the setup was seamless and everyone was incredibly professional. We never felt in the dark about our photo session and also liked the security of knowing we were getting exactly what we paid for. No surprises!

During our 1-hour Flytographer shoot in Koh Samui, Thailand, Immanuel went above and beyond to make our shoot was perfect and that he got the best shots. He was very flexible, he met us at our hotel and took shots of us there by our private infinity pool, around the hotel, and drove us to a private beach and a lookout point. He didn’t have any issues with any of our location requests and made amazing local shoot suggestions that we would have never known about on our own.

Immanuel was so fun to talk to and get to know during the shoot as well! The photos were stunning and captured our honeymoon and personality so perfectly! The finished product turned out better than we imagined!

After the shoot, Immanuel even sent us some really great recommendations for local markets, bars and restaurants to visit while in Samui and they were all awesome.

We can’t recommend Flytographer enough for your next vacation no matter the occasion!!