Forty-two rooms carved into the soft rock of Ürgüp’s restored Kayakapı quarter, where 18th- and 19th-century tax collectors once built their mansions. Quieter than Göreme, and very photogenic.
Photo: YakupDinler · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
14 yearsStudio founded in Pune in 20121000+ bridesWord of mouth, wedding after weddingIndia-basedStudio in Baner, PuneTravel & visaClient-paid, shown on separate lines
Please read first
From Pune to Kayakapı Premium Caves: how we work for your wedding.
We are not a Turkish salon: the artists who look after you at Kayakapı Premium Caves are flown in from Pune, India. She travels worldwide for weddings and pre-wedding shoots, arriving ahead of the first booking and staying until the last.
You arrange and pay for the team’s tickets from India, their visas and their rooms; nothing is hidden in the fee.
Based inPune, Maharashtra
TravelsWorldwide
Flights & visasBilled at cost
Stay & transfersCouple arranges
The hotel
What Kayakapı offers.
Rooms
42 cave rooms and suites
Comforts
Underfloor heating; some with fireplaces
Water
Pool, spa, hammam and sauna
Dining
Revithia restaurant and a wine cellar
Town
Ürgüp, quieter than Göreme
Views
Over the rock houses of the quarter
Ürgüp versus Uçhisar
Why some couples choose the quieter town.
Ürgüp sits a little east of the classic balloon valleys around Göreme and Uçhisar. It is calmer in the evenings, with old stone mansions, wine bars and a more lived-in feel. Kayakapı is part of a restored historic quarter on the town’s slope.
For a shoot, the quarter itself is the backdrop: arches, stone stairways and carved doorways that suit an outfit with detail. On balloon mornings, couples drive the short distance to a viewpoint, so we leave a few extra minutes in the plan.
Cave rooms with underfloor heating are comfortable for a pre-dawn start, and some suites have fireplaces, which make a beautiful setting for getting-ready photographs.
Shoot-day plan
A two-look shoot from Kayakapı.
Look one
Bridal look before dawn in the suite.
Drive
A short transfer to the balloon viewpoint.
Sunrise
Balloon portraits.
Look two
A change back at the hotel for portraits in the quarter.
Around Ürgüp
The town and the quarter.
The Kayakapı quarter.Photo: Hamdi Dinler · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsÜrgüp and its rock houses.Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsÜrgüp after dark.Photo: İmmortalance · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Quarter etiquette
Shooting in a historic neighbourhood.
Do
Keep portraits early, before visitors
Carry the outfit hem on stone stairs
Use carved doorways as frames
Avoid
Blocking residents’ paths
Midday light on pale stone
Heavy powder in dry air
Evenings in Ürgüp
A town for a relaxed family dinner.
Ürgüp is a working town with wineries, restaurants and old mansions, which makes it pleasant for a family staying a few days. After a sunrise shoot, the bride can rest in a heated cave suite or by the pool, then join the family for dinner at Revithia or in town.
For a small ceremony, the hotel’s terraces look over the quarter’s rock houses. Late-afternoon light on the stone is warm and golden, a flattering setting for a traditional bridal look.
Tejaswini
Who you are booking
Tejaswini has fourteen years of bridal work behind her and runs a studio and academy in Pune. For a two-look morning in Ürgüp she plans the change at the hotel to the minute, so the balloon portrait and the old-quarter portraits both get a fresh bride.