Welcome!

Apps and contacts should automatically restore when she signs into her Google account if she allowed them to be backed up by Google on her prior phone.

As far as pictures go, you can hook the old phone up to a computer, drag and drop the pictures off the phone onto the computer, and then reverse the process with the new phone to drag and drop the photos onto the phone. They're likely in a folder titled DCIM or pictures

 

The pictures issue is why I like the Dropbox app... if you set it up for Camera Uploads when you first install it, it makes saving pictures a lot easier

For the contacts and apps, make sure the old phone has the settings turned on for this. Look in Settings > Backup & Reset. If it was not turned on, turn on the Backups, restart the phone, and give it maybe 1/2 hr to make sure the settings for all the apps are backed up.

Personally, I prefer to re-install apps on a new phone, rather than let a backup do it... sometimes you have a lot of apps installed that you never used, or don't need anymore... sort of a spring cleaning for your phone.