Where to start with Mary and Jason’s incredible wedding celebrations in Paris?
We knew that working with Anne Mulvihill and Nancy LaTart of Fête in France would produce a description-defying event, as it always does, but this one truly took it up a notch. Mary and Jason, an American couple (Jason’s family lives in Paris, he in New York), spent their wedding weekend in the company of their family and friends from all over the world stomping around Paris in a truly lovely fashion. We photographed a garden rehearsal dinner the night before Mary and her girls readied in the iconic Hotel Raphael, on the top floor suite with 360 degree views of the entire city. After champagne toasts, many many laughs, and lovely flowers and makeup, the girls met up with Jason and his groomsmen at grand American Church in Paris. Previously, they had spent the morning at Jason’s parent’s Parisian apartment overlooking the city, where Kevin snapped some awesome shots of the groomsmen on the terrace.
Bagpipes and roses greeted them as they left the church, and then the big surprise! Jason’s Mom arranged for a troupe of mini cars to pull up outside and take a group of groomsmen and bridesmaids around the city, where we photographed them all with the Eiffel Tower resplendent in the sunshine behind them. Mary (literally) let her hair down for the reception at the glamorous and sophisticated Les Salons France-Amériques (seriously, just look at the photos!), replete with crystal chandeliers, marble stairways, gold gilded windows, red velvet wallpaper, and done with such lovely flowers from team Fête. They ended the evening downstairs where Jason’s mother surprised them once again with a chic light up dance floor where we got some amazing photographs of dancing the night away.
Location: Paris, France (The American Church in Paris & Les Salons France-Amériques)
Colors: Pale pink, white, cream
Season: Summer
Katie’s favorite memory: So many from this day, but I’ll never forget this one part. The hairstylist ran verrrry long (he did incredible work, just took a while doing it!), so we had zero time to get any bridals of Mary on the rooftops of Hotel Raphael like I had hoped. Anne and Nancy were hurrying the girls along to get to the church on time. I had staged the bedroom in hopes of having her sit and getting a quickie before leaving, and I’ll never forget my nerves at asking her to sit with ALL these people around me, pressed for time, with the wind blowing those french doors I was trying to shoot through, trying to get just ONE shot that would show off her beautiful smile, her dress, that lovely white room. Mary was so relaxed and at ease that it actually worked. She could not stop smiling, all day, I am so grateful to have worked with her!
Kevin’s favorite memory: Photographing the troupe of mini cars full of the bridal party and family in front of the Eiffel Tower was a huge challenge. Finding a spot to park them all, parking them all in a direction that would look good with the Eiffel Tower in the background, shouting to be heard over all the traffic and people to get everyone situated in and outside the cars, getting the light and capturing the energy of what was happening all within a few minutes time while what felt like 1,000 tourists were watching was an insane task. That rush of 100 things to keep balanced at once in such a short time frame is something that keeps me addicted to this job!