Venice is particularly suitable for emotional and intimate weddings with a few but very close guests: a perfect city for an elopment and a destination wedding.
I find these intimate marriages to be the most recharging and rich in energy weddings for a photographer, or at least for one with my personality: fewer persons and plenty of emotions. And these are those I love to be involved with as a wedding photographer.
Often, a civil wedding in Venice is an elopement with the bride and grom with none or a very few guests but other times there is a bigger party and the ceremony is civil or religious in this case it is so much better to involve early on a local wedding planner: they can make a huge difference in coordinating and choosing all the suppliers (wedding venues, make-up artist and hair stylist, florists, water taxis...).
Most people reading these words are planning a destination wedding and not a local ceremony so I try to present some useful informatiuons for people planning to get married in Venice.
There are about three broad categories of weddings than can be planned and arranged in Venice:
Thanks to the international role that Serenissima Republic had centuries ago Venice hosts many important and scenic churches linked with different traditions (Catholic, Protestant, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Armenian to name a few).
Civil ceremonies are usually held in Palazzo Cavalli, a very nice location overlooking Grand Canal and Rialto bridge and it is possible to arrange a civil wedding to be held
A "shortcut" to having the celebration in Venice without the paperwork associated is given by symbolic weddings this would allow to chose one of the many historical palaces and hotels.
Venice is a wonderful stage for the play of emotions that will see you as a protagonist, I feel my role as the one of a storyteller who will write the images with light, and the photos will be the mean to tell about yourself to the members of the family that are yet to be born.
I hope that some considerations on choosing a makeup artist or an hair stylist in Venice will be of use to prospective brides. I'm in touch with several make up artists that I could recommend depending on your requirements in terms of language and style. Same if you are looking for wedding planning services.
It seems easy to do describe but indeed every single assignment reflects the personality of the couple so it is a reality on its own.
I'll try to say something about the common parts of a wedding no matter its kind or the number of guests.
This is when I prefer to start, when the makeup artist is completing the preparation of the bride I have chance to familiarize with the athmosphere and to write with the light the introductory images of the wedding story. Then there are many variations from brides being surrounded by friends family and kids running everywhere to those who eloped and are alone or maybe where bride and groom help one each other.
it may be the second part of the indrodoction or just the introduction itself: the bride goes to the ceremony location: some walk, many others take a water taxi and a few just walk. In any case these images are rich with anticipation for what is going to happen next.
During the meeting the curiosity and admiration of guests and maybe groom may be another nice ingredient for the wedding photos.
The civil ceremonies are very regular in duration within 30 minutes a new family is formed and the couple exits as wife and husband. There will even be time for a picture on the balcony overlooking the Grand Canal and the Rialto bridge.
The years lived as a photographer in Venice gave me the opportunity to discover many off the track corners and I'll be glad to point at impressive yet not overcrowded spots for your portraits, typically i'll associate a very short but effective portrait session to most wedding packages. A gondola ride in this romantic city may be a nice addition to the special day.
This can be done while guests reach the location for the reception or after a first toast, my approach is to leverage on experience to have the portrait session to be as quick as possible in order to let people enjoy their time with bride and groom.
Typically each service is unique so rather besides presenting a brief session outilne I provide my email to let me know the key elements to make a peronslaized offer: the date of the wedding and a general idea of your plan for the day. A whatsapp message may be good to break the ice and plan for a call or discuss by chat. A message can be sent also touching the green floating button if you see one in the bottom right of the page (from smartphones only).
If you are reading from a computer: Wedding photographer based in Venice's Contact form.
Regards
Luca
You may be also interested in the photo gallery honeymoon in Venice, there are some ideas about locations for the couple portraits we could do for your wedding photography in Venice.
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