Pre-Wedding Shoot in Paris

04/05/2018

Last May I hopped on a plane to meet Lam and Chee for their pre-wedding shoot in Paris and we had an awesome time!

Deciding to do a pre-wedding shoot in Paris on May Day was a bit of a challenge as everywhere was packed full of tourists and SO unbelievably busy (check out the sheer amount of people on the bridge in the shot of Notre Dame below), but we made it work! I did enjoy the challenge!

Naturally, all the must-have locations were on the tick list – the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomph and the Louvre but we found a fair few other nooks and crannies out of the way of the crowds and these were great fun to shoot in. I particularly loved the little Parisian street we found that was full of differently coloured houses with shuttered windows, littered with plants pots and the odd bicycle. It doesn’t get much more French than that!

We decided to split the shoot into two sessions – one in the evening to capture the Louvre all lit up and another the following morning to catch the sunrise at the Eiffel Tower. We took cabs and the underground as well as a fair bit of walking, but Lam and Chee were amazing company and total troopers. They were up for everything, including the early start and the walking between spots, never complaining once! Thanks, guys!

My only complaint is against Tom Cruise!! We’d planned a sunrise shoot at the Eiffel Tower only to get there to find it all closed off due to filming. No one would tell us exactly which movie was being shot (security quickly moved us on) but since seeing the trailer I now know that we arrived during the Trocadero scene in the latest Mission Impossible film!!

Obviously, not being allowed access was initially pretty disappointing, but not being able to shoot from the position I’d originally researched and envisioned actually turned out to be a good thing. In fact, it led to one of my favourite shots from the session (see photo above) and I’m not sure I would have ever taken that shot if I hadn’t been forced to rethink my approach. That a bird flew into the shot was the cherry on the cake!

But honestly Tom – if you’re reading this, then I really do think you should send Lam and Chee a couple of free tickets to the film to say sorry!! 😉

If you’re interested in a pre-wedding shoot in Paris or anywhere else, then do get in touch. I travel all over Europe for pre-wedding shoots so let me know where you’re thinking of and let’s make it happen!