Immediately after getting engaged in Paris in 2017, I started envisioning bringing my wedding dress back to Paris to take pictures. That vision in my head was really how our epic wedding adventure across Europe even began. Going back to Paris to capture these photos was a literal dream come true for me, it felt like I was living in a real life fairytale.
We stayed at the Shangri-La hotel in Paris, our room had a balcony that had the most amazing view of the Eiffel Tower. On our last night there we stayed in, ordered room service and sat on the balcony all night having the time of our lives with the best view in the city. Also, a quick side note about the Chinese restaurant located in the Shangri-La hotel, even if you don’t stay at the hotel, I highly recommend eating at that restaurant, the food is insane!
The day before the shoot we spent the day getting lost and wandering the streets of Paris, that’s the best way to experience any city in my opinion. It was the perfect time to arrive in Paris because the Tour de France was finishing in Paris that day! It was such a cool experience to be there and see the city completely transform, entire blocks were closed and flooded with massive crowds of people. We were lucky enough to be close enough to go watch part of the race! Unfortunately for me, I was too busy living it up in Paris that I didn’t even think about the sun exposure I was getting walking around outside all day. In my defense, it was overcast in the morning, so putting on sunscreen didn’t even cross my mind. However, the sun came out shortly after we had left the hotel and it ended up being a nice and very sunny day…as a result, I got INCREDIBLY sunburnt…
Model 101 is you definitely DO NOT want to be sunburnt for a photoshoot..especially your wedding photos. Come on, what is this, amateur hour? Apparently so, because my chest was BRIGHT RED and 1000% noticeable in my deep v-cut wedding gown. A year later I can only look back and laugh as I see my bright red lobster chest in all of the photos from Paris. It also made for some epic tan lines on the wedding day, yolo.
Bright red chest and all, the pictures still turned out absolutely amazing, I definitely felt like a real life princess in Paris. I will forever cherish these photos we captured in Paris with Le Secret D’Audrey, she was an absolute delight to work with. She is the only photographer I have worked with that shoots on film, there is a completely different feel to her photos and I love it, she is definitely a master at her craft. I still have the candle she gave me as a gift sitting on my office desk, I love when the aroma of vanilla fills my office, it always takes me back to that magical day in Paris. You can see more of Audrey’s work on instagram, @audreyparisphoto
Paris will always have a special place in my heart, there is no place in the world like it. It’s hard to describe, but for some reason while I am there, it feels like home. If you want an extra magical moment while you’re in Paris, go into the Eiffel Tower park at night and lay on the grass that’s next to the Eiffel Tower right before it starts to sparkle. Seeing the Eiffel Tower, large as life, sparkle above you is truly the show of a life time, it is absolutely breath-taking. For those of you wondering when the The Eiffel Tower lights up and sparkles, it sparkles for 5 minutes at the top of the hour, every hour from dusk till 1AM. At 1AM when it sparkles for the last time, they shut off the yellow lights on the Eiffel Tower and it goes all black and just sparkles the white lights, that is my personal favorite!
Anxiously awaiting our return to Paris, it will forever be one of my favorite places to visit. But until then, here are some of the magical moments we captured while we were there for our wedding adventure.