Lake Garda Wedding, Italy

People that know me know I love to travel. So being asked to photograph Richard & Laura’s Lake Garda wedding in Italy was amazing. I first met Richard almost 10 years ago on my first ski instructor’s course in Les Deux Alpes.  This was when Richard and Laura first met, as she came out with friends for a ski holiday and stayed in Richard’s catered chalet.

I’ve only ever been to Italy skiing so was very excited to photograph in such a breath-taking location for their Lake Garda wedding.  Through searching on the internet I could see that the views of the lake were simply stunning and I couldn’t wait to get out to Italy for the big day.

Richard & Laura both live in Australia so there were several emails back and forth about what they wanted from their photographs and to make sure that I was totally prepared, I headed over to Lake Garda from Milan the day before the wedding to have a look around the town for some photo opportunities. We tied this in with an engagement shoot. As the timing of the wedding day was quite limited for photographs, we planned a 30 minute route so that the newlyweds could spend as much time as possible with their guests.

Lake Garda Wedding

The Lake Garda wedding started beautifully, with not a cloud in the sky. I headed over to Hotel Laurin to start the bridal preparation photographs. This was surprisingly relaxed so I took to photographing the shoes (Jimmy Choo no less!) with an audience of chambermaids watching me.

Before we set off for the ceremony at the Town Hall, Richard had arranged for a present to be given to Laura. Not just any present, but a beautiful watch, which Laura was naturally overwhelmed by. After she had collected herself, we headed off around the lake’s edge to the centre of town to meet Richard.

The ceremony, which was beautiful, was conducted in Italian and then translated into English. Richard’s brother and sister both read beautiful readings which caused a few tears to be shed.

After the ceremony we had a few group shots, and while the guests enjoyed a drink in one of the local bars, we headed off around the town to take some memorable photographs of the newlywed couple.

We had a short walk back to the hotel and guests where we were greeted with glasses of Procescco and a huge buffet for everyone to nibble on before the wedding breakfast.

Now, the speeches are traditionally done either before or after the wedding breakfast but not in this case. We were treated to a speech between each course of the meal and then it was finished off with a speech from the bride herself.

The end of the wedding breakfast led us up into the first dance. When I left, the Swing band was in full flow and had everybody up on their feet, dancing away.

As usual here is a selection of some of my favourite as a Lake Garda Wedding Photographer.  Please feel free to share on social media or leave a comment.

view of the hotel Laurin and lake garda in italy Wedding bride getting ready for her wedding at Lake Garda Jimmy Choo shoes for a Lake Garda Wedding Bride putting on her dress for a Lake Garda wedding black and white picture of the bride in Lake Garda having her hair done silhouette of a bride putting her make up on Bride walking down the stairs with her bridemaid at Hotel Laurin italy Bride and her mum, and bridesmaid in the enterance of Hotel Laurin Father of the bride seeing his daughter for the first time in her wedding dress Beautiful bride opening a present from groom before the wedding father and bride walking along lake garda Salo town hall on lake garda with a bride and her father Salo town hall wedding salo town hall wedding on lake garda destination wedding in salo town hall bridal party in salo town hall the grand stairway of the salo town hall confetti bring thrown over the bride and groom in lake garda beautiful portraits of a bride and groom in Salo, italy beautiful portraits of a bride and groom in Salo, italy beautiful portraits of a bride and groom in Salo, italy beautiful portraits of a bride and groom next to the lake in Salo, italy candid moment with the bride and groom on the sidewalk next to lake garda views of lake garda beautiful portraits of a bride and groom in Salo, italy processo being served on the terrace at Hotel Laurin in Salo Candid photographs of wedding guests on the terrace of Hotel Laurin in Salo Father of the bride speeches at Hotel Laurin Best man speeches at Hotel Laurin Groom speeches at Hotel Laurin A bride doing her speech at Hotel Laurin at Lake Garda Bride and Groom cutting the cake in the resturant in Hotel Laurin First dance with the Bridal party in Hotel Laurin

Lovely Feedback from Richard & Laura

“Paul – thanks once again for doing a fantastic job of our wedding photos. Throughout the whole process we felt really relaxed and confident that you would do a great job, and we had been admiring all the photos you had been doing of other people’s weddings so we were really excited about how you would shoot ours. Well we certainly weren’t disappointed! My big recommendation to other people going through the process would be to do the pre-wedding shoot, it really helped us to relax in front of the camera, was great that we could find the locations we wanted to have some shots taken in – which helped saved us a huge amount of time on the day, and it was good to understand the lighting and also some tips you had for us about how to hold ourselves! And then on the day, you did such a great job of working around us and our guests, we love the reportage style and candid shots you have of people, and the flow and pace you applied to the day. And now when we look back we have a really great way of remembering the day, but also we have some of those awesome Paul Keppel grand vistas, big moments, rolling landscapes and the two of us planted right in the middle. For anyone thinking of hiring Paul I thoroughly recommend it, he is an absolute professional and a real talent!”

If you are considering a wedding in Lake Garda or a destination wedding, then please do not hesitate to contact me. Or to view past photo shoots head over to my blog

 

3 Comments

  1. Is it bad that I am ever so slightly obsessed with these shots? Paul they are so wonderful and really capture the spirit of our wedding day. We have been getting lovely comments on them from our family and friends which feels a little unfair since all we did was wander about grinning and you did all the hard work! Thank you so much for these wonderful memories x.

  2. Thanks once again Paul we are absolutely thrilled with the pictures you took. We’ve been admiring your pictures now for some time, and now we have some with us in them as well! It was such a great experience having you take care of everything, the pre-wedding shoot which helped us to relax, and scout out some good spots, and then on the day you had everything under control. One day you will probably be doing this for the rich and famous and we will be able to say you were our photographer :)

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