Allison and Victoria: New Orleans Wedding Photography
New Orleans LGBTQ Wedding Photography
Allison and Victoria’s Wedding at Antoine’s
I was hired to photograph Allison and Victoria’s wedding in a pretty unique way. One of the members of the wedding party, Sam, wanted to gift her best friend, Victoria, with photography as a wedding gift. The wedding as going to be a small, intimate destination affair just for family and close friends (almost all of which were in the wedding party). Sam found me online and knew immediately I was the right weirdo to hire for her friends’ wedding. She wanted someone who would mesh well with their close-knit group since we would all be in a pretty small room together. I was freshly vaxxed when she hit me up and was more than up for the job!
It was my first indoor wedding since COVID shut everything down last year. I was really grateful that I’d been able to get the vaccine so I could take this job. I had to turn down so many beautiful wedding opportunities in the last year because it just felt too risky before people were getting vaccinated. Sam and her crew are EMTs in New York and had all been vaxxed too! It was really awesome to be able to work that day without that nagging worry COVID instilled in me last March. They were a wonderful group of people and I am so happy I got to photograph this union!
If you’ve ever been to Antoine’s, you may or may not have experienced the utter maze that is this New Orleans institution of a restaurant. What started as a single property grew over the decades as the business acquired nearby buildings and connected them together. It now takes up a good half of a block with multiple staircases connecting many dining rooms, banquet halls, a bar, and even an apartment. I like working at Antoine’s because the staff there is really great. I can tell the restaurant takes care of their people because the staff is always really happy. There was a hotel snafu for the couple and they were left without a good place to get ready. So the team at Antoine’s jumped in an hooked Alison up with the apartment and Vic up with a banquet room.
I started my day with Vic and her crew in one of the upstairs banquet rooms. I knew the ceremony was going to be dimly lit but this room was as well. Thankfully it was still light outside and enough of it was coming through windows on one wall to get some beautiful shots of Vic’s friends and family getting ready. I felt at ease around them almost immediately. They were a super chill crew who I could totally see myself being friends with. I hung out with them for an hour, capturing their reactions as Vic game them all meaningful gifts. Giving gifts to your wedding party is a pretty common tradition but she also gave gifts to her mom and stepdad. And if her intention was to make them cry then she nailed it! Before heading to see Vic, we ran outside for some quick formal portraits.
After hanging out with Vic’s gang for an hour, I headed through the maze to the apartment where Allison was putting the final touches on her makeup. I also brought with me a gift to deliver from Vic. I found a spot with some nice light so I could photograph Vic opening it. It was a framed certificate showing that Vic had made Allison a Lady in the UK! Allison loved the gift and I thought it was pretty funny to no longer be the only Lady in the house. Allison looked stunning in her mermaid gown and we took some amazing portraits in the light coming in from a tall window in the stairwell. I knew Allison was nervous, as many brides are, but I quickly discovered that if I mentioned Vic, she lit up instantly. So I asked her to think about her bride-to-be to capture some genuine smiles.
We didn’t have long before we had to head down for the ceremony. I knew it was going to be small and dark but it was even smaller and even darker than I anticipated! I set up a light stand at the back of the room. But the mirror directly behind the altar was going to catch it in every shot. Using any sort of flash was going to bounce annoyingly off of that mirror (and I don’t like using flash during ceremonies if I can avoid it anyway. Too distracting!). So I got both rigs readed to shoot in low light and knew I’d have some lifting to do in post.
The ceremony was short and lovely. The couple wrote their own vows- which I always love- and the ceremony was officiated by one of their friends- which I also love. They both had me tearing up. Allison’s vows were like poetry. Damn, to be loved like that is something really special. The most exciting part was one of Allison’s bridesmaids fell over during the ceremony! I didn’t capture it because my inclination when someone hits the deck is to drop my camera and offer help. One of Allison’s friends sitting in the front row caught her and helped her sit. The whole thing happened so quietly the ceremony just kept rolling along like it hadn’t happened at all! Turns out she locked her knees and teetered over and wasn’t hurt at all. Phew! I guess she would have been in the right room if she had been injured, what with at least 5 EMTs on hand.
We took the couple outside for portraits after the ceremony. The sun had already set and we were rapidly losing light. But I really dig that moody twilight vibe for couples portraits- adds some extra romance. The major obstacle, though, was how extremely busy it was outside of Antoine’s. The restaurant sits in between Royal and Bourbon on St. Louis street. Royal was blocked off at St. Louis so all of the traffic on Royal was forced to turn there- and setup a gridlock with the cars headed down St. Louis and getting stuck at the crowds on Bourbon. With it already getting dark, we didn’t have time to walk anywhere else. So I asked one bridesmaid to block traffic coming down St. Louis and the venue’s wedding coordinator to block the traffic coming down Royal so we could get 15 seconds of uninterrupted shooting in the middle of the street. The result was absolutely gorgeous. Teamwork makes the dream work, am I right?
I spent the rest of the night capturing candids inside their room at Antoine’s. It was tricky navigating around such a small space (that Allison had decorated beautifully herself). But I was able to capture some genuine moments between guests, which is always my favorite part of receptions. Sure, dance floor parties are fun but those are never the moments that make my heart swoon when I look at images later. This edit took a bit of time since I was dealing with so much low light. But it convinced me to upgrade my second camera body so now I have two Mark IV’s! The Canon 5D Mark IV is a beast with low light and I like to be able to keep two cameras going at the same time- one with a 50mm on it for wider shots and one with a 70-200mm on it for those sweet closeups.
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Enjoy this selection of images from Allison and Vic’s New Orleans Wedding Photography.
