Photographing Weddings In The French Quarter And Garden District

How the two neighborhoods most couples choose actually photograph — courtyard light, balcony angles, oak shade and big ole' mansions.

The French Quarter and the Garden District are the two neighborhoods New Orleans couples ask about most, and they photograph nothing alike.

A French Quarter courtyard is a bright box: high walls, banana leaves, brick and a hard square of sky overhead. Around midday that sky becomes a spotlight, so portraits move to the shaded side of the courtyard or under the gallery. Late afternoon is when the Quarter turns generous — the light bounces off stucco and comes back warm, and Royal and Chartres empty out just enough for portraits in the street.

The Garden District is the opposite: live oaks throw deep, even shade all day, and the light filters instead of blasting. That makes midday portraits easy there, and it makes late afternoon quiet and low-contrast rather than golden. St. Charles gives you the streetcar, the iron fences and the long sidewalks; the side streets give you porches and gates with nobody in the frame.

Practically, the two neighborhoods are a ten-minute drive apart, and a streetcar ride longer than that. If the ceremony is in one and the reception in the other, the travel comes out of portrait time. Blocking 20 minutes for the move — and shooting portraits before the ceremony rather than after — is usually what keeps the day from compressing.

If you are working out where each part of the day should happen, the wedding day timeline page walks through how long each chapter needs.