The Pillar
The Story Of A Wedding Day
Six chapters comprised of hundreds of moments, each just as important as the previous.
Like every beautiful story written in the last 2200 years, a wedding story can be organized into chapters. Naming them is not a stylistic conceit, it is how the best New Orleans wedding photographers know what is coming before it happens. It is how an experienced New Orleans wedding photographer is able to pre-visualize each and every image before the shutter button is pressed, ensuring (literally) picture perfect images every time, for every moment in a wedding day. It is also how you and I will collaborate on a timeline that has room for every moment that needs to be captured by a wedding photographer. Click on the main photo for each chapter to see a full gallery.
Chapter I
The Details
The wedding invitation, the wedding rings, the wedding dress or suit on the hanger, the shoes, the grandmother's brooch, the wedding vows still folded in half, the wedding bouquet, the decoration on the wedding cake, the centerpieces, etc are ALL important pieces of this special day. You carefully chose and spent money on all of those things, so it's imperative to have artful, gorgeous photos of them forever...these images make up the first chapter of your wedding day story. They're usually shot in between getting-ready snaps...I can multitask, so that's kind of cool.
These are the only frames of the day that exist without people in them (I know...dogs are people, too, but...), and they are what makes an album feel like a designed object instead of a slideshow. Skip this chapter and the story starts abruptly, mid-sentence, which would look like this: "nd the story starts abruptly, mid-sentence.". No one wants THAT.
Chapter II
Getting Ready
Think photos of cool reflections in mirrors surrounding the bride while makeup artists and hairstylists are finishing up, the mother of the bride zipping the dress, the father of one of the grooms who cannot work the cufflinks, the bridesmaids laughing at something off-camera, the flower girls twirling around in the fanciest dresses they've ever worn, the last thirty seconds of each of the brides alone in front of a mirror, the groom looking nervously at his watch...we shoot chapter two with art and grace.
Almost entirely hands and faces, getting ready pics on a wedding day hold most of the day's unguarded emotion because they happen before couples have fully become the centre of attention.
Chapter III
Portraits
Wedding portraiture is the only chapter of your story that is often directed rather than observed. Having spent the last 30+ years perfecting my skills with studio lighting as well as with natural light portraiture, I LOVE this chapter in a wedding day story. Marc Pagani's New Orleans Wedding Photography portraits are comprised of several looks in as many locations as we can fit into the allotted time (and then a few more photos walking back to the ceremony location or hotel, just because). This wedding portrait session is all about making you look your absolute best and the sessions run efficiently, so you can get onto the next chapter.
We'll shoot a bunch of individual and wedding party portraits as time allows before the ceremony and more of the newly wed couple after the ceremony (or before, if you're having a First Look session). We can shoot group formals portraits at any time and we run those very efficiently so no one is standing around waiting when they should be enjoying the reception. All that said, the best photo of the day is often made during the ten minutes nobody scheduled during the reception.
Chapter IV
The Ceremony
Whether you're walking up the aisle of a church, standing in front of a judge at a courthouse, or surrounded by 6 friends on a beach, the wedding ceremony, where you declare your love to each other, is full of moments in the your wedding day story that you'll want to remember.
These wedding photos are all about the wedding flowers, the wedding guests milling about beforehand, the nervous laughter of the wedding party, the wedding processional, the tears in your parents' eyes, the moments in between, and the celebration as you kiss and start a new life together...we've got it and so much more all covered.
Chapter V
The Second Line
The wedding Second Line Parade is part of New Orleans's structural and cultural advantage, and it's the chapter no other city has. Made up of a brass band, parasols, handkerchiefs, the doors opening onto the street, and strangers on the sidewalk cheering people they have never met, it is a uniquely New Orleans tradition and a very exhilarating set of moments for your New Orleans wedding photographer to shoot. This part of the story is all about fun and celebration...all on wedding day.
A wedding Second Line Parade is chaos in motion, unpredictable light, and we've got just one take. Shooting it well means knowing the route, knowing where the band will stop or slow or speed up, and knowing to turn around and photograph the crowd behind the couple.
More on second linesChapter VI
THE RECEPTION (THE PARTY)
The couple's big entrance, followed by the first wedding dance of a married couple, the parent dances, the wedding toasts, and the wedding cake. Or it's a small, intimate dinner with your closest friends, or a Mariachi band on a beach in Mexico. Doesn't matter where you celebrate this big day, it just matters that you have fun and create memories. The "memories" part is where we come in. An experienced New Orleans Wedding Photographer spends their time anticipating reactions rather than chasing them. We're ready for anything and able to create beautiful, artful, documentary-style wedding photography from just about any moment.
We spend our time on the dance floor, around the tables, at the wedding cake, near the buffet...in other words, we're everywhere during a New Orleans wedding reception. We don't create special moments. We don't stop you from enjoying your party in order to pose for us (unless you or your guests ask us to), we shoot what's actually happening and we do it really well.