Thursday 10 January 2013

Luxury destination wedding photography South of France and French Riviera / Persian wedding photography at Les Salons de la Rotonde Lenótre and Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild











It is always a pleasure to do a destination wedding photography especially when it is in the French Riviera in the South of France and even more so when the reception takes place in a luxury wedding venue like Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild (http://www.villa-ephrussi.com/en/home) between Nice and Monaco. And you can’t ask for things to get better when you have a beautiful Persian couple like S&C.
The bridal preparation started at the family’s beautiful villa in Cap Ferrat which was a short drive to the venue Les Salons de la Rotonde Lenótre (http://www.lenotre.com/FR/Receptions/Lieux/presentation-lieux-receptions-rotonde) in Beaulieu where the ceremony was performed. It was a beautiful venue and its circular architecture was perfect for the more than 300 guests to have a perfect view of the exquisite Persian wedding ceremony. While it was my second Persian wedding photography in the South of France I was surprised at how different the arrangements looked. While the first wedding was overlooking the sea of the French Riviera and the bride had chosen to sit facing the sea herself, at this wedding the bride chose to face her guests. And though this wedding ceremony was indoors the decorations were equally intricate and there was beautiful light falling on the bride’s face.
I have also written a separate blog on the interesting rituals of an Iranian wedding (http://neliprahova.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/persianiranian-french-destination.html) and once again there were beautiful candelabras, multi-colored herbs and spices, flatbread, apples, grains, nuts and certainly most importantly the silk shawl that is held above the couple and sawn by the various female relatives.
The Persian wedding ceremony was followed by a luxury wedding cocktail drinks on the stairs of the Les Salons de la Rotonde Lenótre in Beaulieu where we also tried to take the group wedding photos. It was certainly not easy as the 300 and more guests were walking in and out of the background of the group photos so we ended up taking lots of casual group wedding photography. And while the guests continued to enjoy drinks while enjoying the warmth of the French Riviera, the newly married sped off to villa Rothschild for their luxury wedding photography session. At a high end venue like villa Ephrussi de Rothschild with lush and romantic gardens any place you stop for a photo provides you with the opportunity for creative wedding photography results.
Driven by several buses the guests made their way to the wedding venue of villa Rothschild. As this is not my first destination wedding photography in villa Rothschild I have already written a detailed blog on this luxury wedding venue in South of France (http://neliprahova.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/destination-wedding-photography-in.html). And I can only repeat that Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild is not only one of the most beautiful palaces in Europe but also has one of the most beautiful gardens on the French Riviera making it a perfect place for a destination wedding in South of France with ample opportunities for creative luxury wedding photography.
I was extremely lucky to have just taken the detailed photos of the table decorations and to capture the beautiful set up in the amazing French gardens of this wedding venue when a thunder was heard in the background. The 300 guests have just taken their seats at the tables when a storm like in a movie started. I won’t exaggerate to say that this must have been the strongest downpour of rain I have ever seen in my life.  The immaculate work of many hours of the luxury wedding planning agency Monte Calro weddings (http://www.montecarloweddings.com) was destroyed within minutes. The party then had to move indoors, however the rain couldn’t dampen the festive mood neither of the guests nor of the couple. Although most of the guests ended up totally drenched by the time they made their way indoors I have not seen one person complaining or frowning. Everybody was laughing and making fun and the dance floor was always full and the bride and groom were always in the middle. I’ve never seen such a party! The music was pumping till way after 3am and I wonder who had more fun – the guests or the couple. While I feared that the rain will turn this Persian destination wedding into a disaster it ended up being probably one of the most fun weddings I have ever photographed not only in the French Riviera and Monaco but in all these years of doing destination wedding photography. 


For further information on destination wedding photography in the French Riviera in South of France and to view our portfolio of wedding photography in Central London, Europe, France, Monaco, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Zurich and Russia please visit www.NeliPrahova.com or contact Neli on nprahova@gmail.com.