5 Things I Look for in Wedding Venues as a Luxury Photographer
Your venue choice single-handedly has the biggest impact on the overall look, feel, and visual story of your wedding day… which makes it one of the most important parts of the entire wedding planning process.
As a luxury photographer with hundreds of weddings under her belt, I have worked at quite literally every type of venue under the sun: from chateaus to resorts, ballrooms to gardens, cathedrals to country clubs… the list goes on. I’ve garnered a good amount of wisdom from my years of experience shooting in every kind of setting, space, and lighting scenario imaginable—and now, I’ve gathered all of my insights into this guide to help you find the right wedding venue for your day!
I’ll be sharing the 5 things I look for in a venue as an editorial wedding photographer, including advice regarding location, architecture, design, and layout—and you’ll leave knowing exactly what to seek out during your venue search. These tips will help not only elevate your event as a whole, but also bring more variety and diversity to your final photo album. Shall we dive right into it?
5 Things to Look for in a Wedding Venue to Elevate Your Day
Keep in mind that this is just my wish list as a wedding photographer who wants the very MOST for her couples. If I got everything I wanted out of a wedding day to give you the best, most elevated, and well-rounded images, this list would be it. But ultimately, you should obviously make the right choices for you and the day you are envisioning together!
1. Built-in architecture, ambiance, & design
First things first: the biggest piece of advice I would give couples is to select a venue that does as much of the ambiance and design legwork for you as possible. This could come in the form of stunning architectural elements, or interior design work that is impactful on its own; anything that allows the space to speak for itself without requiring any additional decor.
A majority of the weddings I specialize in take place at historic venues like mansions, chateaus, or villas with built-in history and distinct character—which, no matter how incredible your decor is, can never truly be faked. Getting married at an estate, for example, with gorgeous architecture that’s been around for centuries, or a historic landmark that was originally built thousands of years ago, means you automatically get a sense of meaningful history just by being at the venue. Before any decor is ever set up, before any lights or furnishings are ever added, the location already holds meaning on its own… and combining that with your wedding design adds such a potent punch of old-world history to your day.
One thing I always love about venues like this is that you can truly feel the impact of all the other love stories that came through it for hundreds and hundreds of years before you. I know I am being super romantic about it, but I feel like nothing can replace architecture that’s held onto memories, stories, and moments throughout humanity for longer than we can even fathom!
Of course, you still want to choose a venue that’s aligned with your style, moodboard, and the vibe you’re going for—but really try to find one that helps get your vision at least 75% of the way there. You want the venue itself to have lots of features that enhance and contribute to your vision, whether it has that historical component or not.
So whether that’s a 19th-century hotel, like the iconic Hotel Chelsea in NYC, or a luxury chateau in the middle of the French countryside, like Domaine des Etangs (the venue featured in images throughout this post), I would look for a building that has essentially been curated over time, be it by nature and/or humans. Something about that is just so gorgeous and utterly romantic to me.
Kalesma Mykonos is an exceptional example, with striking Greek architecture and enchanting scenery built in from the get-go. Not much else is needed to make this Aegean oasis look absolutely magical.
2. Location & spatial variety
That leads into my second point: historic venues like these often come with so many different kinds of rooms, spaces, nooks, and crannies you can use throughout your wedding day. Maybe it’s a gorgeous lobby, or one of the twenty bedrooms in the chateau you’re staying in. You never know where you’re going to find an interesting, beautiful portrait location, or just a gorgeous backdrop to take details or bridal portraits! That’s why I LOVE working at venues that just have a ton of spaces we can basically use as our playground for the day.
Variety in your locations also creates a more diverse and exciting experience for your guests, since they won’t be forced to stay in just one or two rooms for the entire celebration. With spaces to move through, welcome drinks can take place in a different room than your ceremony, which is different than the place you’ll be hosting your reception, your dance party, your late-night snacks… etc. Changing up the flow of your day like this makes for such a fun, immersive experience from start to finish!
In addition to the vibe and variety of spaces, you’ll also want to pay attention to their sizes. You don’t want 20 different tiny rooms or too many large ones; ideally, we’d have a good mix of locations ranging from cozy and narrow to wide and spacious. This variety of perspectives & angles will, again, add much greater diversity to your photos—and to the way you move through each unique area of your venue.
New Orleans’ iconic Hotel Peter & Paul illustrates this variety perfectly, featuring spacious rooms with soaring church ceilings and cozy hotel rooms that offer completely different perspectives.
3. Tall elements to enhance lighting
Something else I would recommend looking for when touring venues, especially for outdoor weddings in the summertime, is tall trees or architectural elements around the property that can help enhance the lighting.
Here’s why: one of the most challenging elements of shooting in the heat of the summer is that oftentimes, your first look, portraits, ceremony, etc. are taking place smack dab in the middle of the day. Here in Seattle, I basically expect high-noon sun for all that critical portrait time—which can lead to squinty eyes, harsh shadows, and unflattering light. It can absolutely be fun to get creative with this type of dramatic lighting, but having it be the only type of lighting present in your gallery can be tough.
This is where it comes in really handy to have a venue that gives you access to tall elements to help block the midday sun, such as pillars, buildings, or even trees high enough to cover the sun at its peak. This isn’t to say that I like shooting everything in the shade, but it makes such a difference to have that variety, and at least to have options to choose from during those critical parts of the day!
4. Exteriors & interiors that work together
I would also search for venues that have a view, or some sort of interesting scenery outside. This might look like grassy, manicured lawns, orchards overlooking rolling hills, or a viewpoint with mountains, water, or a city skyline in the background. Spaces that give you that nature element to combine with whatever you have going on inside of the hotel, chateau, castle, venue, etc. Maybe this is where you host your cocktail hour, or simply a place where we’re able to go out and take portraits at points during the day!
This can really help add variety and contrast to your wedding, both in the experience & flow of the day itself as well as your final photo album. As a photographer, I absolutely love the variety that comes with starting with the macro—a really wide-scale look at your venue and its expansive, grand views—then narrowing down to the micro, minute details that I can photograph inside of the venue. For instance: light fixtures, furniture, interior decor, color palettes, patterns, textures, and your own details, of course—including jewelry, shoes, attire, stationery, etc. Finding a venue with exteriors & interiors that work together will go a LONG way in curating a seamless experience & a comprehensive visual story of the day.
5. Opportunities outside the venue
It’s also great to have spaces you can explore outside of the venue, even if you don’t have a crazy expansive view or landscapes to explore. Hotel Chelsea is a really good example of this; it’s located right in the heart of the city, and even though it doesn’t have any wide-open views, you can still leave the hotel and take photos downtown. Anything that gives you a different scene than what you’re seeing inside the venue is great for variety and lets us get creative!
I am ALWAYS looking for variety like this, because here’s the thing: you can go into your wedding day with all the best-laid plans you want, but you truly never know what’s going to happen. Maybe the spot you originally picked out for portraits suddenly has construction cones in it, or tape blocking it off. Maybe the room you thought you wanted for your first look has really bad lighting at the time. This is why it’s crucial to have options—and plenty of them!
The Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle is one of my favorite spots to get this delicious variety, with sultry, roaring-20s-style interiors and easy access to the city streets outside of the hotel.
When you go into your venue search with these 5 priorities at the forefront, it really takes some of the pressure off your decor budget, too.
After all, nobody wants to spend a shit ton of money on stuff they’re going to use for a day and be done with it! Keeping your venue standards HIGH truly allows your location do a lot of the talking for you. You can add in those personal touches here and there to really make it yours, as opposed to what people with multi-million dollar budgets can do—they could walk into a completely empty warehouse and essentially transform it into something epic like what I’ve talked about throughout this guide. But when you’re working with more realistic budgets that are lower than that, the venue can do SO much for you when it comes to elevating the overall look and feel of your wedding day!
All this to say: don’t sleep on your venue choice, my darlings. Take your time with it, tour your options, ask ALL of the questions… and honestly, consult the photographer you want to work with! I know it doesn’t always work like that—you might choose your venue before your photographer—but I’d be delighted if a couple reached out asking for help picking their venue, and I could offer my insights from the perspective of a photographer who has seen it all.
So if and when you do decide to hire your photographer, and you’d like someone who will approach your day through a luxury, editorial, yet true-to-life storytelling lens… it would be my honor. Explore my work here, and then reach out to connect. I cannot wait to create magic with you and find out what venue(s) are calling to your heart!
Need a bit more help finding the right person to document your celebration? Read through my guide to What to Look For When Hiring Your Wedding Photographer next.
If you’re searching for more tips & insights like these, from the perspective of a luxury wedding photographer, be sure to peruse a few of my favorite resources below:
