The hotel is hidden in a private alleyway in the middle of Montmartre

Wedding in Montmartre

A hidden wedding reception location in Montmartre

You should have seen my face when I got Shauna and Joseph’s email about them getting married in Montmartre…. My brain immediately went into excitement mode. See, I spent 8 years living in London, so to say I LOVE the BRITS is an understatement. And now I live in Montmartre, and I’m very fond of all its hidden gems such as the one they had chosen for their French elopment. Hotel Particulier Montmartre is hidden behind a gate, at the end of an alleyway – and sure you can book dinner or show up for a cocktail there, but you need to know it exists for this to happen, and for them to have room to accommodate you too. So to be able to enjoy it fully because it’s been privatised for a wedding makes me love my job as a Paris wedding photographer even more! So on to their Montmartre Wedding!

It’s not just the choice of Hotel Particulier Montmartre that got me excited about this destination wedding in my neighbourhood, but also the fact there were to be only 30 guests, making for an intimate Paris wedding – and before covid times, that didn’t happen much, especially in my lovely city! My heart leaps a little bit in fear: I love the idea of a small wedding, yet have never photographed one so small. As a wedding photographer I usually feel like I’m running everywhere trying to catch up on time – how will this unfold? I like to work under pressure, so will I manage to deliver a gallery that will not be too redundant? I send them an email back, cross all fingers and jump up in excitement when they confirm that they want me.

An intimate wedding in Montmartre…

…Yes please!!!

Oh what a weddingit was! Hotel Particulier Montmartre only has 5 rooms, all decorated very differently. Then you get to the small garden where the wedding ceremony will take place, and there again the lucious plants need nothing but simple flower arch to add to the place. Dinner would take place in the beautiful veranda that opens onto the outside space and doesn’t need any decoration added either, what with its beautiful jungle like wall and bistro style tables. And for the party? what better place than the velvety “Très Particulier” bar and its lovely cocktails!

But let’s get back to the bar! It has such a cool movie look I thought it would be nice to play a bit and have the boys pose in that environment. I like how those photos turned out! Its soft (and general lack of) lighting also made for a different atmosphere for the party, miles away from the usual club style lighting and crazy lasers (which we hate by the way as they’re very dangerous for our gear ;)).

Oh and who doesn’t love a British wedding? They all went out the day before the wedding and had a few too many, so the groom had to start his day with his dad and father-in-law by drining Champagne in the next door restaurant, while the bride and her crew were prepping with pizzas.

Shauna had chosen a gorgeous Suzanne Neville wedding gown that had been given to Brides Do Good, an amazing charity that fights for children’s rights not to be married.

I have to say, photographing 30 guests for a whole day turned out to be a lot more fun than I thought, and I quicky realised my fears of repeating myself were unfounded! With so few people you end up getting a lot more interaction and as a result a lot more photo opps! These two love each other so so much and chose to go for a micro wedding in Paris so that they would have more time to enjoy each and every one of their guests. And so every moment they enjoyed, from spending quality time with everybody, to drinking shots with their parents and witnessing speeches that resonated with every single person present. Emotions felt even stronger as everyone was closer together.

Now I can only hope for one thing: that they will once day celebrate their wedding anniversary in Parisso that I can take more pictures of them; they were so so beautiful together. Anyway, sorry for rambling on!

I’ll let you enjoy the pictures from this gorgeous wedding in Montmartre, which also happened to be published by the super cool Rock’n’Roll Bride blog!

Wedding Dress: Suzanne Neville

Venue, Food, DJ: Hotel Particulier de Montmartre