Cinematic waterfront portrait with the bride in a flowing veil and her partner standing behind her.

VENICE + TUSCANY, ITALY43°23′17.2″ N, 11°27′30.3″ E · AUGUST · ELOPEMENT

THE LONG WAY SOUTH

They had already changed the plan before I even arrived.

They were supposed to get married in the United States. Instead, they got married at Lake Garda two or three days before I met them. I found this out at five in the morning in Venice.

Had I known, I would have told them to let me come to Garda. Obviously.

What I did know was that they wanted Venice before thousands of people appeared, so we started around sunrise. He had rented a boat. She was exhausted. I was running on maybe four hours of sleep after a delayed flight and a missed connection in Vienna. None of us was operating at full capacity yet.

I had planned most of it with him. I really got to know her on the boat.

St Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace in the pale light before sunrise.
A newly married couple walks across an almost empty St Mark's Square in Venice.
The couple stands between stone columns beneath a Venetian arcade.
The couple holds hands while looking in opposite directions beneath the arches.
A layered wedding portrait with the bride in front and St Mark's Campanile behind her.
Close portrait of the bride under her veil with her partner partly visible behind her.
The couple looks at each other closely beneath the bride's veil.
The couple leans into a kiss with Venetian arches softly behind them.
Black-and-white detail of joined hands beside the bride's lace dress.In a blurred black-and-white frame, the groom reaches for the bride's hand.
The couple walks hand in hand through warm sunrise light in St Mark's Square.
The couple walks along the Venetian waterfront with the lagoon behind them.
The bride's face appears softly through her moving veil in the morning sun.
A layered portrait makes the bride and her veil appear twice against Venetian architecture.
Black-and-white double exposure of the bride moving beside the Venetian lagoon.
Cinematic waterfront portrait with the bride in a flowing veil and her partner standing behind her.
The couple moves across a Venetian square in front of a white church facade.
The groom offers his hand while the bride crosses the foreground out of focus.
The couple appears softly blurred beside the Rialto Bridge and reflections on the water.
View from a moving boat across the Grand Canal and its early morning buildings.
The Venetian lagoon and a distant church are framed by the structure of a boat.
The couple laughs on a boat, mirrored in the polished wooden surface in front of them.
The couple sits together and laughs in the warm interior of a Venetian boat.
The couple looks upward together from a boat passing beneath a low bridge.
Wide view across the blue Venetian lagoon toward the distant skyline.
The couple stands small at the foot of a monumental Venetian church, with a dog nearby.
The groom is out of focus in front while the bride stands sharply in a church doorway.
The couple stands in deep shadow inside a vast church doorway above broad stone steps.
The couple walks down the church steps hand in hand.
The couple appears as small figures at the bright end of a dark Venetian alley.
The bride looks down in the foreground while her partner reads a newspaper behind her.
The bride rests against her partner while they sit together on sunlit steps.
The couple walks up outdoor steps through strong evening backlight.
The couple embraces beneath a tall streetlamp beside the lagoon.
The bride sits inside a wooden boat, framed by a dark reflection across the image.
The couple sits close together on a boat with Venetian buildings behind them.
The couple kisses against a deep blue sky inside a polished wooden boat.
Venetian palaces line the water as the boat leaves the city behind.
Venice is seen through the dark wooden frame of the boat during departure.

At midday, the light was shit. So we did the only sensible thing and slept for three hours.

A stone building and tall tree at Borgo San Felice in the evening light.
Frontal view of a symmetrical Tuscan stone house beneath a blue sky.
The couple stands outside a Tuscan stone house, seen through dark branches.
The couple stands apart on a narrow stone staircase in Tuscany.
Vertical portrait of the couple on stone stairs beside tall cypress trees.
Black-and-white rear view of the couple walking through a narrow stone passage.
The couple walks hand in hand beside a sunlit stone wall.
Black-and-white portrait with the bride in the foreground and her partner partly hidden behind her veil.
Low-angle black-and-white portrait of the couple beneath blurred cypress trees.
A constructed portrait layers the bride softly in front of the groom against a stone wall.
The couple embraces beneath a broad pine tree with a large pale sky above them.
Low-angle black-and-white portrait of the couple with slender trees behind them.
Black-and-white close-up of the bride's ringed hand resting over her partner's hand.In a black-and-white close-up, the groom holds the bride's hand and touches her ring.
The bride closes her eyes against her partner's shoulder, her hands resting on his jacket.
Black-and-white portrait of the couple standing side by side with sunlight between them.
Backlit black-and-white close-up of the couple touching faces beneath the veil.
The couple kisses with the low evening sun shining between their faces.
The couple rests their foreheads together beneath trees in the evening light.
Black-and-white rear view of the couple walking hand in hand beneath tall trees.
The couple walks away through a narrow shadowed lane in a blurred black-and-white frame.

I had suggested making this two days. Venice and Tuscany in one day sounded stupid to me. They lived in the United States and apparently had a different relationship with distance.

He drove. She slept. I talked to him. By the time we met again at Borgo San Felice, we knew what to expect from each other and the whole thing felt easy.

A day later they drove me farther south and eventually dropped me in Rome. They took care of me, threw money at every practical problem, and treated Italy like a road trip with a wedding dress in the back.

Would two days have been more relaxed? Yes. Did one day work? Also yes. I still think splitting it would have been saner.

This one-day after-wedding session began in Venice around sunrise and continued at Borgo San Felice in Tuscany that evening. The couple had married privately at Lake Garda a few days earlier, then used their wedding clothes for a road trip through Italy. For anyone looking for an Italy elopement photographer, the day shows what is possible when a timeline follows the light rather than wedding convention: Venice before the crowds, a boat between locations, a midday break, and Tuscany in the evening. I would still split this route across two days. It gives everyone more sleep and leaves more room for whatever happens between the photographs.

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