From Texas to Prague, CZ | Part 2
The Bride and groom on the New Castle Stairs, near Prague Castle, with a view of the city behind them.
Wedding Portraits at Noteworthy Locations around Prague
When you’re getting married in a scenic destination, your photos need to be iconic.
In a busy city with a lot of tourists, like Prague, one of the biggest impediments to a great photo of a landmark, or an epic view, is the crowds. A crowd of people in the background of your photo is not just distracting, but it can also prevent us from seeing and taking the most dramatic or interesting or visually detailed photo possible. When we’re there in person, our brain sort of automatically edits the crowd out, so we can see the entirety of the view and understand the space. In photos, it’s much more important to capture the pristine view, so we have to be strategic.
Fortunately, there’s one trick that works surprisingly consistently throughout the world, which is: getting up super freaking early. People on every continent, it seems, are unlikely to turn up to the scenic spots en masse at 5am. Sure you’ll meet an earlybird couple, a sunrise enthusiast, or a runner occasionally, but the random pedestrian can usually be taken care of in photoshop in a way that a crowd of hundreds can’t.
The Bride and Groom on the Charles Bridge, with Old Town (Prague 1) behind them.
Old Town Prague
Old town Prague, also known on local maps as Prague 1, is where the bulk of the touristy stuff is. During most daylight hours hours, tourist-focused shops and carts line the streets hawking everything from chimney cakes (the local fried desert), to cheap beer, to fridge magnets. Brianna and Logan met Caleb and I there at 6am. The countless vendors that would soon crowd the streets were nowhere to be seen, so we were able to photograph the couple with just the beautiful architecture and local flora. (Peep that chestnut tree to the right of the above photo. Chestnut trees are all but extinct in North America)
Charles Bridge
This bridge was built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and was incredibly significant at the time because it connected Old Town to Prague Castle. In modern times, of course, there are many bridges over the river Vltava, but at the time this was built and for centuries thereafter, it made Prague an important part of the trade route between Eastern and Western Europe, and the historically significant city it is today.
Caleb and I arrived in Prague two days before the wedding day to be sure we had time to get through our initial jet lag, AND because you never know when flights will get delayed, and I don’t play chicken with weddings.
The day before the wedding, we took off on foot from our hotel and walked across the bridge to get our bearings. By day the bridge, which is only open to pedestrian traffic, was completely covered on both sides with carts selling nicknacks, little watercolor paintings of the city, and other tchotchkes. When we arrived with the couple to take portraits a few minutes after sunrise, though, the carts and vendors were nowhere to be seen. All these photos were taken from the bridge in a span of about 20 minutes total.
Prague Astronomical Clock
The Prague Astronomical Clock was built around 1400, and to this day displays the time in multiple formats, including Babylonian Time, Old Bohemian Time, and the movements of the sun and moon. It’s one of the most iconic spots in Prague and, once again, we benefitted from getting an early start, as these photos would not have been possible with a sea of tourists.
Old Town Prague
We also visited a few iconic spots in Old Town Prague, including the Prague Central Gallery and one of the bridge towers. Brianna and I had planned a rough outline of the places we wanted to visit, but we also kept our eyes peeled for pretty spots along the walk, of which there were plenty.
Prague Castle, the iconic palace perched on a hill above lesser town, which as been standing for over 1000 years, and was seized by Hitler during the Second World War. Czech President Petr Pavel recently made the castle open to the public, and we bumped into him on his way to work!
Malá Strana (Lesser Town)
This is the other side of the bridge where Prague Castle, Parliament, and the venue, Villa Richter are. Brianna and Logan parked their car on this side of the bridge, so we’d have it when we got there, as the places we wanted to go on the Lesser town side are more spread out.
Church of St. Nicholas
Brianna dreamed of a photo of her gorgeous train cascading down stairs, and the church was the perfect spot. The domes of the church can be seen from the square, where we caught a photo of the couple with one of Prague’s beautiful older trains whizzing through the shot. Speaking of trains, Prague has been said to be the city with the second best public transit in the world. As a public transit nerd, I was thrilled. We took trains all over the city, and departed for Germany by train after the wedding.
Czech President Petr Pavel walks through our photoshoot.
Prague Castle and the Czech President
Our next stop was Prague Castle. Perched on the hill above Lesser Town, the castle (in some shape or form) has stood on this very spot since 870 CE. We stopped for a photo of the city’s beautiful rooftops on the New Castle Stairs, and then navigated through courtyards and archways to reach St. Vitus Cathedral. As Brianna (who had previously lived in Prague) guided us through the extensive castle grounds, we stopped on a scenic bridge for a few photos.
Logan was distracted by one of the free-roaming peacocks.
Brianna was distracted by the fact that the president of the Czech Republic was about to walk through the photo.
Czech president, Petr Pavel, it turns out, is responsible for recently making the Prague Castle grounds, where we were currently staining, open to the public. Which is how we bumped into him as he walked from home to work or vice versa. We were photographing on a Friday morning and at this point it was about 9am. None of us knew what to say, so we just kind of smiled at him as he walked by and I snapped a few photos to remember the moment. He was extremely polite and didn’t seem to mind that we were there.
Lilac Season
Lilacs were EVERYWHERE in Prague in late April. The bride requested we capture a few photos with the iconic purple flowers, so we did.
The couple pose in front of the ancient facade and ornate doors at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.
Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul at Vyšehrad.
After a mostly walkable morning, we headed to our last portrait spot, a church across town that Logan was particularly enamored of. The drive up to the Basilica was a beautiful enough journey that I kept thinking we’d hop out of the car at any second. In fact, this is how I felt about just about everywhere in Prague—stunning portrait locations everywhere you look. This is when I realized just how much more of Prague there was to see outside of the tourist areas. I’m going to have to make a trip back to do more exploring.
Logan’s favorite part of the Basilica (and the reason we were there) were the ornate front doors. After a few last photos here, we decided that was enough for the morning photoshoot. As planned, we went our separate ways—Caleb and I to eat lunch and Nap, Brianna & Logan to further prepare for the evening’s festivities.
Wedding Reception at Villa Richter
Since they legally tied the knot in Texas two weeks prior, Brianna & Logan opted to skip the ceremony in Prague. (You can see their Texas Ceremony in this blog post) The couple donned their wedding attire for the morning’s portraits, and then we had a long break, regrouping at the venue in mid-afternoon so we could capture the party.
Wedding Details at Villa Richter
When we arrived to Villa Richter, a light rain started falling which continued throughout the evening, so I’m especially glad we had already done the vast majority of our portraits. I was dumbstruck by how pretty Villa Richter is. I had looked up the venue online from the states, but I was unprepared for how it was right in the middle of everything (easy walking distance from our hotel and Prague Castle) it was, especially considering it houses a whole vineyard and they make their own wine. Each room of the hillside building was beautifully decorated with a lovely view out the window.
Portraits at Villa Richter
As Brianna was understandably not interested in getting up any earlier than necessary, she did not do professional hair and makeup for the morning portraits, instead waiting for the party to get her look perfect. As such, we stuck to farther-off environmental portraits in the morning, to showcase the beauty of the city, and saved the close up portraits for the afternoon. Villa Richter had many pretty rooms, and the couple got ready together there before we took portraits around the space.
Peep the real working vineyard! They served wine that was grown on site! As an American, it impressed me so much that this place was RIGHT in the center of town.
Cocktail hour in the Atrium
When guests arrived, the were greeted with the venue’s own Prosecco. Houston Wedding Videographer, Jacob Alexander, had created a film from their ceremony in Texas less than two weeks earlier. His film was projected on the ceiling of the room adjacent to the atrium so guests could watch the ceremony. The bride’s father especially seemed to enjoy watching the video.
Guests mingled, sipped drinks, ate beautiful Hors d'oeuvres served on trays, while a paper cutting artist made guest profile cameos right there on the spot.
Dinner on the tented Patio
As it was chilly and rainy in April, the transparent tent sides stayed down and the staff brought in heaters. We cosily enjoyed our gourmet food with a view of the sun setting over Prague’s iconic rooftops.
Brie and Logan generously set a place for Caleb and I at dinner. While I never ask clients to do this, we very much enjoyed the dinner—the food was incredible. Photographing guests eating is universally unflattering, so at most weddings we are ushered off into a back room to eat at this time, but when we get the chance to sit in the room with the guests, we can pop our cameras up for little moments of interaction, and never miss an impromptu speech.
Dancing in the atrium
After dinner, we returned to the Atrium. Brie and Logan danced their first dance, and with their parents. Dessert and coffee was served casually in an adjoining room, and before the night was over, Brie had changed into an adorable bridal mini-dress. My favorite photo of the entire day, because I think it tells you a lot about who Logan and Brianna are as a couple, is the one where she’s feeding him a tequila shot, with the lime ready in her other hand.
Guests were in for one last surprise, though. As we walked down the bridge that morning, Brianna told me she’d been to a great party some months before that had had hired professional entertainers to make the dance floor more lively—and she wanted that kind of energy for her wedding reception. When Brianna mentioned this to Kate, Kate knew just who to ask. The ladies of local act, Vi Brasil Samba Show, ensured that this would be a night no one would soon forget.
If you haven’t read it yet, check out Part 1 the wedding ceremony in Orange, Texas!
Caleb and I had a blast with this one. We are in our element in new places! Many locals even tried to strike up conversations with Caleb—and while he is bilingual, Czech is not one of his languages. We did learn a few words, the bride speaks Czech, and we didn’t have any problem getting around as most of the tourist areas have a lot of English speakers
Vendors
Planner: Royal Wedding by Kate | https://royalwedding.cz
Venue, catering, bar, & dessert: Villa Richter | https://www.villarichter.cz/en/
Both Kate and Villa Richter frequently work with destination couples from the US. If you’re planning a wedding in Prague from the US I highly recommend getting in touch with them.
HMUA: Alina Vagner | https://www.instagram.com/alinavagner.mua/
Floral: Wow Flowers Prague | https://wowflowers.me
Content Creation: Buimova Yulia | https://www.instagram.com/juymik/
Entertainment: Vi Brasil Samba Show | https://www.vibrasil.cz
Wedding Video: (Filmed in Texas, Projected on the ceiling in Prague) Jacob Alexander | https://jacobalexanderfilms.com