Elopements & Intimate Weddings

Strasbourg is small enough to walk in a day. The cathedral, the river, and the old streets of Petite France are all close together.

I spent a gray Saturday there in January 2018, while I was studying in Heidelberg. You can follow that day stop by stop on this map of my photos.

A little about me

I grew up outside Chicago, and I've lived in Oaxaca, Mexico, since 2007. My wife and our three kids were all born there. After this many years as the foreigner, I still notice the small things, like old vines on a pair of shutters.

In English, y en español

Maybe half the family speaks Spanish and the other half English. Or you're from Mexico or Latin America and chose Strasbourg for yourselves. Either way, I can talk with everyone in their own language. I've been photographing weddings in both for almost twenty years.

"Although we were born in Mexico, we live in the US. Douglas had the best of both worlds. He is fluent in both English and Spanish, which allowed us to express as was natural to us."

Alejandra

How I work

I look for good light, put you in it, and then mostly let you be. If you need some direction, I'll give it. No false posing.

For video, I'm influenced more by independent film than by other wedding videos. Your highlight film will have a real beginning and end, and I'll leave out anything that doesn't need to be there.

One person, three cameras

For an elopement in Strasbourg, it's just me. The streets are narrow, the cafés are small, and a crew with tripods gets in the way. I cover both photo and video myself.

I also bring two film cameras, a medium format and a 35mm. A roll of medium format has only 12 frames, so I can't shoot a lot and sort it out later. I have to wait for the moment. I hold that camera at my waist and look down into it, so it's never in front of my face, and people forget about it pretty quickly.

A few practical things

The paperwork. To get legally married in France, you have to have lived there for a while first, which most visitors haven't. So most couples do the legal part at home and have the ceremony in Strasbourg. That means you can have it almost anywhere: by the river, in a small square, on a quiet street in Petite France.

Getting there. Strasbourg is about two hours by train from Paris, and close to the German border. You could start in Paris and end here, or come over fromHeidelberg or Freiburg.

Investment

I keep packages simple and easy. For Strasbourg, this is it: one price, with all travel fees included, and no hidden or extra travel fees.