Gilded Rooms, Handwritten Things: A Winter Wedding in Paris
Photography by Freda Banks, LUÁGO
Paris in the days between Christmas and New Year’s goes quiet in a specific way. The city is still lit, still dressed, but the pace drops. It was in this window that a couple from the Netherlands chose to marry. The timing tells you something about how they approach things.
What started as a half-serious suggestion from their planner Lotte, who had long wanted to put a wedding together in Paris, became something genuinely felt. A ceremony aboard a boat drifting along the Seine, the city moving past on either side. Then dinner at Lapérouse, the private salon that has been drawing writers, lovers, and restless minds since 1766. Baudelaire sat here. Proust lingered. Gainsbourg met Birkin. A new story folded quietly into the walls.
Freda Banks photographed the weekend with an editorial clarity that lets the setting speak without overstating it. Her frames are composed but not stiff. She finds the human gesture inside the historic space.
The gestures are what define this celebration. Their three children handwrote the save-the-dates on textured paper. Childhood sweets were served as aperitifs. Tablecloths and chandeliers were hand-sewn from thrifted textiles, their prints echoing the vintage wallpaper and carpets of the venue. Each guest received a red rose, a handwritten love note at dinner, and a warm baguette to take home. Nothing was ornamental.
The weekend opened Friday with a pre-wedding shoot at the Palais Galliera. The bride in a vintage pink bow blouse, Jacquemus sunglasses, a 3D-printed bag by Argot Studio x ENSÔ. A quiet signal of what was to come.
Her wedding wardrobe followed through at every turn. A white Cecilie Bahnsen mini dress with a vintage veil and sky-blue Dries van Noten heels for the city hall ceremony, light and slightly irreverent. A sleek Bon Bridé gown with a sweeping train for the vows on the Seine. A glimmering Paco Rabanne x H&M piece for the dance floor that carried all the energy of Studio 54. Each look was distinctly her own, guided by instinct rather than convention.
Planning: With Lotte. Photography by Freda Banks, LUÁGO.
