Best Wedding Photographers in Positano 2026
Positano is the most photographed village on the Amalfi Coast. Here's how to find and vet a photogra…
Read →Paris has always been a city for lovers, but the elopement industry has transformed what that means. Couples now arrive from across the world to marry in a city neither of them lives in, with a photographer and an officiant and no family — just the two of them and one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Done well, it's extraordinary. Done without preparation, it's stressful.
Permits and where you do (and don't) need them
The Eiffel Tower is privately managed by the SETE organization. Photography in front of the Tower on the Champ de Mars lawn is technically public space and doesn't require a permit for personal photography. Commercial photography — which wedding photography legally qualifies as — requires a permit, but enforcement is inconsistent and many photographers simply shoot quickly and move on.
The Trocadéro viewpoint, across the Seine, is the best angle for Tower-with-reflection shots and is consistently less policed than the Champ de Mars. But it also has fewer romantic foregrounds.
The Louvre's Pyramid is private property. Photography inside the courtyard for commercial purposes requires advance permission from the Louvre's communications department — a process that takes weeks.
The most experienced Paris elopement photographers have a map of exactly what's permissible where, and when to avoid which locations.
Beyond the clichés: Paris locations that surprise couples
Palais Royal Gardens: A colonnaded garden in the 1st arrondissement, usually quieter than the nearby Louvre. Beautiful symmetry and stone architecture.
Père Lachaise Cemetery: Sounds counterintuitive. But this vast garden cemetery is one of Paris's most beautiful green spaces — peaceful, historic, and almost photogenic.
Canal Saint-Martin: Iron footbridges, poplar trees, green iron locks. A completely different Paris from the tourist circuit, popular with young Parisians and far less visited by tourists.
Montmartre back streets: The stairs below Sacré-Cœur are mobbed; the narrow streets above, toward the vineyard, are quiet even in summer.
Light in Paris
Paris faces north-northwest at street level. Golden hour in summer arrives late — 9pm in June. This means evening elopements in Paris have extraordinary light. Winter elopements, conversely, have golden light from 3pm onward, and the crowds are a fraction of what they are in summer.
Finding a Paris elopement specialist
The best Paris elopement photographers do this exclusively. They have established relationships with officiants who can legally perform civil or symbolic ceremonies, with florists who deliver to any arrondissement, and with restaurants for the intimate dinner after. Ask whether your photographer can help coordinate the full day or just the photography.