Paris or London: Why I Now Offer an Editorial Engagement Shoot as Part of My Premium Wedding Photography Package
There is a moment that happens in almost every wedding I photograph. It comes during the couple's portrait session - usually thirty minutes into it, when they have stopped thinking about the camera and started actually being with each other. The light is doing something beautiful. The location is working. And the photographs that follow are the ones that end up in the album, framed on the wall, shared with everyone they know.
I have spent over thirty years working towards that moment. And for a long time, I accepted that it took most of a wedding day to get there. Then I changed something. And it changed everything!
Introducing the Editorial Engagement Shoot: Paris or London
As part of my premium wedding photography package - The Editorial Story - I now include a dedicated styled editorial session in one of two extraordinary cities: Paris or London.
This is not a bonus. It is not an optional add-on. It is a fully-designed, intimate portrait session with me - unhurried, unscripted, and set against the backdrop of one of the world's most photogenic cities. You choose which city speaks to your story. I bring the same editorial eye, the same attention to light, and the same calm direction that I bring to every wedding I photograph.
Paris or London. Your choice of city. Your love story told in full - in a setting worthy of it.
Why Paris? Why London?
Both cities offer something that is almost impossible to replicate anywhere else: scale, history, and a quality of light that photographers spend careers chasing.
Paris
The French capital is, quite simply, one of the most photographically rich cities on earth. The Haussmann architecture, the light on the Seine at dusk, the quiet cobbled streets of the Marais, the gardens of the Palais Royal - every corner offers something that feels simultaneously timeless and cinematic. For couples who want images that feel like they belong in the pages of a fashion magazine, Paris is the natural choice.
London
For couples who want something closer to home - or who simply love the energy, the architecture, and the drama of one of the world's great capital cities - London delivers in abundance. From the Georgian terraces of Notting Hill to the riverside views of the South Bank, from the quiet grandeur of Hyde Park to the raw industrial beauty of Shoreditch, London is a city of extraordinary variety. No two shoots here look the same.
These are not tourist photographs. This is an editorial portrait session — designed, directed, and crafted with the same intention as every image in your wedding album.
MARTIN JAPHETH
What Is the Session and What Does It Include?
The Paris or London editorial session is a styled, intimate portrait experience. We work together for a private session at carefully chosen locations - selected in advance for their light, their architecture, and their emotional quality. Nothing is rushed. Nothing is forced.
You will be guided throughout. My approach to direction is exactly what I bring to the wedding day itself: calm, fashion-informed, and focused entirely on drawing out what is natural rather than manufacturing something that isn't. The result is a set of images that feel effortless - because the work that goes into making them effortless is entirely mine to carry.
The session can be arranged as an engagement shoot before your wedding - a beautiful chapter in the story of your relationship - or as a post-wedding editorial, after the day itself, when you have the photographs from the wedding and want to add something extraordinary to the collection.
Please note: travel and accommodation to Paris or London are arranged independently by the couple. The session itself is fully included within The Editorial Story package.
Why Does This Matter for Your Wedding Photography?
There is a practical reason I include this session, and an emotional one. Let me give you both.
The Practical Reason
Most couples have never been professionally photographed before their wedding day. They arrive in front of my lens having never experienced the direction, the pacing, or the kind of trust that produces great portraiture. That is entirely normal. But it means that some of the most important photographs of their lives are taken while they are still learning how to be in them.
The engagement or post-wedding shoot changes this entirely. By the time we arrive at the wedding day - or in the case of a post-wedding session, by the time we arrive in Paris or London - we already know each other. You know how I work. I know how you move, how you hold each other, and what you look like when you stop thinking about the camera.
The photographs that follow are categorically different from those taken without that foundation.
The Emotional Reason
Your wedding day is full. Full of people, full of emotion, full of everything happening at once. The portrait session on the day - as important as it is - takes place in the middle of all of that.
The Paris or London session is something else entirely. It is just the two of you, in a beautiful city, with no schedule to keep and no guests to get back to. The images that come from this session carry a different quality. They are quieter, more intimate, and in many cases the ones that couples return to most often.
Your wedding photographs are the only investment that increases in value over time. The Editorial Story package is designed for couples who understand that.
MARTIN JAPHETH
Who Is The Editorial Story Package For?
The Editorial Story is my most complete offering. It is designed for couples who see their wedding not just as a day, but as a story worth telling in full - with the time, the craft, and the locations it deserves.
If you are planning a wedding at a premium venue in North Wales, Cheshire, or across the UK - or if you are simply someone who cares deeply about the quality and artistry of the images you will carry with you for a lifetime - this package was designed for you.
It includes unlimited coverage of your full wedding day, a pre-wedding venue design consultation, the Paris or London editorial session, a dedicated after-dark portrait set, a handcrafted 40-page Luxury Fine Art Album in a bespoke presentation box, and your complete gallery delivered within four weeks.
