Swiss Bliss All-Nighter, Captured by Joshua Kane [Rf Wedding of the Week]

November 17, 2016

By Laura Brauer

It was a quasi-family reunion of sorts for wedding photographer Joshua Kane when he got to shoot bride Stephanie’s wedding. “Stephanie was a Swiss exchange student who lived in Australia with my family after I had moved to the U.S. about eight or nine years ago,” says Kane, who’s now jointly based in Adelaide, Australia, and Palm Beach, Florida. “Her and my sister had become very close throughout her stay, and Stephanie returned to Australia years later to be a bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding, which I photographed. So I guess you could call us long-distance family friends.”

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All photos © Joshua Kane

The bride and groom chose Valais, Switzerland, as the locale for the festivities, native to them but a destination for Kane. “To my foreign eyes, nothing could be more beautiful or exciting,” he says. “The location was incredibly personal and meaningful to the couple, who are the quintessential Swiss couple. They absolutely love this gorgeous part of the world, every mountain, every vineyard and every patch of wildflowers (of which there were many), so much so that we decided to shoot portraits over two days in multiple locations.”

destination wedding photographer destination wedding photographer destination wedding photographer destination wedding photographer destination wedding photographer destination wedding photographer destination wedding photographer destination wedding photographer destination wedding photographer destination wedding photographer destination wedding photographerThey ventured to castles, mountains and a vineyard or two, and “what’s more,” Kane added, “the bride’s family (her parents in particular, who only spoke French) welcomed me not just to their country—with the gift of a Swiss army knife—but also into their home and fed me all the chocolate and cheese I could eat. We shared many stories and laughs (albeit, with the aid of the Google Translate app, since my French is pretty woeful).” The warm welcome and “uninhibited access to their everyday lives” undoubtedly played a big role in Kane’s ability to get some very sweet and touching images, not to mention, he says, “we built a relationship that went deeper than most, which helped raise their comfort level with the overall photographic process.”

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e to exit their reception until 5 a.m. the morning after, which meant they planned on partying all night long, despite an early start for preparations on the wedding day. Not at all what I was used to since most weddings in Australia and the U.S. are over by around midnight.” The fix for this was doable—Kane “basically just flicked the switch to party mode” and joined right in with the all-nighters.

“Guessing when the big moments (kiss, rings, reactions, etc.) were coming was a fun challenge too, since everything was in French,” he adds. “It really made me concentrate hard for visual cues and when to be ready to catch a moment.”

Switzerland-destination-wedding-photographer-093 Switzerland-destination-wedding-photographer-077 Switzerland-destination-wedding-photographer-085 Switzerland-destination-wedding-photographer-099 Switzerland-destination-wedding-photographer-101 Switzerland-destination-wedding-photographer-102 Switzerland-destination-wedding-photographer-103 Switzerland-destination-wedding-photographer-105 Switzerland-destination-wedding-photographer-107Kane couldn’t stress enough how gracious the couple was, and shared a “funny/not-so-funny story” (and a lesson for photographers) to illustrate: “The day before the wedding, I decided to climb an Alp (as you do on your first time in Switzerland). After a 4-hour hike my feet were blistered and sore and I still had a long drive to get back to Stephanie’s home in her tiny car that I was borrowing. On the way home, another driver crashed into the bride’s car while I was driving alone on a treacherously narrow mountain road. The car was drive-able but crumpled on one side, and I had to climb out the passenger side. Thankfully, the other driver (who spoke English) was the nicest person and accepted fault and even contacted the groom to apologize and handle the insurance claim, as well as congratulate them on their marriage. All in all, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but still not something you want to happen the day before your wedding. Moral of the story and lesson to traveling photographers: Save your little mountain climbing adventures until after the wedding, and probably don’t borrow the bride’s car.”

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GEAR FOR THE DAY

Cameras: Canon 5D Mark IIIs
Lenses: Canon 50mm f/1.2L, Canon 85mm f/1.2L, Sigma 35mm Art

Check out more Weddings of the Week, and email Libby Peterson or Jacqueline Tobin with submissions.