After-Wedding Couple Session in Saint-Malo — Marine & Alexandre

Putting the dress and the suit back on some time after the wedding, and treating yourselves to Saint-Malo in the evening — no schedule, no guests, nothing planned but the pictures.

That is the whole point of an after-wedding couple session: on the wedding day, time flies. Here, Marine and Alexandre had the corsair city to themselves — the ramparts at dusk, the lanes inside the walls as the lights come on, the shore at low tide. We walked, a lot, and I photographed in a documentary way, as always: real moments in settings that don't pretend.

Marine crosses a street inside the walls through a blade of low, raking light while Alexandre waits in the shade — couple session in Saint-Malo — Arnaud Chapelle

Inside the walls, as the day ends

At the end of the day Saint-Malo changes its skin: the light slides between the granite facades, the shop windows light up, the streets empty. It is the moment I like best for a couple — the town becomes a stage set, and nobody pays attention to a bride walking by.

Marine and Alexandre on either side of a large blue glass window, on a wall covered in writing — couple session in Saint-Malo — Arnaud Chapelle

Alexandre kisses Marine's hand, seen through the window of the café La Java, in black and white — Saint-Malo — Arnaud Chapelle

La Java, a stop you can't skip

You can't walk past it: Le Café du Coin d'en Bas de la Rue du Bout de la Ville d'en Face du Port — La Java, the Saint-Malo institution with the longest name in Brittany and the wildest décor: dolls, posters, objects from floor to ceiling. We stopped there, and the window did the rest.

Inside La Java in Saint-Malo, its dolls and old posters from floor to ceiling — Arnaud Chapelle

Marine and Alexandre kissing on the doorstep next to the lit-up fishmonger's — inside the walls of Saint-Malo in the evening — Arnaud Chapelle

The couple under an archway inside the walls at night, windows lit upstairs — couple session in Saint-Malo — Arnaud Chapelle

Marine and Alexandre framed in a lit shop window, the granite street in darkness — Saint-Malo at night — Arnaud Chapelle

The dories on the shore, at blue hour

We finished by the water, among the dories and their masts. The sky turned deep blue, the silhouettes stood out against the rigging — and Marine, in her white dress between the hulls, gave us the most graphic images of the evening.

Silhouettes of Marine and Alexandre between the rigging of the dories, blue evening sky — Saint-Malo — Arnaud Chapelle

Marine in her wedding dress leaning against the hull of a dory at blue hour, Alexandre in the background — Saint-Malo — Arnaud Chapelle

Marine and Alexandre forehead to forehead, a moment held still — after-wedding couple session in Saint-Malo — Arnaud Chapelle

Thank you to Marine and Alexandre for playing the dress-and-suit game once more — and to Saint-Malo for providing the setting without ever forcing it.

Location: inside the walls of Saint-Malo, Emerald Coast (Ille-et-Vilaine) — English-speaking wedding photographer in Normandy and Brittany
The café: Le Café du Coin d'en Bas de la Rue du Bout de la Ville d'en Face du Port — La Java
See also: engagement session in Saint-Malo · family session in Cancale (in French)

Arnaud Chapelle — Documentary wedding photographer
Saint-Lô · Normandy · Brittany · English-speaking

This session took place in Saint-Malo, less than an hour from Saint-Lô. It is also available in French: Séance couple after-wedding à Saint-Malo — Marine & Alexandre.

Marine & Alexandre

Inside the walls, as the day ends

La Java, a stop you can't skip

The dories on the shore, at blue hour

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