The Colonnade Perrault is 140 metres long and most people walk past it to get to the pyramid. I walked past it for years. Then one morning, I showed up at 7am for a session and the whole structure was empty, the light was raking in sideways through the arches, and I understood why Claude Perrault designed it the way he did. The colonnade wasn’t built for tourists. It was built for this exact light.
That morning changed how I think about the Louvre as a location for engagement sessions. And it’s the reason I brought this couple here on a quiet Tuesday in spring, before the museum opened, before the crowds arrived, before the city fully woke up.
Why the Colonnade, not the Pyramid
Every photographer in Paris knows the pyramid. It’s beautiful, it’s graphic, and it’s on every Pinterest board you’ve ever scrolled through. But the colonnade on the eastern facade is something else entirely. It’s classical architecture at its most restrained: paired Corinthian columns, deep shadows, a perspective line that pulls you forward like a film set designed for two people walking into the distance.
The light in the colonnade changes every fifteen minutes. At 7am in spring, it enters from the south side at a low angle and creates these long diagonal shadows across the stone floor. By 8:30, it’s overhead and flat. By 9, the first tourist groups arrive and the spell breaks. There’s a window of about ninety minutes where this place belongs entirely to whoever is standing in it.
I’ve made the mistake of arriving late here. Once, I scheduled a session at 9:30, thinking the light would still be good. It wasn’t. The shadows were gone, the columns looked two-dimensional, and a school group was doing a history lesson in the middle of the passageway. I learned the hard way that this location has a clock, and you either work with it or against it.
A Couple Who Got the Brief Exactly Right
When this couple told me they wanted something « casual but not sloppy, » I knew they’d done their research. She showed up in a black dress and a denim jacket. He wore all black. No ball gown, no suit, no props. Just two people who looked like they were about to walk to a café after the session, which is exactly what they did.
This is the styling that photographs best and I don’t say that often enough. There’s a persistent idea that engagement sessions require formal wear, that you need heels and a floor-length dress to make photos feel « editorial. » You don’t. What you need is clothes that make you feel like yourself, in a colour palette that doesn’t fight the architecture.
The denim jacket against the warm limestone of the colonnade was a perfect contrast, both in colour and in mood. It said: we’re here, we’re relaxed, this is who we are. That confidence translates directly into the photographs. When people are comfortable in what they’re wearing, they move differently. They stop adjusting, stop checking mirrors, and start paying attention to each other.
From Colonnade to Bridge
One of the things I’ve learned from shooting in Paris for years is that the walk between locations is as important as the locations themselves. I plan sessions as routes, not as a checklist of spots. This couple and I left the Louvre colonnade and walked along the Seine towards the Pont des Arts. That fifteen-minute walk gave us time to talk, to decompress from the first location, and for me to notice how they naturally held hands, how she leaned into him when she laughed.
The Pont des Arts is one of those locations that can go either way. On a Saturday afternoon, it’s packed. On a Tuesday morning, it’s nearly empty, and the wooden planks, the green metal railing, and the view of the Île de la Cité behind you make it one of the most intimate spots in Paris.
I asked them to dance. Not a choreographed moment, just a slow turn on the bridge while the city moved around them. She spun under his arm and her hair caught the wind and I pressed the shutter exactly once. It’s the photo that ended up being their save-the-date card.
The Pont Neuf in the Background, and Why Composition Matters More Than Location
The last set of photos from this session was taken ten metres further along the bridge, facing west toward the Pont Neuf. From this angle, you get the oldest bridge in Paris, the Seine, and the quais on both banks in a single frame. It’s the kind of background that makes a photograph feel unmistakably Parisian without needing a monument to announce itself.
What I like about this angle is what it leaves out. No Eiffel Tower. No pyramid. No obvious landmark. Instead, you get the texture of Paris: the stone, the water, the trees lining the banks, the houseboats. It’s the Paris that Parisians actually live in, and it feels more honest than any postcard view.
The couple shifted into something quieter here. After the energy of the dance, they settled into each other. She put her hand on his chest, he leaned down, and they had this private moment that I almost didn’t photograph because it felt too personal. But I’ve learned that those are usually the photographs people keep.
What This Session Taught Me (Again)
Every session reminds me of something I already know but occasionally forget. This one reminded me that less is more. Two locations, ninety minutes, one outfit, no props, no confetti, no champagne bottles. Just two people who like each other, walking through a city that rewards early risers.
If you’re planning an engagement session in Paris and you’ve been looking at mood boards full of flowing dresses and golden-hour backlight, I’d encourage you to also consider this: a quiet morning, comfortable clothes, and the version of Paris that exists before 9am. It’s less dramatic, less « social media, » but it’s real. And in my experience, those are the photos that still matter ten years from now.
For more location ideas, I’ve written my full guide to engagement session locations in Paris, covering everything from rooftops to hidden gardens. And if you’re already thinking about the wedding, here’s what I’ve learned about Paris wedding photography over the past several years.
Let’s Plan Your Morning
I keep my engagement session calendar intentionally small, usually two or three per month, so I can give each couple the attention the morning deserves. If you’re visiting Paris and a sunrise session at the Louvre sounds like your kind of thing, I’d love to hear from you.
Session locations: Colonnade Perrault, Musée du Louvre · Pont des Arts · Seine River
Photography: Franklyn K Photography
Published in: Vogue · Brides · Wedding Sparrow · Carats & Cake
