Angela & Sylvian — a Chinese-French celebration in the heart of Paris, on film
Some weddings are two cultures meeting in one room. Angela and Sylvian's wedding was two cultures meeting in one of the most beautiful rooms in Paris — and the result was extraordinary.
The day began with a traditional Chinese tea ceremony in the morning, the family gathered close, the rituals carried out with the kind of quiet reverence that makes you hold your breath. Angela wore red — the colour of luck, of joy, of new beginnings. The room was intimate and warm, and the light through the hotel windows fell across the ceremony in long golden shafts that Kodak Portra rendered with a softness I still think about.
Then: Paris. Angela changed into white, and she and Sylvian stepped onto a balcony overlooking the Eiffel Tower. A vintage Mustang carried them through the streets — the kind of detail that sounds cinematic because it was. They arrived at The Westin Vendôme with the energy of two people who had just driven through Paris together on their wedding day, and the ceremony in the hotel's gilded ballroom had the grandeur and emotion that a venue like this was built for.
The Westin Vendôme sits beside the Tuileries Garden, a few steps from Place Vendôme. The ballrooms are baroque — red-lined salons, gilded ceilings, chandeliers that catch the candlelight in ways that make every frame look like a painting from another century. I photographed the ceremony and reception on medium format film — Contax 645 with Kodak Portra 400 for the daylight moments and Portra 800 for the evening. The interiors of this hotel, with their deep reds and warm golds, are among the most beautiful things I have ever captured on analog film. Portra handles these tones with an honesty and richness that digital would flatten into something clinical.
What made this wedding unforgettable was the way Angela and Sylvian wove their two worlds together — Chinese tradition and Parisian elegance, family ritual and grand celebration, intimacy and spectacle, all on the same day. This wedding was featured in French Wedding Style, and photographing it remains one of the proudest moments of my career.
If you are planning a wedding at The Westin Vendôme — or anywhere in Paris — I would love to bring the same care and attention to your day.
I'm Olya, a fine art film wedding photographer based in Barcelona. I photograph destination weddings, elopements, and love stories across the Mediterranean — every image captured on analog film so it will be cherished for generations.
