Jules Bower Photography

Jules Bower is a destination wedding photographer based in Italy, with a business address at Castiglione del Lago near Perugia. His site describes him as British but fluent in Italian, and elsewhere as fluent in English and Italian, with more than 20 years of experience. Most of his published work is in Italy, in Venice, Lake Como, the Amalfi Coast, Puglia, Tuscany and Florence, but he photographs weddings in Europe and worldwide, and his Swiss work includes a detailed account of a winter wedding in Saint Moritz. His wife, the site adds, is a wedding planner in Tuscany.

For a couple planning a wedding in Switzerland, the point to understand is that he is not a Swiss-based photographer. He is an English-speaking destination specialist who travels in, and the Saint Moritz story shows how he works on that kind of job.

A week in Saint Moritz

The Saint Moritz page describes a December wedding for a couple from New York, and the photographer spent a week with them. He writes that they clicked from the first meeting and were on the same wavelength professionally and artistically; the family, in his words, lives and breathes art. Before the event they brainstormed ways to make the wedding a spectacular production. The couple acted as their own wedding planners and were hands-on down to the smallest detail.

On arrival he met the couple to settle the last details, then photographed a welcome dinner in a typical mountain restaurant. Horses and sleds took the guests up the mountain to the lodge, with hot mulled wine served halfway. The next day guests were free to enjoy St. Moritz while the closest family gathered for a family dinner and the signing of the Ketubah, where the bride wore a long white Pronovias gown.

The wedding day

On the day itself he started early with pictures of the Saint Moritz scenery, then moved into the penthouse for the details. The bride's first gown was a delicate pink Monique Lhuillier dress with Swarovski crystals, worn with Louboutin shoes. She had no bridesmaids; 2 cousins and her mother joined her for the preparations, while the groom got ready with his brother and father on the other side of a large 3-bedroom suite. The dress code for the men was white tie.

A rabbi conducted the ceremony. Family pictures followed straight away while the guests had their cocktail hour, and he then took the couple for a few photos at the entrance of the venue. Outside it was about -20 °C (-4 °F), so the couple posed with a vintage Rolls-Royce for a few frames and went back inside to warm up. That detail is worth noting for any winter wedding in Saint Moritz: outdoor portraits in December are short.

The reception hall was decorated on a Nutcracker theme, with ballerinas from La Scala in Milan performing pieces from the ballet. The first dance was to Once Upon a December from Anastasia while snow fell. The bride changed into a Galia Lahav dress for the evening, a 5-tier white cake was cut, a buffet themed on Swiss chocolate followed, and the band played until the early morning. The page also points to a lakeside wedding in Switzerland on the same site.

His style

His Venice page is the fullest statement of how he photographs. He describes his style as blending candid moments with the grandeur of the setting, and says he works with each couple to find unique, unscripted moments in a relaxed shoot so that their connection shows. For elopements he talks about the stolen glances and quiet moments, and for both elopements and full weddings he writes that above all he tries to bring the location and scenery into the pictures as much as possible, because that is the point of a destination wedding. In Saint Moritz that meant opening the wedding day with landscape frames of the resort before a single portrait.

His pages also mention mountain weddings in the Dolomites alongside the lakes and the coast, and on Lake Como he offers to help couples choose photo locations, from well-known villas to spots known mainly to locals.

How he works

Across his Italian pages he stresses personal service and storytelling, and his Lake Como page has an FAQ that answers most practical questions. His standard packages, he writes, typically include a pre-wedding consultation, an engagement shoot, full-day coverage from getting ready to the reception, a second shooter, professionally edited high-resolution images in a private online gallery, and a selection of prints with a custom-designed album. Add-ons include drone photography, extra shoots at other locations and videography. Each package can be tailored.

He recommends booking 12 to 18 months ahead, especially for the April to October peak season at Lake Como, which also leaves time for an engagement shoot. The same FAQ confirms that he works beyond Lake Como, across Italy and beyond. The site menu also lists elopements, engagements and proposals, albums and prints, and wedding planning as services.

What the site does not answer

Prices are not published: the site asks couples to send a request form with as much information as possible to receive prices and package details. There is no statement on how travel and accommodation to a Swiss venue are charged, which matters for a photographer based in central Italy; for a multi-day destination wedding like the one in Saint Moritz, those costs should be set out in the quote. The site also does not say how many Swiss weddings he has photographed beyond the two it links, or what deposit a booking requires. The Saint Moritz account also does not name the hotel or the mountain restaurant involved, so it helps with the atmosphere of a winter wedding there but not with choosing a venue.

Who he suits

Bower suits international, English-speaking couples planning a large or multi-day destination wedding in Switzerland, particularly a formal winter celebration in a resort like Saint Moritz, who want a photographer used to documenting welcome dinners, family rituals and the wedding day as one story. Couples marrying in Switzerland and in Italy, or considering both, will find his Italian portfolio a large extra. He is a less natural fit for couples who want a photographer based in Switzerland with local venue knowledge, or who need a price before they make contact.