Love and Other Stories

A destination photographer with a St. Moritz winter wedding on file

Love and Other Stories is the name under which Lisa Clair Mark works as a destination wedding photographer. The footer of her site sums up the reach as destination wedding photography "across Europe & beyond", and the page listed here is her long write-up of a winter wedding in St. Moritz, with the preparations at Badrutt's Palace, the ceremony on Muottas Muragl and the dinner at the Da Mulin restaurant.

She opens the article with a line that doubles as her pitch: "Having documented weddings worldwide, including in Switzerland, I have the privilege of accompanying exceptional couples in exceptional locations." The next sentence sets out how she thinks about the work: "Every destination wedding I photograph tells its own unique story." The couple in this case study, Natalie and Kory, are described as "a couple from America", and she writes that their guests had come from all over the world. For a reader planning a wedding in Switzerland from abroad, that is the most relevant thing about this listing: the photographer's Swiss reference is exactly the kind of event such a reader is planning, a multi-venue destination wedding with an international guest list.

The site runs in English, with a German version offered in the language switcher. The article carries the byline "Lisa Clair", and the sign-off gives her full name as Lisa C. Mark.

How the St. Moritz wedding day was covered

The case study walks through the day in order, which gives a good sense of what her coverage includes.

Preparations at Badrutt's Palace. The bride got ready in a suite at the hotel. Mark describes the "tranquil atmosphere and the soft daylight" of the room, with the snowy peaks and Lake St. Moritz outside, and mentions that the Snow Polo World Cup was being held nearby that week while the suite stayed quiet. She notes the dress was by Pronovias, in fine lace with a flowing veil, worn with Christian Louboutin shoes, and that for the snow the bride switched to white winter boots from Hermès. Details like these, the practical choices a winter wedding forces, are what she chose to record.

An editorial bridal shoot. Beyond the wedding day itself, the page describes a separate editorial photoshoot of the bride inside the hotel. Here she combined "digital and analogue photography techniques", using flash to bring out the contrast between fabrics and architecture and film to give the images a timeless feel. A couple portrait session followed in the hotel's interiors, again mixing natural light with flash.

A first look. Natalie and Kory chose to see each other for the first time at the hotel before the ceremony, and the first look is photographed as its own chapter of the story.

The ceremony on Muottas Muragl. The couple and their guests then went up to the summit of Muottas Muragl on the "historic Muottas Muragl funicular", and she photographed the ride itself, using both digital and film cameras. The ceremony was held on the "open-air terrace, with panoramic views of the Alps", in snow and cold mountain air.

Dinner at Da Mulin. The evening ended with dinner at the Da Mulin restaurant in St. Moritz, which she describes as combining traditional Swiss cooking with modern ideas.

Style and technique

What sets this photographer apart on the page is the film work. Plenty of wedding photographers shoot digitally only; Mark writes about working with analogue cameras alongside digital ones, in the hotel shoot and again on the funicular ride. Her site navigation also gives film work a menu section of its own, so the analogue side is a standing part of the offer rather than an occasional extra. Her use of flash in editorial portraits is the other signature: she treats a luxury hotel's interiors as a set for fashion-style bridal images, not just as a background.

The tone of the write-up is editorial as well. It reads like a magazine feature, with the dress designer, the shoes and the venues named. Couples who want pure fly-on-the-wall reportage with minimal direction may find this approach more styled than they want; couples who like the look of fashion editorials will see it as the draw.

Planning advice she gives

The article closes with a short section for couples planning a winter destination wedding in Switzerland. Her advice is simple: she always recommends hiring a professional wedding planner. Her reasoning is that in the Swiss Alps, logistics and weather both play a significant role, and an experienced planner can make sure every detail is taken care of so the couple can enjoy the day. She presents herself as one member of a wider team rather than as a planner, which is worth knowing: she does not say she organizes transport, venues or suppliers herself.

That advice fits the St. Moritz example. A day that moves from a hotel suite to a funicular to a summit terrace and back down to a restaurant, in winter, with guests who have flown in, involves timing, cold-weather clothing and a fallback if the weather closes in.

Other work on the site

The page links to two further articles. One covers a wedding at Villa Balbiano, which she calls one of the most magnificent palazzos on Lake Como. The other is a château wedding at the Château de Saint-Martin-du-Tertre near Paris. The gallery menu adds weddings in Tuscany and at Son Marroig on Majorca. Switzerland is one destination among several, then, and the Swiss experience shown on this page is the single St. Moritz wedding.

What the page leaves open

This listing's page is a single case study, and it shows well what her work looks like at a Swiss alpine wedding. It does not answer the practical questions:

• It publishes no prices and no packages, and gives no indication of how travel costs to Switzerland are handled.
• It does not say where she is based. The site has a .de address and a German version, but the page itself does not name a home city.
• It does not say how many hours of coverage a wedding day includes, whether a second photographer is available, how long delivery takes, or whether albums and prints are offered.
• It does not say how far ahead she books up or whether she takes smaller weddings and elopements.
• It gives no detail on how the film images are delivered, for instance as scans only or also as prints.

The site has a Booking link and a Contact page, and those are the routes for asking. A couple writing from abroad can do so in English.

Who this suits

This is a photographer for couples planning a destination wedding in the Swiss Alps at the upper end of the market, especially in winter, and especially if the day spreads across several locations. The St. Moritz write-up shows she has already handled a luxury hotel, a mountain railway and a summit ceremony in snow for an American couple with international guests, which is a close match for anyone planning something similar around St. Moritz.

It suits couples who want editorial, fashion-influenced images and who value film photography. Couples who want clear package prices before first contact, or a photographer based in Switzerland whom they can meet in person before the day, should be aware that the page offers neither, and should raise travel, fees and deliverables in the first message.