Island Wedding in Istanbul

Istanbul is a city of fifteen million people, and then a short ferry ride offshore it is not. The Princes' Islands sit in the Sea of Marmara close enough to reach in under an hour, and they are quiet in a way the mainland never manages. That contrast is the whole reason this wedding worked.

Two islands, one wedding day

The couple got ready at the Splendid Palace, a late-Ottoman hotel on the largest of the Princes' Islands, with hair and makeup by Unite. The building has the tall shuttered windows and white timber verandas that define the islands, and the light through them in the morning does most of the work for you.

The reception then moved to Elio Sedef Island, on the smallest of the group. Splitting a day between two islands adds a boat to the timeline, which sounds like a complication and is actually a gift: it gives everyone a pause in the middle of the day, on the water, with nothing to do but look at the city from a distance.

Why the light matters here

The islands sit low and open, with water on every side, so the sunset does not simply happen at one end of the sky. It fills the whole frame. By the time the reception was under way the sea had turned the colour of the sky and the horizon had gone soft. It is the kind of evening you cannot schedule, only leave room for.

The day was filmed by Dugme Film, and the photographs were developed at The Find Lab.

Planning an island wedding near Istanbul

Build the timeline around the ferry, not the ceremony. Crossings are frequent but not infinite, and a guest list that misses a boat changes the whole evening. Beyond that, keep the styling light: the islands already supply the wooden houses, the pines and the sea, and anything heavy competes with them.

I photograph weddings in Quebec and abroad. If you are planning something on a coastline, I would love to hear about it.