Hotel Viking is an exquisite wedding venue complete with rooftop access and its wedding chapel in case of inclement weather. It opened in May 1926 and has historical importance to Newport and its residents.
The entranceway is terrific with its iconic ‘Hotel Viking’ signage and is the perfect backdrop to photograph a wedding party. However, what I envisioned and what is practical are two completely different things! Yes, it is fantastic, but it is a working hotel with guests hanging out and drinking on the front porch and the valet’s parking the cars of arriving and departing guests. We had asked the hotel before the wedding if we could take this photo, and they said yes, but there may be some challenges and some challenges there were. When I arrived with the wedding party, it was very busy with cars parked in front and folks having a great time on the outside tables. The only way to make this work was to take charge and hope that everyone would play nice because we only had 5 or 10 minutes to take this shot. The valets moved the cars and held others up for a few minutes, the hotel’s guests, with a smile on their face, picked up their drinks, and stepped out of view. With the area cleared and knowing I only had a moment, I knew that there would be no do-overs. I positioned everyone (quickly) ran into position called out a few adjustments and took the shot. Phew! I could have refined the position of everyone, but there was no time, Kelly and Ryan ( and Hotel Viking) were very happy with the end product. I know it looks easy, but it wasn’t!
