Pierpaolo Perri

Pierpaolo Perri is a wedding and proposal photographer based in Positano. He is originally from Calabria, played bass before photography took over, and has built his name on hundreds of weddings, surprise proposals and events across Italy. He speaks English and Italian, and his work takes him throughout Italy and into the rest of Europe.

His approach is documentary: the day is recorded as it unfolds, with the details prepared in advance and the unplanned moments caught as they come. He describes his own place as somewhere between candid and editorial, and his look as more classic than trendy, with an eye for the intimate and the unconventional rather than the loudest styles of the moment. He is plain about what he will not do on the day: photographs are not quietly reworked to change what happened, and high-end retouching is offered as a separate service.

“My job is being ready when that happens, not manufacturing it.”

Pierpaolo Perri, on photographing a wedding at Villa Eva

On the Amalfi Coast he plans around the things that catch couples out: hard midday light off the sea, steep stairways between venues, roads that turn a short hop into a long drive, and churches with very little light inside. Portraits are timed for the golden hour, routes between locations are worked out beforehand, and lighting comes along for dinners that run past sunset. He recommends a second photographer for destination weddings, so that both sets of preparations, a second angle on the ceremony and the guests are all covered.

The coast is home ground, with recent weddings at Hotel Santa Caterina in Amalfi, Villa Eva in Ravello and Relais Blu in Massa Lubrense. Calabria features strongly too, from Villa Paola in Tropea to Hotel Ducale Villa Ruggieri in Cirella and La Filanda dei Quintieri near Cosenza, along with Casa delle Terre Forti in Sicily, Casa Bini in Tuscany, San Pietro in Montorio in Rome, and Passalacqua and Villa Carlotta on Lake Como. Surprise proposals are a large part of the work, and more than one couple has come back to him for the wedding after he photographed their proposal.

Every wedding package includes a private online gallery and a box of 13x18cm prints, from 100 prints with 300 or more edited images to 500 prints with 600 images. Albums, with two parents' albums and free worldwide delivery, are an extra, as is video. His work has twice received a Fearless Award, and an image of his was included among the Fearless Awards Best 100 of 2023.