Are you searching for a Wedding or Event photographer in Lake Braies Pragser Wildsee Dolomites? 

I have been covering over 170 Weddings since July 2014, I can say that I am full of advice and help for your big day.

My couples are similar and so different at the same time. I would say that they have certain similar characteristics, they prefer to spend time with their families and friends rather than spending an hour taking the couple photos, they are usually shy, they don’t feel at ease to be the center of the attention, they have a certain knowledge about art, sometimes photography and painting.

Do you want to have an intimate wedding in Lake Braies Pragser Wildsee Dolomites that reflect your journey as a couple, your passions, and your spirit of adventure?  

This is elopement photography for couples who want to ignore tradition and get married in a way that feels authentic to them. As a photographer, my purpose is to discreetly capture the story of your day in an honest and heartfelt way, without posing or intruding. I will record every aspect, from the raw emotions and poignant moments as they unfold, to the details you won’t want to forget.

I care deeply about creating meaningful connections with every couple who invites me to be a part of their journey. My approach is to innovate, not to conform to conventions. Your elopement experience should be as personal, genuine, and unique as you are.

Emotional Photographer documenting emotional Weddings.

Since July 2014, I document your intimate wedding, your Minimony, Sequel Wedding, Micro wedding or Adventurous Elopement, proposal, and engagement and I have seen a lot of love stories, full of joy and emotions. It has a lot of different names but only the story matters. I am moved by telling the story of your day in the most natural and genuine way possible. No need to spend one hour behind the church with me to take the couple photographs, I will always value to let you spend time with family and friends. This is your day, not mine.

Most of my couples define themselves as shy in front of the camera, I believe simply they don’t know how easy it is to spend a few simple moments with their partner in front of my camera. I will follow you from getting ready to the dance floor in the most natural way possible. To deliver a poetic and unique vision of the most important day of your life.
I have a lot of experience and expertise in traveling around Europe mostly. For the last 6 years, I have covered most of my weddings abroad and overseas.

I believe I can help you with my experience and advice for a perfect wedding day. I have prepared some articles to help you to find the right place to get married or to be inspired in some places like Spain, The Balearic Islands such as Ibiza, Mallorca,… Mexico, Morocco and of course Portugal. I have also written an article about the most underrated locations in Europe to have your small and intimate wedding with friends.

• Where to get married in the balearic Islands? HERE

• Where to get married in Morocco? HERE

• Where to get married in Mexico? HERE

• Where to get married in Spain? HERE

• Where to get married in Portugal? HERE

• More articles to come … HERE

Specialised in Wedding and Elopement Coverage since 2014.

My Philosophy in Few Words :

Real Stories - Intimate - Journalistic - Real Stories - Poetic - Cinematic - Discreet - Non Traditional - Simplicity.

My Visual Experience :

With years of experience photographing my couples in beautiful locations across the world, I have brought together some valuable ideas and tips to help with elopement planning as well as for those planning larger weddings.I have covered over 150 Weddings on the last 5 years and they are all different. I have prepared a Succession of Articles dedicated to you. Please click on the article of your choice to learn more about it:

• Top Outfit Ideas for your Intimate Couple Session HERE

• Top 10 Tips to Plan your Intimate Wedding. HERE

• What is an Elopement? HERE

• Top 8 Tips to plan your Elopement. HERE

• Top 5 Reasons to Elope. HERE

• Eloping : With or Without guests and family? HERE

• Top 10 Activities to do on your Elopement Day. HERE

• What is the difference between an Elopement, a Minimony and a Microwedding? How to choose what is the best for you? HERE

• What is a Virtual / Online Wedding? HERE

Where to organize your Wedding or Elopement in Lake Braies Pragser Wildsee Dolomites?

If you have always dreamed of traveling within Lake Braies Pragser Wildsee, Dolomites is one of the top destinations you should consider for your elopement, due to its magnificent countryside and coastline. As an experienced elopement photographer, I have photographed many beautiful elopements here for couples forgoing traditional weddings and embracing their spirit of adventure.

Dolomites is one of the top elopement destinations in Italy; a country with a lot of history, great weather/cuisine, and amazing traditions. You’ll be overwhelmed with choice for beautiful places to elope in this place, from the big cities full of character and atmosphere to the magical forests.   The possibilities for breath-taking locations are endless.

You can find some of the best wedding venues for your Wedding Or Elopement.

Looking for more Inspiration and Locations for your Wedding or Elopement?

If you are still considering other options in Europe, check out :

• Where to Elope (30+ Best European Locations for your Elopement & Top Underrated Wedding Locations in Europe you should consider. HERE

What About COVID 19?

Learn about how the Covid 19 Corona Virus have changed the face of the wedding industry but not only HERE

What is next? Simply contact me to create a simple but deep connection

At ericrenepenoy@gmail.com

Awards and announcements : 

RANGEFINDER RISING STAR OF THE WEDDING INDUSTRY 2019 WORLDWIDE
BODAF NEW TALENT EUROPE WINNER 2017.
JUNEBUG BEST OF THE BEST 2016 & 2017.
TOP 50 BEST UK PHOTOGRAPHER 2019 GOHEN.
BEST ELOPEMENT OF THE YEAR (SECOND PLACE).
MEMBER OF THE WEDDING COLLECTIVE FROM 2015 TO 2018 (BEFORE MOVING TO PORTUGAL).
WRITER AT BACKSTAGE MAGAZINE
CREATOR OF RESONANCE INSPIRATION
CREATOR OF MY BIG WORKSHOP

Published on :

JUNEBUG. RANGEFINDER. VSCO. RESONANCE. DEVIANT ART. MY WED. LE BLOG DE MADAME C. LA MARIEE AUX PIEDS NUS. WAY OUT WEDDING. QUEEN FOR A DAY. FEMME ACTUELLE. ELLE. LE JOURNAL DU MARIE. BIPPITY MAG. MINHA FILHA VAI. TRIBE RED LEAF. BRAW BRIDES. WELLWED. MAGAZINE NEW YORK. PORTRAIT OU PAYSAGE. WE FELL IN LOVE. PRISMPHOTOGRAPHY. WELLWED USA. LOOKS LIKE FILM. WHIMSICAL WONDERLAND WEDDINGS. WEDDBOOK. 20MINUTOS. THE KNOT. PINTEREST.

A bit of History about Lake Braies Pragser Wildsee Dolomites.

The Pragser Wildsee, or Lake Prags, Lake Braies (Italian: Lago di Braies; German: Pragser Wildsee) is a lake in the Prags Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy. It belongs to the municipality of Prags which is located in the Prags valley.

During World War II it was the scene of the transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol.

The Braies ( Italian Lago di Braies ) is a mountain lake in the Braies Valley in the Tyrolean community of Prague . It is located a few kilometers south of the Hochpustertal between Bruneck and Toblach in the Braies Dolomites . It is part of the Fanes-Senes-Braies Nature Park and a protected natural monument .

The lake is 1494 m slm and has a water surface of 31 hectares . It is an average of 17 meters deep and has a maximum depth of 36 meters. The geological origin of the lake can be traced back to the creation of a natural dam as a result of a mudflow . The lake is dominated by the imposing Seekofel massif (2810 m). The lake is the starting point of the Dolomites high path no.1 .

The lake also plays a role in the South Tyrolean world of legends . From here the underground parts of the Fanes Empire could be reached by boat . The now buried gateway to the underworld is said to have been at the southern end of the lake in the direction of Seekofel, which is why it is called Sass dla Porta (Torberg) in Ladin

The construction of a hotel on Lake Braies was initially not without controversy. The Graz university teacher and alpinist Viktor Wolf von Glanvell , who spent his summer holidays as a regular guest in Braies in the 1880s , spoke out in 1891 with other signatories in a declaration "to defy all hosts and speculators" against the construction of a hotel on the idyllic mountain lake .

Around the hotel on Lake Braies, which opened in 1899, an important event of the Second World War took place at the end of April and beginning of May 1945 . Since the end of 1944, the " Reichsführer SS " Heinrich Himmler, in coordination with the head of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA), Ernst Kaltenbrunner , let the most prominent political prisoners of the Nazi state from the German concentration camps first in the Dachau concentration camp and finally in Niederdorf in April 1945 Bring South Tyrolean Pustertal . The SS- Guards had orders not to let the prisoners come into enemy hands alive. Thanks to the courageous action of the Wehrmacht officer Wichard von Alvensleben , the prisoners, who were finally housed in the Hotel Pragser Wildsee, were freed by the US Army there on May 4, 1945 . 

The background: After the armistice of September 8, 1943 between the Western Allies and Italy, the German Reich had de facto annexed South Tyrol and parts of northern Italy as well as present-day Slovenia (i.e. the former Austro-Hungarian rule) as "operational zones". In addition to South Tyrol and Trentino , the province of Belluno belonged to the " Operational Zone Alpine Foreland " and, like Friuli , Venezia Giulia , Istria and Dalmatia ("Operational Zone Adriatic Coastal Region"), was the sovereignty of the fascist puppet state Repubblica Sociale Italianawithdrawn. Part of the Nazi leadership hoped to be able to defend the Alps from the advancing Allies , from Bavaria to Trentino , hyped up as the so-called “ Alpine fortress ” in propaganda . Himmler, who in the last weeks and months of the Nazi regime carried out his own secret diplomacy mainly in the direction of the Americans, and Kaltenbrunner believed that they could gain a favorable negotiating position with the Allies through blackmail. The total of 139 so-called special prisoners from seventeen European nations and a group of clan prisoners were to be used as hostages .

Among the prominent prisoner among other former Austrian Chancellor were Kurt von Schuschnigg with his wife and daughter, the former French Prime Minister Leon Blum and his wife, Hitler's former Minister of Economics Hjalmar Schacht , the British secret agent Sigismund Payne Best , former Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Kállay , the Commander-in-chief of the Greek Army, General Alexandros Papagos with his entire general staff, the French Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand, Gabriel Piguet , the Protestant pastor Martin Niemöller, as well as family members of the Hitler assassin Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg .

The hostage plans failed. A German officer, Captain Wichard von Alvensleben , had learned of the prisoner transport and left on April 30, 1945, the prisoners in Niederdorf in Puster by a Wehrmacht - shock troops liberate from the clutches of the SS. On the same day, the prisoners were taken to the nearby Hotel Pragser Wildsee , where they were looked after by the hotel owner Emma Heiss-Hellenstainer. The US Army arrived at the hotel on May 4, 1945 and took the German soldiers prisoner. The Americans led the liberated prisoners in two convoys on May 8 and 10 via Verona to Naples and the island of Capri. It was only after further interrogation that some of the liberated were finally allowed to return home, while others were taken prisoner of war.

Today the hotel, where members of Stauffenberg and other resistance fighters meet every year around July 20, is the contemporary history archive of Lake Braies , which is intended to keep the memory of events in April and May 1945 alive. The contemporary history archive Pragser Wildsee is the first archive that is holistically devoted to the hostage situation in 1945. In order to secure the historically valuable archive material for posterity, it was collected from all over the world and is now housed in the Hotel Pragser Wildsee. 

The lake is part of the Fanes-Senes-Braies Nature Park , where many different types of butterflies such as B. the blue ant , the alpine apollo or the moth, but also birds such as the pygmy owl , the black woodpecker and the gray woodpecker , which can also be observed directly on the lake.

In the lake there are salmon trout , lake trout and brown trout as well as arctic char and minnows , which is why fishing is practiced here. The South Tyrolean fishing association FIPSAS has fishing rights here and issues day tickets. 

The Pragser Wildsee is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Dolomites and today one of the most visited lakes in South Tyrol. Among other things, it is the location for the successful Italian series The Mountain Police with Terence Hill . The film attracts numerous Italian vacationers to the lake. In the Dolomites of Braies Lake is one of the most popular attractions. Especially the circumnavigation of the lake is a popular afternoon excursion for locals and tourists. The mountain lake is also the starting point for many hikes and mountain tours in the Braies Dolomites, such as B. to the Seekofel and the hut of the same name , but also to the Rossalm or theHochalpenkopf .

The Braies Dolomites ( Italian Dolomiti di Braies ) are a mountain group of the Dolomites between the Pustertal in the north, the Höhlensteintal in the east and the Gadertal in the west. The southern border runs through the Enneberger or Rautal , which branches off from the Gadertal , continues at the head of the Rautal on the north side of the Camin group to Campo Croce and into the Valle del Boite to the Gemärkpass .

The Braies Dolomites are mainly divided by the Braies Valley , which branches off after a few kilometers to the Plätzwiese and the famous Braies Lake . Large parts belong to the Fanes-Senes-Braies Nature Park in South Tyrol , Italy .

The mostly steep north line with an average height of 2500  m obscures the view from the Pustertal to the southern main line, which includes the higher peaks in a line from southeast to northwest. The mountains of the Braies Dolomites include:

• Hohe Gaisl ( 3146 m )

• Kleine Gaisl ( 2857 m )

• Dürrenstein ( 2839 m )

• Seekofel ( 2810 m )

• Muntejela de Senes ( 2787 m )

• Helltaler Bad ( 2711 m )

• Muntejela de Ciastlins ( 2673 m )

• Piz da Peres ( 2507 m )

• Dreifingerspitze ( 2479 m )

• Kronplatz ( 2275 m )

• Geierwand ( 2088 m )

To reach the lake, take the junction for Val di Braies, between the villages of Monguelfo and Villabassa in the Alta Pusteria. After driving a few kilometers, you will come across the only crossroads and take the road to the lake. After passing the villages of Ferrara (Schmieden) and San Vito (St. Veit), you arrive at the parking lot (paid during tourist season), where there is a large hotel-restaurant, the Hotel Pragser Wildsee linked to the pioneer figure of Emma Hellenstainer.

You can take a walk on the shores of the lake. This route is on the west bank, flat and wide, while on the east bank it is steep and narrow, with some stairs. Despite this, this beautiful walk that leads to the foot of the Croda del Becco can be tackled by any hiker. During the winter period, these trails (especially the one on the east bank) are often closed, due to the danger of avalanches. However, it is possible to hike around the lake, as its surface is solidly frozen.