A 1920s ballroom, a rooftop and Forest Park across the road. Three completely different kinds of light, and the park is the one that does the real work.

The Chase Park Plaza opened in 1922 in St. Louis’s Central West End, and its event spaces include the Khorassan Ballroom — an ornate room in the grand 1920s manner — alongside more modern function rooms and a rooftop. Forest Park, one of the largest urban parks in the United States, is directly across the street.

Photographically that gives three distinct environments. The ballroom, which is warm, ornate and windowless, and needs everything supplied. The rooftop, which gives open sky, elevation and a horizon. And Forest Park, which supplies mature trees, open ground, water and formal landscape — everything a hotel interior cannot.

This is a walk-through in shooting order. We have not photographed a wedding at the Chase; ornate ballrooms, rooftops and urban parkland behave predictably. Which spaces your booking includes and rooftop access are for their events team, and rooftop access is worth confirming rather than assuming.

Chase Park Plaza at a glance

Where	Central West End, St. Louis, Missouri — opposite Forest Park
Opened	1922; includes the ornate Khorassan Ballroom
Three environments	Windowless ornate ballroom, rooftop with a horizon, and Forest Park opposite
Light	Warm artificial in the ballroom; daylight on the roof and in the park
Ask first	Rooftop access, and which ballroom or function rooms are included

Morning: guest rooms, and why a high floor matters

Preparation photographs belong in a guest room, and at a tall hotel opposite a large park the floor level genuinely matters. A high room facing Forest Park gives you unobstructed open sky rather than light filtered past a facing building, which means brighter, cleaner window light — and a view worth including in a frame.

The routine is the same everywhere and skipped everywhere: turn off every artificial light so daylight and tungsten are not mixing, move the clutter out of shot, bring everything to within a metre or two of the glass. Ninety seconds of tidying improves those photographs more than any lens.

Ask for a park-facing room on a high floor when you book, not on the day. It costs the hotel nothing if raised early and it is the single most useful request you can make.

The Khorassan Ballroom: ornate, warm and windowless

A 1920s grand ballroom presents a familiar set of problems and they all have the same answer. The plasterwork is relief, so it only reads three-dimensionally when light strikes it at an angle — frontal flash flattens it into a painted surface and the room’s best feature disappears. So: light from the side, feathered so the beam skims the surface.

The ceiling is high and decorated, which makes bounce flash ineffective. Light comes from stands: one modified key off to the side, and one behind the dancefloor as a rim light to separate people from a dark background. That second unit does more for a reception gallery than any other single piece of equipment.

And everything in the room is warm — tungsten fixtures, cream and gold plaster, patterned carpet — so skin has no cool component unless you provide it. Keep the room warm in your white balance and light faces slightly cooler. Expose so the fixtures glow as points rather than blowing out, which means the ambient sits darker than instinct wants.

The rooftop: elevation and a horizon

A rooftop at a hotel opposite a very large park is an unusually good one, because the view is trees and sky rather than other buildings. That gives you a clean horizon, open light and a genuine sense of place — you can see where you are.

The best window is the twenty minutes after sunset, when the sky still holds colour and the city and park lights come up. From elevation, with Forest Park’s canopy in the middle distance, that is the best frame the venue offers and it takes ten minutes. Put it in the schedule as a fixed item; it is short and it does not wait.

During daylight a rooftop is also the only place at the hotel where a group photograph can happen in natural light. If access is included, use it for that. Be aware that roofs are exposed and breezy, which rules out large modifiers and will move hair and veils.

Forest Park: the reason the location is good

Forest Park covers well over a thousand acres and includes mature specimen trees, open meadows, lakes, formal landscape and the Grand Basin. Being directly across the street from it means every kind of outdoor light is available within a few minutes’ walk: high open shade under big trees, backlight through foliage, clean sky over water, and room to arrange a group of any size.

That is a genuinely rare advantage for a city hotel. Most urban venues send you to a pavement or a car park; this one sends you to one of the largest urban parks in the country.

Work it in the last ninety minutes of daylight, when low sun comes through the trees rather than down onto them and the water catches light. Budget a proper block — thirty minutes minimum, and more if you want more than one location within the park, because the distances inside it are real.

One practical note: it is a public park, busy in good weather, and popular with other wedding parties on a summer Saturday. A longer lens at a wide aperture handles most of it, and moving fifty metres away from the obvious spot handles the rest.

What works in your favour

• Forest Park directly opposite — every kind of outdoor light within a few minutes
• An ornate 1920s ballroom that is genuinely spectacular when side lit
• A rooftop with a park-and-sky horizon rather than a view of other buildings
• High park-facing guest rooms give clean unobstructed window light plus a view
• Room for groups of any size in the park, which no hotel interior offers

What to plan around

• The ballroom is windowless; frontal flash flattens its plasterwork entirely
• High decorated ceilings make bounce flash ineffective
• Warm gold and tungsten need a differential white balance or skin reads orange
• Rooftop access must be confirmed, and roofs are breezy enough to rule out modifiers
• Forest Park is public and busy in good weather, including with other wedding parties

More frames from Chase Park Plaza

Chase Park Plaza wedding photography: common questions

What is the most useful thing to request from the hotel?

A high guest room facing Forest Park. It gives unobstructed open sky rather than light filtered past a facing building, so the window light is brighter and cleaner, and the view is worth including in a frame. Ask when booking rather than on the day — it costs the hotel nothing if raised early.

How should the Khorassan Ballroom be lit?

From the side, never from the camera. The plasterwork is relief and only reads three-dimensionally under angled light, so frontal flash flattens it. Use one modified key off to the side plus a rim light behind the dancefloor, and expose so the fixtures glow as points rather than blowing out.

Is the rooftop worth using?

Yes, particularly for the twenty minutes after sunset, when the sky holds colour and the city and park lights come up. Because the view is trees and sky rather than other buildings, it is an unusually good rooftop. It is also the only place at the hotel where a group can be photographed in natural light.

How much time should we allow in Forest Park?

Thirty minutes minimum, and more if you want more than one location inside it — the distances within the park are real. Work the last ninety minutes of daylight, when low sun comes through the trees rather than down onto them and the water catches light.

Will the park be crowded?

In good weather, yes, and on a summer Saturday there will be other wedding parties at the obvious spots. A longer lens at a wide aperture reduces distant people to soft shapes, and simply walking fifty metres away from the popular location solves most of the rest.

More St. Louis venue guides

We are writing a photographer’s guide to every venue we would happily shoot in St. Louis. Here are three more, plus the full index:

• The City Museum: Field Notes on the Strangest Venue in St. Louis
• The Gateway Arch: Field Notes on Photographing 630 Feet of Steel
• Hotel Saint Louis: A Walk-Through of an 1893 Union Trust Building

All St. Louis Wedding Venues →

Planning a wedding at Chase Park Plaza?

A windowless ballroom and one of America’s great urban parks, fifty metres apart. Tell us your date and we will plan which part of the day belongs to which, and protect the ten minutes on the roof.

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