As an Atlanta wedding photographer I get to do a lot of engagement sessions all around Atlanta.  One place that I keep coming back to is Piedmont Park.   It is the crown jewel of Atlanta parks in the heart of the city offering so many great photo locations.

Piedmont Park originally was all forest north of the city of Atlanta, and it was purchased in 1834 by Sam and Sarah Walker, one original settlers in this area for 450 dollars.  The Walkers built a cabin on what is now the Active Oval and turned the rest into farmland.  In 1857 their son Ben Walker purchased the farm from his parents and settled in a log cabin located where the Piedmont Driving Club is now.  Then in 1887 the area began hosting expositions and fairs, such as the Piedmont Exposition of 1887 and the Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895. Also in 1895 the lake was made in the center of the park.  You can still walk around the park and see the stone balustrades that held steps leading to the exposition hall built for the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition. In June of 1904 the City of Atlanta purchased Piedmont Park and extended its city limits north to include the park acreage, as well as several developing neighborhoods between West Peachtree Street and North Highland Avenue.

In 1912 the famous landscape architects the Olmsted brothers transformed the decaying fairground into the park we know today.  The City of Atlanta financed the development and some of the features we see today came in to focus.  The tennis courts were added on top of the 1895 Manufactures Building. The Olmsteads also added the stone bath houses which are the park bathrooms we see today as well as the Park Drive Bridge which provided residents of the developing neighborhoods east of the park more convenient access.  These historic features are what make the park so unique and such a wonderful backdrop for photos.

Now you might be wondering why I went into so much of the history of Piedmont Park.  Well the answer is that all these features from the past make for such wonderful photo opportunities for an Atlanta wedding photographer because they make great backdrops and showcase Atlanta.  Let us go through a few of them.

Let’s start at the parking deck of Piedmont Park. The first place you see from there is the Magnolia Room where I have done a few weddings.  It is a small structure that was originally used as a rest house for the people visiting the park. The Magnolia Room is an intimate wedding venue that has some of the best catering in the city.

Then as you walk you’ll see the stone steps that seem to lead to nowhere. These steps have been used many times as a backdrop for engagement photos. Today, they lead up awkwardly to the tennis court’s fence.   But they are the original steps that were built to go into the exposition hall.

As you walk north you'll find one of the most photographed places in the park: the soccer field.  The soccer field was originally used as a horse park for the expositions. You can still see the original oval around the park and the original steps that lead to that exposition area. Those walls and steps now are used just about every day as the base for one of the best places to capture the Atlanta skyline.

As you walk around to the western part of the park you'll come to the Greystone building which was home to the exposition’s exhibit centers.  Now it is the headquarters of the Aquatic Center and Pool’s Clubhouse.  You can tell they are part of the historic property by the construction, which uses large granite stones.

Next, you'll come around to the 12th Street gate which is the entrance that lines up with the Dockside Building and the Clara Meer Dock.  The Dockside Building and gate are part of the original construction from when the exposition was held in the 1800’s.

As you walk around to the east you'll find Oak Hill where you have another view of the Atlanta skyline.  It was originally the location of the golf course,which was one of Atlanta’s first golf courses.  It was also used as a field for exhibits during the expositions.

As you walk around to the west side of the park you'll arrive at  the dog park and the bridge that connects the park to Monroe Drive.  This was the historic bridge that connected the park to the original neighborhoods on that side of the park. 

Thanks for reading this blog!  Make sure you keep coming back to our blog to see what the Atlanta wedding photographers at Atlanta Artistic Weddings are up to! If you’d like to contact me go to the contact page and drop me a line at https://www.atlantaartisticweddings.com/contact-atlanta-wedding-photographer. I would love to hear from you!

Thanks!

David

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