Providence & Newport, Rhode Island

I was so excited to fly to Rhode Island to photograph Elizabeth & Louie’s wedding there in August. The only other time I’ve been to Rhode Island was also to photograph a college friend’s wedding in Newport five years earlier. Our stay was very brief that time, so this time around I booked an extra day to give myself time to roam around Providence and go exploring. I had such a lovely time on my little solo vacation!

Meet my adorable little airbnb. I stayed here for the first and last nights of my trip and was in Newport in between.

So many fun details. I had the house to myself the whole time and it felt like a wonderful retreat.

 

On Saturday morning, I joined a huge line of people waiting to get donuts at PVDonuts and was subsequently met with the most disappointing donut of my life. I took one bite of the soggy, sugary mess and declined to eat the rest. But hey! It looks so cute!

I made a visit to the famed art school RISD and their art museum.

Nearby, I visited the Stephen Hopkins House, a museum and historical home of Stephen Hopkins, who was a governor of Rhode Island and signatory of the Declaration of Independence.

 

And then, following my love of beautiful libraries and bookstores, a visit to the Providence Athenaeum.

Love.

Then from Providence, I drove on down to Newport, the seaside town where the wedding would take place. I was mostly working over the weekend, but here are just a couple snapshots from the time I did spend scouting and shopping.

With a bunch of Duke alumni at Elizabeth’s welcome party!

And then we fast forward back to Providence for one more day of exploration. A quick drive through Roger Williams Park, although a lot of the things inside the park were closed since it was Monday.

And then I decided to take a tour of the State House, which was beautiful and educational.

Look at the beautiful dome!

Another beautiful library!

 

And another library! The John Hay Library, which is part of Brown University.

 

So many tour groups visiting Brown!

Remote selfie in the sunflowers!

A very tasty dinner at Oberlin.

 

Cacio e pepe! Perfection in simplicity.

And one more library for good measure! This one is a public library, but most of it is under construction.

Thanks, Rhode Island, for a wonderful time, and thank you Elizabeth & Louie for bringing me out there! I’m always so thankful for the privilege of traveling the world, especially as part of my job.

Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.