I wanted to go the Vienna Opera Ball this year but I didn’t dare to think that it could actually happen. In fact, when I received the invitation from Swarovski, I couldn’t believe my own eyes. I had to check my mobile twice to convince myself that my wish did come true.


Not only was I happy for me to attend the Vienna Opera Ball with Swarovski, but I was also happy for my Instagram friends and readers. I knew that they would love to see my photos from the the Opera Ball on my social media channels. How do I know this? I have this impression from back in 2016 when I attended the Vienna Opera Ball for the very first time.
From a photography point of view, this blog post could be divided into two parts.
In the first part, we have photos that were shot at The Guesthouse Hotel, where I had my makeup and hair done by a professional team of hair dressers and makeup artists.
As you can tell from the photos, I love product photography. When I have beautiful products in front of me, I feel the need to photograph them. I can spend hours doing so, playing with the light and with different compositions. In this case, my beautiful products were my jewelry pieces from Swarovski and the cutest little bag from Dolce & Gabbana. I chose to wear them for this special night.


In the second part, we have two shots from the gala dinner. The dinner took place at the Sacher hotel. The blog post ends with photos that are shot in the Opera House, one day before the ball, during the official final rehearsal.
It was quite challenging to cover photographically all those amazing happenings that occured one after the other: the rehearsal on Wednesday, the preparation before the ball, the gala dinner, the Opera Ball on Thursday 8th of February.
But believe me, if I have the chance again, I would do the same thing all over. It made me feel alive, honored, and blessed to have been given this opportunity to attend the Vienna Opera Ball with Swarovski, and to have been chosen by the Dolce & Gabbana family in Milano to wear this dreamy evening gown. Grazie tante!
Each detail was so perfectly organized by the people involved. Everything from the correspondence I had with the person who was behind the entire organization, to the fitting at the Dolce & Gabbana boutique in the first district, to taking photos with the girls on the red carpet, to the moment I was dancing Quadrille together with Michaela from Elastyle.
I was very lucky to have advance access to the Opera House, in order to take my photos before they let people in!


The funniest thing about that night was when I discovered the disco room in the basement of the opera! I’ve been to the Vienna Opera House many times before. I didn’t know that a room in the basement could ever be transformed into such a fun disco dance hall.
There is always something new to discover in Vienna…
Nothing but A BIG THANK YOU to the SWAROVSKI famliy for having me as one of their guests!
Jewelry: Swarovski
Outfit: Dolce&Gabbana
Locations: The Guesthouse Hotel, Hotel Sacher, Vienna State Opera
Photos of me in the Opera House: Franco Federici
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