Big Day Weddings

Our latest Grovefield House wedding day had a dream like quality about it courtesy of thick but very atmospheric fog!

Dani and Phil had planned their big day well in advance, and we already had a chance to get to know them better through an engagement shoot they did with us at London’s Alexandra Palace. Great couple of course, so a pleasure to work with on the day.

We were concerned about traffic to Heathrow on the M25 this foggy Saturday in December, as the news headlines said it would be the busiest travel day of the year. So we we stayed nearby the night before in order to avoid being caught in traffic hell! That meant only a short foggy journey to Danni’s parents house to document her bridal preparations. A happy household excited by the day ahead. It wasn’t long before the bridal car arrived out of the mist and time for us to head to Holy Trinity Church Hazlemere nearby to catch Phil and his groomsmen’s meet and greet. Hazlemere Church as it is also known is very active in the local community.

After a joyful and heartfelt service Dani and Phil had a confetti throw outside the church in the mist, and then had some family photos in the churchyard while guests enjoyed tea coffee and snacks back inside.

The couple then travelled in their lovely vintage Bentley to the reception venue Grovefield House, Taplow Common Road, Turnham near Windsor. Grovefield House is popular as both a reception and wedding ceremony venue in the local area, and is benefiting from a refresh under new management. Originally it was an Edwardian country house and of course now a desirable Windsor area destination.

The newly weds and their guests arrived to a red carpet reception with a fantastic live jazz swing band made up of very talented young locally educated musicians.

We had a little time in the fog to do some couple shots as well as lots of reportage coverage of the guests having a good time. We focused on some of our favourite black and white images to feature on this post. Generally we give over a thousand edited images to our couple to own and choose from and this wedding day was no exception.

Dani and Phil had bought a large amount of sparklers so we wanted to feature these both in the new pavilion and outside the wedding breakfast area. There was also a tree we liked that we thought would make for a nice off camera flash shot which is included here. We hid a guest behind Dani and Phil for this one!

All in all a great wedding day to remember of which the fog only added to the already special atmosphere.

Take a look at the links below for the many featured images in our galleries.

Here is a past blog post on a Valentine’s Day wedding we photographed at Grovefield House: Grovefield House Wedding

By David Green

And just in here’s is Dani and Phil’s lovely review we have just received on Hitched and others:

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!! (heading)

“From the start David and Joanna were absolutely brilliant. We arranged an engagement shoot in October 2016 to meet David and try to shake off some of our pre-wedding photoshoot jitters… we honestly couldn’t have felt more comfortable on both the engagement shoot and our wedding day. David and Joanna really went out of their way to support and advise us and helped us relax into the experience. We have so many beautiful shots – we really are spoilt for choice! I was so nervous about the pictures but they are just stunning. David and Joanna capture both posed and natural shots between them which makes for a gorgeous collection to remember your special day. I have, and will continue to, recommend them to family and friends as they just seem to have the golden touch!! We have had so so many compliments on our photos and to make it all even better David sent them over to us really quickly. Flawless! To David and Joanna: We’re so lucky to have found you and I know many more brides and grooms will continue to benefit from your talent and passion!!! Thanks so so much for everything x Dani and Phil Smith”

There are not many St Paul’s Cathedral wedding photographers, and there are not that many weddings at St Paul’s Cathedral! So we were delighted to speak last year with Jo and Mike about their special day at perhaps Britain’s and certainly London’s most iconic church.

Famously designed by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London it was completed within his lifetime, and it has dominated the skyline of the capital now for three hundred years.

Along with Tower Bridge there is nothing quite like it’s shape for screaming out to the world “I am London and magnificent!”

Now for a wedding there the business of tourism doesn’t stop, how could it, so there are certain restrictions we had to work under, one minute only under the dome, no flash photography and no capturing the actual ceremony itself. However we were excited by the challenge and certainly excited by the results!

The day started with coverage of Jo and Mike’s preparations in The Grange St Paul’s Hotel. Joanna stayed with our bride to be while I ran between herself and Mike and his groomsmen, strangely enough gathering around the bar area…As I’ve said before I like a bit of extra exercise on a wedding day.

After a while Mike and the boys headed to St Pauls’ and the OBE Chapel which is where wedding ceremonies take place. Jo and her proud mother and father and bridesmaids walked the short distance from the Grange to the northwest entrance of St Paul’s. Not surprisingly they created quite a stir as they made their way to the ceremony.

After signing the register and our one minute under the dome (!!!) we headed to the famous steps for some group and family photos. The new Mr and Mrs then spent a fifteen minute walk with myself and Joanna for some couple shots on their way to their fantastic reception venue Skinners Hall.

Skinners Hall on Dowgate Hill is an excellent and classy venue for either a wedding reception, ceremony or both! It dates from 1670 and is another fine building like St Paul’s built soon after the Great Fire of London.

Jo and Mike choose well for their drinks reception on the Italianate roof terrace, and wedding breakfast in the magnificent banqueting hall. We had great fun taking shots in the short time we had between guests taking their seats for the evening meal and the newly weds making their grand entrance. We don’t always get a great deal of time but we make sure we make it count!

Great speeches featured after the wedding breakfast. I particularly enjoyed Mike’s funny naming and shaming of guests who were late with their RSVP’s from wedding invites, and these were then followed by the traditional cake cutting.  For their first dance the couple boogied a memorable routine accompanied by their live band for the evening. Then it was down to some serious partying.

I have to say we thought the team at Skinners Hall were fantastic, and really made a great and smooth end to a brilliant day for a great couple and their friends and families.

By David Green

For more images around St Paul’s Cathedral take a look at this blog post from earlier in the year:

St Stephen’s Walbrook and Corney & Barrow Central London Wedding Day

Alternatively check out one of our four galleries below: