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Wedding couple by London Hampton wall

Hampton Court House Wedding Photographers

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding Venues3 Comments

Ashley and Paul were another of those prospective wedding couples who we knew from the very first emails and phone calls that we had a good rappour with. This was confirmed by our first meeting and subsequent engagement shoot, where we all got to know each other better, and had a chance to plan for the big day as Hampton Court House wedding photographers.

First kiss as man and wife Hampton Court House wedding

The morning began with Ashley’s bridal prep at the Carlton Mitre hotel Hampton Court. Nicely this was a short skip and a jump from Hampton Court House the venue for the wedding ceremony and reception, and just across the road from Henry the eight’s famous palace. I used this fact a as personal workout as I started with Ashley and her bridesmaids, parents and make ups artists and then jogged to the reception venue to capture some moments with Paul and his groomsmen and guests arriving. I then jogged back for a little more of the bridal party and some final shots before the wedding car spirited Ashley away. Joanna inherently smarter than myself just drove straight to Hampton Court and captured shots of the venue and all the action I would miss. That’s one of the benefits of having two London wedding photographers!

Bridal preparation at Hampton Court wedding day photo

Wedding party having fun collage picture

We think Ashley and Paul made a great choice with Hampton Court House, the team there are so friendly and efficient and perfectly complement the inherent quality of the venue. Built in 1757 this is one of England’s finest Georgian Mansions of its type and backs directly on to Bushy Park. It has had a few famous owners but the one that stuck out to us as tea lovers were the Twinings family.

Hampton Court house wedding ceremony congregation shot

Bride greets groom at Hampton Court wedding ceremony

The ceremony was a lovely affair in the grand hall and was literally packed to the balcony with standing room only – popular guys!

Kissing outside Hampton Court House

After tying the knot it was out into the grand entrance to walk through bubbles as an alternative to the traditional confetti throw.

Wedding couple happy at Hampton Court London

Ashley and Paul wanted to try and gets some shots in front of nearby Hampton Court itself but sadly on this day security weren’t as understanding as usual. Never mind we made use of a nearby red phone box and old wall instead, plus a couple of locations beside the wedding venue too.

Couple laugh during London wedding

The wedding breakfast itself was held in the Ballroom with drinks served in the conservatory. Fantastic food and speeches followed with a high point being the guests singing The Twelve Days of Christmas table by table. This carol was actually published in 1780 and is thought to be French in origin. Bet you didn’t know that!

Phone box kissing shot outside Hampton Court Palace

As there was a large Irish presence on the day we were treated to some Irish song and dance, and all day long a great atmosphere, which was no surprise really considering the characters of Ashley and Paul.

Bride and groom outside Hampton Court House

Hampton Court House wedding photographers main signature image

It is always a pleasure for us to photograph weddings in this part of London, and a similar nearby venue is Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park which you can read about in the blog here: Pembroke Lodge Weddings

Laughter at Hampton Court wedding black and white image

The couple received over 1200 edited wedding images, so as usual in our blog posts we were spoilt for choice and rather than bore people looking quickly through posts, we have just put in some of our favourites and left out the many guest and detail shots that are always included in our coverage.

Bride in front of four poster bed Hampton Court wedding shot

By David Green

Here’s the house’s official website: Hampton Court House

 

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Royal couple walk down stairs at Landmark Hotel wedding

Royal Wedding at London’s Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, and Kings Fund Cavendish Square

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesNo Comments

When we say a Royal wedding at London’s Landmark Hotel we mean that this lovely evening had all the feel of a royal celebration, from the look of Farrah and Zane the bride and groom, to the grand and classic surroundings they choose for themselves.

bride gets ready at the Landmark hotel London

When we arrived and began photographing Farrah’s bridal preparations this was the first time we had actually met in person, and very quickly we got a sense that we should shoot this event in a timeless and slightly formal way.

Royal wedding at The Landmark London image

Farrah reminded me a little of a mix of Audrey Hepburn and a member of the Royal Family of somewhere like Monaco, and we kept this feeling in the back of our minds as we photographed.

Wedding dress hanging at the London Landmark Hotel

It goes without saying that style choices must be what the couple are looking for and also reflect the circumstances. It’s no use being quirky, retro or fashion inspired if it is not what couple are feeling or looking for. We actually enjoy shooting in a variety of styles and approaches.

Bride stands on reception stairs at London Landmark

Of course we were no strangers to the Landmark: Landmark Hotel wedding photographer and here: Landmark Hotel Wedding Video, but this being a December wedding meant there was darkness outside, so no natural light to work with, we had to create our own. For those technical folks who may care about such things, we utilised  several techniques to create illumunation always bearing in mind the ambient hotel and Christmas lights in the background. We used diffused flash, radio triggered light through a portable soft box, and a zoomable fresnel spotlight for good measure, but not all at once!

bride and groom hug on Landmark Hotel stairs

There was a celebrity event taking place at the same time, so for a bit of fun we had the couple paparazzied by the assembled press pack too.

Christmas wedding at the Landmark hotel by tree

In the main Winter Garden and Gazebo area just past the Landmark’s front reception, was a giant Christmas Tree to add to the already fantastic atmosphere of this iconic central London hotel. We couldn’t put Farrah on top of the tree for health and safety reasons though!

smiling wedding couple pose on white steps at Landmark Hotel

Later in the day the couple had a drinks reception and wedding breakfast at the Kings Fund 11-13 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0AN, again an area for London weddings we know well, take a look at this previous blog post to see a Cavendish Square wedding in winter at night: Central London Weddings

Makeover for the bride at The Landmark

Bride and groom laughing at the Landmark

By David Green

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Chinese engagement shoot in London by boat

Chinese Engagement shoot in Central London, Tower Bridge and Southbank

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesNo Comments

Over the past few years years we have photographed a tremendous amount of weddings and engagement shoots in central London and beyond. One of our most frequent enquiries is from couples whose actual home is China but would like a particularly London flavour to their engagement memories. Hong Kong or mainland China may be the ultimate destination for their wedding day, but they are very happy to fly over to the capital for a few days to meet us and have their shoot. Right now it is so popular in certain inner London destinations that it’s not unusual for us to encounter three or four similar shoots going on at the same time and that is just on a week day!

London wedding carousel image

Now sometimes the Chinese couples that we work with are also getting married here in London, as was the case with this recent shoot:  Engagement Shoot at London’s Alexandra Palace in Muswell Hill and it may be that they are also living and working in the capital, either way I’ve managed to learn a few Chinese words and phrases along the way.

London engagement shoot with Chinese wedding couple

 

It’s not strictly necessary though because although Mandarin and Cantonese are notoriously difficult languages to learn and master, the lovely Chinese engagement couples that we deal with have generally fantastic English language skills. Better than some of the natives!

London Eye Wedding Photographers image

Where do we go? Well it’s often the busiest but most iconic tourist spots like Tower Bridge, the Southbank, Westminster, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and so on. Here’s a good example of the kind of shoot we would do by the Thames: London Southbank Engagement Shoot You need to be experienced both with crowd management in these situations, and skilful with camera and lighting technique. The last thing any self respecting engagement couple want is a bunch of images that look like snap shots, probably like the majority of other folk with their cameras and phones out on the day. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with snap shots, but there is if you have paid a professional to create your images.

Wedding laughter on London Tower Bridge image

There is a very popular misconception often from photographers outside of London, or those with less experience, that having famous and iconic backdrops behind a couple does all the work for you. Let us say with hand on heart that this is very far from the reality of the situation. You have to work hard with technique, pose and storytelling to create something that is truly memorable and meaningful. This perfectly sums up in our opinion any great wedding photography. As I like to quote and paraphrase England’s most famous photographer David Bailey: “Most people take photos. I make photos.”

Wedding couple by Big Ben London photo

Tower Bridge Wedding front page

The Chinese engagement photos here are from a large range that we did with Natalie and Max from Hong Kong. As Natalie was a flight attendant for Cathay Pacific we don’t think she had a problem scheduling her flights to fit in with the couple’s engagement shoot plans! Needless to say we had a great time, and that as always is reflected in the final images. It doesn’t matter how skilled your London wedding photographer is, they must have great people skills too.

Engagement shoot at London's Butlers Wharf image

Chinese engagement shoot at London by southbank

Take a look at the range of serious and fun shots we have across our three galleries here: Wedding Galleries

wedding couple under finger London southbank

Wedding couple pose at St Katherines Dock

Locations for the shoot included Tower Bridge and Butlers Wharf, Southbank and Big Ben.

As there is a carousel image included here in the post you can see more about this and the history of these fairground attractions here: London Wedding Carousels, we love them!

By David Green

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Alexandra Palace engagement photography

Engagement Shoot at London’s Alexandra Palace in Muswell Hill

By Barnet Wedding Photographers, London Wedding Photographer, Wedding Venues2 Comments

It is no secret to those that know us that Joanna and I love Muswell Hill. After all this is where we first met, and where we lived in the imposing shadow of Alexandra Palace. Yickyin and Leo in planning their future wedding found us when searching for a London wedding photographer for their Christmas wedding at The Goring Hotel in Belgravia.

Engagement photography at Alexandra Palace Muswell Hill shoot

They are a couple from Hong Kong and wanted to relax themselves in front of the camera and create some imagery they could use for their invitation cards and general wedding stationery. One or two of the many bonuses of a pre wedding shoot.

Muscle Hill wedding couple in woods

As they also lived in the north of the capital I suggested an engagement shoot at London’s Alexandra Palace in Muswell Hill. We love the mixture of urban and classic architecture mixed with natural greenery and trees and a lovely little boating lake. All places that we had taken the children to many times, and as far as a venue goes for engagement photography I don’t think you could ask for much more.

Couple jump in front of London's Alexandra Palace image

You have to know what you are doing though obviously, pictures and emotion don’t creates themselves out of nothing! Another thing we had to bear in mind was the timing of the shoot too as Alexandra Palace can become very busy very quickly. Shooting wedding days in the centre of London that is the norm, so we are very adept at dealing with crowds and crowded places, but it is nice when doing some pre wedding photography to have a little more privacy. This Chinese engagement shoot (that’s how I saw it) was on a Saturday afternoon, however it was so windy, almost gale force, and overcast that crowds were not a problem!

Another engagement photo sat on steps by Alexandra Palace London

In fact only twenty four hours before I had been at Alexandra Palace with the lovely Ashley and Paul who are getting married in London too at the Hampton Court Hotel next to surprise surprise Hampton Court Palace. Their day was typified by strong sunshine which dictated where I could place them, but also added a bonus effect of depth and texture that I could create in the imagery.

Couple pose and smile under Alexandra Palace Arch photo

For Yickyin and Leo we had a dull sky and extreme wind to deal with, but we made this part of the fun and also went for a little more quirkiness to compensate.

Wedding couple laugh by Italian fountains at Alexandra Palace

One thing I have noticed with Chinese couples is that they are very open minded to slightly off the wall ideas, especially if they are from Hong Kong, must be something in the air there! I used quite a bit of creative flash as well to give their photos a little lift in dull conditions.

Highgate Woods engagement photographer image

Alexandra Palace itself has a very interesting history. It was built in 1873, but according to some accounts a roof worker’s unextinguished cigarette started a fire that destroyed the entire structure. Good old Victorian builders didn’t hang around though, and by 1875 they had rebuilt it to a slightly different design.

Engagement photo in middle of Muswell Hill stone sculpture

Nicknamed affectionately “Ally Pally” it is probably most famous for the fact that the British Broadcasting Corporation know to us all here in Great Britain as the BBC, started the world’s first regular high definition television broadcasts in 1936. I wanted to incorporate a little of this history into the engagement photos as you can see from some of the selection here.

Couple cuddle under arches at Alexandra Palace

Wedding couple by Alexandra Palace skate park

To read more on our blog about weddings at The Goring Hotel the destination for these two lovebirds take a look here: Goring Hotel Wedding Photographer and also here: Fuji X100 for your London wedding, and wedding? Yes at the Goring Hotel

Chinese engagement couple under London railway bridge

Also notice we got lucky for the featured image of these Chinese love birds, as two local winged creatures flew by at just the right time, although I was waiting for something like this to occur anyway as I kept clapping my hands to try and make it happen!

Couple pose for engagement photos on Alexandra Palace steps

By David Green.

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All Saints Blackheath confetti shot

Wedding Confetti, where did it come from, and where is it going? Throwing it out there!

By Barnet Wedding Photographers, London Wedding PhotographerNo Comments

When anyone thinks about a wedding day invariably thoughts of confetti throwing probably figure somewhere in their imagination. Confetti is so iconic that it has become traditionally woven into the fabric of a wedding day. No wedding album or these days a collection of images on DVD or USB, is complete without a photo of a wedding couple exiting a church, registry office or specially licensed venue being showered in confetti by their friends and family. For a wedding photographer it is one of those images that they must under all circumstances get right and deliver.

confetti shower wedding couple Royal Chace hotel Enfield

But where does this ritual come from? Why does a newly married husband and wife walk through a corridor of excited people, and get large amounts of coloured paper or dried petals thrown all over them? I’m sure if aliens came down to earth for a quick peek at the customs of humanity this particular one may well confuse them! And take it from us they will be pulling bits out of their hair and clothing for hours afterwards.

Confetti shot at Hendon Hall London

confetti_at_night_Hackney_Town_Hall - Copy

Generally speaking we should blame the Italians, though the genesis of confetti throwing has several strands, and for a more detailed explanation we would recommend the excellent Wikipedia article on the subject: Confetti article on Wikipedia

Bubbles confetti Dryham Park country club wedding

Bubblesand confetti at Asia House London wedding shot

Blackheath wedding photographers image

The word itself comes from the Italian “confetto” which basically means small sweet. Why throw small sweets at newly weds? Well through the centuries in Europe it became something of a ritual to throw objects at parades, gatherings and celebrations generally. Unfortunately what was thrown wasn’t always very palatable or celebratory! For example mud balls and eggs were often lobbed, as well as more palatable examples such as small candles and sugar sweets. In Italy confetti (almond based sweets) are often given at weddings as a good luck gesture for the fertility and enhanced family producing chances of the newly wedded man and wife.

London wedding confetti shot

In 1875 Enrico Mangili from Milan invented a paper version for throwing at the yearly Carnevale di Milano. The British towards the end of the nineteenth century adopted the paper idea, along with a variant in rice, as a symbolic celebration gesture at the end of wedding formalities. Hence the now almost universal confetti throw.

As London wedding photographers we have seen confetti thrown inside and outside of buildings, day times and evenings, and even as a couple emerged from a hotel lift, as there were restrictions on throwing anything outside of the premises. In fact many churches in the United Kingdom now ask that couples either do not throw confetti at all, or do so on council controlled land just past their boundaries. The reason being, quite simply they want the borough council to clean it up and not themselves. Smart! Many establishments also require that if confetti is to be thrown that it be in a biodegradable form, the most usual of these being freeze dried flower petals.

Another way to celebrate a couples new marriage, using the spirit of confetti, but not the associated clean up or restrictions, is for the wedding party to blow bubbles. And as with other mentions of the many variations that confetti takes within a wedding day, we have included some photographic examples shot by ourselves. For the blowing of these soap bubbles the official wedding party will hand out small tubes filled with detergent filed water and a plastic ring to blow through.

wedding_confetti_inside_London_Hotel

Confetti these days doesn’t have to make an appearance only as a couple exit their marriage venue. Now in the spirit of seeing a wedding day as an ALL day celebration, confetti can be released through special “confetti” canons at any time. For example as a bride and groom enter a reception venue to begin their wedding breakfast. Usually a master of ceremonies would, like a town crier of old, announce them into the room with a dialogue such as the following: “Everybody please be upstanding for the new Mr and Mrs..”

confetti canon at London wedding party

Another very popular time to release the confetti canons or bubble machines are at the point where the newly “hitched” bride and groom first dance on the evening of their reception. This usually takes place in front of all their friends and family gathered around them to either a DJ spun piece or a live band. First dance itself of course is another enduring wedding tradition that deserves an article in it’s own right.

wedding couple first dance confetti cannon photo

wedding confetti photo at Pembroke lodge

As a footnote, as the uses of confetti become ever more varied, we will keep this article updated with new examples. Of course we don’t even need to throw confetti anymore, we can even lay it on the ground and create a pathway to love as is shown in the image below of an outdoor wedding we photographed in St Tropez Southern France.

wedding petals at La Tartane photo

For the original blog posts that featured some of these images of confetti throwing, blowing bubbles and celebratory confetti canon explosions take a look here:

Blackheath Canary Wharf London wedding photographers

Enfield Wedding at Royal Chace hotel

Down Hall Country House wedding photography

Hackney and Hoxton wedding for Carly and Jim

St Tropez Wedding Photographer

By David Green

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