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wedding couple holding hands in Enfield

Enfield Wedding at Royal Chace Hotel

By Barnet Wedding Photographers, London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesOne Comment

One of the first big days that we captured ten years ago was an Enfield wedding at the Royal Chace Hotel. Although so many of the weddings we photograph now are at destination venues around the country or in central London, it is always great to work close to home too! The Royal Chace hotel for many years has been a must visit for local couples looking for a reception venue.confetti shower wedding couple Royal Chace hotel Enfield

banner image for Enfield wedding shotsIn it’s favour it is licensed for ceremonies both large and smaller at opposite ends of the hotel, and has three dedicated reception spaces. We know from working there so many times how happy couples have been with the service, pricing and general quality of the venue. Some members of the wedding day team have been there for a considerable number of years, and really know what they are doing.wedding ceremony at Royal Chace Enfield shot

confetti throw at Enfield wedding

Liz and Ben recently bought themselves a lovely home of their own a few streets away, and felt that Royal Chace was perfect to host both their civil ceremony and wedding breakfast too. Coverage began with Liz getting ready in their Enfield “love pad” complete with mum dad and bridesmaids in helpful attendance. We soon realised from looking around the place what dedicated Manchester United fans they were! With the arrival of the Vintage Rolls Royce from Lords Cars, another wedding vendor we have worked with around London numerous times and one we recommend, we sped off to the hotel to catch Ben and his groomsmen’s preparations.

Lords_wedding_car_Gentlemens_Row_Enfield

The wedding ceremony itself took place in the Mandeville Suite, and a special reading in the form of a self penned poem came from Liz’s mum. Outside the front entrance the wedding party enthusiastically threw confetti, and then the newly weds left in the wedding car for thirty minutes or so to historic Gentlemens Row in Enfield, where we met them for some couple shots. It’s always a memorable time for wedding couples not only because myself and Joanna make it fun and relaxed, but also because these are some of the very first moments relatively alone for man and wife after their ceremony. They walk talk and have a good time with us as an official Mr and Mrs!

Family photos a little later were taken care of by David on the back lawns of the hotel, while Joanna captured guests mingling and the various details of the wedding breakfast tables and room. There were lots of references from the the table plan to wedding favours featuring all things Manchester United. In fact current manager Louis Van Gaal sent them a personalised congratulations letter read out at the head table. After some fine dining, speeches and cake cutting it was time to boogie on down courtesy of Barney Grossman a fantastic DJ who runs Party Events Unlimited

bride_by_London_railings

first glimpse at the wedding ceremony

First dance started oh so traditionally, but there was a twist to come as Liz and Ben a couple of minutes into their routine broke off and quickly changed into fancy dress versions of ZZ Top, which sure got the party rocking pretty quick!wedding reception at Enfield compilation shot

Here’s are some related posts featuring Enfield, the Royal Chace Hotel and our Star Wars wedding image photographed at the hotel’s helipad, that currently features in Enfield Museum’s retrospective of 150 years of local wedding photography.

Further reading here:

Enfield Wedding Photographers

Star Wars London Wedding

And some nearby weddings that you can take a look at are here: Enfield wedding at Bush Hill Park

Update: We’ve just received this lovely review on google plus from Liz and Ben that you can read here:

“From the first day we met David and Joanna we knew we were in safe hands! They are such a friendly couple they made us feel at ease straight away and after the first consultation we had no doubts whatsoever as to who our wedding photographers would be. They listened to all our ideas and after seeing examples of their work we knew they would also have lots of fantastic ideas. They came up with a brilliant idea to shoot in a local area near the canal and it was like they had read our minds – it happened to be one of our favourite routes to walk along and feed the ducks every weekend. Before the day we compiled a list of ‘must not miss’ shots to make sure that all key players were included and no one was disappointed. A couple of days before the wedding I was getting very stressed, particularly with the weather forecasts looking ominous, but I had a phone call with David who reassured me that no matter what the weather he would get some amazing shots. On the day David and Joanna both slotted in so well that you’d just think they were other wedding guests. They made everyone laugh and feel at ease. We’ve known photographers at other weddings to be quite bossy but they managed to capture all the group shots easily and organise guests without being stressed. The big advantage of choosing Big Day Weddings is you essentially get two fantastic photographers for the price of one! In addition, you have a friendly couple who can capture male and female perspectives from multiple angles. We received our photography package this week, only 2 weeks after the big day, and we honestly cannot believe how wonderful they are! They managed to capture everything we wanted but also captured so many amazing, personal details that we didn’t even notice ourselves and it has been lovely to look back on the day through the photographer’s eyes. Our ‘couple shots’ are just outstanding and we’ve had so many compliments from family and friends to say how amazing all the photos are. As part of our package we received a USB with over 1000 images both high quality and with a folder of smaller images to easily post on social media. We had 2 x 50 minute slideshows with music to watch on DVD and we had a lovely time reminiscing with these and it’ll be a great way to show our relatives. As another personal touch they also wrote a blog on their website about our wedding with some of the best images and it was a lovely account of our day. We are both incredibly happy with our wedding photographs and how they managed to capture the best day of our lives. It was worth every single penny as we have been inundated with compliments from our wedding guests who all love the photos too. We cannot recommend them highly enough.”

Liz Worsley

See the original review here: Google Plus Big Day Weddings review

And a seperate review on Hitched from Liz and Ben: Big Day Weddings Hitched review

Post by David Green

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Best Italian wedding in Woking main image

Best Italian wedding in Woking!

By Barnet Wedding Photographers, London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesOne Comment

Wedding at Silvermere Inn on the Lake for Nadia and Steven

Italian wedding ceremony London and Woking

Our friend and fantastic video cinematographer John De Rienzo of De Rienzo Films told me, as a long standing and active member of the Italian community of Woking and surrounding area, that there were three Italian weddings around Woking the same date as Nadia and Steven’s big day. However as myself and Joanna were the chosen photographers, and bearing in mind the fact we give a hundred percent and build a great relationship with our brides and grooms, we can confidently say that this particular celebration was the best Italian wedding in Woking!

Wedding at Silverware on the lake Woking

A great many of our weddings are in central London these days, but we are always delighted to work in the home counties too. Knowing we would have to negotiate the M25 the morning of the big day we decided to leave nothing to chance and stayed the night in central Woking.

London Italian wedding confetti throwing

Woking wedding service image

The mornings coverage started at Nadia’s parents house, a place full of love laughter and friends and family busy getting ready. There was much meeting and greeting and eating and drinking lovely traditional Italian fayre, including some fantastic biscuits! Nadia’s family are originally from Sicily, a country Joanna and I have visited recently and loved greatly, it’s such a unique place.

Love by the fountain Silvermere Woking

After capturing Nadia, bridesmaids and the families preparations and then the arrival of the wedding car, we shot off to St Dunstans Church Woking, to catch the arrival of guests and of course Steven and his groomsmen’s final preparations before the grand arrival of the bride.

wedding couple at Silvermere on the lake

After a lovely heartfelt service the newly weds were showered with rice and confetti as they made their way to their vintage wedding car and the start of their journey to the reception venue. The place to eat drink celebrate and make merry was one of Woking’s most popular: Silvermere Inn on the Lake. It’s a wedding venue, place to wine and dine and a fantastic golf course too, all nestled by a stunning lake setting. It’s easy to see why Nadia and Steven would have chosen such a place to complete their wedding day festivities.

First dance photo at London Italian wedding

Silvermere’s wedding co-ordinator was incredibly helpful to both the couple and ourselves throughout the day, and the food service and general management was fantastic. Naturally we captured lots of special moments and details, along with time alone with the bride and groom around the grounds of this fantastic setting. Many great Italian wedding traditions were faithfully followed, including the fun tapping of cutlery plates and glasses etc to get the couple to stand up and kiss each other, and of course getting showered with party paraphenalia for the first dance. Nadia danced with her father straight after for another special Italian tradition, which was moving in all senses of the word and got the party for the evening started in earnest!

David Green high fives bride image

You can see one of many Italian weddings here too on the blog: Landmark Hotel Wedding Photographer

As you can tell from the photo above it’s always an excellent idea to high five your Italian wedding photographer on the morning of your special day!

By David Green

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Wedding couple in garden Valentines Mansion

Asian Wedding photographers for London

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesNo Comments

Wherever your up and coming celebration may be where that’s the top of the Gherkin building, The Dorchester Hotel or a county House feel like Moorpark it’s probably best to go with experienced wedding photographers for London and the surrounding areas. David and Joanna have been working as full time wedding photographers across the capital and home counties for ten years now and have naturally done many traditional and fusion Asian big days.

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Valentines Mansion wedding photographer

Traditional London Indian wedding

In our ten years as full time and Time Out Recommended photographers, we have captured the special days of a great many faiths and cultures. As long as any wedding professional has a respect, knowledge, and appreciation of the culture they are documenting then if they themselves are “good” they will do a “good” job. Of course our brief is always to do a “great” job! Sometimes couples may feel that choosing an Asian wedding photographer for their Asian wedding is the natural thing to do, or a Jewish wedding photographer for a Jewish celebration. However, this could be a mistake, as some wedding vendors have been known to become complacent within their own culture as they know they have guaranteed recommendations every year. And that is putting it kindly!

Best London wedding venue banner shotLondon Gherkin wedding kiss black and white image

So we would advise looking for a photographer whose style and approach you love, who you perhaps can meet to see if you feel comfortable around them. A person or couple like ourselves who could exceed your expectations rather than just ticking the boxes by being just competent in what they do.
laughter between wedding couple at Valentines

Getting ready for Valentines_Asian_wedding

There are three London Asian weddings featured here and you can see of the two blog post they are from by clicking these links: Gherkin Wedding Photographer  and here: Valentines Mansion Wedding Photographers

We love the colour, excitement and tradition of an Asian wedding, and although we are usually booked up early, we are always delighted to hear from prospective couples and have a relaxed chat about their wedding plans. And of course check if we are available!

By David Green

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Wedding couple inside Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge Wedding – The inside story

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesOne Comment

Married at Tower Bridge then on to The Dickens Inn!

Tower Bridge wedding ceremony photo

We have written about the special and historic feel of a Tower Bridge wedding many times, and showcased  a great deal of images of couples and guests on or near the bridge itself. For this article though we thought we would share a few images telling some of the inside story of a wedding day on one of London and the world’s most famous landmarks. We are sure that Tower Bridge is probably one of those places that although it is available to explore for a fee to the general public, that many Londoners have not taken the internal tour of this magnificent feat of Victorian engineering themselves. While hundreds of thousands of tourists to the capital have enjoyed it, most of us haven’t, and quite honesty nor had myself and Joanna before we started photographing London weddings there.

Wedding by windows at London Tower Bridge

The very first time we shot a wedding on this landmark it was for a civil partnership in The Bridge Masters Quarters on the south side of Tower Bridge. This is a very intimate but lovely space for a ceremony that can really accommodate no more than about thirty or so people. It was certainly very cramped and I’m not too sure if you can get married there at the moment. For 2015 onwards the place to have your civil wedding ceremony is right in the centre of the bridge in the North Tower Lounge. This is a really interesting and quirky space. As you can see from the included ceremony wedding photo from Suzie and Damian’s recent wedding, that we are focussing on here, there is an incredible metal support cross that goes across the beautiful floor to ceiling Victorian windows here. Once again it’s a pretty intimate space but it does have a larger capacity for anywhere from twenty to fifty wedding guests. There is a bar in the ceremony room and the onsite catering is very good too. Access to the lounge is from a private lift that is not used by general tourists visiting other parts of the bridge and it’s walkways which is a bonus.

View from the top of London Tower Bridge

After the bride and groom are married and the wedding guests are enjoying champagne and canapés, the newlyweds are allowed access to areas of the bridge that nobody but selected staff usually get to see. That area is the very top and parapets of the north Tower itself. It uses quite steep spiral stairs to get there, not something that is easy in a wedding dress, but it is certainly worth it! There is an empty wooden floored room with more of Tower Bridge’s fantastic windows, but this time the space is uncluttered by any distractions. Four small doors in each corner of the room lead to the parapet walls and fantastic views of central London from every side. My personal favourite is the one that overlooks the Tower of London and is one of many we have decided to feature on this blog post. It’s a very narrow and tight space and it is not for anyone with a fear of heights, but it is an experience that just adds to the special event that is a Tower Bridge wedding day.

Now as a bonus in the walkways since January 2015 there is reinforced viewing glass in some of the floor that allows you to see the view directly below the bridge, and is highlighted in the featured wedding image here. It is also great for testing out whether you suffer from vertigo or not!

For Suzie and Damian after these shots it was back to the north Tower lounge for some nibbles and drink with the rest of the wedding party, before setting off to the reception at the Dickens Inn round the corner at St Katherine’s Dock. You can of course elect to have your reception in a walkway of the bridge too, but one of the bonuses of having it nearby is that you get to be a celebrity with the general public as you walk with your wedding party across Tower Bridge. You will be photographed and applauded all the way across!

There you go, a little of the inside story of a big day celebrated on an iconic landmark, and captured by David and Joanna your London wedding photographers.

You can see more photos of Tower Bridge in our galleries here: Wedding Galleries

More Tower Bridge images can also be seen from this recent blog post here: London Bishopsgate Wedding Photographers

Just in this afternoon was Suzie and Damian’s feedback through an email, quote: “We’ve written a review and hope you get loads more business as you have done such a fab job on our pics and we will recomend you to anyone we know who is due to get married! Thanks so much again! – Suzie

Here’s the text of the google plus review they wrote and a link to it at the end:

From the first time we met David and Joanna we knew we wanted them to be our photographers. Not only were the pictures amazing from the images they showed us, but we were made to feel so comfortable and welcome from the start, a feeling of which continued during our wedding day. We always wanted to have a combination of natural shots and posed group shots and having just received our pictures we are blown away with how amazing all of them are! They have captured the key moments beautifully and have managed to capture everything from the whole day in a style that is perfect for us. We cannot thank them enough for their friendliness, professionalism and quality of their work and would recommend whole heartedly to anyone looking for photographers. Thank you both so much! Love Suzie and Damian (Tower Bridge & Dickens Inn, 15th May 2015) xxx

Take a look too at this very nearby wedding with some wedding photos in nearby locations: Southwark Cathedral Wedding with Butlers Wharf, Tower Bridge & Vinopolis Reception

Google plus Big Day Weddings review: Google Plus Review

 

By David Green

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London Eye Wedding Photographers image

London Eye Wedding Photographers

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesNo Comments

As I sit here typing this post London Eye wedding photographers, and taking a break from editing some of Natalie and Max’s images, I’m reflecting on what a busy but fantastically exhilarating week it has been. Three central London weddings and one at Luton Hoo in the Bedfordshire countryside, that’s four weddings but thankfully no funerals! Although I knew we had photographed at some of the churches featured in the film, Paul the groom informed me last Sunday that his venue Luton Hoo itself was used for one of the scenes. We are collecting famous venues!

The last week has taken in such iconic London landmarks as Tower Bridge, The Gherkin, Lloyds building or the “inside out” as some call it, Leadenhall market, Big Ben and St Pauls. There was sunshine, there was cloud, and there was rain. but throughout it all there was fun and creativity aplenty.

Every now and then we take shots of ourselves at work, and here is one below taken by Joanna that features me photographing Andrew and Jill on the steps of St Pauls from this Saturday just passed.

wedding photographer working at St Pauls

What made it truly special and memorable for the newlyweds was the fact that all the tourists around them continually whooped and applauded. It felt pretty special from our end too, and it is one of those pleasures we can relive as we work on their’s and the other weddings we have had the privilege to photograph in the last seven days.

The first few years of our ten years as wedding photographers we did a great many weddings around the home counties, and just the occasional wedding in central London. Now we still love a country wedding, but we have to be honest, a central London wedding is more challenging and therefore to us more exhilarating. London is probably one of the most photographed cities on earth, and one of your challenges as a superior photographer is to create striking images that are more than just tourist snap shots.

It is the easiest thing in the world to plonk a wedding couple in front of a landmark and take pictures. But anyone could do that with an iPhone or a reasonably priced DSLR. So in that case you might as well hire a friend to do it for you if that’s what you need! What you are paying for in a professional is someone who understands lighting, direction, camera technique coupled with with excellent equipment, and the ability to create a “moment.” And in a central London wedding you have to create that surrounded by city workers and tourists. You have to think and act fast while all the time showing a relaxed persona, and in the average twenty to thirty minutes maximum wedding photography time that you get, well, you MUST get the shot! It’s the same with a country wedding of course, just take away the city workers, tourists, traffic, dodgy geezers with one eye on your equipment and so on and so on. So in reality, it is completely different!

London Eye wedding photographer?

No wedding photographer with a London eye!

P.S. If we are available no home counties or other weddings turned down!

See many more images from the recent past here: Wedding Galleries

And not far from the London Eye is Tower Bridge, so read the inside story of a wedding here: Tower Bridge Wedding Inside Story
By David Green

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