Barnet Wedding Photographers

We are looking forward to Sophie and David’s central London wedding day in July. They came to us through recommendation which is a frequent and pleasant occurrence in wedding photography, and always a good start! For them Kenwood on Hampstead Heath was a place with memories and meaning, and the perfect place for their engagement shoot photography.

Many is the time we have visited this lovely place to walk both the dogs and our children, and for this shoot it was half term so I (David) took two of our sons with me as well. The boys happily went off to play football in front of the stately home, while myself Sophie and David went on a little photographic adventure.

Kenwood House is a former stately home and dates from the seventeenth century. Notably it was a seat for the Murray and Guinness family of aristocrats. It was eventually bequeathed to English Heritage and had a complete refurbishment finished in 2013. Inside there is a fantastic art gallery with priceless paintings by Rembrandt and Van Dyck to name a few.

The back of Kenwood has been cleaned up so much compared to what we have been used to seeing over the years, and now it gleams bright white in the sunshine, to the point where it is almost blinding and I wanted to feature that at the end of our shoot. The hardest part is trying to get those shots without all the visitors walking past. Fortunately this was a Tuesday afternoon, it would have been impossible on a weekend, and besides we would probably be photographing a wedding then anyway!

I also wanted to feature the meadowy parts of Kenwood (“meadowy” – is there such a word!??) with lovely spring flowers and blossom, and also try and incorporate the lake nearby in some form. Of course an engagement shoot at Kenwood or anywhere for that matter is a good chance to get to know a couple better, and reinforce the fact that photography in the hands of experienced shooters is fun and rewarding.

They sent a quick email after receiving the shots saying:

“Hi David,

Thank you so much for the amazing photos! We love them and everything you captured. We’re now having difficulty trying to choose our favourite for the invitation!!

We are really excited for the wedding photos!

Thanks for also doing this so quickly.

Sophie and David”

By David Green

Two grooms in a bath at the Zetter Town House Hotel in Clerkenwell? This can only be a quirky London wedding day!

Dean and Johannes came to us on recommendation from couple Julie and Ed’s big day at Southwark Cathedral, and reception at the now closed and sadly missed wine and event venue Vinopolis. They had seen the way we worked and the images from that lovely day so they booked us with confidence. We didn’t have a great deal of communication beforehand, but as we knew what they were looking for and we had worked at all the venues previously that was no big deal.

I love that fact that the boys pretty much got themselves ready in front of Hackney Town Hall itself while they waited for guests to arrive. Seriously, only men would do that!

The main council chamber is being refurbished, so the ceremony itself was held in a fantastic alternative wood panelled room and was the perfect size for the boy’s wedding party. A special mention to the registrars on this day, who we found to be both sensitive and enthusiastic, and they really added to the occasion.

Once married Dean and Johannes had a receiving line outside the town hall and then a confetti throw on the steps at the front.

Two vintage London red routemaster buses were waiting to take the wedding party on a magical mystery tour, both loaded with the finest champagne on tap. How these bus conductors manage to pour drinks on a 1950-60’s bus with that suspension is beyond us! It’s a skill for sure.

We stopped briefly for a mass visit to the fantastic City of York pub in Holborn, before returning to the routemaster sight seeing tour through central London landmarks. I sat there spotting  all the venues and areas we had photographed in. It was a lot!

Well travelled now we arrived at the Zetter Town House Hotel for the canapés and drink reception. This was actually held in the lovely and atmospheric St John’s Museum Gardens nearby. I managed to grab fifteen minutes during this to take the grooms around the block for some couple shots before returning for the speeches in the gardens. During this time Joanna did some reportage coverage of the guests generally having a very good time indeed.

All speeches were entertaining and well delivered, and once those were done the wedding party made their way across the courtyard to the Zetter for the evening reception. Once more drinks and canapés were served in abundance and Dean and Johannes cut their cake and socialised the evening away. As you can see from the first image they also had time to take a dry bath together!

Here’s a link to Julie and Ed’s wedding day: Southwark Cathedral wedding with Butlers Wharf, Tower Bridge & Vinopolis reception

Other Hackney Town Hall weddings: Hackney and Hoxton London Wedding for Carly and Jim

Other Clerkenwell Weddings: Islington Town Hall Wedding & Peasant Pub Clerkenwell Reception

Official website for the Zetter: Zetter Town House

By David Green