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Bride and groom having fun at Jumeriah Carlton Hotel Wedding

Greek and Italian Wedding Days at Jumeirah Carlton Tower London

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesNo Comments

Well 2016 certainly has been a year of variety for us in the wedding world and very very busy, but it has also been a year full of Greek and Italian weddings too. We don’t think there’s any real reason for that apart from the fact it’s a bit like waiting for a London bus, nothing comes out of the traffic for a while, and then what do you know it’s four in a row! Yes we get a lot of recommendations from couples and their families but the last few special days have either been Greek or Italian or a fusion of both, and that was purely coincidental.

bride gets ready for her Italian wedding in London

London bride photographed from above at Italian wedding

For Lorietta and Nick their special day was a long time in the planning and was to be a respectful mix of Nick’s Greek heritage and  Lorietta’s Italian roots. The brief was to capture a combination of quality reportage photography and couple shots, with a classic and romantic style. It’s always good to know and discuss the overall style goals beforehand and we are used to following a brief, but of course bringing our own interpretation to the day too.

bride arrives at All Saints Greek Cathedral Camden

wedding ceremony at All Saints Greek Cathedral Camden London

Proceedings began in Potters Bar Hertfordshire with Nick’s traditional Greek dressing ceremony, which consists of a wet share with cut throat razor and dressing and blessing from groomsmen friends and family.

Greek wedding ceremony All Saints Camden London

First kiss Greek wedding ceremony London image

Next we drove to cover Lorietta’s bridal preparation at her parents house in Broxbourne. A beautiful home that her parents basically built themselves – very impressive.

wedding couple kiss in the lift at Jumeriah Carlton Hotel London

After that it was time to beat both bride and groom to the ceremony held at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral Church of All Saints in Camden Town, London. A very grand setting for a grand wedding ceremony, and after confetti throwing and some family shots inside everyone headed to the reception at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel at 1 Cadogan Place in central London.

bride and groom laugh on stairs Jumeriah Carlton London Wedding

Italian Wedding at Jumeriah Carlton Hotel London photo

The Jumeirah is a a spotless and classy hotel befitting of a reception for a large scale Italian and Greek fusion wedding.

Greek money dance at Jumeriah Carlton London wedding reception

Plan A was that we would do some couple shots in the nearby private gardens however once we arrived, so did the torrential rain. So to Plan B which were photos around the hotel and reception room itself, while guests enjoyed drinks and canapés upstairs.

Italian wedding dress and shoes in brides bedroom photo

The wedding breakfast was again a suitably classic and grand affair, and afterwards everyone enjoyed traditional Greek and Italian dances. Great to work with Special Occasion Videos once again: Special Occasion Videos

Bride and mother get ready before Italian wedding day image

By David Green

For other Italian and Greek weddings in central London take a look at these related blog posts:

Landmark Hotel wedding photographer

Greek Wedding Photographer London – Saint Sophia Cathedral Bayswater

Best Italian wedding in Woking!

 

 

Bride and groom on escalator by London St Pauls Cathedral

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

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesOne Comment

Another fantastic wedding day in central London for Louise and Kenton, and another chance for myself and Joanna to learn a little more of the history of the nation’s capital!

Wedding at St Stephens Walbrook London photo

Our coverage started at St Stephen’s Walbrook right in the heart of the city near bank station. It’s a beautiful church designed by Sir Christopher Wren which served in many ways as a template for his later creation St Pauls Cathedral. It was interesting for us too as St Pauls wedding photographers to see how some of his architectural ideas took shape.

Wedding vows at St Stephens Walbrook London Church

The altar sits in a fantastic circular area below Wren’s dome design, and wedding ceremonies tend to take place at the end of the aisle that faces the entrance doors. We are guessing though because it is circular it could be anywhere! There is also a very imposing pulpit that I’m grateful the clergy let me use to take some larger group shots.

Husband and wife near Bank Station on London wedding day

Louise arrived in an open topped car with her bridesmaids and walked between a fairy light illuminated aisle to Kenton waiting near the altar. Musicians were ready to play them on and accompany all the hymns. It was by all accounts a passionate and heartfelt ceremony, and afterwards drinks and food were served for all at in the rear courtyard of St Stephens.

Wedding couple stand by Bank Station

Once the guests had made their way to the reception venue Joanna and I spent a little time on foot with the bride and groom taking some central London shots around Bank Stanton, and heading towards St Pauls, great fun.

The wedding reception venue was the lovely Corney and Barrow restaurant and bar in Paternoster Square. Personally I’m a big fan of this area and I was delighted to photograph the bouquet toss here and find some deckchairs for Louise and Kenton to sit in with St Pauls behind them.

Wedding couple on deckchairs by St Pauls cathedral London

While guests sipped complimentary drinks and canapés, the bride and groom and their closest family enjoyed a traditional Chinese tea ceremony in an adjoining room.

Dinner was served by the friendly and efficient Corney & Barrow team followed by speeches, cutting of the wedding cake and dancing the evening away in the shadow of St Pauls. By all accounts another fantastic central London wedding day.

Couple at Corney & Barrow wedding reception

For history fans here’s a wikipedia link to St Stephens Walbrook: St Stephen Walbrook on Wikipedia

For previous wedding in central London take  look at these blog posts: Central London Weddings

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Bridal bouquet toss in front of St Pauls cathedral London image

By David Green

Bride drives route master bus on her London wedding day photo

Islington Metal Works wedding day starting at Hampstead’s St Stephen’s church

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesOne Comment

Well this was seriously another fantastic London wedding day and one to remember for sure. Natalie and Adrian had already done a pre wedding shoot with us in Trent Park north London, so we were nice and familiar with each other. It’s not a prerequisite to do one of these as we are known for being pretty good at making people feel relaxed and comfortable around us as it is.

Bride walks down the aisle at Hampstead wedding

wedding ceremony St Stephens Hampstead

Coverage began at St Stephen’s church on Rossyln Hill, Pond Street Hampstead. Natalie had decided to start things with her arrival there rather than preparations shots, as she and Adrian wanted to focus our time as much on their reception and guests and later evening as possible.

Wedding vows at St Stephens Hampstead LondonBride and groom walk down the aisle at London Hampstead wedding

St Stephen’s Hampstead really is a fantastic looking church, and it is also a deconsecrated one so it’s popular for civil ceremonies and receptions too. It was built in 1869 and designed by Samuel Teulon and was know as the “mighty church.”

Confetti throw at Hampstead wedding day image

After their lovely service and getting absolutely showered by friends and family well armed with wedding confetti, the congregation boarded a 1962 London route master bus to take them to Islington. The featured image of this blog post is Natalie taking charge of driving the bus herself…

Bridesmaids sit on tank at London Islington wedding day image

Reception venue was the magnificent Islington Metal Works just behind Angel station. Built at the end of the nineteenth century it was first a home for horses used to pull London trams. By 1930 it had been converted to a north London metal works. Today we can confidently say as experienced central and greater London wedding photographers, that this is one of the most interesting and unusual venue spaces on offer right now.

Couple photo from Islington Metal Works wedding

Natalie and Adrian made the most of the space to decorate it in a way that reflected themselves and their outlook. That’s the beauty of a venue like this in the sense that although it has a lot of innate personality it can be a blank canvas too.

Bridesmaids pose in front of central London roller doors photo

Wedidng couple kiss by London mosaic Islington Metal Works

We shot a mixture of documentary reportage style and also some of our signature quirky stuff. I was personally delighted to see a tank in the yard outside the metalworks, but I was not so happy to see a bright yellow garbage van next to it. We got the shots but we did have to shoot everything at an angle. For the urban chic shots the couple gave me five minutes…yes guys I checked the image file data, but actually no problem – we got them! I have to say that is something of a record short time, apart from once late at night after rain near the London Stock Exchange a few years ago. For prospective couples reading this, think twenty minutes or so and we should be fine.

Couple look at each other on their central London wedding day

The rest of the evening with speeches, wedding breakfast, dancing and cake cutting was celebrated in the various and unusual spaces of the venue. We would like to give a special mention to the staff the Islington Metal works who were fantastic. They were friendly, efficient and always attentive to everyone, a real credit.

new man and wife kiss at Islington Metal works wedding

For interest here’s a couple of links to other Islington wedding days: Another great Islington Town Hall Wedding, then on to Hoxley & Porter and The Albion and then Islington Town Hall Wedding and Peasant Pub Clerkenwell Reception

couple's first dance at Islington Metalworks wedding

By David Green

couple laugh by tree at Fanhams Hall wedding in Hertfordshire

Another fabulous Fanhams Hall wedding day in sunny Hertfordshire

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

Many times we are asked for wedding supplier recommendations, from florists to vintage cars in the course of our meetings with couples planning their big day. Less often we are asked about reception and ceremony venues. These are often the first stage of a bride and groom’s search, and certainly the main area that gets booked to decide the final wedding date.Fanhams Hall wedding photographer image

No doubt there is an almost bewildering amount of choice for wedding venues in the London and home counties area, and many of them are exceptional. However when we are asked about Hertfordshire it is always without hesitation among others that we recommend Fanhams Hall in Ware.

wedding makeup photo

Groomsmen getting ready in mirror image

This grand place has it all from beautiful and incedibly varied gardens, to the main manor house itself, which is a tasteful mixture of old and new. In fact we have regularly produced fantastic wedding imagery from venues that have less than ten percent of the options that Fanhams has!

Bride and her father walk down aisle for church wedding

couple pose on Japanese pagoda at Fanhams Hall wedding

Newly weds walk down church aisle photo

Having said that the venue does not make the photographer, and sadly we have seen plenty of very average wedding photos coming out of other’s Fanhams Hall wedding days. So if you are in the market for a London or Hertfordshire based wedding photographer for this lovely venue, then please make sure you ask to see the images from an entire wedding there, and not just the usual signature images from the gardens with Fanhams in the background!

wedding couple with car at Fanhams Hall

When we met Hannah and Mat we were excited to hear of their choice of reception venue, and even more excited to hear that they had been at one of our previous Fanhams Hall wedding days and had seen the images we had produced.

wedding photo in Fanhams Hall gardens

We started the day with Hannah’s wedding preparations at her parents home in Chingford and then on to her local catholic church, Our Lady of Grace and St Teresa of Avila.

man and wife kiss under tree at Fanhams Hall wedding

After the ceremony and confetti throwing we all made our way to Fanhams for the drinks reception. While Joanna concentrated on reportage photography of the guests and the wedding breakfast room and details, I took the newly weds around the grounds of the hall.

Holding hands in Chinese garden Fanhams Hall wedding

Now I have shot in every kind of weather condition at Fanhams, some of them all in the same day! In the blog post title we have wrote “sunny Hertfordshire” and this day was a very bright one indeed. What this meant in wedding photography terms was that I looked for areas of good light that avoided hot and unflattering direct sunlight. The sun is always your friend on a wedding day, as long as you know how to photographically turn it to your advantage. It can add side light and back light, and definitely liven up your backgrounds too.

Hole in wall wedding photo at Fanhams Hall

After some family and friends shots it was time for the wedding breakfast and speeches in the grand hall. The couple had a beautiful wedding cake to cut and music and dance courtesy of live band Secret Show Band.

wedding couple head to head in Fanhams Hall orchard image

Once I’d taken a bunch of dancing shots and said my goodbyes, it was time to ride off into the Hertfordshire sunset and say goodbye to Fanhams Hall itself, until next time…

Here’s another blog post about Fanhams wedding days: Fanhams Hall Wedding Photographer

By David Green

Couple laugh during wedding ceremony at Four Seasons Park Lane

Four Seasons Hotel Wedding Photographers Park Lane

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesOne Comment

We love photographing weddings in central London. It’s a large part of the work that we do, and we are always pleased to return to Park Lane where we are most often found at the Dorchester or the Hilton. For this fantastic day we were Four Seasons Hotel wedding photographers, which itself is a great venue close to the Hyde Park corner end of this famous thoroughfare.

wedding dress hanging at Four Seasons Hotel London

The happy couple were Emily and Jon, and I had got to know them a little better beforehand after doing an engagement shoot with them at Alexandra Palace. I also spent time with Jon and his groomsmen the day before the wedding for a Turkish barbers session at Ted Bakers grooming rooms, and then on to Churchill’s for some afternoon drinks and cigars. Such is the tough world of wedding photography!

Bride gets ready at Four Seasons Park Lane London

On the big day itself Jon and his groomsmen were getting ready at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge, another of our favourite London wedding venues you can read about at the end of this post. Joanna made her way there to cover events as they unfolded including Jon’s trip down the corridor in the luggage trolley!

Groom and best men at Mandarin Oriental Hotel London

Emily got ready with close family at the Four Seasons Hotel itself so that’s where I started my day. I like to know a little about the venues we do our photography in and I found out this particular central London hotel was actually built fairly recently in 1970. However it has just undergone a tremendous £125 million refit designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon in 2010 and really looks the part.

Bridesmaids laughing at Four Seasons Hotel wedding photo

Groom waits as bride arrives Four Seasons Hotel

Kissing photo Jewish wedding Four Seasons Hotel Park Lane

The wedding ceremony itself was truly special with a fabulous arch of flowers made for the couple to say their vows under. Fantastic electric violin playing throughout just added to the romantic atmosphere, and later on to some of the dancing moments.

Jewish wedding Four Seasons Hotel photo

It was a civil ceremony first with signing of the register afterwards, and then we had Jewish elements conducted by the couple’s rabbi, complete with the traditional breaking of the glass underfoot by Jon.

Wedding couple pose on roof Four Seasons Hotel

Champagne reception ensued and it was time for a mixture of documentary photography, family formal pics and time alone with the newly weds for some couple shots around the hotel.

Bridal party pose in lifts Jewish wedding Four Seasons Park Lane London

After the wedding breakfast and some traditional and energetic Israeli dancing and toasts, we had speeches, cake cutting and first dance.

Bride and groom after Jewish wedding day Four Season Hotel London

Providing the nights live music we enjoyed one of our very favourite and best bands on the whole of the UK’s wedding circuit The Superlatives. Not only are these guys a fantastic outfit, but behind the scenes they are great people too. It really added to our pleasure photographing the wedding to have their music shaking the dance floor! Check out their website here: The Superlatives

Jewish dancing at wedding Four Seasons London

To see previous work at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel you can check this blog post: London Mandarin Oriental Wedding Photography

To see another recent large Jewish wedding at a classic London Hotel take a look at his piece from the blog: London Waldorf Hilton Hotel Wedding Photographers

And for other Park Lane weddings at the Dorchester and various Jewish ceremonies you should take look through our extensive on site images here: Wedding Galleries

By David Green

Groomsman with hats Four Seasons Hotel