Wedding Venues

The Honourable Artillery Company building or HAC as it is often referred to, is one we have strolled past many times on a Sunday as we walked the kids to various activities and shows at the Barbican Centre and the Museum of London. It also sits next to a very interesting old inner London graveyard, well worth a visit in itself.

So when Caroline and Grant got in touch with us about their wedding at HAC we were delighted not just to photograph their special day but also for a chance to have a nosey around inside such a great piece of architecture too!

Our coverage of the day started with myself and Joanna photographing Caroline’s bridal prep within Armoury House itself. It was the usual laughter filled time with bridesmaids and family, makeup and hair artists and of course popular London wedding photographers!

After a while I left the building and crossed the road to catch Grant and his groomsmen having a relaxed drink at a nearby pub.

It wasn’t long before it was time for the ceremony in the magnificent Long Room of Armoury House. The house is an eighteenth century mansion and along with the Prince Consort rooms and five acre Artillery Garden make up the official home of the HAC, and is full of interesting and historic military memorabilia. It’s certainly a great and atmospheric place to get married in.

After the ceremony we arranged a continuous confetti throw all down the staircase to the front entrance, where staff were ready with bubbly and snacks for the drinks reception. Everyone enjoyed some sunshine in the Artillery Garden while the Long Room was turned around for the wedding breakfast.

A special mention of the staff too who were excellent efficient and helpful throughout the day.

After quality eating and then speeches with dessert it was time for the first dance to a live band and some serious dancing the night away.

By David Green

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”