Skip to main content
search
Tag

Dorchester Hotel

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

Love1
Dorchester Hotel wedding photographer piano image

London Dorchester Hotel Wedding

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesOne Comment

Camden town hall wedding ceremony

Wedding season is in full swing now, though to be honest it never really stopped throughout the winter! One of our favourite venues to work at whatever the time of year is when we are at a London Dorchester hotel wedding. The last big day we were photographing at this iconic venue the total guest count was about three hundred, this time it was a lovely intimate affair with just eight very special guests. Zaira originally from Brazil and Daniel from Paris France, wanted just close family to share their wedding day and in many ways it made the day even more magical.

When we first spoke I (David) felt an instant rapport with them which is so important for both sides to make for a truly successful experience. Although it is not strictly necessary, we would generally advise meeting with any potential wedding photographer before making a final decision on who shares such a momentous day with you.

confetti photo at Camden town hall

We have spoke before about the history and glamorous heritage of the Dorchester in a previous blog post here: Dorchester Hotel Wedding Photographers

The Pavilion and Penthouse at the Dorchester were the destinations for the reception and quite frankly in London they don’t get much more exclusive than those. I was looking at an article in Hello magazine from 2012 the week before, about guitarist Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones and his wedding, and saw that that was exactly where he had decided to celebrate! He had two best men, little known names in the world of entertainment: Rod Stewart and Paul McCartney. Actually, over the time we have have photographed at the hotel we have encountered quite a few household names. The only stars we are really interested in though are the ones we are photographing!

Dorchester Hotel wedding London

London Dorchester hotel wedding shot

The wedding ceremony took place at Camden Town Hall which has special memories for us as this was where we registered the births of our first two children while we were living in Islington. We always find the registers working there to be really good with people. After the town hall and sone family shots and confetti we took the wedding car with Martin the video man from Special Occasion Videos to the opposite bank of the Thames from the Houses of Parliament. Zaira and Daniel had told us this was an area they really loved and wanted to feature in their final wedding images. After a very pleasant twenty or so minutes there we headed for the Dorchester and the waiting champagne and canopies in the beautiful Pavilion rooms upstairs.

Penthouse at London Dorchester wedding

Read what the couple had to say about their London wedding photography experience here: London Dorchester Hotel feedback

By David Green

 

Love2

Best London wedding venues

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesOne Comment

Best London wedding venues

Best London wedding venue banner shot

Don’t get us wrong stately homes and barns are great for weddings, we photograph in those venues all the time of course. But if you live in and around the greatest city in the world, London, then why not take a look at some of the weird wonderful and historic treasures the capital has to offer. Best London wedding venues is naturally a subjective opinion, but it’s one that’s based on working regularly in a large variety of celebration spaces that our city has to offer.

If your ceremony is church based then it’s going to be a reception only venue you would need to choose. However if it’s a civil ceremony then a whole smorgasbord of venue possibilities awaits you. Do we get married in one place then celebrate and eat at another? Or do we make sure we don’t lose any of our guests on the way and do everything in the same place!?

First port of call probably for many is to research London’s long tradition of event hosting in some of its most iconic hotels. We have worked in most, but are going to list some of our personal favourites. This takes into account the overall wedding photography experience for ourselves and also for our couples and their guests too.

Wedding ceremony longroom Lords

The Savoy
Play place of the rich and famous for over a century now, it’s licenced for wedding ceremonies and of course you would be celebrating your day and enjoying your wedding breakfast in style. There’s also the Gordon Ramsay managed Savoy Grill in house too. Here’s a recent blog post we did on this great hotel: Savoy Hotel wedding photographer

confetti at the Savoy wedding

Savoy Hotel London wedding ceremony

The Dorchester

Opulent, traditional, with another long history taking in film stars and presidents, it’s one of Park Lane’s best wedding venues. Great catering and a lovely private roof terrace too. See our Dorchester Hotel wedding post here: Dorchester Hotel wedding photographer

Dorchester Hotel wedding Israeli dance

The Waldorf Astoria.

Long established Waldorf (always make us think of the Fawlty Towers episode “Waldorf Salad”)
It has the most fantastic atrium, a grand space great for ceremonies. With the grand ballroom/dining room nearby.

Lord’s Cricket Ground

You don’t need to be a cricket fan to appreciate the splendour of your ceremony and reception in the famous Long Room. Bride and groom can get themselves ready in the England dressing room, and guests can wander round the fantastic cricket museum in the middle of the wedding day. Here’s a relevant article David wrote recently: Lords Cricket ground wedding photographer

Lords cricket wedding shot

Gibson Hall

Formally a grand banking Hall in the city’s financial district, it is now a grand and imposing wedding venue. There is also an internal garden for your wedding ceremony should you choose to have your whole day there. Plenty of space for the biggest occasions.

Gibson Hall jewish wedding dance
Landsdowne Club

Now a fantastic private members club in the heart of Mayfair it was at one time the home of the department store magnate Mr Selfridge. Fantastic art deco function hall and Georgian drawing rooms for your London civil ceremony.

Hoxton

Buzzing full of art spaces and galleries that will host your wedding reception, and great urban locations for wedding photography with a difference.

Love in Hoxton wedding shot

London Zoo

We went there as children, took our own four children, and go there now as wedding photographers. Get married there and then have you and your guests tour the zoo for free before sitting down to a fantastic wedding breakfast. There’s even an exclusive meerkat experience should you feel the need…. Here’s some images from our photographic trips to the zoo: London Zoo wedding photographer

London Zoo wedding at the penguin pool

Planes, trains, and St Pancras

Watch this space as we update soon with recent St Pancras weddings. You have the fantastic hotel to get married in, and should you fancy a wander then the station itself is yours to spend time with your chosen photographer (that would be David and Joanna right…?)

Of course this is by no means an exhaustive list, but it has definitely some of the best London wedding venues that we have enjoyed lately. The other bonus of having a central London wedding is that you could spend twenty to thirty minutes of the day getting out and about for your photography, be it famous landmarks, or the royal parks. The possibilities are literally endless, because the best venue of all is London itself!

By David Green

 

 

Love4