Describing yourself as a London wedding photographer doesn’t mean you shoot only in London! We’ve captured countless special days from St Pancras to St Tropez weddings in blistering sun to freezing cold. It’s been a busy year in the capital so we were pleased to get out into the Essex countryside for Rachel and Chris’s wedding day. Now both these guys have fun loving big personalities, and as a former resident of their home country Australia, I would say that they typified all that was best about our cousins down under. As a measure of their popularity there was a large contingent of family and friends who travelled to be a part of their union, including the priest who took their service!
On the morning of their Essex wedding both Rachel and Chris got ready in the lovely Down Hall Country House hotel on Matching Road in Hatfield Heath. Naturally they made sure their paths didn’t cross before the service, so myself and Joanna swapped photographic duties between the two of them, as we went about documenting their bride and groom’s prep. The wedding ceremony itself was held at St Joseph’s church in Bishops Stortford. As you can see from the photo of Rachel and her father coming down the aisle she was looking pretty radiant as she made her grand entrance!
After showering the newly weds with a very large amount of confetti (they are probably still pulling that out of their hair on the honeymoon) guests were treated to specially commissioned London route master bus for the journey to the wedding reception venue of the ever popular Downs Hall Country Hotel. Rachel and Chris however travelled in even more style in their vintage Bentley, a really lovely car, but I suspect it doesn’t do too many miles to the gallon! Upon arriving we took some shots of the couple with their smart car as the guests enjoyed complimentary drinks and canopies on the lawns of Down Hall.
Joanna and myself were on a strict timetable as things had run a little late (now there’s no surprise…) but after ten busy years of London and European wedding photography we are pretty used to working fast. Twenty minutes in the grounds saw us take a ton of great shots before we returned to photograph the guests and family groups. The couple enjoyed a fantastic wedding breakfast courtesy of the catering team at Down Hall, and everything ran smoothly as we were organised and so was their excellent toastmaster. Cake cutting was fun as you can see from the photo here, Chris was ever the joker. I’m pleased to say I’ve never yet seen a bride fall foul of the wedding cake knife…
I particularly loved their first dance for a number of reasons. I liked the DJ’s strong lighting, although it was quite difficult to photograph from certain angles. But best of all was the choice of two versions of the same song blended seamlessly into one. The song? John Legend’s All of Me, which is definitely a popular choice this year for a first dance, but what took it to another level was the confetti cannons exploding as the Tiësto dance remix cut in, and got the dance floor rocking.
I felt quite emotional myself as I’m a sucker for that kind of showmanship, in fact I felt exuberant. As I drove home I thought to myself what a fitting end for two exuberant people with big personalities on their unforgettable day.
Ok now, wipe away those tears…I dropped in a couple of references to previous weddings that you can check out if you wish on the blog, here they are: London St Pancras Wedding and St Tropez Wedding Photographer
And as Down Hall reminded me in some ways of Fanhams Hall weddings in good old Hertfordshire, then here’s a little info and plenty of photos from that lovely country house venue: Fanhams Hall Wedding Photographers
I can’t blog every wedding we do, sorry, otherwise I would explode…and have no time for other weddings, my family and maintaining my imaginary helicopter.
By David Green
