It has been very interesting for us both as we sit here editing our latest London wedding today, to watch the coverage in the background of Xi Jinping’s state visit to the capital. It feels almost like the Chinese president follows in the footsteps of London wedding photographers Big Day Weddings! Firstly he is staying at ther London Mandarin Oriental Hotel where very recently we photographed a lovely intimate wedding. That’s the featured image here on this post. On that particular day staff showed us the “Royal” entrance at the back of the hotel where royalty and visiting dignatories could enter and exit. This was featured on BBC news coverage and included here are a couple of shots of that very entrance that Xi Jinping has been using. The only difference is that for these visits they construct a temporary overhead structure by the distinctive black gates. It was the Chinese who requested previously to move the nearby lamp post to the side, as it kept getting in the way on this drop off and in point! Also we see the red carpet at the Mandarin Oriental was rolled out, photo included, from our wedding coverage, and apparently this is the same one used for all such high profile visits and weddings. So we treaded that carpet first before Mr Jinping. Read about it here: London Mandarin Oriental Wedding Photography
Secondly a lot of the action is taking place at Horse Guards parade, which is a where we frequently photograph when wedding couples spend sone time alone with us for some extra memorable shots, away from the wedding party and reception. There’s an example image from Aishe and Habib’s lovely day below.
Finally we see that the Chinese president is also going to visit Imperial College London, and it was only days ago that we photographed Nicki and Stephen’s big day in Imperial’s premier event venue 58 Princes Gate, which you can read about on the blog here: London Kensington Wedding Photographers There’s a shot from the venue below as well. That’s one of the great perks of photographing central London weddings in that we get to work at tremendous venues, and also access areas not normally available to the general public.
You can read and watch constantly updated coverage of the Chinese president’s state visit on the BBC News website linked here: BBC News coverage of Chinese President’s London state visit
By David Green