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London engagement shoot by Big Ben and Westminster Bridge

London Engagement shoot at Southbank and Tower Bridge…again

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding Venues2 Comments

We love our London engagement shoots and we love a challenge too. This particular pre wedding photo fest in London’s iconic Southbank and Tower Bridge was no exception.  Engagement shoots are a excellent way to get to know a couple before their wedding day, have some fun, and get some great extra images that can be shared and shown on the big day itself.

Wedding-couple-kiss-under-Tower-Bridge-London-photo

Many our shoots are in the north London region typically places such as Alexandra Palace or Kenwood House in Hampstead. But for Yui and Mark’s we had arranged for it to happen around London’s Southbank.

London engagement shoot couple by southbank graffiti

Things kicked off with a quick cappuccino, always a good start it in our opinion, by one of our favourite wedding venues the Oxo Tower.

London eye engagement photo silhouette

We know all these areas like the proverbial “back of our hands” and relish the chance to photograph around Gabriel’s Wharf and it’s surrounding nooks and crannies. This Tuesday afternoon in March after the ‘beast from the East’ cold spell began with rain and heavy clouds. I asked the couple if they were ok with this and troopers that they were we started their shoot in the rain. Taking a quick peek at the LCD on my rain soaked cameras I could see all he individual drops of rain in front of their faces, which was kind of funky but I hoped for their sake we would get a little bit of dryness too. The rain stopped to order and I worked nice and fast to keep the energy level up.

Engagement photo shoot at Southbank beach London

I did this particular shoot on my own (David) which often happens for engagements, and that tends to make things a little more intimate and relaxing too as a bonus.

London engagement couple by quay on Southbank

When you photograph in central London you have to accept the fact that there will always be other people around and something happening. So I tend to start in back streets first to get couples acclimatised and then move into more public areas.

One of the issues professional photographers may well encounter at Southbank are security guards who tend to tell you to move on, and that you are not allowed to photograph here. Sometimes it happens other times not. I will keep my opinion to myself on this one, but we did have to move on twice because of this.

London engagement photo by Tower Bridge

One of those instances was in front of the London Eye. I though this might happen from previous experience so I had to work fast. It’s ironic really as we shoot weddings on the London Eye as official photographers, so it feels very strange to get moved on!

Warped engagement shoot on Londons southbank

Considering the tiny amount of time we had there I’m very happy with the results we got.

Engagement couple by London Houses of Parliament

The London and Southbank engagement shoot carried on towards the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge, and then we hopped on an Uber to finish off at Butlers Wharf and Tower bridge.

Engagement photo by arch at Londons Butlers Wharf

We had lots of fun, and as I mentioned at the beginning of this post it was a great opportunity for us all to get to know each other better.

Roll on the big day itself which will be in one of Hertfordshire’s best wedding venues Hanbury Manor!

By David Green

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London Eye wedding photographers coca cola kiss photo

London Eye Wedding Photographers Time Out Recommended

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

Some wedding days are destined to live long in the memory, and Tiffany and Ryan’s Coca Cola Official London Eye ceremony and Tower Bridge and West End wedding adventure is one of them.

Wedding dress and shoes hanging at Le Meridien Piccadilly London

We first spoke to Tiffany via Skype as she and Ryan are residents of Toronto Canada but truly love London and try and get over as much as possible. After finding us as London Eye wedding photographers, and knowing we were Time Out Recommended, they wasted no time in getting in touch and sharing their exciting wedding ideas with us.

Bride and groom walking to their London Eye Wedding ceremony

The day started for us capturing the couple’s wedding preparations which were taking place at the lovely and classy Le Méridien hotel in central London’s Piccadilly. A five star hotel built in 1908 it’s just a few short metres from the iconic Eros figure that along with places such as Tower Bridge, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace are timeless symbols of the capital.

London Eye Wedding ceremony photo

We particularly liked Tiffany’s white Doc Martin wedding boots which reflected her personal style and tastes in music and did look great with her wedding dress.  In fact we found we had lots in common in the music department with the couple.

Wedding ceremony photo taken on the London Eye

It was a small intimate wedding party of just eight people, all Canadian and all super friendly. When everyone was ready we all boarded a huge white wedding stretch limousine waiting outside Le Méridien for us.

Wedding couple kiss by Tower Bridge London

We had quite a bit of time allocated for photos before heading to the London Eye, so we set off towards Tower Bridge and Butlers Wharf. However London traffic being what it can be at the weekends, or for that matter anytime, we were left with just twenty minutes when we finally arrived!

London-wedding-party-pose-by-Tower-Bridge-at-Butlers-Wharf

No matter though because we are used to working in tight schedules and had plenty of fun getting a good mix of classic and quirky. I think the fact that the wedding party had extra champagne drinking time in the limo probably helped loosen everyone up too.

Bride and groom at London Eye wedding

Not that anyone needed loosening up, in fact the naturally friendly nature of the wedding couple and their friends meant that wherever we went people wanted to join in for photos, selfies and even two like minded tourists were invited to the ceremony itself. I’ve never seen that before!

London bride and groom in front of red roller doors photo

At the Coca Cola London Eye the couple were looked after in the VIP lounge before being fast tracked onto their flower decorated personal wedding pod. For the first half hour rotation they had their ceremony with dedications and signings. For the second half we did some photos and drank more champagne….well we only had a little, ever the professionals, maybe…

Wedding couple and daughter pose on the London Eye

After that it was back to the stretch limo and our ever patient driver Jo, and zoomed off to the West End and Charring Cross Road to head to The Crow Bar.  This rocky themed venue is a favourite watering hole for Ryan that he wanted to drop in to as part of the celebrations of the couples special day.

Wedding couple kiss inside red London phone box image

From there it was time for the reception and final meal at the Gaucho Piccadilly.

London wedding couple pose for photo by Tower Bridge

London wedding couple pose with tourists at Butlers Wharf photo

Ultimate London Eye wedding photographers photo

Bride in reception at Le Meridien Hotel London wedding

 

 

By David Green

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Wedding Galleries
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Chinese engagement shoot in London by boat

Chinese Engagement shoot in Central London, Tower Bridge and Southbank

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesNo Comments

Over the past few years years we have photographed a tremendous amount of weddings and engagement shoots in central London and beyond. One of our most frequent enquiries is from couples whose actual home is China but would like a particularly London flavour to their engagement memories. Hong Kong or mainland China may be the ultimate destination for their wedding day, but they are very happy to fly over to the capital for a few days to meet us and have their shoot. Right now it is so popular in certain inner London destinations that it’s not unusual for us to encounter three or four similar shoots going on at the same time and that is just on a week day!

London wedding carousel image

Now sometimes the Chinese couples that we work with are also getting married here in London, as was the case with this recent shoot:  Engagement Shoot at London’s Alexandra Palace in Muswell Hill and it may be that they are also living and working in the capital, either way I’ve managed to learn a few Chinese words and phrases along the way.

London engagement shoot with Chinese wedding couple

 

It’s not strictly necessary though because although Mandarin and Cantonese are notoriously difficult languages to learn and master, the lovely Chinese engagement couples that we deal with have generally fantastic English language skills. Better than some of the natives!

London Eye Wedding Photographers image

Where do we go? Well it’s often the busiest but most iconic tourist spots like Tower Bridge, the Southbank, Westminster, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and so on. Here’s a good example of the kind of shoot we would do by the Thames: London Southbank Engagement Shoot You need to be experienced both with crowd management in these situations, and skilful with camera and lighting technique. The last thing any self respecting engagement couple want is a bunch of images that look like snap shots, probably like the majority of other folk with their cameras and phones out on the day. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with snap shots, but there is if you have paid a professional to create your images.

Wedding laughter on London Tower Bridge image

There is a very popular misconception often from photographers outside of London, or those with less experience, that having famous and iconic backdrops behind a couple does all the work for you. Let us say with hand on heart that this is very far from the reality of the situation. You have to work hard with technique, pose and storytelling to create something that is truly memorable and meaningful. This perfectly sums up in our opinion any great wedding photography. As I like to quote and paraphrase England’s most famous photographer David Bailey: “Most people take photos. I make photos.”

Wedding couple by Big Ben London photo

Tower Bridge Wedding front page

The Chinese engagement photos here are from a large range that we did with Natalie and Max from Hong Kong. As Natalie was a flight attendant for Cathay Pacific we don’t think she had a problem scheduling her flights to fit in with the couple’s engagement shoot plans! Needless to say we had a great time, and that as always is reflected in the final images. It doesn’t matter how skilled your London wedding photographer is, they must have great people skills too.

Engagement shoot at London's Butlers Wharf image

Chinese engagement shoot at London by southbank

Take a look at the range of serious and fun shots we have across our three galleries here: Wedding Galleries

wedding couple under finger London southbank

Wedding couple pose at St Katherines Dock

Locations for the shoot included Tower Bridge and Butlers Wharf, Southbank and Big Ben.

As there is a carousel image included here in the post you can see more about this and the history of these fairground attractions here: London Wedding Carousels, we love them!

By David Green

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Southwark Cathedral wedding with Butlers Wharf, Tower Bridge & Vinopolis reception

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding Venues2 Comments

Southwark cathedral wedding ceremony

Ed drives a nice car, I know, I saw it at his engagement shoot with Julie…(in-joke). Actually I know lots of people with nice cars. I just wish some of them were more like Ed…..Anyway, I liked Julie and Ed from the moment I met them, and that is something that motivates far more than where people are choosing to get married and what their budget may be. They had strong personalities and strong ideas about what they wanted to achieve with their wedding plans, one box ticked. They loved London and wanted to feature the locations as much as the events and emotions of the day, another box ticked. We learned later that they got engaged in Green Park and spent the rest of that day by the Thames and visiting the View from The Shard, bit of back story there, and also places we have greatly enjoyed ourselves.

wedding couple with London love sign photo

We’ve photographed weddings at cathedral’s before too (in London that would be Westminster Cathedral) so we knew what to expect when Julie told us they would be marrying at Southwark Cathedral close to London Bridge. What to expect? Well grandeur, history and of course…tourists. Yes, they may well be allowed to sit at the rear or actually walk around and visit the building while you are getting married. They certainly mill around the outside of the central pews at Westminster, but we were quietly pleased for these guys that they were confined to a few rows at the very back for their wedding gatecrash!

wedding recessional Southwark Cathedral

Borough market next to Southwark Cathedral as anyone that has ever visited there knows is a very bustling busy place indeed, so in many ways Julie and Ed had a very public wedding. In my opinion that added to the fun atmosphere as everybody loves a wedding couple. Confetti throwing had plenty of onlookers, as did the wedding party’s short walk to Vinopolis their reception venue.

Wedding photo Butlers Wharf London

This very unique event space is built to incorporate the Victorian arches that help make up it’s distinctive look, and is dedicated to wine with a museum, bars and restaurant. It has a special place in our hearts as London wedding photographers, as it was the very first venue ten years ago that Joanna and I worked together at for both ceremony and reception. Sadly Vinopolis is closing at the end of this year  and we will all miss it.

wedding couple Borough Market shot

While guests enjoyed their welcoming drinks and canopies, the newlyweds and ourselves snuck off down the road in the black wedding cab to Butlers Wharf and Tower Bridge. It is an area we have photographed at many times, but each big day and it’s unique bride and groom creates equally unique and different images, and this time was no exception.

Happy couple at Butlers Wharf Tower Bridge

kissing couple by London Tower Bridge

married near Tower Bridge image

Back to the cab and then back to Vinopolis. Between wining and dining, speeches and the like, we had some fun with a spotlight for shots taking in the wedding venue’s arches and various props. It had to be done, and cutting the cake and dancing the night away was all there in abundance of course too.

Dance at London Vinopolis

Now this blog post may not win a Pulitzer prize, but it doesn’t need to because undeniably and obviously the big winners on the day were Julie and Ed themselves, and that is what we aimed to showcase here.

Also according to some book I bought on Amazon, writing these posts helps our website rankings, not sure about that, because really we just like waffling and putting pretty pictures online. By the way, did we mention Ed drives a very nice car?

wedding reception room London Vinopolis venue

Love heart on wa;; at London wedding reception venue

You can see a related post featuring Tower Bridge and surrounding area here: Tower Bridge Wedding Inside Story

And another here: London Bishopsgate Wedding Photographers

By David Green (yet to win a Pulitzer prize…)

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London Eye Wedding Photographers image

London Eye Wedding Photographers

By London Wedding Photographer, Wedding VenuesNo Comments

As I sit here typing this post London Eye wedding photographers, and taking a break from editing some of Natalie and Max’s images, I’m reflecting on what a busy but fantastically exhilarating week it has been. Three central London weddings and one at Luton Hoo in the Bedfordshire countryside, that’s four weddings but thankfully no funerals! Although I knew we had photographed at some of the churches featured in the film, Paul the groom informed me last Sunday that his venue Luton Hoo itself was used for one of the scenes. We are collecting famous venues!

The last week has taken in such iconic London landmarks as Tower Bridge, The Gherkin, Lloyds building or the “inside out” as some call it, Leadenhall market, Big Ben and St Pauls. There was sunshine, there was cloud, and there was rain. but throughout it all there was fun and creativity aplenty.

Every now and then we take shots of ourselves at work, and here is one below taken by Joanna that features me photographing Andrew and Jill on the steps of St Pauls from this Saturday just passed.

wedding photographer working at St Pauls

What made it truly special and memorable for the newlyweds was the fact that all the tourists around them continually whooped and applauded. It felt pretty special from our end too, and it is one of those pleasures we can relive as we work on their’s and the other weddings we have had the privilege to photograph in the last seven days.

The first few years of our ten years as wedding photographers we did a great many weddings around the home counties, and just the occasional wedding in central London. Now we still love a country wedding, but we have to be honest, a central London wedding is more challenging and therefore to us more exhilarating. London is probably one of the most photographed cities on earth, and one of your challenges as a superior photographer is to create striking images that are more than just tourist snap shots.

It is the easiest thing in the world to plonk a wedding couple in front of a landmark and take pictures. But anyone could do that with an iPhone or a reasonably priced DSLR. So in that case you might as well hire a friend to do it for you if that’s what you need! What you are paying for in a professional is someone who understands lighting, direction, camera technique coupled with with excellent equipment, and the ability to create a “moment.” And in a central London wedding you have to create that surrounded by city workers and tourists. You have to think and act fast while all the time showing a relaxed persona, and in the average twenty to thirty minutes maximum wedding photography time that you get, well, you MUST get the shot! It’s the same with a country wedding of course, just take away the city workers, tourists, traffic, dodgy geezers with one eye on your equipment and so on and so on. So in reality, it is completely different!

London Eye wedding photographer?

No wedding photographer with a London eye!

P.S. If we are available no home counties or other weddings turned down!

See many more images from the recent past here: Wedding Galleries

And not far from the London Eye is Tower Bridge, so read the inside story of a wedding here: Tower Bridge Wedding Inside Story
By David Green

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