Why I Love Photographing London Weddings

There’s something about a London wedding that I absolutely love.

I used to live near London, so the city has always felt familiar to me. These days I’ve moved a little further away, but thankfully my son still lives in London — which gives me the perfect excuse to head down regularly. Photographing a wedding and getting to see one of my boys – two of my favourite things.

Over the years, I’ve photographed weddings at some wonderful London venues, including Islington Town Hall, Camden Town Hall, Southwark Register Office, Chelsea Old Town Hall, The Orangery at Holland Park, Frederick’s and even The O2. And at the end of this month, I’ll be adding Marylebone Town Hall to the list.

But it isn’t grand venues or enormous weddings that draw me to London.

In fact, quite the opposite.

Small weddings are my thing

I love small, intimate weddings. Registry office weddings. Micro weddings. Second marriages where the couple have decided they’re doing things exactly how they want this time around. And fun young couples who would rather spend their wedding day laughing with their friends than disappearing for two hours to have 347 photographs taken of themselves looking wistfully into the distance.

Of course, we’ll get some lovely portraits. But I’m not going to hijack your wedding day to do it.

My photography is natural, relaxed and documentary in style. I’m looking for the things that actually happen. The nervous glance before the ceremony, the friend who starts crying before anyone else, the slightly chaotic confetti moment, the laughter, the hugs and all those little interactions you probably didn’t even notice at the time.

Those are the photographs that tell the story.

London gives you everything

One of the things I adore about photographing weddings in London is its vibrance and diversity.

You can walk out of a beautiful town hall and within minutes have red buses, black cabs, Georgian terraces, busy pavements, little cafés, parks, graffiti, grand architecture and complete strangers shouting “Congratulations!” as you walk past.

London gives you a backdrop without really trying.