"It just goes to show that keeping a little faith pays off and in the end it all comes together - regardless of what your weather app tells you..."
Read moreWedding photography in Sydney, Australia...
"Tom and Kim’s wedding had a pretty spectacular plan: a cliff-top ceremony at George’s Head, high above the swish Sydney suburb of Mosman before the wedding party and guests were driven to a waiting ferry for the drinks reception..."
Read moreWedding photography at Kew Gardens...
"This church has a truly fantastic heritage. It is said that flames from London’s Great Fire of 1666 came with 100 meters of the building before the wind changed direction..."
Read moreThe St Pancras Wedding Journey...
"The hotel was prepared with fantastic wedding detail and prospective wedding clients were shown around, bubbly in-hand..."
Read moreWedding photography at The Dorchester...
"Shooting a small wedding party is always enjoyable, but it was a real thrill be spend some time in the top floor penthouse suite at The Dorchester..."
Read moreWedding photography at the St Pancras Renaissance...
"Amazingly, no picture of Talika appears when you Google ‘effervescent’. But it should do. The woman is like human popping candy..."
Read moreWedding photography at The ICA, London
I love The ICA. It’s a crisp, clean canvass on which to paint. Shelley and Alex obviously felt the same because their extremely laid-back wedding could easily be pictured in the Oxford English Dictionary under “cool”.
At every pre-wedding meeting, we would usually spend about 45 minutes chatting about stuff in general - then fill the last 10% of our time actually speaking about ideas and timings for their day! These guys are stylish: their main brief was that there was no brief.
After half an hour or so at the stunning St Martin’s Lane Hotel shooting the preparations it was a short walk across to the ICA in Carlton House Terrace to catch up with Alex and record the final few moments before the ceremony.
I always revel in the countdown nature to this part of the day. It goes from quiet, to a few people, to everybody - and then that wonderful wedding day tension reaches its climax with the arrival of the Bride. Suddenly there are pictures everywhere and it’s like trying to keep plates spinning.
I’ve been working in London for over twenty years, but every time I walk under Admiralty Arch and down The Mall, it hits me what an amazing city this is. This point is surely never lost on family and friends attending a wedding at The ICA, located at the very epicentre of our famous capital. Buckingham Palace five mins down that way, Churchill’s bunker and war rooms across the road, Horse Guard’s Parade behind that - all with Big Ben and London Eye watching over the scene. Amazing.
This day just flowed. Everything gelled happily and, departing mid-evening, I felt I’d seen a wedding exactly as it should be done. As little fuss as you can make it and as much enjoyment as you can pack in. Good for them.
Below, as usual, are only a few from the overall commission. Click any thumbnail to enlarge...
Engagement portraits on Box Hill
There is something wonderfully romantic about winter weddings. Their cosiness and candlelight make a lovely change to the brightness and light of summer season shoots.
Preme and Phil will be married just before Christmas at the lovely Fetcham Park, and to underline the winter theme we set off to Surrey's famous Box Hill one morning to capture some simple and atmospheric shots.
It takes a brave couple to head out into the November cold for their engagement shoot - and this was a really awful day of weather. Mercifully, Preme and Phil's 'can-do' approach ensured a lovely set of shots, completely capturing them as a couple, in my opinion.
I'm a great believer that 'fortune favours the brave' with photography. It can be over-thought and excessive planning often hampers the moment. By all means, have a rough idea of what you'd like to do, but leave as much as possible to chance - it brings nicer results. In this case, the steady drizzle, low light and mist swirling around the last of the Autumn leaves merely added to the final pictures.
Below, as usual, are only a few from the overall commission. Click any thumbnail to enlarge...
Wedding photography at The St Pancras Renaissance
Looking back at this commission, the timings and sheer ambition of the day makes me shake my head slowly with a wry smile. You know, I'm just not sure how we got it all done. And by "we" I mean 'Team Madhavi & Harry', because this one was about teamwork.
On the face of it the plan seemed pretty straightforward; everything would be happening at London’s spectacular St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, one of my favourite places to shoot. But just because it was in one place, didn’t mean it would be easy. There would be: guys’ preps, girls’ preps, a civil service, a Jewish blessing, an Indian ceremony then the wedding breakfast. Oh, and did I mention TWO drinks receptions? Just typing it is tiring.
In reality the shoot was never less the exhilarating. Madhavi and Harry were always brilliantly communicative with their ideas and the overall make-up of the day - and this is key - because the end result is always the sum of its parts. I feel the final selection really captures the atmosphere and emotion of these two wonderfully welcoming families simply having a ball!
Below are 100 shots, bigger than my usual posts, and these merely provide a taste of a terrific wedding with a very, very generous couple... I thank them greatly for asking me to be involved.
Click any thumbnail to enlarge...
Wedding photography at the St Pancras Renaissance
London boasts many grand locations. And while many have significant individual strengths like location, decor and history, I think The St Pancras Renaissance is one of very few in the UK capital to have it all.
I greatly value my position as an official supplier to the hotel; working there is always a delight. It’s also yielded some of my favourite wedding commissions over the last couple of years since the hotel opened after a lavish upgrade.
So, a great venue was in the bag. Now, enter Paula & Sam - and these guys are cool. Whenever we’d meet they would burst through the door, scooter helmets in hand, happily windswept and keen for a chat. From our first meeting on a freezing winter’s night, I knew these two would make great subjects.
Their day was an eclectic mix of personalities, fun, emotion and that oh-so-rare thing - laid-back formality. With everything wonderfully overseen by the events team at The Renaissance, the day zipped along at a pace with not one dull moment.
I’ll let Paula explain - how from their perspective - they felt it all went…
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“As soon as Sam and I met Mark we knew he was the right person to photograph our wedding day. Relaxed, warm and an exceptional listener, he instantly understood our brief and never tried to change our vision, rather offer support and work with our ideas.
We started the journey together and our subsequent meetings (always with a coffee and an exciting story to tell) were filled with enthusiasm and a comfort it was going to be okay on the day. His photography is incredible – a beautiful mix of formal, black & white and our favourite – capturing special poignant moments throughout the day...”
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In fact, for me this wedding had only one downside: suit envy. Now, I’m pretty sure Sam put his trust in Burberry on his wedding day. And I am therefore planning an intense spot of January sales shopping.
As usual here are only a handful of my personal memories as seen through the lens. Click any thumbnail to enlarge...
Wedding photography in Italy
Virtually everything I shoot these day is stimulating and enjoyable. But Jess and Andy certainly raised the bar by which all other destination shoots I attend are currently being judged.
Italy, a vineyard, walking distance from my hotel and a chance to play a little more with my BA iPhone app - where’s the downside?
Melanie Helen of Cranberry Blue Weddings, one of the industry’s leading organisers, introduced me to Jess and Andy during the early stages of their wedding preparation. From the very first drink we were all on the same page and it was set to be a terrific trip. I recall thinking I ultimately wanted to hand over the photography as kind of a creative box of goodies, all wrapped-up in a bow which was to be Italian countryside.
I’m a great believer that any wedding shoot needs to place the viewer right there in the location, not just show the attendees - and luckily for me, their plan allowed me to paint on a pretty broad canvass. The spectacular Villa Sparina, an hour north of Genoa, was the base for the wedding. Save for a 200m walk to the church, everything would take place at the Villa. With many venues this would mean turning around spaces for multi use, but here the garden drinks reception and candle lit wine cellar wedding breakfast provided amazing contrast, not to mention many opportunities for atmospheric photography.
I really hope the feel of the day comes across in the handful of images below. A fantastic time was had by all, and that’s in no small part due to the generosity and consideration of the couple themselves and their family support, in particular Jess's Mum's sartorial creativity. To their massive credit, Jess and Andy toiled away for quite some time, naturally with Mel's input, to ensure this wedding would provide unique memories for family and friends alike. From my viewpoint this was achieved, and then some…
Below is just a fraction of the overall set. Click any thumbnail to enlarge...
Behind the scenes: Mirror Mirror Couture studio shoot...
Blame Star Wars. I was 7-years-old when I saw the movie. Try as I might, I couldn't get my own head around the fact that this fantastic sci-fi world came out of one guy's mind. And I don't mean George Lucas. I mean his conceptual artist, Ralph McQuarrie.
From then on I only ever wanted to do something creative for a living. Photography ran in the family and so it was decided. The problem is that professional photography - in whatever area you work - is wildly different to what you might expect. Nearly every job becomes an (enjoyable) battle against time and logistics. As anyone who works in the creative industries will tell you: there’s a lot of frustration along the way.
So when you get a day in a studio when there's latitude to get things just right, via the help of a great team of people, you grab it and try your very best to end the day with absolute creative satisfaction. This was the case when I shot the new Couture range for Mirror Mirror Bridal at the stunning Renaissance Hotel, St Pancras.
The brief was to produce a simple, clean, stylish set of images which were all about the dresses, but it's surprising just how much work and tweaks are involved to create an end result which looks like, well, as if there was not much work and not that many tweaks required.
The designers, make-up artists, hairdressers, my assistant and an organiser overseeing the running of the schedule, all listed below, made my life incredibly easy on the day and I think the results really hit the mark. Less is most definitely more. The dresses are sublime but their aesthetic appeal was absolutely heightened by terrific models Tabitha Hall, Tijana Tambric and Emily Steer - all of whom were a joy to shoot.
Designers: Maria Yiannikaris & Jane Freshwater at Mirror Mirror Bridal. Wardrobe: Natasha Yiannikaris at Mirror Mirror Bridal. Hair: Anna Acerbi & Michele Antiga at Hair Supreme. Make-up: Andrea Flynn, Pamela Skantzos at Pamela & Andrea + Andrea Elsby Jones at Mirror Mirror Bridal. Stylist: Penny Cullen at Love Scarlett. Studio assistant: Alexandra Nicolaides. Hotel coordination: Clare Legg at The Renaissance, St Pancras.
Click any image to enlarge, or enjoy the 'behind the scenes' video produced by the terrific Kissing Gate Films
From the archive... #16
Enough said...
Wedding photography at Braxted Park
In emails exchanged with Ayla post-wedding, she referred to the planning, preps and day itself as a "fairytale". It's the perfect word to describe this lovely couple who were keen to let go and have a brilliant party.
I think I knew Ayla and Arron's day was going to be smooth and classy affair when I arrived at the beautiful Queen Anne house, Braxted Park for our initial meeting. There, I was met by not just an excited bride-to-be, but her Mum and future Mum-in-law as well. We took a turn around the parkland and had a great, free-flowing chat about ideas, plans and timings. It was obvious this shoot would yield some genuine, happy memories.
There is a little bit of everything in this commission. A battalion of bridesmaids, 250+ guests, drummers, dancing and cash everywhere (literally). What's not to like?!
It was a pleasure to be asked to be a part of this wedding and I guess the stats tell the tale: after 3 weeks their online wedding set had received over 65,000 separate pic views - wow. I hope they all liked the set as much as I enjoyed my involvement.
Below, as usual, is just a fraction. Click any thumbnail to enlarge...
Zoe & Steven, Wedding photography at Hampton Court
I don't want to sound negative, but one of the reasons this set is so pleasing to me is that the day was so bad for weather. It rained. All day. And not just rain - the weather Gods chucked in some gale force winds as well.
This is the day when you open your bag of experience and pull out whatever can help you, because when the weather is stacked against you this much all the tricks of the trade are needed.
You find a doorway for the group shots and thank an Usher for holding the brolly over you. You catch any break when the rain subsides to nip out and shoot externals so you slip them back into the timeline during the edit. And you hope beyond hope that the bride keeps a sense of humour... and on that score Zoe was an absolute trooper.
As a bride, it must be so disheartening to look out of your hotel and see rain coming down like nails. But as you can see from Zoe's radiant smile, the obvious delight at being married cut through the gloom. Ultimately the rain didn't - and doesn't - matter.
On a warm, dry day we would have been out and about shooting in the wonderful gardens of Hampton Court. But since everything had to be inside, you knuckle-down and try to make plan B work as close to plan A would have done.
For me, it often leads to a greater sense of satisfaction when things are stacked-against you and you still bring home the bacon. After all, that’s the value of commissioning a professional photographer - not a mate/uncle who happens to have an SLR.
As usual here is a fraction of the set. Click any thumbnail to enlarge...
