Hayley & Jack’s London Wedding at Old Marylebone Town Hall

You can tell a lot about someone by the people who love them

I think you can tell a lot about someone by the way people talk about them when they’re not the one holding the microphone.

And Hayley is so fucking loved.

Hayley owns her own opticians, and somewhere between booking me and getting married we started sending each other memes and encouragement about the very glamorous reality of being women running businesses 😂

So by the time I arrived at Chateau Denmark on the morning of the wedding, it felt very much like:

Oh hiiiiii 💕

There’s something really lovely about getting to a wedding day already feeling like you know the person a little. You settle in quicker. They settle in quicker. And suddenly it feels less like arriving to photograph someone’s wedding and more like turning up to see someone you already know.

A very Hayley wedding morning at Chateau Denmark

The morning was childhood friends, pizza that I obviously got involved with (please stop reminding me I’m lactose intolerant) Jimmy Choos and a very Audrey Hepburn dress.

Honestly, quite a combination.

There was that nice mix of excitement and familiarity you get when someone is surrounded by people who have known them forever.

Everyone knew where to be. Everyone knew what Hayley needed.

And somewhere amongst all of it, she got ready to go and marry Jack.

Old Marylebone Town Hall and a bride who was READY for portraits

After the ceremony at Old Marylebone Town Hall, Hayley was READY for portraits.

Capital letters necessary.

And Jack did bloody well too.

We headed around London making the kind of photographs that feel a little more polished and intentional without turning the whole thing into one long photoshoot.

Hayley completely leaned into it.

Which obviously made me very happy.

We also made one on the bar at Kettner’s as a little nod to Richard Avedon.

If you know, you know 📸

Those are always some of my favourite photographs to make. Something a little considered and a little more fashion focused but still very much connected to the actual wedding and the people in front of me.

And then came the speeches

This was basically the point where I spent the rest of the day watching Hayley cry.

Her mum wrote her a poem called My Little Bird about Hayley being born premature.

Her best friend spoke about the two of them making Scoobies when they were little girls and had even made two for the wedding — one for Hayley and one for Jack.

Which was already enough to completely finish me off.

And then her dad stood up.

At one point, he looked at Hayley and said:

“You’re my best friend.”

Fucking hell.

There are certain sentences I hear at weddings that I shamelessly steal and keep for myself.

That is absolutely one of them.

The promise her dad kept for 30 years

Her dad had also been keeping a promise for approximately 30 years.

When Hayley was five, he told her that when she eventually got married, he would buy her anything she wanted.

Her answer?

A hamster.

And the man remembered 😭😂

So all these years later, on her wedding day, he finally gave her one.

I mean...

How are you meant to compete with that in a speech?

Why Hayley and Jack work

Jack is also the accountant for Hayley’s business, which naturally provided everyone with plenty of material 😂

But underneath all the jokes, you could really see why the two of them work.

There’s a calmness to Jack.

He grounds her.

And you could tell that’s something Hayley really loves about him.

That’s always one of the things I find myself noticing at weddings.

Not necessarily the big declarations, but the smaller ways two people make sense together.

Who steadies who.

Who makes the other laugh.

Who knows when to step in and when to just let them be.

Hayley and Jack had that.

So many versions of a life in one room

That’s probably what stayed with me most from this wedding.

So many people who had loved Hayley through completely different parts of her life were all in one room.

Her parents.

Her childhood friends.

Jack.

The people who knew her when she was making Scoobies as a little girl, the people who watched her build a business, and the person she chose to build a life with.

And you could hear all of that in the way they spoke about her.

Very emotional.

Very loved.

Very good wedding. 🥹❤️