Laura & Marc’s Chelsea Town Hall Wedding

The photographs I always come back to

There are some photographs that get me every single time I go back through a gallery.

And Laura’s first look with her dad and brother at Claridge’s is definitely one of them.

Within approximately five seconds, all three of them were crying.

There’s something about those few minutes before a ceremony when everything suddenly becomes very real. Everyone has spent the morning getting ready, chatting, keeping busy... and then you see someone you love standing there ready to get married and that’s it.

Gone.

Tears everywhere.

A first look at Claridge’s

Laura got ready at Claridge’s before heading across London for the ceremony, and before we left she decided to do a first look with her dad and brother.

I love photographing moments like this because there really isn’t much for me to do.

You don’t need to manufacture anything when the reaction is already written all over everyone’s faces.

Laura walked in, they saw her, and within seconds all three of them were emotional.

Exactly as it should be.

Claridge’s to Chelsea Town Hall... in 36 degree heat

Laura and her dad then travelled to Chelsea Town Hall in a beautiful classic car.

Beautiful being the important word here.

Because London had decided to reach approximately 36 degrees that day and said beautiful classic car had absolutely no air conditioning.

We were quite literally sticking to the leather seats.

Very elegant. Very glamorous. 😂

But somehow, even with all of us slowly melting, there was still something so lovely about driving through London towards the ceremony with Laura and her dad.

A Chelsea Town Hall Wedding

After Laura and Marc were married at Chelsea Town Hall, their driver took us around Chelsea for photographs.

This is one of my favourite ways to photograph a London wedding.

Rather than disappearing for a huge formal portrait session, we just drove around together, stopped when somewhere caught my eye, took a few photographs and carried on.

At one point we stopped near some of Chelsea’s Georgian townhouses, which gave us the perfect backdrop without the whole thing ever feeling like we’d stepped away from the wedding for a photoshoot.

And somewhere along the way, we discovered something else.

Laura, Marc and I had all gone to the same university in Scotland.

So naturally, from that point onwards, this became a Robert Gordon University alumni wedding.

Shout out Sir Ian Wood 😂

“We normally hate having our photograph taken”

The funny thing is, Laura and Marc told me afterwards that they usually hate having their photograph taken.

And I love hearing that when I look back through these photographs because you genuinely wouldn’t know.

They didn’t suddenly need to become people who love being in front of a camera.

They didn’t need to know how to pose or spend the afternoon wondering where they were supposed to put their hands.

We drove around Chelsea, chatted absolute nonsense about university, stopped whenever I saw somewhere I wanted to photograph them and carried on.

That was basically it.

Because for me, the aim isn’t to turn you into someone different for the photographs.

It’s to make the whole thing feel easy enough that you can forget about the camera a little and just be yourselves with each other.

Apparently I became an honorary bridesmaid

Laura described me afterwards as an “honorary bridesmaid”, which I’ll happily take.

Especially considering a significant portion of the day involved me keeping an eye on her dress while the three of us slowly melted our way around London.

There are always bits of a wedding day that have absolutely nothing to do with taking photographs.

Holding something. Fixing something. Watching a dress. Finding someone. Giving you a second to breathe.

It’s all part of it.

And somewhere amongst all of that, we made these

The crying with her dad and brother.

The classic car ride through an unbearably hot London.

The dip kiss.

The gorgeous portraits around Chelsea.

And two people who apparently hate having their photograph taken looking completely at home with each other in front of my camera.

That last bit might be my favourite. ❤️