Capturing Love in the City: London Wedding Photography, by a London Wedding Photographer - Wildheart Photography
Working as London wedding photographer means I get to experience a vast array of wedding venues in and around the beautiful and bustling city. Although I am based in Lincolnshire, our excellent local transport links mean that I can get to London in an hour which allows super quick access so that I can fulfil my London Weddings with ease. Today I am sharing with you the intimate and heartfelt wedding of Jess & Mike at Winchester House in Putney, based on the banks of the Thames with stunning views of the river and the Putney Bridge.
First we start at the bridal preparation at the Dutch Suite of the Lensbury Hotel in Teddington, where Jess was joined by her two best friends and later her mother. It was an extremely relaxed morning as the bridal party had their hair and make-up done and in no time at all it was was time for Jess to put her incredible absolutely stunning, elegant vintage dress, adorned with feathers and proceeds to make her way downstairs to greet her father. Did I mentions Jess’s shoes? Oh her shoes! He had arranged for a Rolls Royce to collect Jess and her bridal party and whisk them off to Winchester House in Putney. Due to the road works and traffic, it was decided that it would better for me to travel with the bridal party in the Rolls Royce which was a fabulous and luxurious experience I have to say but more importantly, it is a good job that I did, because her mother and father who left at the same time were almost late for the ceremony due to the heavy road works.
Luckily we arrive in great time to Winchester House, both the ceremony and reception venue. Built in 1892, the Historic Winchester House is set within half an acre of grounds on the banks of the River Thames, just upstream from Putney Bridge and oozes character and class. I head up to the first floor to find a light spacious ceremony room with stunning views of the river and the bridge, filled with around 20 guests and Mike eagerly awaiting Jess’s arrival. White flowers decorated the room a create a simple but classic aesthetic.
Emotions ran high as Jess began to walk down the aisle and just as she started to well up, Mike greeted with her with looks of adoration, sealed a kiss of reassurance by her husband to be. The ceremony was full of love as speeches were made by their family and friends. Jess was ecstatic as the both walked back up the aisle and it was an absolute joy to witness.
Afterwards we head downstairs to outside the iconic main door so that they could get sprinkled with confetti by all of their guests. We then took this opportunity to crack on the family and friends group shots outside on the main lawn. Here are just a few below.
Afterwards the reception kicks off with drinks in the stunning grounds at the back of Winchester House with guests being entertained by a guitarist playing a mix of beautiful modern and classic songs. Children played giant Jenga and the hoop toss whilst the adults sipped on champagne and enjoyed the views of the River Thames. As the venue staff transformed the ceremony room into the reception room, outside concerned guests started to notice the river banks bursting as the water started to filled the road where many cars were parked. However, the locals seemed completed un-phased. One guest and one musician had in fact parked there and proceeded to roll up their trousers and wade through the water to get to their cars so that could be moved to safety. There were signs up warning people that the banks burst but I guess a few people must have missed them. It certainly added a bit of entertainment to the day. Then as quickly as the water had flowed in, it flowed back out.
Just before the guests were due to be called to the wedding breakfast, I took this moment to take the newly weds out the front for a few quick portraits. Mike and Jess didn’t want to spend much time on their couples photos and just wanted portraits that were very relaxed and just showed their true selves and I think that’s definitely what we managed to achieve.
Then guests headed upstairs and were greeted with kind, thoughtful and funny individual photos of each and every guest which certainly went down a storm. Everyone was laughing and joking and sharing their images with other guests. What an absolutely brilliant idea!
After the wedding breakfast guests were invited back downstairs to the rear garden of Winchester House for the speeches and cutting of the cake and shortly after saw the arrival of the evening guests. We then saw speeches from the father of the groom, sister of the groom, the best man and also the bride and groom. Each speaker envoking lots of emotion from guests. However, the way Mike looked at Jess throughout her speech stole the show and melted my heart.
As the sun started to fade, the reception room was cleared and the band had set up and were ready for Mike & Jess to do their first dance, surrounded by all of their closest family and friends who were then invited to join them on the dance floor and party the night away. And party away they did!
I hope you have enjoyed the love story of Mike & Jess’s wedding. Winchester House truly is a stunning wedding venue full of character but with lovely modern and fresh feel and the guests loved spending the day in the back garden with views of Thames. Beautiful, heartfelt London weddings like this is why I absolutely love being a London Wedding Photographer!