Amadeus Centre – Michelle & Ben

Amadeus Centre wedding photography

The Amadeus Centre in London‘s Little Venice area. The venue for Michelle & Ben’s humanist wedding. A humanist ceremony, with a nod to Michelle’s Jewish heritage. A flower-bedecked chuppah, the smashing the glass with a cry of “Mazal Tov!” A unique ceremony on a day, that despite the legal bit happening in Camden town hall the day before, was their ‘real’ wedding day – joined by family and friends from around the world.

With Ben being Dutch, there was a strong contingent of family and friends from The Netherlands but people came from across the globe. To see Michelle and Ben unite. The location, The Amadeus Centre, was formerly a nineteenth-century Welsh Presbyterian Chapel. Principally comprised of an Upper Hall, for the wedding ceremony and meal/dancing and a Lower hall below. The old crypt for the chapel, it would house the drinks reception. Not the lightest of rooms, for photography, lit by two walls of ‘fairy lights’. But the venue has character and an intimacy that a big London hotel cannot hope to match. What it doesn’t have is grounds. So any family groups are on the steps outside. Any bride and groom portraits, on surrounding streets.

Coverage begins a few minutes walk away at the Colonnade Hotel, near Warwick Avenue tube station. Michelle got ready with her mother and bridesmaids in the Freud Suite. Ben was having a relaxing drink on the terrace, before strolling over to the Amadeus, to greet arriving guests. Michelle arrived by London taxi and was ‘smuggled’ into a side entrance, before walking down the aisle with her father. A long ceremony, for a humanist one but a very personal one. Glass smashed, they then walked back down the aisle under rose petals and out of the hall before being joined by family and friends. Some photos outside, then down into the reception in the Lower Hall. Upstairs the room was transformed into a magical dining hall, just as night fell. A quiet moment for Michelle and Ben, to watch from the balcony as the guests took their seats before they made their entrance.

Food, speeches were followed by drinks and more speeches downstairs. Something about rhinos too…. 😉  It was then time for the first dance and the Horah. Michelle and Ben lifted into the air as the party kicked off…

A stylish, personal, intimate wedding for a couple very clearly in love…here are a few images from the day at this Amadeus Centre wedding…