Dark Wedding Venues

Dark wedding venues – working with the light

Dark wedding venues is the title of this post and how the light at venues affects the resulting wedding photography. Not every wedding venue has perfect light. This may be due to the layout of the venue, the lighting, the weather, and the time of year, there are many factors. Reportage or documentary wedding photography is primarily about storytelling. So the moments are key. Particular moments that happen during the day, both seen and unseen by the wedding couple. But also the emotions, the characters, and the atmosphere. The lighting is a big part of this atmosphere, good or bad. So when the lighting is poor or just plain dark, what is the solution in creating images? The narrative of images produced needs to capture the atmosphere as experienced by everyone there, if it is going to be authentic and for me, that means reflecting the scene as it was. For example, if the photographer starts blasting light from their flashgun in a dark room then the atmosphere has changed in those images. Sure, the photos may be bright and clear but that was not what everyone saw – once their eyes had recovered from the flashes. Any sense of the atmosphere in that room has not been captured. That is intrusive photography, not reportage in my opinion. There were limitations in the days of film and even early digital photography. Very low light was a problem and flash was often the only answer. But no longer. Being able to shoot in very low light has to be the best aspect of digital photography at weddings now. That and silent shutters. Now you can capture the true environment as experienced by everyone in the room and in my opinion, create far more evocative images.

Over the years I have shot weddings in some challenging environments. But in Autumn 2024 I shot in the darkest and most challenging venue for light yet. A small Victorian Bath House in London, all at basement level with no windows. It was a small evening wedding anyhow. The couple did warn me. “It’s a lovely venue, but low light, very atmospheric though.  Neither of us wants to pose, so we appreciate it’s a bit challenging”. The lighting was low, with random pools of light in places – hot light from downlights (more on them later), which creates pools of light pointing downwards, not the most flattering light. I arrived early to have a look and asked about the light, the lights were due to be dimmed more… The ‘helpful’ (not) venue manager’s response was “Don’t you use flash?”. The couple knew this venue was dark, they liked the intimacy this gave the small room, but bouncing the flash off the ceiling would have given them a set of photographs that depicted none of this atmosphere in which they had a ceremony and partied with friends. So no flash, just some very fast prime lenses and an approach to use the erratic lighting there to best effect. Often shooting at 12,800 iso. Believe me, the cameras make it look brighter than it was. So how did it go? A message from the groom after seeing the preview images…

“We love the pictures you’ve taken and are really looking forward to receiving the rest. Despite it being challenging it gives the pictures we have got a lovely atmosphere and feeling, so thank you for persevering.”

Here are a few…

Most of these images were shot on a 50mm lens, often wide open at f1.2. Sony A9II cameras.

Capture the atmosphere

This idea of not letting the photography be intrusive but preserving the atmosphere is key for me. I’ve seen photographers acclaim setting up lights on stands, bouncing that light off the wall and across the room to photograph the wedding speeches. Some clean images of the speakers no doubt, but a flash continually blasting across the room as people speak? So intrusive. For example, these images from a wedding at Layer Marney Tower. A room mostly lit by candles on the tables, and a few overhead lights, but a soft, lowlight ambience was the aim and so their photography needed to show that, rather than flooding the room with light. This was in 2014, (Nikon D4 & D750) the camera/sensor technology is so much better now for such lowlight scenarios.

This wedding at the Belvedere restaurant in Holland Park, London, in 2013, was not a big room which was lit just with some side lights. It was dark outside. Again you could march in and bounce your flash off the ceiling and completely change the atmosphere, not only in the resulting images but on the day too. That intimate drinks reception and the speeches would have been a very different experience for everyone there with a flashgun blasting away. Instead, you have to work a bit harder and find where the light is, be it in front or behind the subjects. The opening image to this blog post was from this wedding too – a candlelit church ceremony, the only lights being up near the altar.

Winter weddings – it will be dark

Dark winter weddings, a good part is likely to be in the dark, much has to do with the timings and the weather. Late ceremonies and you are shooting in the dark. Candlelit church aisles, lanterns instead of confetti and marquees with low lighting. The images need to capture that atmosphere, not override it. Like these weddings from 2016 and 2022. (Although it you have an early ceremony and a lot of luck with the weather, you get this. Click here. Winter sunshine.)

solutions

A few years ago I shot a wedding in a rather exclusive townhouse in Knightsbridge. The ceremony was held in the large hallway. The couple stand with their back to the front door and in front of a fireplace with a large oil painting above it. With no window facing the couple – just a couple of candles on the mantelpiece – the light was hardly inspirational. I mentioned this to the venue, more candles perhaps? They replied that photographers were always moaning about the light…maybe change it then? But the main problem were the downlights directly above where the couple would stand. I hate downlights. They create sharp lighting that is very unflattering if the subject is directly below them and often there is no option, as that is the designated spot. (They are a curse in corporate photography shoots too, being so prevalent in office buildings). I don’t usually say anything but I mentioned it to one groom who took action himself before the ceremony.

Working with what you are given. A good example of that is this winter wedding with a reception, meal and dancing in a room above a historic pub in Lewes, East Sussex. With the guests clearing the long tables after the meal and speeches and the band managing to get all their gear up the narrow stairs and set up, it was a very crowded dance floor. Rather than set up any lights on stands or mount one on my camera, I decided to use what light there was, which was principally a big neon sign to one side. In a pretty dark room, just mostly string lights and what the band had, this sign was putting out a nice directional light across the small dance floor, which a modern camera like the Sony A9II lapped up. Again, capturing images while not interfering with the atmosphere in the room.

A few more reportage images from dark wedding venues – receptions in London pubs in winter…

A Dark wedding venue but it works

Tucked away off Ely Place near Holborn in central London is a dark wedding venue, the old St Etheldreda’s church. The building is one of only two surviving in London from the reign of Edward I, and dates from between 1250 and 1290. It is dedicated to Æthelthryth, or Etheldreda, the Anglo-Saxon saint who founded the monastery at Ely in 673. It was the chapel of the London residence of the Bishops of Ely. It’s very dark but it still works for pictures as what lighting there is, is in the right place, Very little natural light penetrates the stained glass windows, and the church is sandwiched between buildings. But clusters of small lightbulbs on stands, imitating candles, give the room a glow. It’s very low light but the quality of that light is recordable in the camera letting the images retain the intimate nature of a wedding ceremony. It is not about the quantity of light but the quality.

Dark wedding venues can be tricky to work and can certainly be a challenge. Both artistically and technically. But by using what light there is and not changing that – both in the images and the actual experience – I believe reportage wedding photography can show its strength as an approach to capturing a wedding day. By using current technology to shoot in light that a few years ago would have been pretty unthinkable, to can capture a narrative that is real, without impinging on the actual day. Reportage is about capturing, reflecting the day not altering or contriving. It’s a challenge I enjoy. Part of the thrill of seeking out images.