Pub Weddings
Pub Weddings
Pub weddings or more accurately, pub wedding receptions. I’ve shot wedding ceremonies in a Brewery and a Winery but not a ceremony in a pub I think. But wedding receptions in a pub can be very atmospheric, and lend the images an intimacy as there is usually little space! Imagine a busy, packed pub. Rather than having to navigate the crowd holding several full-pint glasses of beer, you have to navigate your way around capturing candid images in what can often be rather ‘interesting’ light. It’s tricky but also gives you more interesting images than when all the wedding guests are spread out across a large wedding venue.
The Peasant, London
The Peasant pub in Clerkenwell, London. A restored Victorian former gin palace, originally named the George & Dragon, hence a mosaic floor with a centrepiece depicting Saint George slaying the dragon, plus a similar themed tiled mural on the wall. A classic Victorian pub with all the design features you expect like a big mirror on the back wall. Complementing this lots of vintage Fairground memorabilia on the walls. A good-sized room upstairs for the wedding meal and speeches. A venue that oozes character. Sadly closed down as I write.
The Marylebone Pub, London
The Marylebone pub on Marylebone High Street in London. This was a small wedding reception en route to the main wedding reception. After their wedding at The Swedish church London, Hanna and Stephen joined their guests on a red Routemaster bus across to this pub for some drinks, before they headed over to The Wallace Collection for the main reception, meal and dancing.
The Imperial, Southborough, Kent
Another pub stop reception before moving on to the main wedding reception at Solomons. For the couple, this pub was their local. The pub is less than a football pitch in length from their house, with the church where they got married being just across the same road. Not a massive space but the staff had no problem with me shooting from the other side of the bar. Not all pubs are cool with this but it is a good angle to shoot from – through the beer taps.
The Duke
Another London pub but not a central one as The Duke is in Wanstead, East London. A big boozer but even so many guests spilled out onto the pavement outside the pub. Described as ‘a neighbourhood pub & dining room in the heart of Wanstead Village’. I’ve only shot a wedding reception here once. I left as the dancing was in full swing as I drove from East London to Herefordshire, for a wedding at Dewsall Court the next day.
The Frog and Nightgown, Horsham
A very local pub for me, the Frog and Nightgown just outside Horsham, West Sussex. A wedding reception with a marquee in the large pub garden there, with open countryside beyond the garden fence. The Frog is one of those perfect summer pubs with its very large garden. Plenty of space for a wedding reception on a summer afternoon/evening.
The Pointer, Brill
Another pub garden wedding reception, with dinner inside this country village pub. The Pointer pub in Brill, Buckinghamshire. Just between Oxford and Aylesbury.
Tufnell Park Tavern, North London
A big pub this and a reception in their local pub for Paul and Rob after a civil partnership ceremony at Islington Town Hall. More enough space for a large reception.
Bull and Last, London
Near Hampstead Heath, the Highgate side, ` similar to The Peasant – a Victorian gastropub with lots of character. The dining room above for the wedding meal. A pub on this site dates from the eighteenth century, known as ‘Ye Last’. Rebuilt in 1883 after the old coaching inn burnt down.
Pub weddings – a quick pint before kick-off!
Hopefully these images show the sort of reportage wedding photography that you can capture with pub wedding receptions. They are not the easiest places to shoot in. The light can be tricky and dark. Access to move around may be very limited and as such a variety of angles become harder to find. But for delivering intimate images, an atmospheric pub is a great venue for a wedding. But the pub often has another part to play in the storytelling of a wedding, just before the ceremony. There is often one just near the church.
I think it is better to pick up the narrative after the bridal prep not with the groom doing up his cufflinks but greeting friends outside the church or in the pub across the road having a quick drink with his friends.
