RIBA wedding photography – Jessica & Chris

 

Wedding photojournalism at RIBA wedding in London.

Two childhood friends from Shropshire, got married at a RIBA wedding. Jessica and Chris had taken a few years to realize they were more than just mates to each other – you can see what they mean to each other now, in the way they look at each other.

So Shropshire* came to London to celebrate. To an elegant London wedding venue at RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), on Portland Place in Marylebone. A stone’s throw from the BBC, another stone’s throw from Oxford Circus. In the heart of London.

The coverage begins just down the road from RIBA, at the grand Langham hotel, opposite the Beeb. Here, Jessica was getting ready with her mother, sister and best friend. (in not the biggest room…)

A wedding with two ‘flypasts’!

Flypast number one. The RAF zooming across the rooftops for the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations, taking place a few miles away. I spotted the first jets and got in place to take perhaps the greatest wedding photograph ever taken!! The red arrows zooming past in the distance, the bride in the foreground. Camera poised, the noise increased. Out of the corner of my eye, they passed the first window. Focused on the second, in front of which, Jessica sat. Then, ready, ready…….with ‘perfect’ timing, the MUA pulled across the net curtain, obscuring the RAF’s finest….no pic. Okay, probably not the finest wedding photograph ever taken anyway 😉 – but I quite liked the multi-coloured smoke from the jets, dissipating in the air. (Will I get the red arrows ever again at a wedding? ;-)) Also it’s funny, as a wedding photographer, the things you overhear during preps. A lot of talk about male underwear at this one!! Just sayin’…..

The tears would start soon, when Jessica’s father came upstairs, to escort her to the venue (in a cab in the end as it started to rain)

Flypast number two. Now this one caused the most excitement. Tourists had waved from double-deckers to the waiting wedding guests in the ceremony room. But then there a surge to the windows – for an iPhone photocall. A naked cyclist procession was passing by. This is London after all! Gave everyone a laugh before the Registrar insisted they took all their alcoholic drinks out of the room before the ceremony could begin. Maybe it helped Chris’s nerves too?

Ceremony done, wedding rings squeezed on, tears held at bay – almost. Jessica and Chris walked back down the aisle, down the stairs and around the corner for a few quick pictures. Meanwhile the guests gathered on the large (and dark!) staircase for the confetti. Then drinks on the terrace and around the landing, before the meal and speeches. Followed swiftly by the dancing – as the rain fell outside.

Two friends had got married.

Here are few images from this RIBA wedding day for Jessica and Chris…

* land of my ancestors