I’ve covered hundreds of weddings in London, and this blog shares five avoidable mistakes that can crop up regularly.
Before I get into that, though, here’s a little about me.
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I am known as a low key and natural documentary wedding photographer. I like to float about a wedding capturing funny, delicate and romantic moments as they happen. I love strong bride and groom portraiture and as someone who dislikes having his own picture taken is understanding of a shy couples fears. I live in Stoke Newington, which a pretty little borough in East London. I photograph weddings all over the UK but specialise in London Wedding Photography. If you’d like to see some of my full weddings then hop over to my Portfolio Page. My Journal is also regularly updated with recent weddings and bits of advice on venues.
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Common and Avoidable London Wedding Mistakes
Ok, let’s get down to it. In no particular order here are my 5 biggest mistakes made at weddings. (In truth, there may be more than 5. Even as I write this I am coming up with more clangers so brace yourselves..)
#1 Having a Late Afternoon Wedding Ceremony
Weddings are an opportunity for celebration, fun, laughter.. and excess! Wedding guests, more often than not meet at a pub before a wedding. If a wedding is at 4pm (for example) guests can have been on the sauce for hours. Overly drunk guests can be hilarious but, they can also be a massive pain in the what-not! I think a midday wedding ceremony time is perfect. In the winter you still have plenty of natural light and in the summer guests will arrive fresh as a daisy to celebrate with you – they might even remember the wedding the following day!
#2. Logistics. Factor in London Traffic and Journey Times.
Logistics is not a sexy subject. Fact. But it is vitally important in the planning of any wedding, particularly a multi venue London Wedding. I’ve lived in London for thirty years and its never been worse for traffic than it is now. Its bloomin’ horrendous. Along with the log jam on the roads there’s a significant lack of black cabs as well. I have photographed many weddings, often at Town Halls where a wedding party thought it would be romantic to flag a passing Black Cab rather than pre order transport. Terrible idea. Some of my favourite weddings are all walkable. Islington Town Hall to Fredericks. Abney Chapel to The Londesborough. In my experience, keep it simple and be realistic.
#3. Too many family group portraits.
Dont get me wrong, I’m a firm believer in formal family and group portraiture. I think it has a place in a contemporary reportage wedding. [I got married many years ago and some of the most treasured pictures from the wedding are group portraits including parents and grand parents, some of whom are no-longer with us.] That said…too many family groups will become draining on your fixed smiles and can take you away from your celebrations for too long. I recommend a maximum of 10 groups. If you are planning a Town Hall wedding also recognise that you will have a maximum of 10 minutes on the exterior steps. That’s 10 minutes for confetti, a group shot and family groups. Always prepare the list of groups before hand and have a helper from both families to help coordinate. Also, be wary of drunk ushers trying to pick up grooms..see mistake #1.
#4. Not eating enough during the day. Hungry bride and groom. Hungry Guests.
Nerves and excitement often lead to a couple skipping breakfast and moving straight onto a glass of bubbles or 100% proof hip flaskery! Code Red people – this is not a drill. Excitement plus empty tum tum’s and large quantities of alcohol always have the same effect. And its not pretty.
5. Wedding Speeches. Too Many and Too Long.
We all love wedding speeches but we’ve all been at weddings when the speeches have taken for ever. Overly indulgent parents banging on about how amazing their child is. We all love our kids, I recommend showing how much you love them by keeping your speech under ten minutes! Another regular mistake made at weddings is by best-man / chief brides-maid. Its a well known rule that lap tops and slide shows will definately 100% of the time not work at a wedding. Gremlins get in the machine and stop it working, regardless of how many run throughs you’ve done.
London Town Hall Wedding Photographer
If you are planning your own London Town Hall wedding then I’d love to hear from you. You can use my Contact Form to check my availability. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this little journal post and have managed to dodge a few easy mistakes to make.
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John Sanders is a London-based wedding photographer with over 10 years of experience. He specialises in non-intrusive documentary photography that captures raw emotions, stories, and stunning locations across London and the South East.
