INSTAGRAM FILM
It’s cold, it’s dark, it’s a fortnight before Christmas and no more shoots until the new year. For a lot of people, that is the perfect scenario. Curl up with a tree trunk full of nuts and start your squirrely hibernation. Or hit the town partying. But not me. I love shooting weddings, whether it’s photography or videography or both. I got two weeks without a shoot and my feet get itchy.
So when the call came in from my wonderful super-talented planner pal Andri at Always Andri saying there was a last minute call for a wedding videographer in London, I was over the moon.
A week later, and with the grey of Central London sparkled up with Christmas Decorations and lights, I hit the amazing Taj 51, a super-cool 5-star apartment block in Buckingham Gate, a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace and Mayfair where both Ezmaii and Jordan, in adjoining suites, were getting ready. Working alongside the super talented wedding photography team of The Harphams we soon got into the creative collaboration groove, getting some neat shots of Ezmaii’s fabulous dress in the ornate Taj doorway. Covid had dealt a harsh blow, taking a beloved relative, on top of which this was the couple’s fourth attempt at getting married. Talk about the power of love.
With groom and bride prep over, with as always, scant minutes for bridal portrait videography we taxied over to the amazing venue; the super regal and historic The Banquetting House on Whitehall.
The grandest and best known survivor of the banquetting house genre of architecture that were constructed purely for elaborate entertaining. It is the only remaining component of the Palace of Whitehall the residence of English monarchs from 1530 until it was burned to the ground in a terrible fire that raged for 17 hours. Completed in the neo-classical style that was to transform English architecture, The Baquetting House was designed by Inigo Jones. Less than thirty years later King Charles I was beheaded just outside. Which is jolly.
To say it is an imposing, historic and magnificent building is a bit of an understatement. The grandeur and opulence and space is almost overwhelming. The highlight for me, and I was so glad to get clear sweeping shots of it as I filmed the build up to the ceremony, is that glorious Rubens ceiling.
The ceremony itself was both grand and touching and surprisingly intimate for such an austere and palatial venue. These were two very real humans very much in love. And love was so clearly evidenced by the wonderful friends and family present, who mingled afterwards in the delightful cellar space while the hall was changed over for the formal, and somewhat regal wedding breakfast.
While that was happening, we zipped out onto Whitehall itself for a brisk wedding couple portrait videography and photography session, managing to taking in Big Ben and Nelson’s column, along with the Queen’s Guards and of course, those cultural stalwarts, Red London Buses and Black Cabs.
Back in the hall, the speeches were touching and funny, while the band that came after put a proper zip into the first dance and a party that would herald Christmas and the first day of the rest of the blessed happy lives of this truly remarkable and lovely couple. Congratulations Ezmaii and Jordan x
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