Greek Wedding Dorchester Hotel | Athena and Darren
Greek Wedding at The Dorchester Hotel as photographed by David Pullum. David has recently been voted one of the best wedding photographers in the UK for 2020
How lucky was I ? Two of my favourite places to photograph weddings. The Dorchester Hotel in London and The Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Divine Wisdom. Both completely stunning venues, especially the Cathedral when the have the choir singing from the balcony.
Greek weddings are so much fun, full of joy, heritage and dancing and this was no different. The day started with a low light ceremony at the fantastic Cathedral, where time appears to have stood still. The cathedral lends itself to timeless images.
There is virtually no lighting to speak of, Greek Orthodox priests conduct the ceremony and a choir sings at the top of their voices. Every time I photograph there it sends shivers down my spine. This Cathedral really does push cameras to the limit.
As this Cathedral lends itself to such timeless images, I chose not to use any form of flash during the ceremony, the only thing giving me away being the loud clunk of my cameras whenever I take an images, something I'm hoping to change later this year. The ceremony performs ancient rituals dating back centuries, and capturing these in such low light can be very challenging.
Once married, Athena and Darren made their way to another iconic venue in West London, The Dorchester Hotel, a hotel famed as being one of the most salubrious in London. The Dorchester has no grounds to speak of, and so couple shots can be a challenge. I never want to take my couple too far from their wedding guests.
It’s not my day, its theirs and they have invited their nearest and dearest for a reason, that being to spend time with them. I always choose to stay close to the ballroom and try to find an area that I can work with that means everyone involved in the planning of the wedding knows where they are at all times.
Things happen at weddings, some of which can be unexpected and the last thing I want is a planner running around trying to find the bride and groom because they are urgently needed and no one knows where they are.Formalities out of the way the couple, their families and guests celebrated well into the early hours with speeches, dancing and of course the infamous money dance.
Thanks go to the families for making me feel so welcome on the day, Perrys for making my life so easy, it was a pleasure to work with you all.