Winter Wedding Claridges Hotel | Marly + Jonathan
Winter Wedding Claridges Hotel a post by David Pullum.I'm not sure if I've said it before, but I do love a winter wedding. Anita and I were married in the depths of winter on a cold frosty day a long time ago and Ive always loved the look and feel of weddings in our coldest month.I guess the thing I love the most about winter weddings is that it really brings out the skill of the photographer and in some cases emphasises the lack of skill and understanding of light whether it be natural or otherwise. I am not adverse to using flash both on camera and off camera, but my emphasis has always been to make whatever light I use look as natural as possible. There is no point hiring Claridges Hotel for a wedding, creating a theme around winter and then the photographer makes it look like its summer.
Marly + Jonathan
Marly and Jonathan live in Switzerland. They were recommended to me by Nick and Emma, long time friends of Jonathan whose wedding I photographed a number of years ago at Micklefield Hall. A lot of my work now comes from word of mouth recommendations. Having been in this industry for 15 years and having photographed something like 600 weddings there is a tendency for people to really like my work and recommend me to their friends. As each client is individual, so is each wedding, and again, because I do not shoot a template of wedding images, every wedding looks and feels different. I met Marly and Jonathan for the first time via Skype. Of course we bonded straight away. They had seen me at work, they liked my work and so the talk was more about getting to know each other as well as possible before the big day. My work is very personal, and it's imperative that I get to know my clients as quickly as possible, understand their wants and needs, but most of all get a sense of who they are. Marly and Jonathan are a lovely couple, kind, generous and honest people. It was clear by just observing them both beforehand and at their wedding that a lot of people think very highly of them, its very admirable and humbling.
The wedding ceremony
The couple chose the New West End Synagogue to have their ceremony. A beautiful building both inside and out and somewhere I love to photograph. Again this place of worship has very little natural light, and my aim is to use whatever light there is to do justice to the pictures without compromising the coverage. Since switching camera systems to Sony I have been so lucky that I now work with a camera that performs unbelievably well in low light, managing to capture images that potentially I would not have been able to get before. As the couple left the synagogue nightfall had descended and we made our way to the iconic Claridges Hotel for the wedding reception.
Claridges Hotel
There is not much more I can say about this iconic wedding venue. Quite simply it's stunning. The ballroom is steeped in history, photographs of royalty using the hotel seem to be everywhere. From state visits and functions to celebrity parties the hotel has been the centre of London life for many years. Any winter wedding at Claridges Hotel is going to be special and Marly and Jonathan's was no exception.
Associate wedding photographer
At most weddings these days I will always have a second photographer with me. I think it's important to stress the word photographer. Both of my associate photographers run their own wedding photography companies. They are experiences wedding photographers, they have been taught by me and shoot very much like me. They are not bag carriers that I give a camera to and say "see what you get". I am immensely proud of them both, the images that they take always astound me, surprise me and I am lucky to have them. More and more I hear from potential clients who have been to weddings recently where there were 3 or 4 photographers at the wedding. Why? Who needs that many? Two is more than enough, more than two becomes a circus, with photographers obscuring the guests view of the ceremony, and the speeches. If you are experienced enough, competent enough two will do. In fact sometimes I even ask my second photographers to stop shooting at some points during the day. It is as important to be respectful and some aspects of the day just do not need to be photographed by two photographers. I will always back myself to get the images I need. 15 years of experience has taught me where to be and when and you can't buy that experience. I would rather have two photographers who know what they are doing than four who do not. David Pullum has recently been voted one of the best wedding photographers in UK 2020
