Ritz London wedding photography | Michaela & James
Michaela & James’ wedding was supposed to happen at a picturesque village church in the Surrey countryside in June 2020, but then a little thing called Covid happened…
After an initial postponement to September also had to be abandoned because of restrictions, eventually they decided to get married on a smaller scale in May 2021, when the second lockdown ended and Government Covid rules allowed weddings to take place with up to 30 people.
Instead of the country church wedding they had originally planned, Michaela and James decided to hold their 30-person wedding at the Ritz Hotel in London.
Ritz London wedding photography with Covid rules
Despite guests having to wear masks (most of the time!) and being limited to 30 people, the wedding was a great success and everyone enjoyed celebrating in the splendid surroundings of the Ritz Hotel on Piccadilly. Who could resist attending a wedding at the Ritz!
Ceremony in the Marie Antoinette Suite
The ceremony and wedding breakfast were held in the Marie Antoinette Suite, which is famous as the location for meetings between Winston Churchill and French leader General de Gaulle during the Second World War. I would have loved to have been a “fly on the wall” for those conversations!
After the ceremony, guests walked through to the Queen Elizabeth Room and William Kent Room for champagne and canapés. Ideally I’d have liked to do family group photos and couple photos outside, but it wasn’t practical to do that as Green Park is a Royal Park for which you have to apply in advance (and pay for) a photography permit, and you are limited to one hour and a maximum of 10 people, not to mention the logistics of getting everyone out into the Park and back again!
So we did the family groups and couple portraits in the Grand Hall with its sweeping staircase, which worked well. As usual I captured lots of candids during the cocktail reception and also at intervals during the wedding breakfast, and of course the speeches and cake cutting!
(Update: they did get to have their country church wedding after all – they had a blessing in Mickleham Church in Surrey in September 2021, and a bigger marquee reception afterwards with lots of family and friends (more about that soon!)
Anyway, here’s a selection of my favourite photos from Michaela & James’ Ritz wedding:
Ritz London wedding photography – Michaela & James
Many congratulations to Michaela and James – if you are planning a wedding (whether at the Ritz or elsewhere!) – please do get in touch and lets’ have a chat about how I can help with some creative and unobtrusive wedding photography.
