Claridge’s Wedding Photographer, Mayfair

Claridge’s is on Brook Street in Mayfair, and it’s the London hotel I’d put first for a wedding. Art Deco that never got modernised out of the building, a staircase worth ten minutes of anyone’s day, and a black-and-white chequered floor in the foyer that needs nothing else in the frame.

I’ve photographed weddings there across more than twenty years of London work. If you’re marrying at Claridge’s, this page covers how I’d cover the day and what it costs.

From weddings at Claridge’s.

How the day usually goes

• The morning. Preparations in the suite, quietly. Available light, no set-ups, and I’m there for the last hour or two rather than the whole morning.
• The ceremony. Two cameras, one wide and one long, from the back and the side. Nothing that interrupts it.
• Portraits. Fifteen or twenty minutes, usually the foyer, the staircase and one room. They’re public spaces shared with hotel guests, so they’re done quickly and at a sensible moment — and then you’re back with yours.
• The evening. Dinner, speeches and the first dance in the Ballroom, where the chandeliers and mirrors do most of the lighting for me.

Editorial when you need me to be, documentary the rest of the time. You shouldn’t notice I’m there for most of it.

What it costs

Full details, and hourly coverage for shorter register-office days, are on my London wedding photography prices page.

More on the venue

I’ve written a longer guide to weddings at Claridge’s — the rooms and their numbers, what the Ballroom’s tall windows do for a daytime reception, and the one caveat about photographing in the public spaces.

Couples staying at Claridge’s often use the trip for a pre-wedding photography session as well — Mayfair, Green Park and the surrounding streets are some of the most elegant backdrops in the city, and it’s a good way to get used to being photographed before the day itself.