Micro Wedding - Intimate Photography - Northamptonshire Wedding Photographer

MICRO WEDDING IN LONDON

CHELSEA TOWN HALL

Are you planning your micro wedding during uncertain pandemic times

A Micro Wedding in London wasn’t the way I imagined to finish my Photography season in 2020. No doubt that 2020 was one of the most challenging years for every bride and groom trying to plan their wedding day. It’s equally frustrating for us wedding photographers. We will all remember 2020 as the year when, not only all the weddings, but the whole world came to a standstill.

How couples started to plan their micro wedding

Planning your wedding day is supposed to be at least as exciting as the wedding day itself. I don’t think a single bride or groom imagine the wedding photos with the face mask on, social distancing on all those important family group photographs. When the pandemic started to affect our lives in March, nobody would think it would last longer than a few months. When we went into the first lockdown, many spring weddings were postponed to summer or autumn 2020. As we started to approach towards the summer with numbers of case constantly raising it became apparent weddings as we knew them would not be able to go ahead. Some couples decided to still go ahead and accept all the rules from the government. That’s where the new term of “micro wedding” started to be popular amongst all the wedding couples who wanted to get married regardless of the situation.

Wedding photography postponements

For many other couples, the of thought of having a maximum of 30 guests at their micro wedding ( which changed into 15 later on), social distancing, wearing face masks and no evening party at their wedding day was enough reason to postpone their wedding until …. now that was the million-dollar question. Once again couples hoped that things would be back to normal by end of the year and postponed to November or December! Other couples decided to play safe and go for the 2021 summer months. There were also more sceptical couples who just bit the bullet and rebooked their wedding for 2022.

It was so upsetting to know the difficulties my couples were experiencing, some of them cancelling their weddings completely due to a change in circumstances or illness 🙁

Steph and Brad’s micro wedding

Steph and Brad had planned to have a large wedding with all their family and friends. Their wedding was booked originally for September but under the pressure of the ever-changing rules, they decided to postpone… several times!!

They then had to re-assessed the whole situation and finally realised what really mattered the most to them was to get married..with or without all the glam and all the perks of the originally planned wedding.

In a matter of a few weeks, they managed to plan their last-minute wedding at Chelsea Town Hall in London. Instead of having all their family and friends, they invited only their children with their partners. Nobody else knew about their wedding until afterwards. I’m sure their closest family and friends respected their decision and send their belated blessings.

My photography experience with this micro wedding

I have to admit I was slightly apprehensive as to how to approach my first covid wedding. With all the regulations and rules in place, I literally walked into Steph and Brad’s big day without any expectations ready to capture their day as it unveils. Although both the groom and the bride were getting ready at the same apartment at Chelsea Harbor Hotel. After Brad got ready I suggested doing a “first look” and asked Brad to wait for Steph at the harbour where he would get to see his bride in her wedding dress for the first time. This was again a really nice moment to capture and originally I was only supposed to be taking pictures only during the ceremony and a few family pictures afterwards. To make their wedding more special I suggested to take the couple out for a short walk to the Bridge to get some fresh air and absorb the beautiful illumination of Alberts bridge. To see the bride and groom walking down the street it was really something, where most of the people trying to stock up just before the next lockdown with doom and gloom in the air it was rather refreshing to see the happy couple walking down the streets of London with their huge smiles and wedding attire. The reaction was priceless with many cars slowing down and shouting their congratulations which made Steph and Brad’s day really special. I really think they have brought a bit of hope and spark of normality to all the passersby who cheer for them as they walked by.

Stephanie and Bradley – Our Micro Wedding

Tell us about your original wedding plans?

We were originally having a fairly traditional style big wedding with all of our family and friends in attendance.

Why and When have you decided to bring your wedding forward?

After a very stressful 6 months of uncertainty, compromise and ultimately a reluctant decision to postpone until 2021 the government announced even more restrictions which looked set to last until well into 2021. We had already changed our plans several times during lockdown and we both decided that it wasn’t worth another year of our lives being dominated by wedding uncertainty when all we really wanted to do was get married to each other.

To plan the wedding during the global pandemic, what was the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge was being at the mercy of the government and knowing that they could introduce restrictions at any time that could put a stop to our new plans. It was also a challenge planning and pulling together a micro wedding in less than a month.

Why have you chosen to get married at Chelsea Town Hall?

Weirdly, a small wedding at Chelsea Town Hall was actually our original plan (before I got carried away with the big fancy wedding). We liked the idea of getting married there as Brad was born in Chelsea and we both love a stroll along the King’s Road on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

What was the best part of your intimate wedding?

The best part was achieving our goal of getting married in 2020 in spite of all the challenges and compromises that we had to make to get there. Even though it wasn’t what we had originally planned we had a perfect day spent with 4 of our 5 children (our eldest is currently in Zurich with our two grandchildren). It was really relaxed day filled with lots of laughter.

You’ve had to follow all the Covid-19 security measure on your wedding day. Has it affected the way you felt on your wedding day in any way?

Surprisingly it didn’t. One of the reasons we decided to put plans on hold with our original venue was because I was dead set against everyone having to wear masks but as it turned out it didn’t ruin our day in any way. We were both so happy to be finally getting married that we didn’t let any of the Covid measures dampen our spirits.

Could you give 1 or 2 most important pieces of advice for all the couples who are planning their wedding right now or are dealing with their wedding postponements

Number 1…..focus on what is important to you and your fiancé and don’t worry about everyone else. These are unusual times that we’re living in and your friends and family will love you and support your decisions whatever they may be. Number 2……don’t stress, it’s not worth it! As long as you get married to the man or woman that you love none of the other stuff matters!

What was the most important factor in choosing your wedding photographer and why have you chosen Latzo?

The deciding factor was feeling like we could be relaxed around our photographer and after my initial meeting with Latzo I knew straight away that he was the one for us. We really can’t recommend Latzo highly enough….he is professional, enthusiastic, really friendly and extremely talented at what he does! Best of all you forgot he was even there most of the time (which is brilliant for two people that hate having their picture taken!)

Anything else you’d like to add?

We’re looking forward to when life returns to normal and we can celebrate with the rest of our family and friends (Latzo…..you’ll be on the invite list for this one too!)

Vendor List

Florist | Rockabilly Rose (awesome florist) Dress Designer | Mikaella Bridal Dress Salon | Icon Bridal (I ended up buying two dresses from these lovely ladies due to my ever changing plans) | Makeup/Hair: Claudia Salaris Hair & Beauty (check her out on Instagram and Facebook – she made me feel a million dollars!)

Shout out to the Chelsea Harbour Hotel for making our weekend stay really special