Greenwich Wedding Photographer – The Queen’s House winter wedding

bride and groom kissing in queens house colonnade

Today I am sharing an elegant winter wedding that happened last February at the Queen’s House, Greenwich. The Queen’s House is one of five RMG venues available for hire for weddings. I am delighted to be recommended Royal Museums Greenwich wedding photographer.

Gemma and Andy stumbled upon my wedding photography at the Queen’s House when they were looking for their Greenwich wedding photographer.  They were eager to find local Greenwich wedding photographer along other suppliers to support businesses in their are. They loved my documentary approach to wedding photography and how I work with winter light.

My eyes lit up with excitement as they cheerfully told me about the many heartwarming reasons why the Queen’s House was the perfect wedding venue for them. We clicked instantly on our video consultation – their love story was simply amazing (read more about it below the photos) and they hooked me with a relaxed, yet elegantly stunning black-tie theme of their wedding plans.

I was delighted to hear that my discreet way of photographing ceremonies, and how I coordinate with my second photographer to create beautiful wedding photos from different angles in the Queen’s House was just a perfect fit too.

Why the Queen’s House is the perfect venue to work in as a Greenwich wedding photographer

First of all, this former royal residence is a luxurious and spacious South London wedding venue that can hold seated reception guests of up to 120 people. Located ideally in the heart of Greenwich, it offers stunning and breathtaking views of Canary Wharf and Greenwich Park. The historic setting offers a special feel to the wedding, but it is not overwhelming, and relaxed weddings with lawn reception drinks work there too. (The cost of hire varies depending on the room of interest so check the RMG’s website for current prices.)

Secondly, every moment of your dream wedding needs to be perfectly captured, and the Queen’s House is just perfect for wedding photography! The Great Hall is filled with natural light, thanks to floor to ceiling windows. The balcony offers an alternative view (mentioned above and read more below) – perfect for the entrance or unobtrusive photos of the exchange of vows.

Continuing from there, the Orangery featuring original paintings offers stunning backdrops for candid photos of guests during reception drinks. Also, there is the Tulip Staircase, the grounds, the Courtyard and the Colonnades – so many wonderful spots for photos including weatherproof space for family group photos. There are not many London wedding venues fortunate enough to offer so much for all types of weather and seasons!

It is truly a unique, iconic and elegant building located in the green and leafy surroundings of Greenwich Park, South London, with spectacular views and royal attributes, making it a perfect wedding venue.

I was thrilled to photograph two beautiful weddings in the summer and autumn seasons at this majestic venue. Whether in the peaceful warm summer or the winter weather, the Queen’s House, Greenwich, is a perfect choice for wedding receptions all year round no matter the season. This venue sparks with a special feel, one that is always delightful.

”Having looked at venues across London, once we had realised you could get married at The Queen’s House, which is on our doorstep (well 5 minutes away) it was a done deal. Getting married so close to where we had met, got together and now lived together was very special to us, not to mention it is a stunning venue! The fact the venue could accommodate all parts of our winter wedding day was amazing too, with different but equally beautiful areas for the ceremony, drinks reception, dinner and evening party.”

Here is a selection of photos from Gemma and Andy’s wedding and some wedding inspo if you plan your own Queen’s House wedding:

unusual artistic posing of wedding party at the colonnade at queens housequeens house in greenwichqueens house view of wedding from a balcony

Preparations

Gemma and her bridal party got ready at local Greenwich Intercontinental Hotel – perfect location for preparations with bright rooms, giant windows (dream for both wedding photographers and make up artists!) and 10 min taxi drive away from Queen’s House. Andy and his boys spent morning together in the couple’s home which is, conveniently, only a few minutes walk away from the venue. As it often happens, the boys had time to pop in to local pub (Plume of Feathers) for a quick drink. This pub is popular for pre-wedding drinks being only around the corner from Queen’s House gates.

bride and bridesmaids in matching bathrobes on a bed in a hotelwedding dresswedding shoesgroom having drinks at pubbride having make up

The ceremony in the Great Hall and the choice of readings

The Great Hall is simply magnificent. It is a large historic room with a famous black and white marble floor and balcony. As an experienced Greenwich wedding photographer at Queen’s House, I recommend two photographers collection as the best fit for this venue. Having two photographers means we can get those wonderful ceremony photos from the balcony. The bird’s view of the couple exchanging wedding rings is pretty unique and special, and it allows for discretion during this special moment. My priority is to keep a bit of a distance during the vows and let my couples focus on each other only during this important moment. They do not need their photographer in between their heads or hands during that time!

Gemma – ”Our ceremony was conducted by a lovely registrar from Greenwich Borough and she really did put us both at ease and was wonderful on the day, ensuring everything went smoothly. We chose our vows from a lovely selection of different options that the registrars provided us with and picked the wording that we felt best reflected us.

Two of our gorgeous friends did readings for us during the ceremony too. Sean read ‘The Bridge Across Forever’ by Richard Bach which was a piece we both loved and really resonated with us, as we are definitely best friends and soul mates. My best friend had also had this reading at her wedding a couple of years before and we had loved it then, so she kindly offered it up as our ‘something borrowed’. The second reading by Hollie was an adapted version of a piece by Bob Marley called he’s not perfect – although having decided we were both far from perfect, we adapted the wording slightly to apply to both of us! After the sentiment of the first reading, we wanted to ensure our second one reflected our knowledge that a marriage is not all butterflies and happiness, but something that takes work, and requires a real partnership to help each other through, something we are going into with our eyes open, prepared to make that partnership work for the rest of our lives.”

bride and groom exchanging vows at queens house - birds viewgroom putting a ring on brides fingermoody wedding ceremony photo at queens house winter great hallcouple getting married in the great hall of queens house

Working with Joasis Photography as Queen’s House, Greenwich wedding photographers

I asked Gemma and Andy to share their feedback on working with us. Here is what they said (awww):

”We looked online at a number of locally based photographers and straight away Jo’s portfolio really stuck out to us. We loved the style of her photos and once we had facetimed with her (for almost an hour!) we knew she was definitely the one for us. She has a fantastic sense of style and we felt an instant connection to her when we chatted. Our first instincts certainly paid off and meeting Jo in person before the wedding really got us excited about having her and Aggie photographing our big day. Jo was great at giving direction to get the best pictures but also accommodating our requests for keeping more formal picture taking time to a minimum. Whilst we did a fairly quick shoot with family and wedding party and even the couples shoot, the photos we have seen so far have blown us away. We have had a sneak peek of some of the more documentary style pictures too and we honestly couldn’t be more thrilled with what we have seen so far. We cannot wait to see the rest of our photos! Working with Jo beforehand and with both Jo and Aggie on the day was an absolute dream, and to be honest for a lot of the time we didn’t even realise they were there – which just shows their talent!”

More photos below:

bride and groom laughing in the queens house colonnade in black and white

cinematic black and white photo of bride in the colonnade of queens housebride and bridesmaids photo with black mismatched dresses and black fur stolenconfetti with queens house tulip staircase in the background

Best moment of the day

”Saying our vows was probably our favourite part actually. Saying them to each other in front of all of our friends and family had a really powerful impact on both of us and so many of our guests said afterwards how much love they could see between us whilst we were up there. Just having all our beloved friends and family around us all day also made it just such a special day too.”

first kiss after wedding ceremony in the great hall of Queens House relaxed groom and groomsmen photo at the colonnade at queens housebride and groom walking near colonnade at queens housefamily group photography at queens house colonnadewinter wedding decor with long tables at queens housecool black and white photo of wedding couple in queens house balconyspiral staircase with bride and groomStyling and decor inspiration

”We wanted to keep the style of our wedding quite modern and simple but still in keeping with the historic venue. The black tie dress code was what guided the rest of our décor really and we opted for black, white and gold styling for our stationary and table plan which was created by the incredibly talented ‘happy girl’ cards and stationery. Like several of the suppliers we used, we wanted to support local and independent craftspeople and as a friend of Andy’s she was a perfect choice for us. Similarly, our cake designer and maker was an incredibly talented local independent baker who totally brought our vision to life – a black and white marbled cake with gold flecks, the inspiration drawn from the beautiful 16th century marble floor in the Great Hall.”

bride and groom entrance via great hall balcony in queens house

First dance song

Our first dance was Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran, but was sung live by our Band – The Sweet and Lowdown, who did an incredible job. Me being from Suffolk originally with my parents still living there, we headed back there last year and went to Sheeran’s homecoming gig to end his world tour and that song was one that stuck in our mind after we danced together in the park under the stars. The lyrics seemed a perfect sentiment to start our life together as well.

Music

During the ceremony and drinks reception, we had the wonderful Chiqas, a string trio who played both classical and modern songs (in fact virtually anything you could have wanted!). Again we discovered them through local connections, with them being alumni of the Trinity Laban Conservatoire which is based in the next door, Old Royal Naval college. We wanted live music during the ceremony and drinks reception and the strings were a perfect match with the venue and ambience of the day. A group of very talented ladies! We also knew straight away that we wanted a live band in the evening and following a recommendation from friends, we found ‘The Sweet & Lowdown’ who were the prefect mix of vintage, modern, crowd pleasing, but not cheesy!!

bride and groom dancing in the vaults of queens housequeens house at night wedding photo wedding couple hugging at night

Love Story

Andy & I met about 9 years ago through mutual friends. We were both living in Greenwich and quickly became firm friends. It wasn’t for another 4 years however that our friendship turned into the best relationship either of us had ever had! Once together we became inseparable and so many of our friends told us they had been hoping we’d get together! 18 months into our relationship, Andy received a job offer too good to refuse….. but it was in New York. We talked everything through in detail and looked at all our options. But one thing was clear, whatever happened we would support each other and do whatever it took to make the relationship work. Over the next two & half years, we racked up A LOT of air miles, had some incredible trips across the US and probably broke some kind of FaceTime record by video calling at least twice a day, every day! In Sept 2018 Andy moved back to the UK, we moved into together straight away and started adjusting back to being inseparable! In 2019 we planned a few trips, some short, some longer. One of our longer ones we took to Thailand and whilst on a deserted beach in Koh Samui one evening he got down on one knee and proposed. Given we had spent so long apart we knew we wanted to get married quite quickly and (me!) having been keen on more of a winter wedding, we went full steam ahead with 6 months of planning for a February wedding. Getting married in ‘wedding off season’ was beneficial as we found there was more availability than there might have been in the summer with venues, although we did need some luck with in demand suppliers – Like Joasis! – but luck was on our side and things started to fall into place. Planning the wedding was real team work with all decisions being made together and sharing the workload but also the excitement!

wedding couple kissing on tulip staircase in queens house

Wedding planning advice

Don’t be daunted by it. It you tackle it as a pair and really work together on the planning, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve in any amount of time you give yourselves. Working together as a team has always been at the core of our relationship and living 3.5k miles apart for over two years really proved how strong our team was! Having high quality experienced suppliers who really pay attention to detail meant on the day, we could just relax and enjoy ourselves knowing everything was in hand.

If you are looking to hire the Queen’s House for your dream wedding and want a discreet unobtrusive local Greenwich wedding photographer with a relaxed approach (and a bit of cool) to capture every moment beautifully, send me a message to start a friendly chat.

Dream team of suppliers:

Photography:

Joasis Photography

Wedding dress designer

Rolling in Roses bought it from Story of my Dress Bridal

Hair and makeup artist

Natalie Danielle

Cake

Clare Middelton Cake Design

Who is your band/DJ/entertainement?

The Sweet & Lowdown band

Jewellery

Gran’s pearls made into earrings

Your partner outfit

Andy’s tux is Hugo Boss

Favours

homemade gin

Catering

Moving Venue

Place cards/menu 

Happy Girl 

This gorgeous February wedding of Gemma and Andy has now been featured on pages of Love My Dress read more February wedding inspiration and kind words about our photography.

Joasis Photography is a Greenwich wedding photographer and recommended supplier at the Queen’s House.

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I only take up to 20 wedding commissions a year,
and the popular dates get reserved in advance.

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