Harriet & Sanj, Cambridge Cottage, Kew Gardens Wedding

Kew Gardens Wedding

We travel a lot and are used to shooting in many locations and environments. It is, however, the melting pot of London that we find the most inspiring. This is why we keep returning there and it seems that nowadays it is much easier to spot us in Islington’s nooks and crannies or cobbled streets of Borough Market than in our home country.

Right after the first email from Harriet, we just knew we would hit it off. It came as no surprise that Harriet and Sanj's great day was what we would always like a wedding and the story told through our photos to be. Life through the lens. Small gestures, family, emotions throughout the ceremony – it is so natural and so instant. Harriet & Sanj’s wedding had it all.

London Wedding Photographer

The night before the wedding Harriet was staying at Kew Gardens Hotel together with her mum and sister while Sanj was getting ready at home accompanied by his son and best man.

On the wedding day some guests went to a nearby pub where the groom was settling his nerves while others went straight to Cambridge Cottage At Kew Gardens where all the ceremonies of the day were taking place, namely the wedding ceremony, the Indian garland ceremony, the wedding breakfast and, last but not least, the wedding reception.

Harriet and Sanj's wedding day was brimming with moving ceremonies filled with love and emotions, yet they managed to carve out some time for a bride-and-groom photo shoot at the iconic Kew Gardens. Harriet’s vintage glamour styling with just a hint of pin-up was simply dazzling.

Harriet & Sanj, thank you so much for your trust and the wonderful weekend.

Here are a few words from the bride and groom:

"WOW the photos on the blog are just fabulous - so many faves in there!
It's so nice seeing the ones of the boys getting ready, and Sanj said the same about my side. Ahhhh. It's rather serendipitous as we are both off work together today. So we are in bed with mugs of tea looking at the photos over and over again:0)

You guys are so talented, I know how hard you worked on the day/evening! We had a wonderful session with the photos on slideshow on Apple TV....ahhh so many lovely moments, we love all of them!!! The one with the guys walking to the venue and the 'KING' from 'Parking' on the ground - funny! There are so many faves-one in black and white which I think was from the other camera...after the dinner with Sanj and me standing in B&W - it looks like it could have been from 50 years ago! Dorota all those lovely ones you took when we were getting ready - you really captured the moments.”
H&S xx

by WhiteSmoke Studio

OLIVIA AND JOE'S STYLISH CITY WEDDING PREVIEW

A New Year Kind of Love

"It was January 1, 2012. The New Year's Ball had already descended atop One Times Square in the festive New York City. Little did we know that the end of the count down to the New Year was giving way to a new beginning. A classic Hollywood meet cute at a crowded New Years party followed by us dancing the night away together. That's how our story began.”

How cute are these words on Olivia and Joe’s wedding website! The story that could be the beginning or a background of most Hollywood romantic movies. And what we heard during speeches is even more amazing, hush-hush, if you weren't there you won’t hear it from us.

It was such a pleasure to work with you! Thank you, dear Newlyweds! It’s just a small preview, more photos coming soon. Stay tuned.

by WhiteSmoke Studio

BOGNA AND SAGUI - DESTINATION WEDDING ISRAEL

DESTINATION WEDDING ISRAEL

We landed in Israel in the late evening and the moment we stepped out of Ben Gurion Airport we knew we had a couple of scorching hot days ahead of us. Bogna and Sagui are a wonderful couple with fantastic energy. We photographed their wedding in Poland and were invited to their traditional Jewish wedding in Israel.

ENGAGEMENT SESSION IN TEL AVIV

We met our couple for a mini engagement session the day before the wedding. After lunch at Caramel Market we visited Old Jaffa that turned out to be a marvellous place with its distinctive Clock Tower, the Mahmoudiya Mosque completed in 1812, and a fountain nearby. We finished our session at Hill Park overlooking Tel Aviv and its vast sand beaches that stretch for kilometers. Later, we had a fabulous afternoon relaxing before the wedding day.

GETTING READY AT ISROTEL HOTEL

The next day we started with Bogna's and Sagui's preps at Isrotel Hotel. It was a fantastic make-up artist, Moran, who has rubbed shoulders with stars like the Rolling Stones, that did Bogna's make-up. The bride looked stunning, just like a proper star. It turned out that Bogna and Sagui had actually received professional photography service in their hotel package. The moment we saw a photographer and a camera man backed up by two other photographers, we understood we'd have to fight for every single frame at the reception. Luckily, we managed to cooperate with the local team in a smooth manner.

We believe that all destination weddings need to be given their right space and time. There is no need to interfere with the natural emotions and beauty of the day. We focus our energy on finding right frames and building a story out of dozens of tiny, yet vital moments. During the session we will give hints to our couple on what they could do. However, it is more about creating an atmosphere rather than creating events themselves. So, in Tel Aviv we decided to go with the flow and follow our gut feeling. We saw the local photographers, who were a complete novelty to us, as an integral part of a traditional Jewish wedding which we chose to photograph in our own, unobtrusive, way.

Chuppah Wedding Ceremony

After a session on the beach we went to Faberge Palace where we witnessed a traditional ceremony conducted by Rabbi Amir Wind, followed by the wedding reception. The wedding ceremony began with the ketubah signing, followed by the veiling ritual, encircling the groom, arriving at the chuppah,  the welcome address, the engagement and the consecration, reading of the ketubah, reading of the seven blessings, and last but not least, breaking of the glass. It was a wonderful ceremony, so different from the ones we have got used to photographing.

Afterwards, our eyes were on the dance floor craze and all the wonderful emotions that ensued during the first dance.

The day after the destination wedding in Israel we decided to chill out, enjoy the wonderful Israeli cuisine and train the eye on the beach. Wherever we go, we always bring back some street shots. And we want to tell you more on our blog about the way street photography affects the way we photograph.

Bogna and Sagui, congratulations again! Mazel Tov!

A few words from our lovely couple:

"We had the privilege to get married twice; once in Poland and once in Israel. From the very beginning we had two completely different ideas about almost everything when it came to our wedding! However, once we saw WhiteSmoke Studio's portfolio we both knew we wanted to work with them. Eventually, we decided to throw two weddings; an intimate, elegant garden reception at Belvedere at the Royal Lazienki Park in Warsaw, Poland, and a big, splendorous event for 350 people at Faberge Palace in Israel.

We met Michal for a quick coffee the day before the Warsaw wedding. Still, we felt very comfortable and natural around him on the wedding day. He made us feel relaxed and focused, while perfectly capturing our emotions, and he was strict and direct when needed. After we got our Warsaw wedding photos we were astonished by the artwork, the light, his creativity and amazing sense of timing.
We could not imagine not having WhiteSmoke Studio with us at our other wedding in Tel Aviv. Although we had already contracted 4 other photographers, we decided to invite Michal and Dorota as well so that they could continue capturing our story.

In Israel, we started from the engagement session in Tel Aviv-Yafo the day before the wedding, the place we had met and fallen in love, and we absolutely loved the results of Dorota and Michal's special gift for us. It was an excellent opportunity to prepare ourselves for being photographed the following day, the only difference being that this time it was a stress-free environment which allowed us to only focus on ourselves – the real calm before the storm. Michal turned out to perfectly handle the madness of the wedding preparations, our photo session on the Tel Aviv beach with us in our wedding outfits in full sun, and the wedding itself. He has a rare gift of helping the couple to tune out the environment. It's like taking you out of all the "balagan" and making you focused on the moment the picture is taken. Sagui's fear was that a foreign photographer would find it hard to grasp the moments of a vibrant and intense Israeli wedding and the crowd. Well, not Michal, even when he had to fight like a lion for the perfect shot with the Israeli photographers.

When we look back at our pictures, we remember every single moment, every single emotion. We relive the two weddings and are amazed by the beauty Michal captured. The beauty of people, places, smiles and tears. Life is a series of pictures, indeed. Thank you, White Smoke Studio, for joining us in our journey and giving us great tangible memories of our perfectly wonderful & crazy weddings!"

by WhiteSmoke Studio

TATIANA AND FREDERIC'S RELAXED CITY WEDDING PREVIEW

Have a look at a small preview from Tatiana and Frederic's relaxed city wedding at the Hotel Bristol, Warsaw. It was their third wedding, yes, in a raw. With each over. The first one, elopement, was just for them, in Denmark. The second one, for Tatiana's adopted children, was in Ghana. The third one, for the family and friends they decided to organize in Poland where they live now.

RELAXED CITY WEDDING

The Bristol hotel is a place we regularly visit not only to photograph weddings but to run our wedding workshops and meet our couples for pre wedding consultations as well. We even did an image session for the hotel which you can recognize on their wedding website.

FAIRYTALE STORY

Tatiana and Frederic's story sounds like a fairytale, jut look how they met: "It all started on a rooftop soiree in Accra, Ghana, a few hours before April Fool's Day in 2016 with a conversation about Mario Vargas Llosa's literature. The conversation continued through the night mixed with cocktails and stars winking at us. Tatiana disappeared almost like Cinderella an hour or two past midnight. Frederic went in search of her on Facebook to repeat the memorable night and invited her to dinner as a friend, except it was to a romantic French restaurant.(...). They travelled across continents together from Ghana to Germany, Italy, Spain, USA, Austria, Poland , Sao Tome (often repeating countries) to see each other and finally landed in Portugal, where on 31 December 2016, Frederic told Tatiana about the meaning of the German word "gluck," got on his knee and asked her to live their dreams awake for the rest of their lives together. With such a proposal from such an incredible man what girl could refuse? Clearly Tatiana accepted."
Thank you, dear Newlyweds! It was such a pleasure to work with you!
Stay tuned for more photos!

by WhiteSmoke Studio

JAKUB AND LYNDON, SAME SEX WEDDING

Love is a universal language

It doesn’t matter where we go or who we photograph, the authenticity of emotions makes an equally strong impression on us. Each wedding couple is unique but it is at same sex weddings that the support of the family and friends is particularly visible.

Kuba and Lyndon organised two events - a low-key wedding for the closest family in London and a massive party for the family and friends in Poland. The London wedding took place in the Maria Callas Suite at the famous Savoy. At the very last minute the couple received a fantastic gift from the hotel: they were able to organise their gay wedding in the Royal Suite. What a start of their marriage! This London wedding was photographed by David Pullum, one of the best British photographers, who had also covered James Corden’s wedding.

Kuba and Lyndon chose us, WhiteSmoke Studio, to shoot the other wedding. The moment we met them we knew it was going to be an amazing party. The guys burst with positive energy and the whole email exchange and pre-wedding arrangements were sheer pleasure.

The same sex wedding reception

The same sex wedding reception took place at Platinum Palace. It was a wonderful, warm April day. The whole hotel was booked for the family and friends so it all started at the hotel spa very early.
We managed to shoot a prep session of Kuba and Lyndon. Afterwards, they went down the red carpet to see their guests while a string quartet was playing and the family was applauding enthusiastically. Thanks to David’s pictures, all the family was able to relive the London wedding again. The festiveness was contagious and tears flowed freely.
After the presentation, the speeches and champagne the party started. In the meantime, there was an amazing show with Poland’s Got Talent stars which all the guests could enjoy. But pictures speak louder than words. So enjoy the photos!

Kuba and Lyndon - congratulations again! You are a fantastic couple! Thanks for your trust in us and your openness to all our ideas!

A few words from the boys:

“Our wedding day in Poland was the most memorable day for us and our guests, a day filled with laughter, tears of joy, dancing, singing and merry making. We also had lots of live art performances and music which really helped to make the atmosphere unforgettable. White Smoke Studio captured every element of the day and have created truly beautiful, one of a kind Images for us to treasure forever. Both Michal and Dorota were so wonderful on the day, blending into the background and never being intrusive to us and our guests. Their great love of photography is clear in the enthusiastic, energetic and ingenious way they capture every special moment.
We are so happy and thankful that we chose White Smoke Studio as our wedding photographers. We really could not fault the whole experience we have received from them.”

by WhiteSmoke Studio