Intimate, luxurious winter wedding at Berry Bros & Rudd

Prepare to fall in love with your new favourite wedding reception venue in London, thanks to
this fabulous winter celebration. I had the joy of capturing Harriet and Adam’s Berry Bros &
Rudd wedding on a cold Saturday in December, and it was a perfect example of just how
magical a wedding towards the end of the year can be.
It was also a great example of how we’re spoiled for gorgeous wedding spaces in London,
with each of Harriet and Adam’s venues building on the beauty of the last. This was a key
part of wedding planning for them both, as she explained in her original enquiry: “We were
determined to have a London wedding – we both have lived here for nearly ten years and
both work in Central London; it’s our home.”

Check out my list of luxury London wedding venues for more inspiration.

Black bridesmaids’ dresses for a golden girl
Harriet and her bridesmaids got ready at The Berkeley, in a room with floor-to-ceiling
windows showing a frosty London below. Each bridesmaid wore a different black dress and
the end result was amazingly chic, featuring frilled chiffon, off-the-shoulder feathers, sequins,
and more.
Instead of the traditional white dress Harriet wore a stunning gold sequinned dress by Jenny
Packham, with her hair in sleek waves and soft glam make-up to finish it off. Once they’d got
ready, everyone piled into the lift in the Berkeley (I love the shots of them in the lift, the vibes
were so excitable) and headed down to the taxi.

Cosy Old Marylebone Town Hall wedding ceremony

Harriet and Adam held their ceremony at Old Marylebone Town Hall in the Westminster
Room, a gorgeous, wood-panelled room with cosy-yet-elegant vibes ideal for a winter
wedding. (To see it equally as gorgeous in the summer, check out Jenny and Elsa’s wedding
here).
Another great thing about getting married at Old Marylebone Town Hall is the plethora of
options for stunning post-wedding portraits. The similarly wood-panelled hallway just outside,
the marble lobbies and staircases, and the stone alcoves and steps outside all make
beautiful backgrounds, which we made quick use of before boarding the red Routemaster
bus that would take us to the reception venue.

Incredible Berry Bros & Rudd wedding reception

Their reception venue was the brilliant Berry Bros & Rudd, an epic hidden historic gem in
London. Established in 1698, it’s Britain’s oldest wine & spirit merchant; and as if that wasn’t
enough to love, it features a maze of beautiful events cellars below.
The whole reason Harriet and Adam had chosen a winter wedding was because they love
ambient mood lighting, and they wanted to really go for it – making a Berry Bros & Rudd
wedding an ideal choice. The low, curved ceilings and vaulted doors made the long space of

The Napoleon Cellar (so called because it was once home to Napoleon) feel incredibly
intimate yet atmospheric. Flowers adorned the table, with lamps adding to that ambient
feeling that they both loved so much. It felt like an exceptionally luxurious dinner party, which
was exactly the vibe Harriet had wanted to create (when I asked her what she was looking
forward to the most, she said the pure joy she’d feel with everyone she loved in one room!)
And what better place to party the night away than a wine cellar? Though they’d only started
going out a few years ago, Harriet and Adam had actually known each other for 13 years as
they’d gone to university together. This meant that so many of the guests were one huge
group of uni friends, and you could definitely tell this on the dancefloor.

DJ Max Galactic immediately transformed the cellar into a disco, accompanied by Liz
Greenwood who took her light-up saxophone who got right in the thick of it and cranked it up
to an 11. (Seriously, if you’re looking to make it a party – get a saxophonist.) They stayed on
the dancefloor pretty much all night, only stopping for a refill to then get straight back to it!

Intimate winter wedding photography

I was totally honoured that Harriet and Adam chose me to capture their day. In their initial
enquiry they said “We want to limit any ‘staged’ photos. We don’t want it to be stuffy, we want
a reportage/editorial style capturing moments. We understand that there are many shots
which are big, but we want the intimacy of the event to run through. It has to feel natural.”
which is pretty much my dream brief; it was a real joy to capture exactly that for them on the
day.
If you’re looking for a photographer to capture the intimate energy of your winter wedding, I’d
love to chat – you can get in touch here.