Autumn Central London Wedding Photography

Autumn is one of my favourite months and what a feast for the eye are the autumn colours when you shoot an autumn wedding.
Diana is from Colombia and Aapo is from Finland and I was privileged to photograph one of their three weddings with the rest two being in Colombia and Finland. Diana and Aapo are one of the most down to earth couple I've photographed and their wedding was wonderfully laid back. Their Central London wedding was very intimate and the Finish wedding ceremony was held in a very small circle of the immediate family in a lovely Finnish church in Central London.
Thereafter we went to a nearby park by Tower Hill where we took the family photos. While the family was enjoying a pint of beer in an nearby pub we stayed with Diana and Aapo in the park and took some beautiful artistic wedding photography shots. As Diana and Aapo didn't want to have any posed wedding photography I used predominantly my long lens to capture these beautiful wedding photos in Central London. The autumn colours gave a really romantic feel to the wedding photography and even Diana's wedding dress matched the background colours.
After the wedding photography session in the park we all joined the family for a pint in the pub before heading for a very lovely informal dinner which was followed by a reception for all the friends. The wedding continued the day after the wedding ceremony as Diana and Aapo have organised an amazing BBQ for their friends in their house in Central London. It gave me yet another opportunity to continue with the wedding photography of this lovely couple. Not to mention the treat of an Argentinian steak personally cooked by an Argentian friend of theirs.
Looking through the photos I can say that summer weddings are beautiful and lush with greenery but autumn weddings can add another level of creativity to artistic wedding photography in Central London.


For further information on Central London wedding photography and to view our portfolio of wedding photography in London, Europe, France, Monaco, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Zurich and Russia please visit www.NeliPrahova.com or contact Neli on nprahova@gmail.com.

Destination wedding photography Bulgaria - beautiful orthodox Christianity wedding ceremony

I've often mentioned that I love shooting destination wedding photography as each country presents beautiful opportunities for creative wedding photography with new locations, different wedding ceremonies, beautiful churches and interesting traditions. The destination wedding photography in Sofia, Bulgaria was no exception. Niki and Eli live in London but as they are originally from Bulgaria they hired me for their destination wedding photography in Bulgaria. The bride was gorgeous with an amazing exquisite wedding dress from Pronovias and the wedding veil was like in a fairy tale. It was a hot summer day of 35C in Sofia and we did the wedding photography of the couple before the wedding ceremony. I always recommend the couple that if the bride is relaxed about the tradition of the groom not seeing her before the church then it's much better to do the wedding photos before the ceremony as in that way they can spend all their time afterwards enjoying the party and mingling with the guest. In Bulgaria as well as in many other Eastern European weddings the tradition is for the groom to wait for the bride outside the church and they enter the church for the wedding ceremony together. Therefore the bride was more than happy to do the wedding photography before the church ceremony. The wedding was taking place in Hilton Hotel Sofia which unfortunately didn't have any garden or scenic backdrop but luckily there was a lovely park just behind the hotel where we took the wedding photos. Sometimes all you need for creative wedding photography is a bit of greenery to create a nice blurred background and a beautiful smile from the bride. The only challenge that day was certainly the heat and it was a pure joy to reach the orthodox church Sveta Nedelia in the centre of Sofia which was nice and cool inside.
I've done destination wedding photography in orthodox churches in Greece, Russia and Cyprus but the orthodox church in Sofia was really spectacular. As most orthodox churches the light inside was really limited but the light from the many candles gave a really romantic surreal feeling. I love the wide angle photo showing the full wedding party and wedding ceremony. It reminds me of a Russian painting I've seen once.
Following the wedding ceremony the couple have received a gift of two white pigeons which they released. The pigeons were very eager to fly away but luckily I managed to get the shot I want with their wings just spreading.
The wedding reception took place in  Hilton Hotel which has beautiful spacious entrance hall where we took the group wedding photography. While we were waiting for the guests to sit down in their places I had a few minutes to create one of my favourite wedding photos from this destination wedding in Bulgaria - the photo of Eli and Niki at the piano which I shot from above.
The wedding continued with a crazy party which started with some typical Bulgarian rituals like the breaking of the glasses after the first toast, followed by a kick of the copper bowl by the bride which contained red and yellow flowers and whichever flower went further symbolised either a son or a daughter. Following that the groom's mother gave the newlyweds a sweet honeyed pitka, which means bread and wished them a long and sweet life together. She then gave the couple a loaf of freshly-baked bread which they held over their heads and the couple turned with their backs to each other had to break the bread - whichever one gets the bigger piece will have the biggest role in the new family.
Like in most Eastern European weddings the party went into the early hours of the morning and was kept very much alive by the performance of one of the most famous pop singers in Bulgaria - Ivana.
Unsurprisingly the wedding went smoothly and was a great success as the wedding agency in Bulgaria did a great job. During the wedding I worked with Vili who is the wedding planner in Bulgaria from Royal Style Weddings (www.royalstyleweddings.com) who work with a lot of couples who live abroad but organise their destination wedding in Bulgaria. 

For further information on destination wedding photography in Bulgaria and to view our portfolio of wedding photography in Central London, Europe, France, Monaco, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Zurich and Russia please visit www.NeliPrahova.com or contact Neli on nprahova@gmail.com. 

Creative wedding photography in London at Richmond Park

Recently I photographed a wedding in Richmond in London. Marc and Esther were very chilled out and down to earth. The wedding was aimed to be a very low key event as the couple have already tied the knot on an island just the two of them. So they just wanted to have a good time without all the fuss. The ceremony took place the the Catholic church Our lady queen of Peace in Richmond and the wedding party followed in the lovely gardens of The Marlborough pub which I can say is a very stylish gastro pub in Richmond. The pub was just minutes away from Richmond park so the park was an ideal location for the family wedding photography session and for the wedding photos of Marc and Esther. Wedding photography in Central London is always challenging as the parks in London are often busy but we were very lucky and we managed to take some beautiful wedding photos. I love the lavender in Richmond park as it not only helped to create some artistic wedding photography results, but it also gave this romantic feeling. The bride's brave decision on the red hair-piece and the red shoes added even more colour to the wedding photography. I love playing with various photoshop effects and in this case the antique effect gave an interesting feeling to these wedding photography images in Central London. I love when couples spend plenty of time with me on the photos as the extra time always results in more creative wedding photography.

For further information on Central London wedding photography and to view our portfolio of wedding photography in London, Europe, France, Monaco, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Zurich and Russia please visit www.NeliPrahova.com or contact Neli on nprahova@gmail.com.

Central London wedding photography / St. Mary's Church Battersea and Lansdowne Club wedding photography

Central London wedding photography is always a treat. Unlike destination wedding photography when I do Central London wedding photography travelling takes no time, I am familiar with most sites and I know my way around. This Central London wedding photography job was my first wedding in 2012 and I can say it was a very typical English wedding. The wedding ceremony started at St. Mary's church in Battersea in Central London and the rain was by default upon us. We were very lucky with the weather though as it started raining just as the bride was arriving in the church and the rain was over by the time the wedding ceremony finished. So it was very fortunate that it stopped by the time I had to take the family wedding photos outside the church. It was equally good fortune that the scaffolding of St. Mary's church was removed recently so it allowed for some beautiful family wedding photography in this Central London church. The cloudy weather provided lovely lighting and I was very pleased that we had plenty of time with Matt and Venetia to take some more artistic wedding photography on the stairs of the church. Wedding photography in Central London is not always easy to achieve as most churches do not have a beautiful garden or any garden at all. St. Mary's Church in Battersea however not only had a pretty garden but also a lovely view of the river. For a more English feel of the wedding photos we chose to do the artistic wedding photography on the side of the church with an interesting brick wall as a background. I love the combination of the brick and the bench as they gave that urban feeling to this wedding photography in Central London. The wedding party then preceded to the Lansdowne club which is a private members club in Central London for the wedding reception and ceremony. I always love doing wedding photography in the Lansdowne club (www.lansdowneclub.com) as it's again a very typical English gentlemen club in Central London. It's perfect for a wedding ceremony not only due to its beautiful interior but also as it has a lovely courtyard which is perfect for a wedding reception. I couldn’t help but admire Venetia’s skill when I found out that she herself made the wedding cake.

For further information on Central London wedding photography and to view our portfolio of wedding photography in London, Europe, France, Monaco, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Zurich and Russia please visit www.NeliPrahova.com or contact Neli on nprahova@gmail.com.