Hello. I'm Chris, a thirty-something documentary wedding photographer based near Reading, Berkshire.

My passion is wedding photography. I love capturing the preparations, the anticipation, the sheer emotion of the ceremony, the first kiss, the laughter of the speeches and the beautiful first dance.

I've loved photography since I was a child. Back then I had a Kodak Retinette IB which I still have although it stopped working years ago. I bought my first film SLR back in 2001 and today I use Nikon D700 bodies with Nikkor 24-70/f2.8, 50/f1.4, 85/f1.4 and 70-200/f2.8 professional lenses. I also love travel photography and I've had the privilege to see some amazing parts of the world... Australia, Thailand, India and Africa to name a few.

I'm a movie and music lover, both of which seem to go hand in hand with a nice glass of wine. I love good food, my favourite of which has to be either Thai or Mexican.

Ten things... 1) I love walks in the country. 2) Chocolate is A Good Thing (TM). 3) Music needs to be heard and ideally felt. 4) I'm a little OCD at times. 5) Jack Bauer never goes to the toilet or charges his mobile. 6) David Palmer needs to be president for real. 7) Tom Yam Goong is amazing, if I had to choose only one thing to eat from now on, that would be it. 8) BT, Hybrid, Elbow, Angus and Julia Stone - all music gods. 9) I can't stand middle lane hoggers. 10) Life is short, embrace it, live it, and do things.

Lisa and Mark, Lansdowne Club, London

Monday, August 30, 2010

Wow. I almost don’t know where to start with this one. This weekend I was in London for the simply awesome wedding of Lisa & Mark. I’d been looking forward to this one for a while, and it didn’t disappoint.

I arrived at the Lansdowne Club in central London nice and early on a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning. I had expected traffic this bank holiday weekend but thankfully it was pretty quiet. Lisa and the girls were starting their bridal preparations in one of the gorgeous hotel suites; there was Moët chilling on ice and chocolate mini rolls on the side. What more does a girl need?! I may have helped them with the chocolates :)

Lisa arrived at St James’s Church, Sussex Gardens, where the ceremony was to take place. She looked absolutely stunning, as did her four bridesmaids. During the register signing one of Lisa’s friends sang a version of Ave Maria, which sounded just beautiful in the church. Then it was onto Hyde Park for some more photos. I have to say that walking into such a popular tourist spot with a beautiful bride and her husband is a pretty amazing feeling. We did a few formal shots here, and all credit to Lisa and Mark’s amazing family and friends who organised themselves with pretty much no direction from me :)

The reception took place back at the Lansdowne Club. This place is stunning, with some fantastic architecture. The new Mr and Mrs Price walked into the magnificent 18th century ballroom to rapturous applause. There was a lot of love in that room. The speeches were brilliant, full of emotion and laughs and I especially liked the best man’s reference to Mark as a ‘social hand grenade’!

I knew I’d find it difficult to choose which shots to use for this blog, so um, it might be a *bit* longer than usual. I make no apologies though as it was so much fun to shoot.

Congratulations Lisa and Mark! Thank you for the honour and privilege of allowing me to document your day. I hope you like this preview of what was an epic and beautiful wedding. And Lisa… as you said to me when I left… it’s been emotional!

Flowers by: The Flower Company
Make up by: Mel Kinsman – www.melkinsman.com
Ceremony Venue: St James’s Church, Sussex Gardens – www.stjamespaddington.org.uk
Reception Venue: The Lansdowne Club – www.lansdowneclub.com

Posted in Weddings

by Chris

11 comments

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September 8, 2010 - 16:59 Amy Turner - Fabulous wedding to photograph and you really did it justice. I especially love the second to last shot of the dancing - beautiful.

September 4, 2010 - 06:29 monkeyleader - Some fab shots there - especially some of the candids of the bride during the speeches ... top job !

September 3, 2010 - 16:05 Chris - Thank you all for your kind comments :) Iona: it really was my pleasure.. and lovely to meet you too!

September 3, 2010 - 15:49 Nattelie - Your wedding photos reduce me to tears every time I see a set. Amazing captures, you can feel the love. Beautiful as always!

September 3, 2010 - 09:19 Iona Price - Chris thank you so much for all your hard work on Saturday-you have really captured the magic of the day-the photos are stunning- can't wait to see them all! Thank you.

September 2, 2010 - 23:33 duncan - stunning

September 2, 2010 - 20:11 Alex - WOW Chris, what a beautiful wedding to be able to shoot! Lucky you!! I LOVE the first dance shots, the reactions of everyone during the speeches, all of your detail shots are stunning, the portraits are absolutely beautiful. Wow great job.

August 30, 2010 - 22:13 Zoe Rowlands - Brilliant! love the last shot!

August 30, 2010 - 19:23 Dominique - Absolutely fantastic job you have done here! The emotion captured is perfection and your first dance shots are simply breathtaking.

August 30, 2010 - 18:41 Guy Collier - Super, super work Chris. I'd be delighted if I'd shot this.

August 30, 2010 - 11:59 Dasha - Chris, you did a fantastic job! They are gonna be thrilled with the photos! Love all your details shots! Well done! :-)

Chris Geary Photography

Lisa and Mark, Lansdowne Club, London