Kasia and Kireth got married three days before Christmas, at the Oriental Club on Stratford Place, just off Oxford Street. It was a small wedding. Close family, several of whom had flown in for it.
Portraits in the dark
While the family had drinks, I took Kasia and Kireth outside. In late December it’s dark by four, so there was no daylight to wait for. What there was instead was Christmas, and all the lights that come with it.
I used a small flash with a softbox on it, held off to one side, and balanced it against the lights around them. The flash does the couple, the city does the background, and the trick is getting the two to look like the same picture. Then they were back inside with their family.
Dinner and speeches
Inside, the tables were laid simply and there were candles all along the bar, which is the kind of decoration that does far more in a photograph than it costs. With a small group you get something you don’t get at a big wedding: everyone in one room, listening to the same speech at the same time. The speeches were the best part of the evening, and I spent most of them watching the tables rather than the person talking.
At the end of the night they left hand in hand, out onto Stratford Place.
The Oriental Club
The club was founded in 1824 for people who had lived and worked in the East, and it has been at Stratford House since 1962. The house itself was built in the 1770s and is Grade I listed, so you’re getting married in a proper eighteenth-century townhouse a few steps from Oxford Street, which still surprises most guests when they walk in.
Getting there is easy. Bond Street station, including the Elizabeth line, is a couple of minutes’ walk away, so guests from the City and from Heathrow can come straight in.
For a small winter wedding it works very well. The rooms are intimate and the service was excellent all evening. If you’re thinking about it, the club’s events team will talk you through the rooms and numbers.
Photographing a wedding at the Oriental Club
My prices are the same across London: £1,350 for five hours, £1,800 for eight and £2,200 for eleven. Smaller weddings like this one often only need the five hours. Everything is on the prices page, and if you’re planning something nearby, my Mayfair and Marylebone pages are worth a look too.
Thank you, Kasia and Kireth, and happy Christmas all over again.
Barrie
The day in detail
Venue: The Oriental Club, Stratford House, Stratford Place, London W1C
Photography: Barrie Downie
