St Etheldredas Church And Crypt Ely Place London
Wedding Photography
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A selection of wedding photos featuring St Etheldreda’s Church and Crypt Ely Place Holborn London
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Marriage ceremony in progress at the popular wedding venue St Etheldreda's Church Ely Place Holborn in central London
Background Information and Highlights
Our featured couple chose the ancient St Etheldreda's Church Ely Place London for the marriage ceremony, followed by their reception in the adjoining St Etheldreda's Crypt.
Dating from the 13th century, St Etheldreda's Church has a fascinating history including close connections with the Black Prince and King Henry VIII. Recommended reading for sure.
The church borders the City of London and so it is very central, and of course brings with it all of the issues that such central locations entail. There is a small amount of parking available immediately outside the church in its cul-de-sac. This is only available to visitors at weekends as during the week it is for the use of nearby businesses and access is controlled by a commissionaire on an entry gate. Wedding vendors working at the church and crypt should keep this in mind and plan for it - especially those who may have lots of heavy equipment such as photographers and videographers!
On this day central London was brought to gridlock by a mass protest of 10,000 cyclists - 9,999 of whom were the usual obnoxious self-centred assassins expected of the two wheeled community. This caused severe delays and an earlier wedding at St Etheldreda's ran so late that guests were still exiting the church just minutes before our bride was due to arrive. Best laid plans and all that! Fortunately things recovered and got back on schedule shortly thereafter. Phew!
Photography is permitted during wedding ceremonies at St Etheldreda's subject to a few restrictions on movement and position, and must stop during the priest's address to the congregation. Restrictions are uncommon in most Catholic churches - which is why many professional wedding photographers like to work with this denomination - but the celebrant and staff were pleasant and eager to be as helpful as possible.
Videography and audio recording are permitted on payment of fees - partly because there can be a semi-professional choir. Peter does shoot video obviously but the church fees are settled direct by the appropriate staff.
The church interior is very beautiful as might be expected, but also very dark - as might also be expected. Professional wedding photographers should not skimp on the high performance camera bodies and fast lenses as you'll certainly need them to obtain satisfactory results. Consider bringing a monopod (or a tripod if you must!). You'll find lots of photographers galleries online featuring this church; unfortunately most do not have the ability to achieve good technical results at such venues so do be very careful to check the quality to avoid disappointment!
The church has no grounds as such but there is a very small courtyard at lower than street level to the front. The courtyard is suitable for some posed group photos. Consider walking a couple of hundred yards to the junction of Holborn Viaduct and St Andrew Street where you'll find a small well-maintained formal garden which makes a good location for wedding photos. Sadly on our couple's day the rain was relentless and we were not able to get outside at all. However the church does have a number of suitable locations inside as you'll see in the main galleries.
The Crypt below the church made a lovely atmospheric setting for the wedding breakfast and reception. The Crypt has no natural light, very low ambient lighting and dark walls and ceilings - so wedding photographers be prepared for some demanding conditions!
This clients Graphistudio burgundy leather wedding photo album designed and supplied by Peter is featured with others within this Albums Page.
(Wedding photography clients): "Thank you for the photos - they are lovely. And thanks for your time and effort, great job! Thank you for the lovely album"
Steph & Barbara (bride's mum) (St Etheldreda's Church)
(Wedding video clients): "Thank-you so much for this - its absolutely wonderful! We all really love it! such a perfect record and memory of our special day. Basically, we really love the film you have made and think its completely spot on"
Christina & Giuseppe B (St Etheldreda's Church)
Photography coverage started with some “getting ready” detail shots at the brides lovely central London apartment
Photos of the jewellery shoes dresses bouquets etc are always very popular for inclusion in a wedding photo album
The bride with her dad
St Etheldreda’s Church is usually very busy and it can be quite problematic to get some establishing photos after a previous wedding and before the next one. Peter just about managed it on this occasion though the flowers next to the altar from the last wedding were still in place!
The next image above is a wedding album double page spread designed for this couple by Peter. It illustrates the speeches in progress during the wedding reception in the Crypt at St Etheldreda’s Church Holborn in central London
Some semi-formal shots of the groom and some of the VIP guests are an important part of the early day photo coverage
The rain was quite a problem for this day but hey - it is supposed to be lucky!
We had some semi-formal portraits in the Crypt shortly before the start of the wedding ceremony in St Etheldreda’s Church
The choir makes for a terrific photo opportunity. Video though is strictly limited and bride and grooms must arrange for the appropriate licenses and pay the fees beforehand
The interior of St Etheldreda’s Church in Holborn is very dark. It is pretty much essential that professional photographers together with special equipment capable of shooting without flash are utilised to avoid disappointment
The bride signs the civil marriage register
It was impossible on the day to shoot portraits and group photos outside because of the heavy rain. Peter arranged for some off-camera lighting to help improve the people photos inside. It is quite a challenge as the crypt is even darker than the church
Most couples chose to have a candid “reportage” style of photography for much of the day. It is popular to include some semi-formal photos for the various portraits and the group shots
The crypt makes for some lovely photogenic photo and video opportunities
The speeches are always a brilliant photo opportunity and even more so with video
Peter had arranged to place a small continuous video light just above the lectern as without it the ambient light was so low that the speakers could not even read their notes!
The Aussie sisters gave a fantastic speech!
Live music works great for the evening reception at St Etheldreda’s Crypt
The rain was relentless on this day. You can see it in the lamp post in the late evening. Yikes!