Where is it located?

Will it fit everyone? Type out your guest list before you make any decisions. When you visit possible reception spaces, ask whomever is giving you a tour what their maximum (and minimum, as sometimes that applies as well) capacity is.

This is a quick and easy way to eliminate a lot of possibilities. Check out how your guests will up the room as well – if a hall’s capacity is 200, and you’re only inviting 50, the room might feel too grandiose for your guests.

How much does it costs? It goes without saying that your budget will probably have the biggest effect on where you book your reception. If you’re using a wedding coordinator, they might be able to negotiate a deal for you.

Where can guests park? If you’re hosting your event in downtown London wedding venue, check out the transportation or parking situation. If guests have to pay to park, make sure they’re aware prior to attending the reception. Ask your reception hall if they offer sort of any parking validation or discount if you book with them.

How many events are held per day? It’s your day…you don’t guests (or another bride!) from another wedding crashing yours! Check with the venue to see how many events are held in one day. If an event is being held prior to yours, any delays the first event has could postpone yours. Reversely, if you hold your event first, you might feel rushed out near the end. If they are being held simultaneously, check out the sound, bathroom and parking situation. Can you hear the other event? Will your guests be mingling in the bathroom? Is there enough parking?

How long do we have the venue for? This is extremely important. You’re reception is going so well that no one wants it to end, until the management turn off the lights on you. You can be surprised how early some venues close.

Wedding Venues London: What style fits your needs?

• For the traditionalist

The Langham
1c Portland Place, Regent Street
London
020 7636 1000
http://london.langhamhotels.co.uk
Luxury hotel with a capacity of 375

• For the country-club type

Bush Hill Park Golf Club
Enfield, London
Greater London
N21 2BT
020 8360 5738
http://bhpgc.com
Golf club with a capacity of 140

• For a historic look

The Naval & Military Club
No. 4 St. James’s Square
Mayfair, London
Greater London
SW1Y 4JU
020 7251 7171
www.chesterboyd.co.uk/venues/naval
Historic building with a capacity of 300

• For the view

Trafalgar Tavern
Park Row, Greenwich
London
Greater London
SE10 9NW
020 8305 3091
www.trafalgartavern.co.uk
Inn overlooking the Thames River with a capacity of 300

• For the artist

Prince of Wales Theater
Coventry Street
London
Greater London
W1D 6AS
020 7766 2102
Cinema/theatre with a capacity of 350

• For stunning grandeur

The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
Kensington, London
Greater London
SW7 5BD
0844 824 6205
www.nhm.ac.uk
Iconic museum with a capacity of 200

• For the laid-back couple

The Old Red Cow
71 Long Lane, Smithfield
London
Greater London
EC1A 9EJ
www.theoldredcow.com/
Hip pub with capacity of 80

How to Organize Fall and Winter Weddings
By Amanda Jane

Most weddings take place during the summer. It is so because this season is the easiest to decorate and adorn. It is also the season during which many service providers are available. It is the season when the weather is at its best ad thus favors outdoor events such as weddings. For people who like destination weddings beach weddings, summer is the best time to marry. But summer is not the only time of the year to marry. Fall and winter make excellent wedding times as well. Many people would say the weather is not favorable but with careful planning, they can be exotic and unique ways to celebrate your bridal event.

The first consideration for your wedding therefore is the provision of adequate heating for your guests. You must find a place that will keep the warm throughout the event. You should also avoid using brightly colored decoration. Winter colors are silver and white so keep these two as your main colors. It is important that you try to blend your decoration with the traditional Christmas colors of green and red. You will find this traditional color combination at many places so your florist must take account of that. The bride should also wear a dress that covers the entire body so that she does not feel cold. A long, heavy fabric gown with veil will be suitable.

Fall and winter weddings can be as fun as summer versions. Though more constraining in terms of participation and organization, they make excellent themes. You will just need to place emphasis on the décor and the venue. Ensure that you make special provisions for the weather. If during winter, make adequate preparation for heating and if during spring, for strong winds. You have to make special provisions for the catering too. Choose companies with experience in serving seasonal food so they do not give your guests something that is out of place. Once you have all these things covered, you have a joyful event for yourself and the guests.

Find simple straightforward advice on engagement party etiquette and mother of the groom dresses.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amanda_Jane
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Organize-Fall-and-Winter-Weddings&id=2558145

Welcome to another post in the wedding venues London series!

For those of you who are interested in a church venue the spotlight in today’s post will be St. Bartholemew the Great church in London.

Hidden in a quiet backstreet of Farringdon this Anglican/Episcopal church dates back to 1123. You might also recognize the church since its been featured in major films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love, and The End of the Affair.

Wedding at the High Altar with a professional choir of eight singers, organist and Director of Music start at £1,700. However, if this is out of your budget a simple wedding in the Lady Chapel (behind the Altar) without music is at an amazing price starting from £250.

You also need to qualify before you can get married at the church, here are some of the requirements.

From a photographer’s standpoint its an amazing venue with light spilling in from the windows overhead. There’s also multiple vantage points to photograph from ensuring truly unique photography!

The Lady Chapel

For more information you can click here for Great St. Bart’s website.

About the author: Randolph Quan is London based wedding photojournalist. If you like our wedding venues London series why not send him some feedback? Click here to contact Randolph.

Most of you already know that planning a wedding isn’t easy. Dealing with booked venues, wedding dresses that are too big, and nosey in-laws can take a lot out of people. So sometimes dealing with photography is last thing on people’s minds.

Obviously, I have a vested interest in letting people know why I think wedding photography is important. However, have you ever considered some of the reasons it should be placed higher up on your priority list? Here’s my five biggest.

“Yes that was me 60 years ago!”

1) The first thing most people ask to see is the wedding photography. You don’t want to be the person that says ” I know these photos aren’t great but trust me it was a beautiful wedding!” Treat your photography as a proper document of your day. Think about it, will people remember what your cake tasted like 10 years from now or that amazing photo you had with your grandmother?

2) Relying on your friends photos can be risky! A lot of couples I meet are glad they invested in a photographer since a lot of their friends’ photos were inappropriate or just plain out of focus. You could be in trouble if you’re hoping that great aunt Betty who was sitting near the back row will really capture the best moments of your wedding. If being a good wedding photographer was easy we’d all be looking to do something else!

3) In the same vein, a lot of my clients complain that it’s a major pain to try to chase their friends for their wedding photos. We all know how boring and time consuming it can be to send over 50 inbox clogging images through e-mail. Honestly, how fun is it to look at your wedding photos through someone else’s facebook account?

4) I like to tell people that they should treat their wedding photography as an investment that will become more valuable to them over time. I’ve never met a couple who have said they still don’t care about their photography after receiving a finished product.

5) While you might not place a high priority on your wedding photography think about people who do. For example a best friend who can’t attend your wedding for one reason or another. Wouldn’t you get a kick out of showing your grandchildren how amazing your wedding was 50 years from now?

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a London Contemporary wedding photographer. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or click here to contact Randolph

Wedding Venues London: Natural History Museum

Welcome to the first post of the Wedding venues London series! For those of you planning larger weddings or are looking for something truly unique for your wedding venue, why not try the Natural History Museum in London?

Click here for the events page on the Natural History Museum’s website.

Here are some images I photographed from a recent event that was held in the main hall of the museum. I just love how a gigantic dinosaur is placed in the middle of the hall as a constant reminder that you’re wedding venue is in fact situated in one of the greatest museums in the world.

The museum has its own planning team and preferred suppliers to help organize your wedding day. It was quite a sight seeing the museum close at 6pm on Saturday and literally a whole army of workers came in to transform the main hall in 2 hours! The main hall has a capacity of 650 guests for dinners and 1200 for receptions.

If you’re dead set on having the museum as your wedding venue but don’t have over £15,200 to spend on your dream wedding venue, fear not. The Natural History Museum also has other rooms that substitute for wedding venues ranging from £5,775 to as low as £2,400.

However, if you’re hoping to dance the night away amongst the residents from the Jurassic period you’ll be a bit disappointed, you’ll only have the venue till midnight. Although, the event I was at lasted till 1am, so you might have to budget even more to have your wedding reception last a bit longer!

Know of any incredible wedding venues? I’d like to know! Contact me and I’ll try to review it for the next submissions in the wedding venues London series.

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a London Reportage Wedding Photographer. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or click here to contact Randolph

]]> http://randolphquan.com/blog/wedding-venues-london-natural-history-museum/feed/ 3 http://randolphquan.com/blog/wedding-photography-surrey/ http://randolphquan.com/blog/wedding-photography-surrey/#comments Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:20:40 +0000 randy http://randolphquan.com/blog/?p=758

Wedding Photography Surrey

Did you know we’re available nationwide?

A lot of our clients while based in London don’t actually get married in the capital. We understand, fighting traffic, tourists, and the tube on the weekend doesn’t exactly get people in the mood to celebrate your wedding does it?

In fact the majority of the weddings we’re booked for are actually outside of London! Travel is an essential part of our job, so its really no big deal for us to commute all over the UK to shoot weddings. Travel expenses are not covered in our photography packages. However, I’ll try to save you as much money as possible by booking tickets well in advance.

Our southeast regional coverage for wedding photography: Surrey, Kent, Hertfordshire, and Essex.

About the author: Randolph Quan’s regional coverage includes wedding photography surrey. Click here to contact him

It goes without saying that weddings are a costly affair. From the venue to the caterer to the wedding favors, the tab just keeps getting higher, and it often seems that wedding photographers are charging a large chunk of that tab. But have you ever though why wedding photography prices are so high? It’s because of the associated costs of being a wedding photographer.

“Hey Austin, come shoot my wedding for free, have a laugh…”

Being a good photographer is an expensive investment. Sure, you can find cheap wedding photographers out there, but they’re cheap because they’ve possible cut corners on equipment, and insurance. Or they’re just plain stupid (you hired cheap and stupid?) So let’s take a look at what goes into a photographer’s overhead that adds up to the final cost of your wedding photographer.

1. Labor costs. This one is pretty standard across all industries. A photographer’s work doesn’t end when your wedding does. After the 5-10 hours they’ve put in working (on a Saturday, no less) at your nuptials, the photographer spends hours and hours editing your images so you get a wide array of perfect photographs by which to remember your day. Its not uncommon to work a full 3-4 days editing a wedding. Their time is even more valuable when you factor in the limited number of weekends in a year there are for a photographer to work.

2. Staff salaries. If you book a photographer that comes with assistants or second photographers, your cost is going to be higher. In return for getting more images from various places on your day, your photographer is going to have the pay those assistants.

3. Equipment. The pieces of equipment a photographer carries around is not your typical point-and-shoot. High-end lenses and bodies average around £1500 each. Photographers also carry back-up equipment in case their primary equipment fails, which adds to the cost of the wedding photography prices. In case your photographer is living in the Jurassic period and hasn’t switched over to digital (there are a few out there, somewhere), you also have to factor in the cost of film. Good wedding photographers easily can bring over £10,000 worth of equipment to shoot your wedding. Add in the prices of computers and editing programs like photoshop ( you did buy it right?) and costs begin to skyrocket. Luckily, its not always necessary in the UK to own a car so let’s not go there.

4. Insurance. Because cameras and equipment cost so much, photographers are smart to insure them. Just in case your drunk (who your mom insisted on inviting) cousin Jimmy decides he wants to spray champagne all over the wedding photographer’s equipment for a joke.

5. Web site. In this day and age, a photographer has to market himself with a very high-tech, professional Web site, which can cost a lot to design and maintain if the photographer doesn’t have web design skills. Its not unreasonable to spend over £5000 a year on website updates, and online marketing such as the sponsored links on Google.

6. Advertising. In that same vein, photographers also have to spend money on other types of advertising such as ads in the newspaper, business cards and brochures.

7. Photo extras. If you knew how much albums cost you’d have a heart attack. Albums are extraordinarily expensive and are often added into the wedding photography prices. Don’t forget the time it takes to design them as well.

8. Education. The more educated a photographer is, the better techniques and specializations will be used while shooting a wedding. As everything else, that education comes at a cost through instructors, college degrees, extra classes and seminars, etc. Intangibles such as expertise aren’t easy to measure monetarily, although we try!

So while you may be asking, “why does photographer X cost so much more than photographer Y?” the answer might be simple: Photographer X has spent more money developing his or her business into a full-fledged photography service, which ends up costing more money than an inexperienced photographer who moonlights part time on the weekend.

….Or those Porsche’s we drive up to your wedding in just don’t pay for themselves now do they?

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a UK based wedding photojournalist. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or click here for his wedding photography prices

Photography terms are tricky sometimes, especially when more than one term is used to describe the same thing. Let’s make things easier for you: Reportage is a journalist’s report of the news (Get it? Reportage/reporter?), so by following a logical thought process, reportage wedding photography would be a photographer’s report of the wedding. Doesn’t that sound an awful lot like photojournalism wedding photography, a style we discussed in another post?

Well, that’s because it is the same! Reportage wedding photography, or photojournalism wedding photography, is the style that focuses on documenting the entire day in photos, much like a journalist would document the entire event in a news article. Many couples prefer reportage wedding photography because it focuses on the moments of the special day instead of being consumed with posing wedding participants. The photos are candid, raw, and full of emotion – and they look entirely different than the wedding photos of yesteryear. They tell the story of one of the most important days of your life.

How do you decide if reportage wedding photography is for you? Most photographers will be up front about their style of photography, whether it’s on their Web site or when you can to ask some questions. Once you’ve determined what style a photographer shoots, take a glance through their online gallery or portfolio. Taking time to browse samples is the best way to determine which type of style you want for your photo albums. You’ll quickly notice the difference between reportage and traditional wedding photography. If you want reportage wedding photography with some traditional photos mixed in, don’t be afraid to ask your photographer if they’re willing to do a blend of reportage and traditional wedding photography. Most photographers are happy to please their clients.

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a UK based wedding photojournalist. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or check out his wedding photography here.

Yes, I do have a vested interest in this topic. I admit, I’m not a cheap wedding photographer. I don’t claim to be nor will I ever. However, have you ever considered what are the costs of hiring a cheap wedding photographer?

Hiring a “friend” to do the photography is can be bad news (unless that friend happens to be a professional wedding photographer), as is hiring a novice photography student from a local university (unless they have massive untapped talent of which you have proof). If you hire a cheap wedding photographer, you risk unprofessional conduct at best and unusable wedding photos at worst. Novice photographers might not know how to use editing software to its best advantage or, even worse, they might not even know how to use that new fancy-schmancy camera they just bought and you’ll be stuck with out of focus, overexposed shots.

These photos are going to be around forever – don’t cringe every time you look at them because you hired a cheap wedding photographer.
So how can you avoid the bad apples out there? It’s tough, but there’s a few ways you can weed out the good from the bad.

1. Research photographers online first. Start by looking through forums of reputable wedding-related Web sites to gather names of photographers that have been favorably mentioned. If you haven’t found any in your area, just ask! Brides are always happy to share both good and bad experiences. If you already have a couple of photographer in mind, type their names into a search engine to see what comes up. Google is your friend!

2. Ask to see complete wedding albums instead of selected photos. Even a bad/cheap wedding photographer gets lucky every once in a while. A major tip off of an inexperienced or bad photographer is a thin portfolio of multiple events. If a photographer is reluctant to show you a full portfolio of one event, take your money elsewhere.

3. Be skeptical if you’re quoted an extremely low price by a cheap wedding photographer. While discounts or negotiations are par for the course in a competitive environment, if you find a photographer who is offering their services for staggeringly less than others in the area – there’s a reason. If you have the time and motivation, find that reason before booking them. It could be something you can deal with, but its most likely not.

4. Look for the hidden costs. Some photographers will only give you one set of prints. Will your photographer give you the copyright to your images or will you have to constantly come back to get more?

5. Finally, the biggest question you should ask is for yourself? If you truly care about your wedding photography do you want to gamble with your images so you can save some money?

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a UK based wedding photojournalist. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or check out his wedding photography here.

Wedding cakes have come a long way from when Steve Martin sputtered at the notion of paying $1,200 (roughly £800) for the sweet treat in the early 1990s movie “Father of the Bride.” Although you don’t have to shell out that type of money for a beautiful wedding cake, there are some new fresh looks for wedding cakes out there that you might want to glance at:

Black and white cakes
No longer is black eschewed as a morbid color that shouldn’t be allowed near weddings. Instead, black and white is a sophisticated, clean color palette that can create a gorgeous cake. Damask patterns are an especially popular wedding cake trend.

Abnormal shapes
A round cake will always be classic, but square, octagon and other shapely cakes are creeping up more frequently. For a funkier vibe, pair different shapes together.

Not a cake at all
Everyone knows about the cupcake trend that swept the nation. Many brides are still going that route, but for a new wedding “cake” trend, couples are serving assortment of pies, cheesecakes and other desserts with just a small wedding cake for cutting.

Exotic flavors
Only the crazy would turn down a really well-made classic vanilla cake and buttercream combination. But to be a little different, a lot of couples are choosing unexpected flavor combinations for a wedding cake twist. Some flavors that are at the top of the wedding cake trends are coconut, passion fruit, mango, espresso, amaretto and blood orange.

Ocean colors
Turquoise, aquamarine and baby blue are not only ruling the fashion runways, but it’s take the cake world by storm, too. Inspiration from the ocean creates some of the most coveted wedding colors — but stay away from seashells and starfish unless you’re actually getting married at the beach. Not into blue? Pink is the second color dominating wedding cake trends.

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a UK based wedding photojournalist. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or check out his wedding photography here.