The first option is possible, albeit somewhat expensive. Not only does a larger venue cost more money, but then you need to spend additional money to section it off. You can do so with panels or swaths of romantic fabrics. If you have your heart set on a particular place, but you don’t want the large guest list, meet with a wedding planner — preferably one that works for the venue you’re interested in — and they’ll give you some pointers on how to make a large room more intimate.

More realistic, though, is to find a small venue that will host your party reasonably. This is the much better option because you can have a lot more fun! Think about it — So many couples have to host their wedding in a hotel ballroom because they have too many guests to fit anywhere else. You will have the luxury of not having that problem and can explore more unique, intimate wedding venues. Consider these:

- A restaurant: The most obvious of a smaller wedding venue, many restaurants have private rooms for these types of occasions. You get bonus points if the restaurant has a special meaning to you and your fiancée. Perhaps it was the site of your first date? Or where he first proclaimed his love? Having a restaurant reception means not having to rent tables, chairs, tableware and glassware.

- A pub or brewery: There’s nothing that says “let’s have a good time” more than a group of friends and family at a local pub or brewery. This is the ultimate intimate wedding venue for the casual, laidback couple.

- A garden: There are a lot of private gardens in the city that are perfect for an intimate wedding (imagine Miranda and Steve’s New York wedding in “Sex and the City.”) There’s no need to decorate because you’re already surrounded by beautiful foliage, and with the trees, flowers and bushes covering any openings to the street, you’ll feel like you have complete privacy.

- A private home: Maybe someone you know has a gorgeous historic home with a room just large enough to hold 15 people. Or perhaps there’s a historic mansion on the outskirts of London that would hold a perfect intimate wedding reception. The beautiful architecture and landscaped gardens would lend a beautiful, historic feel to your wedding.

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.

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

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