Swan at Streatley wedding photography

Hannah and Matt's fun festival and ice hockey themed day on a barge by the Thames featured wrist bands "to get in to the wedding", a camping-ice hockey cake, a confetti tunnel with wellies on ice hockey sticks...

London wedding photographer | Swan at Streatley wedding photography

Above is a selection of wedding photography from a beautiful July wedding held on a barge on the River Thames by London wedding photographer Minna Rossi. The Swan at Streatley was just the perfect venue, a wedding photographer's dream: the tranquil setting and being so close to water seemed to put everyone at ease right from the morning and it turned out to be a really laid back, fun day. The vast gardens by the river provided plenty of space and cool shade during family photos and the couple had made the space their own by decorating it with all sorts of quirky details: Hannah and Matt's festival and ice hockey themed wedding featured wellies on hockey sticks, flags and outdoor games on the lawn, wrist bands "to get into the wedding" -even the cute, colourful wedding cake had a tent and hockey sticks on it! This was such an original theme, but made perfect sense if you know the couple: Matt plays ice hockey and Hannah has a festival face painting business called "Festival Faces". I loved the mixture of contemporary classics (the wedding dress, shoes and jewellery for example) and their young quirky style.

The day started with Hannah and the girls getting ready. When I arrived, they were making daisy chains for the bridesmaids' hair, doing their make up, listening to music and joking around. A great atmosphere and perfect for some natural portraits and detail shots. Off next to get candids of the guests arriving and chatting on the barge, where the ceremony was held as well as Matt with his Best Man and the all important wedding rings. After the ceremony, everyone enjoyed cold drinks outside on the lawn before getting the wellies up on hockey sticks for the confetti shot -what a great idea and makes for some lovely photos :) We did a few quick family photos before heading inside to the restaurant for the wedding breakfast and speeches.

The guests had organised a little surprise for the couple: they were taken off on a romantic boat ride on the river to give them a bit of time to catch their breath. Once back, we did a few couple's portraits -despite most of the coverage being candid, it's nice to have some photos of just the two of you to look back on in years to come. This doesn't always have to be during the day, especially if it is a tight schedule or things start running late; it's OK as we can split the session into 5-10 minutes during the day, maybe another 10 minutes in the evening. This can be quite nice actually as the light changes and we can try different settings and ideas :)

One of my favourite things as a wedding photographer is seeing those genuine smiles come through and people enjoying themselves. It isnt a photo shoot after all, it's your and the guests day. So many amazing moments at this wedding and I loved every minute, it did indeed feel like we had been to a festival!

If you are searching for a London wedding photographer, especially a friendly female wedding photographer in London, you can contact me here. I would love to hear about your plans, what kind of wedding photography you like and how I could be part of your special day :)

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