Meet George and Lauren who married in style at the amazing Greater London wedding venue, The Grove Hotel, Watford.
It was our first time as Greek wedding photographers but we certainly hope it isn’t our last! We had the most fabulous time in beautiful surroundings with an equally beautiful couple and their guests.
Below are a selection of our favourites from this awesome Greek wedding. Please enjoy this selection of wedding photographs.
Laura’s day began with Lauren at The Grove. Lauren’s hair was being perfectly done by Tara.
I think everyone that came into the room where Lauren was getting ready and saw her dress hung up all thought ‘WOW’. She had chosen a yet-to-be-released Vera Wang ‘Petra’ gown that had some bespoke detailing and our beautiful bride was the first ever bride to wear this stunning dress from the latest Vera Wang collection.
Meanwhile, Tobiah had travelled to another hotel to meet up with our dashing groom and his family and friends. Greek wedding photography can certainly keep you on your toes with lots of interesting traditions taking place throughout the day.
Tobiah had the privilege of photographing the groom’s stolisma including the groom’s shave, usually performed by the best man (or one of them in this case) before the groom is dressed and receives blessings from his loved ones in the red scarf ceremony. This is something that takes place for both Greek brides and grooms separately. It is a simple, yet sometimes an emotional ceremony.
A red scarf is wrapped around the bride/groom three times by their parents and individual close family members and friends. It was fascinating to be a part of George & Lauren’s stolismas and was a feast for the senses! While the red scarf is being tied a traditional band play music and sing to guests clapping and some dancing. Also olive leaves are burned in a kapnistiri and moved around in a circular motion across the bride’s and groom’s heads as the smoke is believed to ward off evil spirits.
After both Stolisma ceremonies we both headed to the ceremony at Greek Orthodox Church of the Twelve Apostles in Hertfordshire.
There was a lovely atmosphere and real buzz during the ceremony. There were more traditional formalities and hymns and vows before the newly weds headed out of church to be showered by confetti by all of there guests. After a little time outside of church being congratulated and hugged and kissed a lot, always our favourite time of the day for natural photographs, our bride and groom headed back to The Grove.
Once we arrived all of the finishing touches had been made to the Events wing of this beautiful hotel and the Amber Suite where the wedding breakfast was held. It is at this point we must mention the unbelievable team at Perry’s. Errol and the rest of the team worked tirelessly to create the most perfect backdrop down to the finest details. As well as being truly lovely people, nothing at all was too much trouble and they looked after everyone so well along with being true professionals. We really hope to work along with them again in the near future.
Before the wedding breakfast, guests enjoyed canapés and champagne whilst we took George & Lauren outside into the stunning surrounding area around The Grove wedding and events wing. We like to keep the couple portraits informal for the most part and have a little more formality for the family group photographs. The Master of Ceremonies, Peter, was a real help with this part of the day along with others so a big thank you to him.
So on to the speeches. All speeches are awesome but this groom’s speech knocked others out of the park! Delivered by a mini helicopter (flown by the sales assistant from Selfridges where George had seen the helicopters being demonstrated and had his stroke of genius) the guests were certainly impressed! Then there was the best man setting his speech on fire, by accident of course! After lots of laughs the speeches were done and it was time for the dancing to commence.
With this being our first Greek wedding, we were so looking forward to this part of the evening and it didn’t disappoint. Everyone was still on the dance floor when we left just after midnight.
The traditional dancing with groom and male guest holding a handkerchief was so much fun to watch. Tobiah even got dragged on the dance floor! The money that was thrown onto the dance floor for the band or tucked into the necks of the gents’ shirts turned into money in part turned into Money Dance Smackdown! It was so funny.
As the guests danced the night away, we set up a few dramatic shots outside. We like to keep the time of our couples away from their guests to a minimum so we make sure the lighting is right so our brides and grooms can get back to the party!
We always walk away from a wedding feeling so blessed to both have such an amazing job that takes us to some wonderful places and share in the most important and special day in peoples’ lives. This day was no different and we wish George & Lauren every happiness in their lives together.
Yiamas!
We hope you enjoy looking at this selection of our favourite Greek wedding photographs. If you are are looking for a Greek wedding photographer or The Grove Wedding Photography then please get in touch.
The Dream Team
Venue: The Grove, Watford – 5 Star Estate outside London
Wedding Planners – Perrys Wedding Planners
Wedding Videographer – Pretty in White
Wedding Dress : Vera Wang – Petra
Shoes : Jimmy Choo
Wedding Band : Diastello
Wedding cars: Rolls Royce Phantoms from Weddings by Driven
Flowers: Panache
Event Design: The Wedding Lounge
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