North London Wedding Photographer at Hendon Town Hall
As a North London wedding photographer, it’s always lovely to be invited to photograph intimate weddings in the city. After photographing Alina and Razvan’s wedding at Hendon Town Hall we explored Hampstead Heath Hill Garden and Pergola.
I waited at Hendon Town Hall for this North London wedding in the glorious sunshine and a sea of colourful flowers in full bloom outside the Grade II listed building. Alina and Razvan arrived and we chatted for a few moments in the sunshine, Alina’s stunning red dress from Hugo Boss matched with a flower in her hair and Razvan’s tie. After making a few last-minute adjustments to their outfits, hair and putting on our masks we entered the town hall via the one-way system.
The Couple – Alina and Razvan
Alina and Razvan live in London, they are originally from Romania and got engaged in 2019 after being together for five years. They have been waiting to get married for a while now as, thanks to various lockdowns and uncertainty around the global pandemic their Hendon Town Hall wedding was postponed twice from their original date. So, this was a really emotional day for them, to finally be able to say ‘I do’. It was also pretty emotional for me, my first North London wedding of 2021 and getting back to doing what I love!
Alina and Razvan chose to have a very small wedding at Hendon Town Hall, accompanied by Alina’s sister Anca and her fiancé Cristi. The couple actually met thanks to Anca and Cristi introducing them so they are a huge part of Alina and Razvan’s story. This was another reason I felt really privileged to share their day with them, their sense of humour and the love between them was just beautiful and the fact it was just the five of us for most of the day made it really special.
Hendon Town Hall Wedding – The Venue
The staff at Hendon Town Hall were excellent, really accommodating and provided a safe and welcoming environment for us all. The Team Bride and Team Groom masks were removed as Lisa, The Registrar greeted us with a big smile. Lisa actually used to be a photographer and was super helpful to me as I went about capturing the emotional ceremony (yes, yes, I cried… we all cried!).
“Rich is an amazing photographer. Even though we were very nervous on the day, he was a professional and made us feel comfortable in front of the camera. He has a very positive energy that he managed to transfer to us as well, he has a very creative mind and loads of ideas for pictures. We were impressed by how prepared he was, he got to the location earlier than us to scope out the place and had a plan B in case it rained that day.
“Rich is an amazing photographer. Even though we were very nervous on the day, he was a professional and made us feel comfortable in front of the camera. He has a very positive energy that he managed to transfer to us as well, he has a very creative mind and loads of ideas for pictures. We were impressed by how prepared he was, he got to the location earlier than us to scope out the place and had a plan B in case it rained that day.
– Alina & Razvan
After the ceremony we stayed in the room for some portraits, including some lovely moments making the most of the sunlight streaming in through the windows and some hilarious selfies! The only moment we were reminded of the current pandemic was as we left the building, we had to follow the one-way system again and the route to leave took us down a steel fire escape. Razvan picked up Alina and carried her down the stairs as we all laughed at the situation at this Hendon Town Hall Wedding.
I captured some portraits in the urban structures of the neighbouring university campus as we wandered through, making the most of the sunshine and dramatic shadows. Then we headed for a portrait session and explore of Hampstead Heath Hill Garden and Pergola. As a North London wedding photographer I love having a variety of settings to work in, Alina and Razvan enjoyed the opportunity to explore and found the beautiful gardens when they initially went to check out the surroundings of their wedding at Hendon Town Hall.
After a short trip in our cars the five of us met up at the garden, we wandered around stopping for photos along the way as Alina and Razvan took some time together to cuddle up as newlyweds. Alina took off her shoes as the couple ran along the edge of the ornamental pond and we enjoyed the muted greens of the spring foliage weaving their way through the structures of the building. With dreamy light and remarkably few people around I captured some beautiful portraits as the sun started to go down.
We met a couple in the gardens who were trying to revive a tired honey bee, Alina’s sister Anca provided a sweet from her handbag to create a sugary solution and some water to help with their efforts. The bee had to feature in their wedding photos, we managed to capture a picture of it on their wedding rings as it started to move around before happily flying off into the garden.
We finished of the day perfectly with a few pictures amongst the blossom (which smelled amazing!) and Alina and Razvan cuddled together in the late afternoon sun and long shadows underneath the pergola. They headed off with Anca and Cristi for a lovely dinner in Central London to celebrate what had been a beautiful, emotional and long-awaited day.
North London Wedding Photographer at Hendon Town Hall – Rich Howman
“Rich’s PA, was very helpful and flexible to assist us with booking and answering any questions we had. The entire experience was stress-free and we’re really grateful to both of them for helping us have a perfect day.”
– Alina & Razvan
