I hadn’t met Izabela or Amreet, the bride & groom prior to the wedding ceremony just Mani & Sudha Amreet’s parents. They had two other wedding ceremonies earlier in the week, one was Nepalese, as Amreet’s parents are from Nepal the other was a civil ceremony. Amreet’s father was a Ghurkha in the British army and left as a Major. Mani told me he first walked up the steps at the Royal Academy as a young recruit in 1974 and now he was back to talk to me about his son’s wedding in two weeks’ time. Izabela and Amreet met in Robertson’s House 10 years ago while working in the hospitality department so they wanted to go back and marry were they had met. There was a lake 5 mins away which was also very special to them, this was the first time Amreet had asked Izabela to be his girlfriend.
The wedding day approached I turned up to the security gate 45 mins early. I wanted to have a good look around the venue, even though I was there two weeks ago, I wanted to photograph the venue while no one was there. My name was not on the wedding list. I waited and waited phoned the grooms father, no reply, security phoned the venue, even the chef but no one had my details so I just had to wait. I wasn’t on the list so I couldn’t get in! Luckily twenty-five minutes later Amreet’s father arrived with Amreet and let me in. It was time to start.
Robertson House is set in a time warp from the days of the British Empire. There was a tiger skin hanging over the balcony in the main hall, elephant foot in the lounge and various paintings and statues depicting the achievements of the British army from a bygone era. There were hanging chandeliers, black and white tiled floors, spiral stair case and the amazing teak panelled library it was a great venue for a wedding and I couldn’t wait to start.
Izabela & Amreet planned their wedding slightly different as they were already legally married so this was just the ceremony to celebrate their love for each other in front of family and friends. I had never seen such a happy couple they were so obviously in love kissing and smiling all the time. They stood in the main hall under the giant tiger skin looking down from above. They said their vows, they were so much more relaxed as they were technically already married. The room was bright enough for me to photograph in natural light and not use flash. I went up to the balcony to take some shots from up there. The guests were smiling and laughing. Izabela’s family came from Poland and her mum looked amazing and loved having her photo taken. Amreet’s family also looked stunning the women with their rich coloured saris and the men in their three piece suites, it was a great wedding for colour.
After the ceremony Izabela & Amreet wanted me to photograph them by the lake as this had special memories for them. I stood them by the boat house, I liked the textures of the wood then they sat on the bench in between the daffodils it was such a great spring morning. Back to the house in the brand new Mercedes Benz, love the smell of leather!
Once we got back to the house it was cake cutting time yes the bride & groom wanted the cake cut before the wedding breakfast then we all went out to the front of Robertson house for the group shots.
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