Caroline & Zander – The Painted Hall, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
As London-based wedding photographers, we are lucky enough to frequently capture wedding photography at The Painted Hall at Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich Park. And we are awestruck by the hall’s magnificence every time we return. Caroline and Zander couldn’t have chosen a more stunning setting for their late summer wedding in London.
We first met Caroline and Zander when we captured their pre-wedding photoshoot in London at the iconic Royal Exchange. Like The Painted Hall, the Royal Exchange is a beautiful historic building that made the perfect backdrop in the natural and fun portrait images we took.
Designed in the early 18th century, The Painted Hall features 40,000 square feet of Baroque walls and ceilings. These surfaces are covered in striking images depicting 200 figures including kings, queens, and mythological creatures. Caroline and Zander chose it as their wedding location as they loved the beauty and grandeur and because it overlooks Canary Wharf which is where they first met.
Caroline arrived in a beautiful ivory Landaulette car hired from Essex Wedding Cars and looked stunning in a Sottero & Midgley dress that she bought at Verita Bridal Boutique in Charleston, South Carolina. The elegant multiple meter-train ivory gown with its full skirt gave Caroline a look of vintage glamour and an amazing fairy tale silhouette that worked perfectly with the grandeur of The Painted Hall. Her hair and makeup were immaculate courtesy of the very talented Sophie Bancroft. Caroline’s bridesmaids looked vibrant in fuchsia pink Jenny Yoo dresses that she bought at Nabbd Boutique in London.
With Caroline wowing everybody in such a statement dress Zander had to go big and did just that looking very dapper in a traditional black tailsuit with a white tie from Neal and Palmer.
The Painted Hall needs little adornment but The Painted Hall’s recommended florist Michelle from Pinstripes & Peonies ran with Caroline and Zander’s vision and created some amazing floral arrangements.
Music was a very important element of Caroline and Zander’s day and they had the Elixir Quartet learn and perform their favorite pieces of music for their processional and recessional music. It made for a really special moment.
After a beautiful ceremony, everybody enjoyed an elegant drinks reception whilst being entertained by The Hot Club Gypsy Band who went down really well with everybody.
The Painted Hall was the location for the wedding reception and looked amazing all dressed and ready for the wedding breakfast. Tables were dressed with crisp white linen, colourful floral arrangements, and simple candles.
During a delicious bespoke wedding meal created by award-winning caterers Company of Cooks, jazz pieces that were either produced, arranged or composed by Caroline’s late uncle Bob Belden were played. He was a very successful jazz musician and producer and a big influence on Caroline’s early life. So having his music played on her wedding day meant a lot. This feels like a good time to mention the production company Velvet Entertainment who took care of the impressive lighting and sound systems on the day.
After the meal, Caroline and Zander but their cake. An elegant white four-tiered cake decorated in white orchids made by the very talented Nadia from Cake Me By Surprise
Evening celebrations got off to an exciting start with Caroline and Zander performing a choreographed first dance much to their guest’s delight. They did it with musical accompaniment from live band The Supertones who learned the song for them. The band was booked through Velvet Entertainment and saw that the dancefloor remained full for the rest of the night!
An uber-stylist wedding at a breathtakingly beautiful wedding venue. Congratulations to Caroline and Zander for getting married and creating such an amazing day. And thanks for having us there, we loved it!
We’ll leave the last words to Caroline and Zander. Here are their thoughts on us
“You guys are great! I think there are generic wedding photographers and videographers, who are nice and capture the day just fine, but you guys make it into an art form. We could proudly display these pictures and videos both as memories and as something extremely unique and creative.
Everyone we have shown our film to is like “Wow this videographer is incredible!” :). It really encompasses the old Hollywood style we were going for and tells a story, which comes across as really elegant, glamorous, and romantic. It also feels very cinematic, special, and unique, not just a generic wedding video. It’s the kind of video that is both artistic and also full of memories, so we could watch it over and over. I think the music also really complements the style.
The photography and images are beautiful. Everything we could have dreamed of. We have both looked at the photos 100 times independently and they keep making us smile. Zander showed one of the pictures (the one taken behind us looking at the painted hall while we’re holding hands in the ceremony) to his work colleagues who work in tech and they said the image is so incredible they thought it was generated by AI with the terms “beautiful and grandeur” specified. I think that says a lot!”
If you’re having your wedding at The Painted Hall and are looking for experienced Painted Hall wedding photographers and videographers to capture your day’s stunning storytelling images and film, then feel free to get in touch.
We’d love to hear about your wedding plans…
Caroline & Zander’s gallery is now online!
Get the password from the couple and view/order images from their big day by clicking this link:
View Caroline & Zander’s wedding gallery
Thanks for having us along for the day – it was amazing! // Ash and Mick x
