Hannah+Ryan // West Dulwich Wedding

The Rosendale pub wedding photographer

Hannah and Ryan got married at Dulwich College in the Old Library and then had their reception at the lovely Rosendale Pub around the corner from where I live.  I wasn’t technically the main photographer for this wedding as I was Hannah’s maid of honour. I’ve known Hannah since we were 11 and we have been friends ever since. Going on to do an art foundation together at Wimbledon and then even working together for a bit at Angels Fancy-dress shop on Shaftesbury Avenue. I’ve known her even longer than she’s known Ryan, but only just… They started going out when Hannah was 15 and 10 years later I was there to see them getting married.

It was a very do it yourself wedding… Hannah had roped in lots of friends to help in lots of different ways. Kate, who works in alterations at Angels, made about a mile’s worth of bunting, which I think she was glad to see the back of after the hours she’d spent over the sewing machine making it. Lily, another friend, had worked previously in a florist so a few days before the wedding Hannah and her mum went to wholesalers and picked up a load of flowers and Lily came round to make them into beautiful bouquets and buttonholes.

I’d been quite involved in lots bits of the wedding, helping Hannah design the invites, and the little flags, as well as the name places and table numbers. I also used to make beaded jewellery by bending wire and sewing beads into the shapes, so for her birthday I made Hannah a 3 dimensional cornflower using a bit of her grandmas brooch. It was intended to be her old, new and blue thing and went beautifully into her bouquet. Another good friend of ours made four amazing cakes and I’d made them a cake-topper using the same technique as the flower. I’d based it on a photograph of the pair of them walking away. It was quite realistic, although my prediction of the dress she’d pick was totally wrong.

Hannah, who doesn’t usually wear heels, had got some Converse, made with the date of the wedding on them and decorated them a bit, these were her evening shoes for when the heels became too much! Me and the other bridesmaids had Converse too, I’d decorated mine with bunting and since then they have become my wedding work shoes, comfy and cute and the bunting is now everywhere!

Hannah and Ryan’s day was a really nice and relaxed. With only about 80 guests you could see that they were able to spend a good amount of time with all of their friends and family and not have to rush around just to say hi. It felt like filling a pub with your favourite people and just having nice food and drink and a bit of a dance, it was very them. They went off on honeymoon through a tunnel of sparklers, which topped off a lovely day perfectly.

The bridesmaids and myself had thrown Hannah a bit of an insane hen party, which included a zombie run in the woods, throwing powder paint at the bride, a tea party and a barn dance, as well as a minion piñata… If you’d like to see some of the photographs from that day click here. We shocked quite a few Dulwich dog walkers that day.