Bull and Last wedding – Kate & Pierre

Bull and Last wedding

Islington Town Hall wedding ceremony

A Bull and Last wedding last Saturday in London for Kate and Pierre. I’ve called it a Bull and Last wedding but I almost called it ‘The Magical Mystery Tour (of NW London) wedding” – just not as pithy perhaps, but more on that later. Bulls, Rings, Flowers and Cobras. More on the cobras later too.

I think it would be hard to find a nicer couple than Kate and Pierre ( and I only met them for the first time on Saturday). An elegant bride and certainly hard to find a more smiley and happy groom than Pierre. He did the circuit of the council chamber before the ceremony, laughing and joking with all their friends, before he came up to me and asked where he was supposed to stand?

A Franco/South African alliance. ( Bit of Australia thrown into the mix too)

COBRA*

It was south of the Thames, where the coverage begins, at their flat in South-East London. I was a few minutes late. Kate mentioned a quick route via some alleyways from the train station. As the bus driver did later, I took a wrong turn at one point… After preps, into the smart Mercedes with Kate and her father to Islington Town Hall – a tad early it transpired. Islington Town Hall has the nicest, most professional registrars you will find. In fact, they are so nice I do wonder if they are actually registrars, compared to the attitudes you find from some of their colleagues around the country. The town hall is also a major ‘wedding factory’. I think there were eighteen weddings there on Saturday.

As we arrived, a bride was just entering the main council chamber for her wedding ceremony. Another wedding party was gathered around the front and in the nearby bars. By the time Pierre arrived his entrance was blocked by a wedding party having a very, very long list of group photos on the front steps. At one point the wedding photographer joined the couple for pictures and then there was the hold-the-camera-above-your-head approach as the couple lay on the steps. Inside the town hall, a photographer with a Gary Fong atop his camera was hosing down another couple. Interesting watching different approaches. But it’s busy there. Another big wedding had to wait to leave the town hall, as those group shots just kept on coming, art directed by the bride’s mother. Pierre managed to squeeze past and get in.

Ceremony done, time to perform the ‘cobra’ in a side corridor!

Then outside. Smiles, hugs, a bit of confetti, more hugs and some recycled confetti by the flower girls. Then onto a red Routemaster bus, for the trip to the Bull and Last in Highgate. It was now 3 pm. However, the pub would not be ready until 4, so the idea was to do a circuit of NW London to fill the time. We did, but not as planned. Complete gridlock near King’s Cross, despite being in a bus lane. We barely moved for ages. Kate took charge. Up to the front of the bus to navigate over the driver’s shoulder. Apart from turning left instead of right, or was it right instead of left, it was one hell of a drive-by him. It was astonishing the side roads, corners, mini-roundabouts that the driver got such a big vehicle through. The height of bridges became an issue and meant driving up typical London side roads with parking either side and little space in the middle. Yet we heard no scrapes, created no dents. More to the point, didn’t get stuck, which seemed very possible?

Bull and Last pub wedding reception

We finally got to the pub, forty minutes late. The drinks were only meant to be for an hour before the meal – it meant some timetable juggling. But Kate did get serenaded by some women in a North London street as the bus passed them! (see below)

A gastropub, the Bull and Last is a favourite haunt for Kate and Pierre, despite now living ‘south of the river’. They hired the whole pub for the afternoon and evening. Drinks downstairs first, before the food and speeches upstairs.

A simple, stylish, relaxed wedding with an easygoing crowd and very chilled out couple. I love documenting a wedding like this!

Here are just a few images from this Bull and Last wedding…the day of the cobra!

Wedding dress hanging up
Tired flowergirl
Bride makeup
Bridal prep at London wedding
Helping her dad with his tie
Girls hugging
Watching the bride get ready
Shoes on
Islington Town Hall - London wedding venue
Groom outside town hall
Tearful flower girl
Main chamber in Islington Town Hall
Laughing groom
Islington Town Hall wedding
Start of the wedding ceremony
Islington wedding
Applause
Islington Town Hall wedding photography
The cobra
Kiss from groom's father
Emotional parents
Married at Islington Town Hall
Confetti outside Islington Town Hall
Fist pump from the groom
Hug for the bride
cameras
Outside the town hall
Flower girls collect confetti on the town hall steps
On the wedding bus
Wedding rings
Journey on the London wedding bus
People in the street wave to the bride
Wedding bus chat
Wedding bus party
Bull and Last wedding
Tables decorated at Bull and Last
Topping up the champagne at the Bull and Last
V for victory
Bull and Last wedding reception
Bull and Last wedding guests
Bull and Last detail
Bull and Last wedding
Bull and Last wedding reception in the pub
Preparing the croquembouche at Bull and Last
Bull and Last wedding couple portrait
Bride and groom walk back to the pub
Bull and Last wedding
Entrance of the bride and groom at Bull and Last reception
Bull and Last wedding toasts
Bull and Last wedding speech
Listening to the speeches at Bull and Last
The wedding cake

Never seen so many Fuji X100’s at a wedding – should have brought mine!

( 2 x Nikon D750’s, 20/1.8, 28/1.8, 58/1.4, 85/1.4 & 135/2.0 instead )

COBRA – It’s comes from the first few letters of their surnames*

3 Comments

  1. Gray Braatvedt says:

    What absolutely lovely photos. Candid yet so classy!

  2. Yolanda Banfield says:

    Love the lighting. You really captured the mood

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