Serbian Wedding, London – Carolyn & Veljko

I just love myself some culture and if you know me, even the slightest, you know I am crazy about people, religion, culture and traveling. So when I photographed the wedding of Carolyn & Veljko at the Serbian-Orthodox church in Notting Hill during the end of May bank holiday weekend I was more than pleased. The Serbian culture has many treasures and I would recommend anyone to get involved and enjoy part of it when you can, in fact the Serbian council’s website publishes a table of events on their website every month and it’s totally worth checking it out to enjoy some of it’s music, food and festivals for the summer: http://www.serbiancouncil.org.uk/EventsThisMonth.html.

The ceremony took place in Saint Sava Serbian-Orthodox church in West London. I’ve photographed here before and love this church so much as it’s big and bright and people get to stand up around the couple throughout the ceremony which makes it really personal and close. The priests here are wonderful and at one point during the ceremony one of them even came up to me and told me to come closer and move around as much as I wanted. Wow, thank you! The service is breath taking throughout and very romantic.

After the ceremony I took the new Mr & Mrs of for a little walk around the streets of Notting Hill to get the city vibe in the pictures. We started of at a quiet street close to church with some lovely light and relaxed shots, then a 5 minute walk later we ended up on Portobello Road and found some funky backdrops to play with. It was a great little walk with some very relaxed and spontaneous photography along the way.

As we returned to the reception the party was going strong. People laughing, dancing, eating and enjoying themselves. Up and about, talking to each other, joking, laughing, drinking and having fun. It was a real treasure to witness and a real pleasure to photograph. The bride and groom was introduced and walked into the room with the Serbian flag held high and music to match in the background. People flooded to the dance floor and traditional South European dancing was in place.

C + V, where do I start? Since the first moment I met you I instantly clicked with you. It felt like I’d known you for years and on the day I felt so welcomed and relaxed by yourself, but also by your friends and family. Carolyn, you are so beautiful and I could hardly put my camera down for a second with you in front of it. I so enjoyed sharing in your wedding celebrations and truly enjoyed all your rituals and traditions throughout the day! The food was fabulous and really appreciated and your wedding cake was…what’s the word…dangerously delicious! Thank you so, so much for having me, for coming with me on our walk, for sailing through portobello road and for being so relaxed and fun throughout the day.

Lot’s of love. A