Chelsea Old Town Hall Wedding: Elena and Arthur
Elena and Arthur chose the beautiful Rossetti Room at Chelsea Old Town Hall for their intimate wedding ceremony. With just 12 guests at the ceremony and a small reception afterwards, it was a relaxed and personal day with plenty of emotion and plenty of time to enjoy it.
The Rossetti Room had a particularly meaningful connection for them. Elena’s mum’s surname is Rozet, Arthur’s mum’s surname is Rose, and they live on Rossetti Avenue, so discovering the room felt like one of those little coincidences that made the choice of venue feel right.
A Short Walk Through Chelsea
After the ceremony, there was time for confetti and family photographs on the steps outside Chelsea Old Town Hall. Once the formal photographs were done, the guests headed to Ognisko in South Kensington while I took a short walk through the Chelsea streets with Elena and Arthur. These walks are always a good opportunity to capture something more natural and relaxed, without turning the photographs into a series of posed portraits.
The reception took place at Ognisko, inside the Polish Hearth Club. The grand building gave us some great opportunities for photographs, including one of my favourites of Elena walking up the staircase. It only took around five minutes to capture, but once the important photographs are safely on the camera, it is nice to experiment and see what else happens naturally. We finished with the speeches, capturing the emotion and happy tears before my three hours with them came to an end. For such an intimate wedding, three hours was enough to cover all the key parts of the day while still leaving room for some beautiful, natural photographs.
We booked Gary to photograph our ceremony at Chelsea Old Town Hall and then continue with us for part of our intimate dinner reception, and he was absolutely incredible from start to finish.
From our very first call, Gary was warm, friendly and incredibly communicative. We were still quite new to wedding planning at that stage and didn’t really know what to expect, so he was brilliant at walking us through everything and making the whole process feel much less daunting.
On the day itself, his experience really showed. He knows Chelsea Old Town Hall inside and out and was so helpful in guiding us, our families and our guests through everything. As a couple, you walk into the day feeling slightly overwhelmed because it is such a surreal experience, and Gary was fantastic at keeping things moving, managing family dynamics and requests, and making sure the focus stayed on us.
Although Gary is known for his candid style, he also took great care with the group photographs we wanted, making sure everyone was positioned properly, the light was right and nothing felt rushed. He was constantly thinking about the small details, from where people should stand to how my dress was sitting, while still making everything feel relaxed and natural.
He was also just such a lovely presence throughout the day. All of our guests commented on how friendly and professional he was, and we felt completely at ease with him.
We were absolutely thrilled with the photographs, and were amazed to receive them only around five days after the wedding. The turnaround was far quicker than we expected, and the quality was fantastic.
Gary is an incredibly talented photographer and a true professional. He brings so much experience, calm and instinct to the day, while still being open to trying different ideas and capturing moments you may not even have thought of yourself.
We genuinely couldn’t have been happier with our experience and would recommend Gary without hesitation to anyone getting married, especially at Chelsea Old Town Hall.
Thank you so much, Gary!
Elena and Arthur
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