Benny & Ros // A One Whitehall Place Wedding
Thank you Benny and Ros for asking me to be your One Whitehall Place Wedding Photographer! I always love shooting at One Whitehall Place, part of the Royal Horseguards Hotel and this was by no means an exception. A wonderful winter wedding full of love, smiles and laughter. Read all about Benny and Ros’ wedding below.
How did you guys meet?
We met at a party of a mutual friend, Lee – who we embarrassed by us giving him a shout out TWICE during the wedding! We still argue about who talked to who first… Let’s just say we’d both had a few Jack Daniels and Coke at that point! But we got on really well, had our first date the week after, and the rest (as they say) is history.
Tell me a bit about yourselves
We live in East London and have been together nearly 8 years. Benny works in data analysis and I’m a civil servant. We’re pretty relaxed people, who enjoy good food (and, let’s be honest, bad food!), a dram of nice whiskey and travelling.
How did the proposal go down?
Very well! We were on holiday in Cambodia – Benny popped the question at sunset while we were on a remote island called Koh Rong Samleom. Afterwards we watched some crabs scuttling by and the twinkling of the phosphorescent plankton once the sun had disappeared. Then we went to a beach bar for a burger and a beer to celebrate! We didn’t tell anyone else until we got back to the WiFi of Bangkok five days later.
How did you choose your wedding venue?
We found a few contenders online, but only went to view one in the flesh – One Whitehall Place / The Royal Horseguards – and, as soon as we saw it, we knew it was the one. We wanted something with a sense of history and a unique aesthetic, and this venue has those in spades. It feels grand and cosy at the same time, which is quite a feat! Also, its location was a massive plus – central London at Christmas is so magical (not to mention relatively easy to get to for guests!).
What sort of experience did you want your guests to have?
We wanted them to have a day that was fun and intimate, with a lot of laughter. We wanted the ceremony to be personal and inclusive, which it really was – with a lot of thanks due to our celebrant, Frances Lane, for helping us to do that. Lots of food and drink was a must! And we are real music lovers, so having an eclectic mix of music throughout the day was also important to us – and we had a really great string quartet playing our favourites during the ceremony and reception, and a really fun DJ (Disco Shed) spinning the tunes in the evening.
Can you describe some of the details and stylings, did your wedding have a theme?
We didn’t go overboard on the styling side – as the venue is so ornate and historic, it didn’t need much embellishment! Given our wedding was the week before Christmas, there were a few festive touches (if not necessarily a theme!). We were pretty lucky, in that the venue had put up Christmas trees and decorations. At our ceremony, our celebrant held up mistletoe when it was time for us to kiss, which was fun! We had beautiful candelabras as centrepieces on the tables, which were provided by the venue. We had small festive favours (chocolates) and Christmas crackers, and our petit fours were jazzy mince pies. We had a table plan that was based on the monopoly board, which we got from a designer on Etsy, with our destinations / tables named after various important places in our lives together so far. This also loosely linked to our invites and stationery, which I illustrated with a London skyline design. We enjoyed doing some creative things like designing the invites and putting the favours together ourselves, as it was fun (if a bit stressful at times!) and felt personal.
What was your best decision during the wedding planning?
The venue we chose was absolutely fantastic and we have zero regrets going with them. I think the fact that the venue did fantastic food and we had a price-per-head that included (a good amount of) food, drink etc, which made life a lot easier than having to sort separate catering. We were really fortunate to have chosen great suppliers to work with – including Winston (obviously!), who was really nice, open and helpful, as well as an insanely talented photographer! The other thing was choosing a winter wedding. We wanted one from the outset, but did have some worries about the weather and the limited light at that time of year. But it was incredible – the Christmassy feel did add even more magic to our day and really suited our choice of venue, with lots of soft candlelight etc…winter weddings can be really special, cosy, and intimate. We’re really, really happy that we had ours at this time of year.
What was the hardest decision?
Guest lists are always tricky! And timings… We underestimated how long it would take for bridal and bridesmaids’ hair and make-up would take in the morning. Which led to some delays in getting down the aisle on the day! It was all fine in the end – but probably would add a second make-up and hair person in retrospect.
What were your favourite memories of the day?
There are so many it is hard to highlight just a few! We really loved our ceremony – it was funny, yet incredibly moving – and we had a great boogie in the evening with everyone which was great. Winston was great in getting us out and about for photos on the South Bank and on Hungerford Bridge in front of the London Eye – that was really fun, given the Christmas markets and lots of people milling about that didn’t expect to see a bride and groom wandering around! We got some incredible photos – and a bit of time together away from everyone else to just absorb everything that was going on.
What advice would you have for any couples planning their wedding?
Don’t panic! It will all come together. And try to plan and track to an overall budget from the start – as it is very easy to start losing the thread of how much you’re spending the closer you are to the day. We decided early on what we would prioritise in terms of our spend – for example, some live music, a great photographer, and good food and drink were really important to us, while other things like fancy chair covers and ornate flower arrangements were less so. It is highly personal, but knowing what’s most important to you is a good basis for planning.
Superstar wedding suppliers who helped make this wedding amazing:
Venue: The Royal Horseguards Hotel // One Whitehall Place
Celebrant: Frances Lane
Hair and Makeup artist: Lipstick and Curls
String Quartet: Richmond Strings
DJ: Disco Shed
I’m a Norfolk Wedding Photographer who frequently masquerades as a London Wedding Photographer, traveling all over the country and beyond capturing beautiful weddings. If you’d like a One Whitehall Place Wedding Photographer, or a wedding photographer for anywhere in the UK or further afield, please do get in touch!