Humble Grape wedding Photographer

Sarah and Andy

The Humble Grape

Fleet Street. | London

The Humble Grape was an inspired choice by Sarah and Andy for their new year wedding, today it’s a cosy wine bar in the shadows of Fleet Street but originally it was a crypt of St Bride’s Church. The layout allowed Sarah and Andy to create distinct areas for their wedding celebrations, with an area for the ceremony which became the dance floor later in the evening, and a separate area for their wedding breakfast plus the all important bar too. They were able to personalise the walls with photos of their time together over the past 10 years.

The Ceremony

Sarah and Andy chose Humanist celebrant, Stephanie Forster, to lead their service which was full of personal touches and memorable moments. These included a ring warming ceremony where the couple’s wedding rings are passed around all of the guests during the service and each person imbued their love and wishes onto the rings which were ‘warmed’ by the time it came to their ring exchange. They also included a really special handfasting ceremony, Sarah’s school friends bound Sarah and Andy’s hands together with coloured ribbons which were especially chosen for their symbolism such as yellow for joy and indigo for trust, and they tied the knot at the end when they pulled their hands out from the ribbons. The ceremony concluded with a burst of golden confetti.

The Wedding in Sarah and Andy’s Own Words

Andy proposed on New Years Eve in 2018. We knew from the off that we wanted a relatively informal wedding, and so we didn’t look at the typical country houses or hotels. Instead we wanted something personal that really reflected us. After what felt like months of searching Sarah stumbled across the Humble Grape on Fleet Street. In the converted crypt of St Brides Church (which is the inspiration for the traditional wedding cake shape) was a beautiful, modern wine bar complete with some of the old world majesty of a church. The perfect venue.

We had opted for a winter wedding and decided to bring some glitz and glamour with a black tie dress code. We also wanted to hold an evening event, so decided to start our ceremony at dusk, creating warmth with candles and lights.

We had a Humanist ceremony overseen by Stephanie Forster, having been legally married a few days earlier at Old Marylebone Town Hall. We worked with Stephanie to write a beautiful ceremony which was full of love and uniquely special to us.

Photography has always been a hobby of mine which I probably acquired from my dad who made me endure photo after photo through my childhood. On reflection it was a blessing and one of the main decorations we opted for at the wedding was a 5m wide collage of photos painstakingly pinned to the wall by my sister and my best men on the morning of the wedding.

Given the wedding was in the late afternoon, in winter and in a crypt we were on the hunt for a photographer who we were confident would be able to work in these conditions. We found Nick online and his portfolio blew us away. He was also very friendly and easy to correspond with – which we really appreciated.

Nick captured the mood of our wedding beautifully. The are so many incredible photos, but we particularly love the ones taken by night in the back streets of London. Thank you Nick for ensuring that we have such a wonderful record of our special day.

If you are planning your wedding and looking for a Humble Grape wedding photographer, do please get in touch – I’d love to hear from you!