There are quite a few grand hotels in London that make an impressive setting for a wedding, but The Lanesborough has a particular character that sets it apart.
I’ve photographed weddings at many of London’s best-known hotels over the years – Claridge’s, The Dorchester, The Berkeley and the Mandarin Oriental among them – and I’ve recently had the chance to photograph two weddings at The Lanesborough.
It’s a very different sort of hotel. Elegant, certainly, but with a slightly more relaxed and residential feel than some of the larger London grand hotels. It feels a little like being invited into a very grand Regency house rather than checking into a hotel, which is probably why it works so well for weddings.
And then there’s Lilibet.
But more about her later…
Wedding photography at The Lanesborough
The Lanesborough sits at Hyde Park Corner, right opposite Hyde Park, so you’re in one of those wonderfully central London locations where there is an extraordinary amount going on just outside the front door.
Inside, though, it’s a different world.
There are chandeliers, marble, beautiful period detailing and a succession of rooms that give you plenty of options for photographs throughout the day. The hotel is licensed for civil ceremonies, and weddings can take place across a number of its private spaces. The Belgravia, for example, has tall windows and plenty of natural light, while the restaurant has a rather spectacular domed glass ceiling and chandeliers.
For a wedding photographer, that’s a pretty useful combination.
There are the obvious grand photographs – the sort of pictures you expect from a beautiful London hotel – but there are also lots of quieter spaces and little moments where you can step away from the formalities and photograph things as they happen.
That’s generally what I’m looking for.
Two weddings, two very different days
I’ve photographed two weddings at The Lanesborough recently, and one of the things I particularly enjoyed was seeing how differently the hotel can work depending on the couple and the way they’ve chosen to use the space.
One of the weddings had a beautifully dressed reception, and I spent some time photographing the room before the guests arrived.
I always like doing this.
There’s something slightly satisfying about photographing a wedding room when everything is perfectly in place – the flowers, tables, stationery, glasses and all those small details that have taken months to organise – just before everyone arrives and inevitably rearranges it all.
The room looked fantastic.
But once the guests arrive, of course, the room changes completely.
That’s when the more interesting photographs start to happen.
People stop looking at the flowers and start talking to each other. Champagne appears. Someone inevitably gets slightly over-excited. The bride and groom disappear in different directions. And somewhere along the way the beautifully arranged wedding becomes an actual party.
A great London wedding venue for photographs
One of the advantages of photographing a wedding at The Lanesborough is that you don’t necessarily have to spend the whole day trying to manufacture interesting backgrounds.
The hotel already has them.
The architecture and interiors give you plenty to work with, but I don’t think wedding photography should become a tour of the building. I’m much more interested in using the surroundings when they add something to the photograph, rather than dragging couples around the hotel simply because there’s a nice staircase there.
Sometimes the best photograph might be a bride standing in a corridor talking to her sister.
Or a groom waiting for the ceremony to start.
Or somebody laughing at the bar.
Or a couple taking five minutes together while everyone else is busy downstairs.
Those are often the photographs that bring the day back to life years later.
And then there’s Lilibet…
If you’re getting married at The Lanesborough, there is a reasonable chance that at some point during the day you will meet the hotel’s most important resident.
Lilibet.
She’s the hotel’s Siberian Forest Cat and has lived at The Lanesborough since 2019. She’s become something of a celebrity in her own right, with a dedicated team of staff looking after her.
I’ve now photographed Lilibet with two different brides.
It’s not something I would usually put on the shot list beforehand.
“Bride with bouquet, bridesmaids, Lilibet…”
But somehow it works.
There’s something wonderfully absurd about having a beautifully dressed bride in one of London’s grandest hotels posing with an enormous, extremely fluffy cat.
And, to be fair, Lilibet seems to know exactly what she’s doing.
Why The Lanesborough works so well for a wedding
For me, one of the biggest strengths of The Lanesborough is that it manages to feel luxurious without feeling completely untouchable.
It’s grand, but it’s not enormous.
The interiors are elegant without feeling like you’re photographing in a museum.
And because there are several different spaces within the hotel, the day can have a natural sense of progression rather than everyone spending the entire wedding in one room. The hotel itself describes its private rooms as having their own individual character, and the venue can accommodate everything from relatively intimate celebrations through to much larger wedding receptions.
The location is another big advantage.
You’re right at Hyde Park Corner, with Hyde Park immediately outside, so there is the possibility of incorporating some London surroundings into the photography as well as making the most of the hotel itself.
But ultimately, I think what makes a wedding at The Lanesborough work is the combination of all these things.
A beautiful setting.
Great service.
Fantastic interiors.
A genuinely central London location.
And, slightly unexpectedly, a cat.
Photographing weddings at The Lanesborough
After 20 years as a London wedding photographer, I’ve become increasingly convinced that the best wedding photographs aren’t necessarily the ones that look like wedding photographs.
Of course, there are times when you want the big picture – the bride and groom in a beautiful room, the whole wedding party together, the ballroom before the guests arrive.
But the photographs I tend to value most are the ones that tell me something about the people.
The expression on a bride’s face just before she walks into the ceremony.
A father trying not to cry.
Friends who haven’t seen each other for years.
Someone dancing who really shouldn’t be.
And, apparently, a bride and a large Siberian Forest Cat.
The Lanesborough provides a pretty spectacular backdrop for all of that.
And after photographing two weddings there recently, I’m looking forward to going back.
Hopefully Lilibet will be there.
