Sanel & Necip – Hylands House

The Big Fat Cypriot Turkish Wedding Story of Senel & Necip, by London Wedding Photographer Peter Lane

Cypriot Turkish wedding in Highlands House Essex

Being wedding photographers we meet a lot of people, listen to their stories, dreams and worries. Here a short story of one amazing couple.

Once upon a time In Instagram a beautiful lady texted me: Peter, I love your work, it so different and alive… are you available for my wedding? I didn’t see it immediately and I got a phone call from a groom to be asking for a meeting. At the end of the meeting I had to say, if you like what we do you must be quick with deposit as there’s another client interested. The lady from Instagram. Then I was surprised that she is his fiancée!

All booked – full package photography and video and we started counting the time. We were very exited. Not as much as the groom who kept on contacting months before with that kind of messages: Peter, the wedding is tomorrow, lets discuss it. 

So, here the Big day. We arrived in the beautiful Essex Highlands House, such an amazing wedding venue. Two things captured our attention. The bride was calm and confident, even when everyone around her panicked about the lost bridal dress ribbon. The dress was something unique that I haven’t experienced before. I’m sure it was more than 20-30kg. I tried to lift it up and hang in corridor for a dress shot and I couldn’t. I had to ask my assistant to help me up.   

Senel & Necip celebrates and amazing Cypriot wedding by the Turkish traditions, music and food. Our team of wedding photographers and videographers had a great time and wish you guys long life, health and happiness! 

For those of you planning a wedding soon, feel free to contact and please take a look at our portfolio, incl the videography portfolio.

 

Wedding photography trends

Wedding photography trend – the before and after 

Being a full time professional wedding photographer for 15+ years already, I have always been looking at the trends and trying to adapt and please my clients. Upgrading cameras, lens,  computers, software, etc. every year. 

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You’ve probably been fascinated to find and look at your grannies albums. Accomplished by old primitive technology but the photos look so refined and everything looks put on the right place – poses, expressions, light. Photography equipment was expensive when I started my career and photographers were knowledgable and skilled with their profession. This month we decided to expand our presence in UK and opened a casting for new photographers. 1 out of 100 attracted our attention. 80% of them were educated in photography and arts. Such a waste of parents money! Tragedy for the industry and even bigger tragedy for those brides who will book them. 

I love the new technology and the way it contributes to photographer’s creativity. Same time I want to cry when I look at the mass wedding photos out there together with the wedding albums. Everything looks so cheap! Having a special and expensive event and to end up with mediocre memories, it’s a nonsense for me. This year many professional photography studios closed down after 20-30 years of full time professional work and great feedback from clients. This is the reality of wedding photography 2.0 and the word is C H E A P. Let’s name it in another term “fast food wedding photography”. Do I need to explain more? 

Every year more professional wedding photographers will close down. To remain on full time service a photographer should be able to afford the often gear and software upgrades together with the corresponding learning curve and unfair competition. Our photos will look plastic and not important. In a given moment the bridal party will change the photographer with a selfie stick. 

There is a bright side though. And of course bright brides and grooms who appreciate the good everlasting wedding photography. We’ve always been concentrated on educating our clients and stay on the bright side. We’re blessed to remain full time wedding photographers having clients locally in London, whole UK and in other countries. We’ll continue to upgrade, learn and give more until we have awaken clients who appreciate our work. 

Wine and wedding photographers

Choosing your Wedding Photographer

how to choose a wedding photographer?

The Event Planner – Wedding photographer’s Best Friend 

This post is based on my conversations with leading London event and wedding planners and caterers like: Perrys Weddings, Niemierko, Quintessentially weddings team, Ali Welsh Events, Arens Caterers and others.

We, the wedding photographers rely on our good communication and relations with event planners. It’s a blessing to work with established high-end wedding planners as they cover a huge part of our communication with the client and vouch for us.

“The photographers are like the wine, said once Mr Errol Perry (the owner of Perrys Weddings – North London, Winchmore Hill), some people like red wine another white or rose.” He added, we are happy to supply different but nice quality “wine” to our clients.

Think about it, how many photographers get recommended by high-end event planners? Just a fraction of the mountain of “professional wedding photographers” out there. Here is a good moment for you to read my article about “The professional wedding photographer”. Good wedding planners are very cautious to recommend wedding photographers, being very picky to protect their reputation and your wedding day.

I like the wine comparison. Everyone has a particular taste, even bride and groom who share the wedding have different preferences and vision about their wedding and wedding photography. But think about it, you don’t drink and never tried in your life. You’ve been watching how others do it and now you have a serious location to buy your first bottle of wine. So, which one? Red, white, fizzy … documentary photographer, artistic photographer, local or destination photographer, etc. which one?

You start asking around and everyone recommends different colour and brand that you haven’t heard of before. You read all brilliant reviews, hear testimonials, people share experience but for you this is still an abstraction. You decide to test them all having different experience – headache, hangover, nice tingle … Here is the moment where the wine comparison ends. 

We’re trusted experts in the wedding industry

Choosing your wedding photographer is a very serious decision and you have to dedicate time and take your homework seriously. You can’t test your photographers and you don’t buy a tangible product. You trust this person and book him based on his work to other people.

We’re happy to educate you and introduce you to an unknown to you field and moment of your life. You don’t get married every day, right? So, we’re the experts and will show you the real truth behind the lens. Our team is excited to meet you and hear your story. We’ll go through the wedding day and give you precious tips how to improve your overall wedding experience. If you don’t feel the click we’ll be happy to recommend another wedding photographer.

Curious Wedding facts – you won’t believe it!

Wedding facts – you won’t believe it!

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  • 1. 52% of couples don’t have wedding-night sex
  • 2. 52 songs – the ideal playlist for a three-hour party
  • 3. 2.5 inches – the optimum heel height for blister-free, dance-all-night happy feet
  • 4. 65% of grooms hire a suit
  • 5. 45 seconds – how long it takes to glide down the aisle, on average
  • 6. Out of all the different destination weddings you have to chose from, Las Vegas is the most popular with more than 100,000 weddings there every year and Hawaii is second, home to 25,000 each year.
  • 7. The tradition that brides wear a white dress in the Western world was started by Queen Victoria in 1840. Until she set the trend, brides wore their finest gown to wed their groom. Japan happened to be way ahead of Queen Victoria as white was always the preferred colour for brides.
  • 8. The tradition of a wedding cake comes from ancient Rome, they used to break a loaf of bread over a bride’s head for good luck. In the 17th century, a French baker decided to frost a stack of buns -creating the world’s first tiered wedding cake!\
  • 9. The largest wedding attendance was a Jewish wedding in Jerusalem in 1993 where 30, 000 people attended.
  • 10. February 10th is World Marriage Day.
  • 11. About 70% of all brides wear their ring on the fourth finger of their left hand.
  • 12. Queen Victoria started the Western world’s white wedding dress trend in 1840 – before then, brides simply wore their best dress.
  • 13. In Japan, white was always the colour of choice for wedding dresses – long before Queen Victoria popularized it in the Western world.
  • 14. A Malaysian man holds the record for being the best man at over 1000 weddings.
  • 15. Princess Victoria established the tradition of playing Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus” during her wedding processional in 1858. 
  • 16. Stag parties were first held by ancient Spartan soldiers, who kissed their bachelor days goodbye with a raucous party.
  • 17. The longest wedding dress was found in Germany with a length of 515 feet.
  • 18. In Chine 26, 000 couples get married every day.
  • 19. Seventeen tons of gold are made into wedding rings each year in the United States! 
  • 20. The most expensive wedding cost over £22 million and was held in a purpose built stadium in Dubai for a Sheikh’s son.
  • 21. Peas are thrown at Czech newlyweds instead of rice.
  • 22. Temulji Nairman and Lady Nairman hold the record for the longest ever recorded marriage of 86 years. They were married at 5 years old.
  • 23. In many cultures around the world the hands of a bride and groom are literally tied together to demonstrate the couple’s commitment to each other and their new bond as a married couple. This is the origin of the phrase “Tying the know” 
  • 24. In 1976 Los Angeles secretary Jannene Swift officially married a 50lb rock. The ceremony was witnessed by more than 20 people. 
  • 25. 67% of women continue to wear the same fragrance they wore on their wedding day
    26. The tradition of the bride wearing something old (for continuity), new (optimism for the future), borrowed (borrowed happiness), and blue (fidelity, good fortune, and love) on her wedding day stems from an Old English rhyme.
  • 27. An engagement between a Mexican couple lasted for 67 years before they finally tied the knot in 1969.
  • 28. Elton John’s once charged £2 million to secure him singing at a wedding.
  • 29. Harry Bidwell of Brighton was 101when he was divorced from his 65-year-old wife in 1980.
  • 30. 39 per cent of women were involved in picking out their own engagement ring.
  • 31. Queen Victoria’s wedding cake was three yards wide and weighed 300 pounds.
  • 32. Queen Elizabeth II had 12 wedding cakes. The one she cut at her wedding was nine feet tall and weighed 500 pounds.

Having a career of 15+ years as a wedding photographer I would add lots of spicy stuff but I think you already had enough to read for today. Looking for top quality wedding photographer or wedding videographer ? Peter Lane Photography team will be happy to cooperate.

Cenk & Bahire – Turkish wedding

The Big Fat Cypriot Turkish Wedding Story of Cenk & Bahire, by Turkish Wedding Photographer Peter Lane

The North London Turkish Cypriot  community often  calls me – The Turkish Wedding Photographer of London, and as a wedding photographer we meet a lot of people, listen to their stories, dreams and worries.

We’re always happy to photograph or film in the beautiful wedding venue – Braxted Park in Essex. When Cenk & Bahire visited us and shared their wedding plans we were so excited. Especially happy that the whole wedding will take place in one location, which is a guarantee for lots of beautiful photos and peace of mind for bride and groom.

As a wedding photographer I was glad to have a mountain of time for the preps shots, applying different techniques and lighting setups. Such a stress free and relaxed couple, pleasure to work with.

The weather was nice and bright, no rain at all, allowing us to explore the beautiful estate and having the ceremony outdoor.

Spending the day with the couple was a blessing. We were highly honoured to document their big day.

Food and catering – 5 stars, carefully organised by Yusuf and his Complete Wedding Services team. Nice looking, fresh and plenty.

Braxted park wedding team was very cooperative keeping everything on time and sharing ideas and advices how to make the photo shoots smooth and quick.

It was pleasure to work with Mario wedding videographer from TVP weddings, can’t wait to see the video.

Dear couple, it was an amazing Cypriot Turkish wedding, we truly enjoyed and wish you long life and all the happiness in the world!