Jenny

Lucy and Dan at ASYLUM CHAPEL london

Posted on March 10, 2023March 10, 2023 by Jenny in Blog

Lucy and Dan’s wedding hold’s so many favourites for me; My first wedding at a favourite venue Asylum Chapel in South London, My favourite party chaos photo ever (scroll down to the guy clutching a beer, a teddy bear and a coffee whilst trying to escape!) and one of my first images to win anything…ok technically not my favourite but it’s a good one! Lucy being walked down the aisle by her beaming Dad.

Asylum Chapel is basically a dry hire venue, they provide chairs and candles and the rest is up to you! Lucy and Dan chose to move their party to Black Swan Studios but only after a self-hosted drink reception on the steps outside. Bridesmaids and ushers served bottled beer and wine as guests gathered to congratulate the couple and get ready for their confetti shot.

Both Lucy and Dan repeatedly told me they were more interested in getting relaxed fun shots of the day as it happened over long lines of group shots or awkward poses, these guys were totally perfect for me (and the fact Lucy worked for Industrial Light & Magic didn’t hurt either!) They celebrated their cake cutting together with a friend who just happened to be having a birthday on the same day and I left them partying into the night.

Supplier List

Venue – Asylum Chapel London and Black Swan Studios

Photographer – Magpie-Eye Photography

Dress – Berketex Brides

Suit – Joshua Kane

Couples Shoots

Posted on March 3, 2023March 3, 2023 by Jenny in Uncategorized

AKA Try before you buy

Call it what you want; an engagement shoot, couples shoot, pre-wedding shoot! However you slice it these shoots are awesome.

They give you a chance to actually meet and hang out with me for a bit so I’m not a virtual stranger turning up on your wedding day.
You get time to get used to being around a camera.
The shots we get can be used on save the dates, invites, wedding websites or any other part of venue styling (I promise not to share the outtakes with your best wo/man!)
You can really focus on your relationship and a location that means something to you.

Let’s face it there’s a whole heap of trust in booking a wedding photographer and I want to give you the chance to try me out before you commit to that final decision. For this reason, I currently offer a 90 minute photoshoot for £199. You’ll get around 70-80 images delivered in an online gallery from which you can chose 10 high res downloads at no extra cost. If you like what you see and you want to book me for your wedding day just let me know and I will deduct this cost from your invoice. Any questions just drop me a line, I’m always happy to advise and love hearing couple’s ideas for their shoots.

Heather & Chris at Marylebone Town Hall

Posted on March 3, 2023 by Jenny in Uncategorized

If you’re thinking about a London wedding chances are you’ve got ‘registry office and a pub?’ written somewhere on your To do list. It’s a popular choice for a reason and just because lots of people use registry offices doesn’t mean you can’t make ‘the legal bit’ personal to you.

Heather and Chris chose Marylebone Town Hall based in central London for their legal ceremony and the Soho Room was perfect for their intimate, family only event. The Powder Room really leant itself to the 50s vibe that Heather emanates so effortlessly and one of personal highlights was her shoes. Hand painted to match her tattoos and in keeping with the overall colour palette they were an absolute show-stopper!

Supplier List

Venue – Old Marylebone Town Hall

Photographer – Magpie-Eye Photography

Dress – Fairy Goth Mother

Bouquet – Hand-made by bride

Shoes – Le Soulier

PHOTOGRAPHY PAYMENT PLANS – 2023

Posted on January 13, 2023 by Jenny in Blog

Ok so I’ve been wracking my brains over the last few months, thinking how I can help keep my work accessible during the current cost of living crisis here in the UK.

I firmly believe that everyone deserves amazing photos of their wedding day and the investment is worth every penny – after all, what else will you have to look back on decades from now. However, we’ve all been hit by these price hikes and are all looking at ways to save, or spread costs wherever possible. With this in mind I’ve decided to offer Payment Plans to anyone who might need it this year.

Here’s the deal;

Interest Free – my aim is to help, not get people into debt so costs will remain the same whether you choose to pay it all upfront or split the cost.
Deposit required – in order to secure your date you will still need to pay an initial deposit this is due to the fact I will be turning away other enquiries based on your booking.
Minimum Booking of 6 hours – this is simply to ensure my costs are covered with the split payments.
Monthly payments based on 30% of balance owed after deposit are standard, however I am open to other plans where needed.

For more info drop me an email and I’d be happy to discuss options openly and honestly.

2022 Round-UP

Posted on December 30, 2022 by Jenny in Blog

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! What a year that was – the first ‘proper’ year of weddings without Covid restrictions and you guys were REALLY ready to party. I’ve fallen in love with Reception party photography all over again thanks to my amazing couples and their families (keep an eye on insta for the upcoming reel!) and hope to be shooting a lot longer into the night in 2023.

This year I managed to photograph not one, not two, but three old friend’s weddings and each was an absolute blast. From stetsons to drag queens, smoke bombs to tube trains and THAT black velvet dress, I left every single party beaming from ear to ear and desperate to get those shots off my camera and onto my laptop to take a look at what we captured.

On a personal note this will forever be the year I lost my beloved cat Cotton, which I still find hard to believe happened at times, but wanted to thank everyone who was kind enough to allow me some space to grieve before jumping back into shoots and emails, truly you’ve no idea how much that meant to me. As you will know if you follow me on insta we now have a new member of the family; Spider who is currently working on his harness training skills – this time next year I’ll be that crazy lady walking my cat down the street on a lead :)

After a long hiatus I also managed a couple of styled shoots this year, something I love and miss doing from my days as a producer with Guinness World Records but, as I learned to my detriment this year, really need to be all done and dusted by Spring before wedding season really kicks off so yet another huge thank you to all the lovely models and suppliers who waited so patiently whilst I juggled our collabs with client bookings.

2022 led me to a ton of awesome venues too; Gods Own Junkyard in Walthamstow has been on my list longer than I can remember, also St Dunstans in The East and the brilliant Battersea Park Bandstand. Some of my favourite suppliers of the year have to be Petal & Metal who designs incredible bridal ‘adornments’, Orhan London Tailoring who made and designed Nathan’s incredible velvet dress, Dance Floor Fillers achieved the impossible and got me up and dancing after 9 hours on my feet! (SO much better than that name suggests, promise).

Thanks to Kate and Rich this year I managed to offer something I’ve never seen before; an on the day social media image that you can share however you wish before you even cut that cake if you want!

Looking forward to 2023 now I’m starting early at the fabulous Quirky Wedding Fair on January 28th (3 days before my birthday so feel free to come say Hi and happy almost birthday). I’m hoping to get shooting more dancing and parties so if you’ve got an engagement party coming up get in touch – kinda like a try before you buy! I’ve just confirmed a stunning styled shoot at Proud Brighton with some incredible suppliers and of course I have heaps of incredible wedding bookings tantalisingly close. If you are interested in booking this year drop me a line, I still have a few spaces left and would love to hear more about you and your plans.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

Have you shot at our venue before?

Posted on December 29, 2022 by Jenny in Blog

Something that comes up fairly often when speaking with people planning their wedding is the age old question ‘Have you shot at this venue before?’ I’m fairly sure it’s a staple on any ‘10 things you should ask your wedding photographer’ style lead magnets put out by all the big-wig wedding industry people at least once a year. Needless to say the short answer is pretty simple – but the long answer is probably more valid when looking at who you want to photograph your wedding. If this has come up in your planning read on to find out more about my take on why this does, and perhaps more importantly does NOT, matter as much as you may think.

It all starts with style – I always advise to aim for three things when choosing a photographer; style, budget and personality – there are SO many types of wedding photography and in case you’ve stumbled across this blog without seeing my work somehow, I mainly shoot documentary – this means unposed, undirected simply capturing the day as it unfolds. My clients want personal, relaxed and unique shots that tell the story of their day. I shoot in all different types of venues from dimly lit underground bars in Soho to great big festival style weddings in the glaring sunshine. I LOVE the diversity of the weddings I shoot and familiarity with a location doesn’t even cross my mind when I’m prepping for a shoot. Personal preference aside there is another reason that prior experience at a venue matters less than you might think – weather! As all Londoners know, the weather – and therefore light – can turn in a second here, it could be overcast and grey one minute then blazing sun the next. Sunset ranges from around 4pm in winter through to 9pm in summer – this changes the position of the sun at certain times as well as what time and where you need to rely on additional lighting.

This is where being a documentary photographer really pays off. So with all that experience from all different venues in all different weathers at all different times of year we can really make the most of YOUR wedding day, how it looked on that exact day in that exact place at that exact time. Sure there’s a market for identikit wedding photos where you are guaranteed the same shots as everyone else who got married at your venue but if you’re after something unique this question is really not one you should be too worried about.

Top Image – Waltham Forest Town Hall

Middle Image – Battersea Park Bandstand

Bottom Image

Dave and Nathan at Soho House

Posted on December 29, 2022 by Jenny in Uncategorized

Dave first contacted me in 2020…I THINK! It was THAT long ago I think we probably both lost track but I always remember they had booked a drag queen for their reception so naturally I was hyped from day one and knew this would be a party to remember.

As the years ticked past their plans faded to almost legendary status in my mind until one sunny day in June when we finally met face-to-face and embarked upon a tour (nay, a traipse!) around East London for their pre-wedding shoot. Unsurprisingly Nathan’s bright blue mohawk made me fall even more in love with these two and I was so excited they were back on track with their plans.

Three months later – on the second hottest day of the year – I nervously texted Dave to check if their venue, The Soho Hotel, had air-con and received the reply ‘Yes! We were concerned ourselves especially as Nathan in wearing velvet!’ Inspired by Christian Siriano’s gown for Billy Porter, Orhan Tailoring created this sensational velvet Tuxedo Dress for Nathan as well as David’s Made-To-Measure silk damask jacket.

Guests were (almost!) equally as fabulous serving sequined jackets, denim hot-pants, feathers and….French Renaissance Drag! Both sharing a love of Lego Dave and Nathan chose to hand build their lego flowers as well as one of the best little couple dioramas I’ve ever seen.

I can’t write this full blog without giving credit to Dave’s Dad who gave one of the most moving speeches I’ve ever heard as he talked about his son’s journey and how it inspired him to do better, be better and ultimately stand as an active LGBTQIA+ ally today. Dave was kind enough to share the video with me and if you scroll to the bottom of this page there is a link to see if you wish.

Unsurprisingly the day ended with drinking and dancing all round, I was so grateful to stay a little longer than usual as this dancefloor was kicking off! An hour or so in, the happy couple reappeared in matching hot pants and sequined bum-bags ready to dance until the early hours.

Supplier List

Venue/catering @firmdale_hotels

Flowers @lego

Make up @gilmourqueen

Wedding Attire @orhanlondontailoring

Cake @lolas_cupcakes

Drag Queen @scarletdiamonte

DJ @djliamofficial

Rings @gold.coast.jewellers

@jennyellen150
Beautiful speech I will remember for many many years 🏳️‍🌈❤️🏳️‍🌈 #nontraditionalwedding #nontraditionalweddingphotographer #londonweddingphotographer #loveislove #lgbtqia #Lgbtally #weddingspeech #groom #alternativewedding #sohohotel #londonwedding #brightonweddingphotographer
♬ original sound – Magpie-Eye Photography

Kate and Rich in BRIGHTON

Posted on December 29, 2022December 29, 2022 by Jenny in Blog

Supplier List

Photography – @magpie.eye.weddings

Dress: @dig_for_victory

Jacket: @sammyleasretro

Ring: @the_illustrated_jeweller

Bouquet: @bloomskyflowers

Table flowers: @foxlightflowerfarm

Groom’s shirt: @hawaiianshirtshopuk

Groom’s suit: @ASOS

Cake: @hamptoncakes

Crepes: @ouicreperie

Mesmerist Bar @mesmeristbar

The Garden Bar @thegardenbarhove

Liz and Stu in Stokey

Posted on December 29, 2022March 9, 2023 by Jenny in Blog

Liz and Stu chose to marry in the gorgeously art deco Stoke Newington Town Hall. A London couple to the core, they met in a pub here many years ago when both Liz and I worked together as bartenders. She thought Stu was in a band playing that night so gave him free drinks only to find out later that he worked in IT and was just a friend of the lead singer. He bought her a shot of Tuaca and they spent the next decade (or more!) partying their way around most of North London’s pubs and clubs and are still often found propping up the bar and making new friends wherever they go.

It probably goes without saying that I jumped at the chance to photograph their wedding day and knew Liz well enough to know she would spare no time in making this wedding look hot as shit! She’s a talented designer and always had an incredible eye for detail…though I’m not sure anyone thought she’d go as far as banning an entire colour from the day (play spot the rebellious blue details from the bridal party!) I mean if you’re gonna have a colour palette you want it to work right!

As you can see the whole event was a delight for the eyeballs (THAT headdress anyone!? I swear I gasped when I first saw it!) and I love the fact I’ve bumped into these two since at another wedding I was shooting, Stu was in his wedding suit and Liz was in her wedding shoes – no one-wear use with these two! Scroll to the bottom for supplier details in this one, and if you’ve got any questions just drop me a line.