Cecil Sharp House WeddingsA wedding photographer's guide
2 Regent’s Park Rd, London NW1 7AY
Legendary Cultural Music Venue in Camden London
VENUE SUMMARY
LOCATION:
London, UK
ADDRESS:
2 Regent’s Park Rd, London NW1 7AY
STYLE:
Flexible arts centre with variety of spaces
CAPACITY:
150 – 300
WHAT WE LOVE:
A building with charm, colour & history. Cecil Sharp House offers plenty of outdoor garden space and various rooms to suit different sizes of weddings or to spill out for different parts of your wedding day. The perfect relaxed, stress-free environment for documentary style London wedding photographers & videographers to thrive.
CECIL SHARP HOUSE – A RELAXED CAMDEN VENUE PERFECT FOR SPONTANEOUS WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY MOMENTS
Documentary, candid, reportage – whichever name you choose for it the spontaneous, unposed style of wedding photography we love is really based on people, not places. However it’s fair to say that whilst the location itself may not always directly affect our photographs, certain venues do seem to lend themselves to an informal, relaxed atmosphere, and when you’re looking to photograph people being people, relaxation can often be the key to the most intriguing and visually impactful moments.
It’s perhaps no surprise that the British home of folk music is definitely the kind of venue that encourages a ‘good old fashioned knees up’. The vibe is easy-going, the background colourful and the ability to hold ceremony, reception, drinks and dancing all in one place means that the logistics are largely taken care of so everyone can stay in the moment rather than worrying about what comes next. Happily for us, staying in the moment is what our photography and videography is all about!
Looking for videographers or photographers for your wedding at Cecil Sharp House?
If you're getting married at Cecil Sharp House and are looking to stay in the moment and have your day captured in photo & film completely non intrusively we'd love to talk!
LET'S TALKABOUT THE VENUE – CECIL SHARP HOUSE
Around the corner from Regents Park and London Zoo (itself an unusual venue to potentially host part of your wedding day if you so choose!) Cecil Sharp House is the Grade II historic home to the English Folk Dance and Song society and a working arts venue which hosts regular performances. Charming history aside, that active live venue status means that Cecil Sharp House brings a number of additional interesting options for your wedding.
For starters the huge Kennedy Hall (capable of hosting 200 seated dinner guests) has a permanent fixed stage with lighting, sound and even an a/v package available – absolutely perfect for a live band (folk or otherwise!) to get the dancefloor rocking! Then there’s also the option to replace the light of the double-story windows with a complete black-out, enabling you to light up the space however you want to create your own unique atmosphere. The beautiful mural lining the walls though certainly provides plenty of visual impact without further augmentation (and makes a great colourful background in the photographs!)
Kennedy Hall though isn’t the only great space at Cecil Sharp House though. The slightly smaller but equally flexible Trefusis Hall offers banqueting capacity for 80 guests or 100 seated theatre style. With direct access into the beautiful, spacious gardens it’s the perfect space to hold a wedding blessing before spilling out for drinks in the garden, before dinner in either of the main halls.
There are also plenty of other spill-out rooms (including an alternative 60 capacity ceremony / dinner space) all fully accessible, a real ale bar and in-house furniture to avoid any additional hires. With a central position close to Camden Town tube station, parking available and of course London’s many airports easily accessible it’s the perfect location for a London city wedding.
In our wide experience as wedding photographers and videographers at so many London weddings we’ve found that there are not too many city venues that offer as much flexibility as Cecil Sharp house (and even fewer with a lovely enclosed garden space to enjoy!) That’s what makes it one of our absolute favourite settings for a relaxed London wedding.
For starters the huge Kennedy Hall (capable of hosting 200 seated dinner guests) has a permanent fixed stage with lighting, sound and even an a/v package available – absolutely perfect for a live band (folk or otherwise!) to get the dancefloor rocking! Then there’s also the option to replace the light of the double-story windows with a complete black-out, enabling you to light up the space however you want to create your own unique atmosphere. The beautiful mural lining the walls though certainly provides plenty of visual impact without further augmentation (and makes a great colourful background in the photographs!)
Kennedy Hall though isn’t the only great space at Cecil Sharp House though. The slightly smaller but equally flexible Trefusis Hall offers banqueting capacity for 80 guests or 100 seated theatre style. With direct access into the beautiful, spacious gardens it’s the perfect space to hold a wedding blessing before spilling out for drinks in the garden, before dinner in either of the main halls.
There are also plenty of other spill-out rooms (including an alternative 60 capacity ceremony / dinner space) all fully accessible, a real ale bar and in-house furniture to avoid any additional hires. With a central position close to Camden Town tube station, parking available and of course London’s many airports easily accessible it’s the perfect location for a London city wedding.
In our wide experience as wedding photographers and videographers at so many London weddings we’ve found that there are not too many city venues that offer as much flexibility as Cecil Sharp house (and even fewer with a lovely enclosed garden space to enjoy!) That’s what makes it one of our absolute favourite settings for a relaxed London wedding.
COVERING YOUR BASES - CHOOSING A FLEXIBLE VENUE
The UK has so much to offer in its rich variety of venues of every style and setting. London alone can offer everything from a beautiful country mansion to an actual working brewery to hotels, industrial warehouses, historic cultural venues like Cecil Sharp House to pubs and even a hidden underground victorian bathhouse!
One thing the UK definitely can’t offer though is a guarantee of good weather.
After so many years of working as photographers and videographers almost exclusively for weddings the key things we’ve realised from a practical point of view when it comes to choosing a wedding venue is that it’s usually best, where possible, to choose somewhere that offers plenty of flexibility to allow you to adjust your plans quickly and without any undue stress if it becomes necessary for any reason at all, but particularly due to the unpredictable weather!
One of the best features of venues like Cecil Sharp House is the outdoor space which is always really lovely to have available, particularly for drinks receptions but even for the ceremony itself. Cecil Sharp House has a particular advantage over many London wedding venues in this regard in that the gardens are very much a contained, private space, free from prying eyes and allowing for kids to run around freely without any worry for their parents. To us it’s so important that everyone feel completely relaxed on your wedding day (especially you!) and so this really can be a huge advantage.
Parenting on a wedding day isn’t always easy yet it’s always really lovely for children to be there, particularly when you the bride and groom have a relationship with them. To us kids can really bring something amazing to weddings, particularly when they’re free to roam! As street documentary wedding photographers we absolutely thrive on spontaneity and people being themselves, and there’s no-one more spontaneous or real than a child at play!
One thing the UK definitely can’t offer though is a guarantee of good weather.
After so many years of working as photographers and videographers almost exclusively for weddings the key things we’ve realised from a practical point of view when it comes to choosing a wedding venue is that it’s usually best, where possible, to choose somewhere that offers plenty of flexibility to allow you to adjust your plans quickly and without any undue stress if it becomes necessary for any reason at all, but particularly due to the unpredictable weather!
One of the best features of venues like Cecil Sharp House is the outdoor space which is always really lovely to have available, particularly for drinks receptions but even for the ceremony itself. Cecil Sharp House has a particular advantage over many London wedding venues in this regard in that the gardens are very much a contained, private space, free from prying eyes and allowing for kids to run around freely without any worry for their parents. To us it’s so important that everyone feel completely relaxed on your wedding day (especially you!) and so this really can be a huge advantage.
Parenting on a wedding day isn’t always easy yet it’s always really lovely for children to be there, particularly when you the bride and groom have a relationship with them. To us kids can really bring something amazing to weddings, particularly when they’re free to roam! As street documentary wedding photographers we absolutely thrive on spontaneity and people being themselves, and there’s no-one more spontaneous or real than a child at play!
But if the conditions switch and things need to move indoors it’s great to have a space you can retreat to without it feeling like a squeeze. If you’re getting married and holding your reception in the same space (another great way to relieve any stress on the day of additional travel!) then there’s often a turnaround involved where staff transform the space from one layout to another. With venues like Cecil Sharp House not only do you have the garden space available in good weather so the guests aren’t crowding around moving tables, you also have a multitude of other spaces available for them to be if the weather happens to be, well, British!
Cecil Sharp House even has a smaller space that could make for a great creche if you needed somewhere to keep the kids entertained should the outdoor space be unavailable due to weather! Additional space is often a rare sight in London wedding venues but definitely should be one of your considerations in finding the perfect space for you.
Cecil Sharp House even has a smaller space that could make for a great creche if you needed somewhere to keep the kids entertained should the outdoor space be unavailable due to weather! Additional space is often a rare sight in London wedding venues but definitely should be one of your considerations in finding the perfect space for you.
“For us as photographers and videographers all we really want to see on a wedding day is everyone relaxed and enjoying themselves… This is probably the only time everyone you know and love will be in the same place at the same time.”
For us as photographers and videographers all we really want to see on a wedding day is everyone relaxed and enjoying themselves. This is probably the only time everyone you know and love will be in the same place at the same time and so venues like Cecil Sharp House where you can easily keep everyone together with the flexibility for everything to happen in one space whatever the weather you get to really enjoy that time and us it to its max. For us that’s one of the things that make Cecil Sharp House the perfect private London city central setting for our style of documentary wedding photography and videography to thrive.
Talk to us about your Cecil Sharp House Wedding
As you can probably tell we pretty much love this venue! Cecil Sharp House is a documentary wedding photographer's dream, especially for our unique hybrid street photography approach! If you're planning a Cecil Sharp House Wedding we'd love to speak to you about your wedding photography and videography needs!
GET IN TOUCH
How to get there
BY CAR:
– Limited spaces on site for wedding car and loading
– On street-parking near the venue (free at weekends and after 6:30pm on weekdays)
– Additional paid parking available at Lomax car park Pratt St. (10mins walk)
PUBLIC TRANSPORT (RECOMMENDED):
Tube – Camden Town Underground Station (Northern Line) – 8 mins walk
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL:
Nearest Airport: Heathrow (around 35mins – 1hr drive, 1hr 10mins Rail)
London City airport (around 35mins – 1hr 10mins drive, 54mins rail).
Gatwick (Approx 42mins drive, 56mins by rail).
Train via Eurostar Terminal at St Pancras International (16mins taxi ride, 19mins via Northern Line Underground [Includes a 14 minute walk.]
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