City of London Muslim Wedding Photographer

The short answer

Your Muslim wedding photographer in the City of London, at a glance

With more than 25 years of photography and five European Kodak Gold Awards, Kaushik Bathia FBIPP FMPA brings a settled pair of hands to a Muslim wedding in the City of London, where wedding photography starts from £750. Candid frames carry the day: joined hands, a glance during the consent, the salami passed to the bride, the small details a posed picture misses. Both families are followed through the day, from the groom's sehra bandi and the baraat to the nikah, the rukhsati and a walima in a hall such as Merchant Taylors' Hall, whose Great Hall holds up to 280 guests. A calm photographer tends to make for a calm couple, and in a busy City hall that shows in every frame. A second photographer, an engagement shoot and an heirloom album can all be added, and the move between a ceremony room and a walima hall is timed in advance so neither feels rushed.

In the Square Mile a nikah is likely to suit an evening or a weekend, when the district empties outside working hours. The imam gives the khutbah, ijab and qabool are exchanged, the mahr set and the nikah-nama witnessed, with no photography during Quranic recitation. Painters' Hall or The Ned suit a walima. St Paul's Cathedral and Postman's Park are close together for portraits before the rukhsati. Bank and Liverpool Street stations bring guests in on the Central, Northern, Circle and Elizabeth lines.

Google reviews

What couples say

4.8 from 580+ Google reviews

Excellent photography services before and during our wedding. Really enjoyed him being our photographer and he did a great job with the pictures. Working with him on the albums post wedding has been fantastic, he takes time to understand our ideas and portrays them in his work. Brilliant personality and very professional.

Nitesh P., Google review, 2016

I had hired Mr Kaushik as our photographer for my son and daughters wedding fir all the ceremonies conducted and found him to be friendly professional with all the guests The quality of his photographs are excellent and are of high quality I was also very impressed when he had completed the albums He also give extra hours if needed and does not complain I would recommend to anyone

Malti B., Google review, 2021

Kaushik was great, photos were returned quickly and we got all the shots we wanted. Excellent and professional.

Pr D., Google review, 2022

Read all the reviews on Google

Serving the City of London

A nikah in the Square Mile, planned from the floor plan up

At a City nikah light comes second; a floor plan comes first. How is the room divided, where does the dividing line run, and is there a screened side with its own way in? That answer decides where a camera can stand and which parts of the room are photographed at all, so it is worth settling months out. Families settle it, not photographers, and hearing the decision early beats guessing at a doorway.

That same conversation should cover consent. Saying no to a camera once ought to be enough, so we agree beforehand who is happy to appear, who is not, and which relative will tell us if that changes during the evening.

Check your date

Groom carrying his bride through shallow water at golden hour

Every Muslim ritual

From mehndi night to rukhsati, each custom in its own light

Short, seated and almost motionless describes a nikah, which sounds easy and is not. There is nothing to chase, so everything depends on standing in the correct place at the start, since crossing the room halfway through is not an option. We watch hands, a pen, the witnesses, the parents' faces, rather than the couple alone. The imam, not the schedule, controls tempo. Where recitation is under way the camera comes down, settled beforehand and never improvised.

Around it the register keeps changing. Mehndi is a night event, warm and close, and belongs to hands and to laughter at a table. A baraat is loud and outdoors and moves at walking pace, so you work in front of it, never within. Walima is usually a different day, under lighting designed for dinner, which means colour correction before composition. Rukhsati comes late, in the dark, in a doorway, and gets one attempt. Which of these your family actually holds, and on which night, is what the planning turns on.

Mehndi-decorated hands cupping red and white flower petals

Why choose us

Asking what your family does

Assumption is the enemy here, so the question we put is what your particular family does. Out of that comes a short written list: who may appear in which frame, which doors we may go through, which we may not. Given a choice between a photograph and somebody's comfort, the photograph is what we drop.

Nikah, walima and portrait places in the Square Mile

Livery halls licensed for ceremonies, the Islington register office that serves the City and a few quiet gardens for portraits are gathered below, for couples pairing a civil ceremony with the nikah. Every note links to the page it came from, and the City of London Corporation asks for a licence for organised wedding shoots in its gardens and churchyards, so portraits somewhere like St Dunstan in the East are arranged ahead. Travel from Northwood is set out in your written quote before you book.

Stationers' Hall near St Paul's is licensed for ceremonies seven days a week, with the Court Room seating up to 120 and the Livery Hall up to 200, and has a private garden used for receptions and photographs. ¹
St Dunstan in the East Church Garden. St Dunstan in the East is a public garden laid out in the ruins of a Wren church, bombed in 1941, with a fountain and greenery draping the Grade I listed walls; it opened as a garden in 1970. ²
The Thames Path National Trail, 185 miles from Kemble in Gloucestershire to Woolwich, runs through central London past the Millennium Bridge below St Paul's. ³
The Monument to the Great Fire of London, designed by Robert Hooke under Christopher Wren and built between 1671 and 1677, is a 61.6-metre Grade I listed column standing 202 feet from the spot in Pudding Lane where the fire began. ⁴
The Ned at 27 Poultry (EC2R 8AJ), a restored building designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, offers six Grade I listed event spaces; its Tapestry Room seats up to 120 for a ceremony, the Saloon takes wedding breakfasts of up to 70 and whole-floor hire is for up to 200. ⁵

Sources

Good to know

Wedding photography in the City of London, frequently asked questions

Do you photograph the ijab-o-qabool, the offer and acceptance?+

Yes, from one agreed position, chosen with your imam before guests are seated. Length of lens takes the place of proximity, and nobody watches a photographer moving. If you would prefer that portion left alone, say so and it stays unphotographed.

Can you work alongside a dhol player at the baraat?+

Yes. A dhol sets the tempo and the crowd closes into a ring around it, so anything worth having gets taken from ahead of the procession, never inside it. Ask the drummer to hold a beat at the doorway.

Who will actually be behind the camera at our wedding?+

Whoever you dealt with at the enquiry. Names are written into the agreement, and where a second photographer comes along, that name is written in as well. No unfamiliar stand-in turns up on the day.

Do you travel to the City of London for Muslim weddings?+

Yes, and travel from Northwood is set out in your written quote before you book, whether the day uses one hall or two.

Our the City of London wedding is only a few months away; is it too late to book you?+

Very often, no. Availability decides it and nothing else, so the quickest route is to send the date. Where we are free, a compressed run up simply means fewer meetings and more decisions taken in one sitting.