Wedding photography at All Saints Church, Putney and the Star & Garter

Juliet and Guy's wedding was superb and I hope you can get a glimpse of that from the wedding photographs.  This is just a tiny selection; the full set are here.  It began with the preparations at Juliet's parents' house in Putney, before moving to All Saints Church on Putney Common.  The weather was beautiful, Juliet looked lovely, and the champagne flowed.  The service was give by Revd Chris Eyden.  It was a really interesting service about the symbolism of hands in marriage.  Revd Eyden talked about the exchange of rings to be worn on the ring finger of the left hand.  The reason, he explained, was that traditionally the right hand was the stronger, fighting hand, and the middle finger is the strongest, the pinkie is the weakest, the wedding ring sits in between the two.  Revd Eyden suggested this might be to symbolise the protection that marriage can bring and the strength your partner can give you when you are at your weakest.  What a lovely and comforting thought.

Interestingly, there is some disagreement about which hand the wedding rings should be worn.  The belief that the ring should be worn on the left hand can be traced back to ancient Egyptian times.  Egyptians represented eternity with the sign of a circle, and they chose the left ring finger as they believed that the vein came straight from the heart and was therefore known as the 'vein of love'.  This belief then seems to have been adopted through the ancient Greek times to current times as we know them.

Way back when the symbolism began, the ring would have been made out of reeds, or other biodegradable material.  It wasn't until much later that precious metals were used.  Interestingly Irish folklore says that it is bad luck to have a wedding ring made of anything but gold.  So remember that one girls, when he tries to give you a Haribo ring instead!!!

The wedding breakfast was then held at the Star and Garter in Putney.  What a fab location!!  It is right on the river, with a beautiful room and lovely staff (who went out of their way to find me some delicious grub!)