St. Nicholas’ Church, Harwich - Traditional Church Wedding Ceremonies
Traditional wedding at St Nicholas Church, Harwich, Essex. Captured by Josh White Photography.
Are you a Harwich couple looking for a traditional church wedding somewhere local? Hopefully this blog can inspire you to get married at St. Nicholas’ Church, Harwich; A Church of England. (Scroll for photos!)
Whether you are religious or not, everyone can appreciate the stunning architecture of old churches. St. Nicholas’ Church has enormous beautiful stained-glass windows, rustic pews, an organ, a clock tower, traditional bells, and luscious green grounds to the rear of the building which are perfect for your formal wedding photos. St. Nicholas’ Church also has an incredible history behind it:
The original (wooden) late-bronze-age church was erected on this site in 1177, which was called the Chappele of Herewych. The site is rich with history as the crusaders rested here, following the Banner of the Cross across Europe to the the Holy Land. Various members of the royal family have rested here on their journey into Europe and beyond. The very first permanent American settlement (Jamestown, 1607) was led by Christopher Newport, who was baptised in the original church here. The master of the Mayflower ship was twice married in the old church, and the names of some of the Pilgrim Fathers were also found here.
The church was renovated and englarged multiple times over the decades, but was eventually replaced with a new building in 1822. The new church was created using London brick, Coade stone, and iron, and it was designed to seat approximately 1,500 people; this makes it the largest church in the Tendring district and is the building we see standing today:
Traditional church weddings don’t have to boring! The lady Reverend at St. Nicholas’ Church is incredibly fun and friendly, and brings a very modern, casual style to her wedding ceremonies. My approach to photography matches this as I focus on natural moments rather than forced poses and staged photographs. This documentary-style of photographing provides the couple with an authentic story to look back on from their wedding day. It’s not an album of posed photographs, it’s an album of smiles, laughter, fun, and emotion.
Yes, it’s important that the bride and groom have photos of themselves but I like to include all the little moments that most people miss! Playful moments like this where the groomsmen are helping the page boy with their tie are small parts of what helps build the whole story of a wedding day. These moments aren’t common at the church; they usually happen during the preparations, at an outdoor wedding, or at the reception venue, so it’s a nice contrast to have this non-traditional wedding photo in a traditional wedding enviroment.
It’s no secret that churches can be quite dark venues with tricky lighting for photographers. St. Nicholas’ Church, however, is actually quite bright which makes for some beautiful backdrops, particularly near the massive stained-glass windows that let in a lot of light. One of the page boys at this wedding was an incredibly talented piano player and played various pieces of music on the grand piano for this wedding ceremony.
I really love this photo of the groom anxiously awaiting the arrival of the bride, editied in black and white. St. Nicholas’ Church is a very colourful wedding venue, but I wanted to focus the attention of this photo away from the colour and back to his emotion.
Uniquely, the bride designed the floral arrangements entirely on her own for her wedding day which is a lovely personal touch! In smaller churches, I probably would have opted to remain closer to the front of the church during the bridal party entrace. However, because St. Nicholas’ Church is a very large space, I moved closer to the arch doors in order to get some closer shots of the bridesmaids, flower girls, and (of course) the bride.
The flower girls mark the aisle with scattered flower petals. Historically, the purpose of this tradition was to give a blessing of fertility to the new couple. In many cultures, the whole reason for marriage was procreation! In more modern ceremonies, couples include a flower girl to honour a little one who is close to the family; almost like a junior bridesmaid. Although the flower girl meaning has changed somewhat throughout history, it’s nice to see this traditional look carried on. Just remember that some venues do not allow for the scattering of flower petals, so please check with your venue beforehand if your wish is to include this into your ceremony. Luckily for Harwich couples, St Nicholas’ Church do allow it!
The groom and his best man give a soft smile whilst watching the bridal party enter St. Nicholas’ Church, backlit by the stained-glass windows. The boutonnieres and ties matching the bridesmaid dresses is a nice contrast to the navy suit.
The bride repeats her traditional marriage vows to the groom, with her dad by her side and the best man close by (out of shot).
The reverend at St. Nicholas’ Church performs a final prayer reading and blessing from the bride and groom’s order of service. You can see just how much light the massive windows let in to the alter end of the church in particular. This large, soft light is very flattering for photographs of the wedding couple at and around the alter.
Leading with a crescendoing speech, the Reverend finishes the ceremony with: “You may now kiss the bride”. The bride and groom seal their marriage with a loving kiss in the middle of the isle; their friends and family flood the church hall with a round of applause and heartfelt emotion. My camera is focused solely on the bride and groom in this moment, as I want this photograph to be all about them, but you can still make out the rustic pughs and wedding ribbons in the background.
Nobody is allowed to photograph the official register that is signed by the married couple and their witnesses. This is because it is a legal document and the data within it is strictly confidential. For this photo, we opened a blank page on the register and I asked the bride and groom to pretend to sign it again. I don’t particularly enjoy staging photos like this but it’s one moment from a traditional church wedding that we have to stage, unfortunately! This is likely the only time during the day I will require your keen acting skills… The rest will be all natural.
One of my favourite things to photograph at a wedding is the fun exit! The most common one you will find at a church wedding is the traditional confetti exit, which is exactly what this couple did at their wedding at St. Nicholas Church in Harwich. It’s really important to speak with your venue well in advance of your big day to see what they will accept for your exit, and it’s almost a given these days that your materials must be biodegradeable. You can actually buy confetti which is clipped flower petals or leaves in various shapes and sizes. If you want to have some fun you can even make your own by purchasing the clip press yourself and clipping some local/homegrown flowers. I think the confetti exit works really work at traditional venues and for ceremonies during the daytime, but you can also opt for a sparkler exit or smoke-bombs, if that’s your thing! Again PLEASE check with your venue for what they will allow before committing.
The formal portraits is the bit that my couples dread the most, but it’s usually why they’re hiring me to photograph their wedding in the first place. Formals don’t have to be long, painful, and boring when you’re hey aren’t painful and they really don’t take long when you’re working with the right photographer who understands your photo anxiety. I am THE most camera-shy person you will ever meet so I really do get it! I’ve been a guest at weddings where the formals have gone on for 3 hours and it was the most boring thing I’ve ever experience. This photo is a prime example of an incredibly camera-shy couple that were absolutely dreading having their photos taken, but they managed a smile and were so happy with the outcome. We had originally planned to take a few formals at their reception after the wedding but we had everyone together in the grounds of St. Nicholas Church and we decided that it looked far prettier here than the reception venue.
The formal couples portraits at the church took us around 3 minutes total. That time includes getting them both into position, arranging the dress, and taking a handful of photos in different orientations and different focal lengths. Through my conversations with the couple before the wedding and on the wedding day, they had explained that they have loads of photos of the kids, loads of photos of their holidays etc. but absolutely zero photos of the two of them together because they hate having their photo taken. With that in mind, I really wanted to take a mixture they could choose from, so they at least have one picture of them together that they like, but I’m also very conscious to make it as painless as possible. When I delivered these photos to the bride, she said this black and white image is definitely the one that’s going on the wall!
After the couples portraits, I think the bride got a little more confident and decided she wanted a photo of her side of the family, which is this image above. We also had one massive group photo of everyone that attended the wedding. The grounds at St. Nicholas Church are plenty big enough for large group photos, and I personally like them facing in this direction with the greenary complimenting the brick building colours. All-in-all it took just 15 minutes getting all the formals done, which meant the bride and groom could spend more time with their guests having fun.
These photos were all taken by Josh White Photography for Lauren & Dave’s traditional church wedding at St. Nicholas Church, Harwich, on April 27th, 2024.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you like my style and would like to book me to photograph your wedding, you can view more information and prices here.
If you are interested in getting married at St. Nicholas Church, you can contact Harwich Town Parish here: www.harwichparish.co.uk/contact