Oxford Oratory Church Of St Aloysius Gonzaga
Wedding Photography

Background Information and Highlights

This gallery features two different couple. Each chose for their marriage ceremony the beautiful St Aloysius Church Oxford, otherwise known as the Oxford Oratory and to give the church its full title the Catholic Church of St Aloysius Gonzaga.

Photographers should note that car parking for this Oxford city centre church is very restricted and you should make plans to park elsewhere in good time. There are some two hour parking bays a short walk away as you head north along the main Woodstock Road.

The interior of the church reminds me of Peter’s photo gallery of the Brompton Oratory, on a smaller scale but still very grand and photogenic. Where it differs photographically from the Brompton Oratory is that the Oxford Oratory has much better natural light plus our priest allowed almost free reign to shoot during the ceremony whereas weddings at the London Oratory are a little more restrictive on professional photographers.

One couple are French nationals and our priest conducted the ceremony in both French and English for the benefit of their many guests who had travelled from France especially for the wedding. He later claimed to me that he had little more that school level French but it sounded great to me and he did a magnificent job.

The day was an interesting mixture of Anglo-Saxon and Gallic wedding traditions. So for example at the end of the wedding service all the guests exited the church before the bride and groom, having chatted briefly with the bride and groom near the rear doors in a style similar to an English receiving line sometimes practiced before the start of an English wedding breakfast.

Afterwards we went walkabout around the old city centre, taking in the Bridge of Sighs and the Radcliffe Camera - oh and a good old British red telephone box. Some of the sights they will remember from their time living in Oxford, as they've now moved to Paris. As always its hard to get "clean" shots walking around Oxford city centre just as it is in any other popular and photogenic town like Windsor (or Paris!) but thats all part of the fun. We even posed with a gaggle of university graduates!

Then on to the Oxford Thames Hotel (see Peter’s gallery) for the reception. Audrey had put together what I think is the longest list of formal photos I've ever seen at 93 groups. And who can blame here since so many family and friends had made the special journey. But thats a heck of a lot of smiling and we cut it down to essentials once the face cramp had set in!

After their wedding our second made the short trip to the reception venue, which was the couples' old Oxford college Oriel College in the city centre. It was at Oriel College that they first met as students ..... isn't that nice!

See lots more wedding photo galleries including e.g. Peter’s Oxford Thames Hotel, Peter's The Manor Weston on the Green, Peter’s Crazy Bear Hotel Stadhampton, Peter’s Friars Court, Peter’s The Retreat At Elcot Park, Peter’s Old Luxters Barn, and many more.

"Thank you very much indeed for our photos. We are very pleased with them and we really appreciated the fact that you got them to us so quickly. We had great fun looking at them yesterday with my family!"

Holly & Mike M (Oxford Oratory)

"Thanks for the video – very good indeed!!"

Laurence (Oxford Oratory)

"We really would like to thank you for your time, job and patience. The photos are great, it will be difficult to make a choice!"

Audrey and Jérôme G (Oxford Oratory)