After the sneak preview a couple of weeks ago, I’ve finished working on the shots! A few of my favourites from the day are below.
I got together with some of my favourite wedding friends to organise this shoot. Michelle from Timeless Bride, Laura from Green Earth Flowers, Gemma Hallowell, make-up artist and Nicola from Hair-Raising Designs. And most importantly, Sarah and Georgina from Styal Lodge! Who without, we’d have had nowhere to shoot!
Michelle, Laura and I have all been involved in Bridal Fashion shoots in the past and we wanted to do something a little bit different this time. Previously we’ve used professional models to wear the gowns and obviously we’ve got some great stuff as a result of this. But it can often not feel quite ‘real’. Our brides and potential clients can of course look at these sorts of shoots and take inspiration from the shots, get an idea of the kind of work we can all produce, but they can sometimes fail to connect with the models and certainly can’t imagine being in their shoes on their own wedding day.
So we wanted to use real girls. Beautiful girls who look great in wedding dresses that real brides can connect with and think ‘yes, I can look as amazing as that’.
Enter Ailsa and Claudine – the two most excited girls in the world because they got to spend a day playing around in beautiful wedding gowns! And have both since told me how boring they feel their ‘normal’ clothes are now!
The day started in the Lodges luxury ‘Wedding sitting room’, which we used as a normal bride would to get the girls ready. It’s a gorgeous space, with huge windows to let in natural light, a VERY cool en suite shower room and great facilities for brides to use whilst getting ready.
We had six dresses and six different looks to create. Gemma and Nic had been working together in the build up to the day to create completely unique styles for each gown. One of the main reasons for doing a shoot like this is to offer inspiration to brides, to get them thinking about their look on the day. To give them ideas and to show them what can be done if you choose a great team of creative and inspiring wedding professionals.
Laura had worked closely with Michelle in order to produce beautiful bouquets that would truly complement the beautiful wedding gowns.
And we all worked together when it came to shooting each look. Suggestions were passed around as to what might look good in which parts of the venue – as we really wanted to show off the venue to the best of it’s potential and show how unique it can be.
We also got very lucky with the weather which was against us right from the start! Every time it looked like it was clearing up and we might get to go outside it rained again! Until we got a window of about half an hour to nip outside and show a different part of Styal Lodge.
Michelle making sure every detail was perfect:
Then Claudine’s turn!
A new look for Ailsa!
And a new look for Claudine!
Who says it’s no fun spending the day wearing wedding dresses!?!?
Laura’s bouquet’s really are beautiful – pieces of hand crafted art:
Ailsa’s gorgeous last look:
And Claudine’s equally gorgeous last look:
So finally a big thank you to everyone involved, Sarah and Georgina, Michelle, Laura, Gemma, Nic, Claudine and Ailsa. It was a genuine pleasure to work with such creative and inspiring people!