Good morning everybody,
Prepare to be inspired by fabulous florals, delectable details, amazing photography, a geeky groom, beautiful bride and gorgeous accessories!
I met the lovely Natasha of Natasha Jane through Twitter when I first joined and I fell in love with her unique, modern crystal headbands {‘Agatha‘ is just sooo darn pretty!} so I was absolutely thrilled when she asked if I wanted to feature a photo shoot she'd organised with the help of some other fabulous UK wedding industry folk.
She shared just one photo from the day and I was completely blown away! Here's why:
Natasha knew it would be the perfect blend of {geek} chic and unique for Bridal Musings. It's an absolute pleasure to share this stunning shoot with you today…
Here's a little more about the shoot in Natasha's own words:
Preppy Summer Romance
Preppy, eclectic and ever so romantic, a summer photo shoot with bursts of lemon yellow, zesty orange and touches of blush pink.
Our venue Country Garden Party is set in Atherstone Warwickshire, an absolutely stunning garden which is available to hire for all occasions from wedding receptions to painting groups to high tea and birthday parties and its also licensed for those liking a drink.
Maintained by Gerald and Christine Leedham, the gardens are just splendid with a beautiful rose collection, rockeries and even an arboretum area. Both Gerald and Christine were so lovely on the day of the photo shoot and in the preparation running up to the day, nothing was too much trouble and they even helped out with moving props for us.
Our styling was designed and compiled by Nina and Sonia of Invitation Only who tracked down vintage style clocks, books, decanters, suitcases and even an old typewriter to give this shoot an authentic preppy vintage feel. Usually styling events like weddings and birthday parties they were excited to take part in this shoot and really pushed the boat out with all their findings, it was amazing to see them putting together all the scenes and making sure everything was just right. We are so grateful to Wysteria Lane in Birmingham Pavilions who were kind enough to lend us some of the beautiful props from their shop, Nina and Sonia could have easily taken everything, as there was so much choice and the products so beautiful.
Our couple {also a real life couple} were models Amy and Tom, barely into their twenties they looked so natural and at ease in front of the camera. They were the perfect choice for this photo shoot as they had modeled in a few vintage style shoots previously and were both really relaxed and even after 5 hours of photographs, make-up and dress changes still remained smiley.
Amy’s wedding dress was from The Wedding Club in Edgbaston Birmingham, it was so beautiful and light and really captured the whole look we were going for in the shoot. Our make-up and hair stylist Jefferey gave Amy a really romantic look for the day, with soft blush shadow, precise liner and a touch of tinted lip colour. The look was completed with twisted plait over the top of the hair spun into a bun at the back, using two headbands from the bespoke headwear and bridal headband collection at Natasha Jane Hetty and Kathleen.
Our zesty colour theme meant the flowers had to be really bright, we enlisted the help of Karen from Passion For Flowers who was keen to take part as it was quite local to her and something quite different to the usual look, she certainly didn’t disappoint, her fresh garden style bouquet gave the photos a real shot of colour with a young feel to them.
And for the yummiest part of the shoot…….the cakes! Kerry at Pat A Cake Bakery spent hours crafting roses and bows and whipped together a delicious and sweet smelling collection of around 30 cupcakes for the shoot. As well as the smaller cupcakes Kerry also made a giant cupcake, which was amazing decorated with little roses and a big bow.
We would also like to thank Sian and Dave of Love Illustrated for agreeing to take part in the shoot even at very short notice. Their take on the preppy vintage look was spot on with the geeky glasses and colorings, don’t you just love the little easels too. Their designs are full of character and I just loved their design.
Wording from Cat at Adrian Billingham Photography –
With Tom sporting a geek chic look and Amy in a beautiful fun fluffy dress from ‘The Wedding Club’ the shoot needed to be quite cute and quirky. We loved the table props, Sonia and Nina did a fantastic job of pulling everything together and we really enjoyed shooting it all with and without the models. The sun was very harsh as we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day, although it was too bright during the mid afternoon so we moved into shade for the majority of this shoot, simple shots mostly shot in shade provided by a tree in the centre the grounds at ‘Country Garden Party’ The details in this shoot really bring everything together, the flowers were a perfect touch and had a lovely summer ‘just cut’ feel, perfect alternative to the formal bouquet and the button holes were the cutest.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to be part of this photo shoot, with special thanks to Cat and Adrian the photographers for their patience and help in coordinating everything. They have blown me away with their style and approach, a genuinely lovely couple.
A big thank you to Elizabeth for showing our collection of preppy summer romance pictures – hope you all like them!
Venue – Christine and Gerald of Country Garden Party / Photography – Cat and Adrian of Adrian Billingham Photography/ Bridal Gowns – The Wedding Club / Styling – Nina and Sonia of Invitation Only / Headwear – Natasha of Natasha Jane /Flowers -Karen of Passion For Flowers / Cakes – Kerry of Pat A Cake Bakery / Stationary – Sian and Dave of Love Illustrated / Make-up Artist and Hair- Jefferey / Model – Tom / Model – Amy / Styling props – Wysteria Lane, Birmingham /Mens clothing models own.
Wow…beyond gorgeous, right?!
Thanks so much to Natasha and the fantastic, hard working team behind this shoot for sharing these inspirational images. Why not leave a comment for them, it'll bring a ray of sunshine to their day!
To see more from this dream team head over to the gorgeous wedding blog Love My Dress where Annabel is sharing their Vintage Summer Sweetheart Shoot today. I'll see you over there, I haven't seen the images yet and I can't wait to see them!
Elizabeth x
