Archive for August, 2010
Vintage bridal fashion shoot
Those of you who have been following my blog for a while will know that I have ‘creative days’ a few times a year. You might remember my last one, Alice in Wonderland? But if not, the point of these days is to try out some new ideas which you just can’t do on someone’s wedding day. It’s an opportunity for the whole team to push their skills forward and do something a little different.
The venue for the shoot was Chicheley Hall, a new wedding venue in Newport Pagnell, near Milton Keynes, who I’ve recently started working with. Its great architecture, plentiful natural window light and beautiful grounds made it the perfect setting for the shoot.
After much deliberation; well, topping Alice in Wonderland was never going to be easy; I decided on a ‘vintage’ theme to celebrate the current love of vintage inspired weddings. I didn’t want anything too literal or dated looking so the brief to Toni, my hair & make-up artist and Lauren at The Bridal Gallery who loaned the dresses, was for a contemporary, wearable version of vintage. As part of my research for the shoot I’d studied vintage portraits and seen that very careful placement of hands was a big thing so we went all out for trying some new poses. Hands are always tricky to pose so this was a really good exercise. I had the usual fun finding some props and nabbed some bargains on ebay with the birdcage veil, pearls and lace parasol.
♥ Hair and Make-up artist ∼ Toni Perryman
♥ Models ∼ Sasha Wilford and Beth Norman (not professional models)
♥ Venue ∼ Chicheley Hall (a new venue which opened in June 2010)
♥ Vintage china ∼ Vintage Teas and RSVPs
♥ Dresses and jewellery ∼ The Bridal Gallery, Finedon
Here are my faves from the day; some with a vintage look to the processing. You can see more photographs from this shoot on my facebook fanpage.
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Cakes, cupcakes, cheesecake, more cake
Cutting the wedding cake is the first task that a Bride & Groom do together to symbolise their shared future. But it hasn’t always been this way.
In Roman times the wedding cake was really plain and made of wheat, salt and water (yummy!) and was broken over the head of the Bride (nice!) to bestow fertility and good luck. I’m glad this isn’t practiced any more; imagine all those crumbs I’d have to retouch out! As time moved on cakes became bigger and harder to break and so the Bride took the tradition of cutting the cake. The strong icing introduced by the Victorians, to strengthen the cake and make tiers possible, was difficult to cut and so the cake cutting became a joint task for both the Bride and Groom. There’s usually more cake than can be eaten with a tiered style and the top tier was traditionally kept for the Christening of the couple’s first child but is now more often kept to celebrate their first anniversary. Steve and I planned on doing this. But cake doesn’t last long in our house! [You might like to read this great article by Maisie Fantasie for more background on how wedding cakes and traditions have evolved.]
The cake is one of my favourite details to photograph at a wedding. A close second to shoes. The traditional tiered wedding cake is ever popular but there are so many other options now that I’m always blessed with something different to photograph.
I’ve seen some truly scrumptious looking creations from simple white iced tiers decorated with fresh flowers to more icing than cake cupcakes. Quite a few Brides have lovingly made their own wedding cakes which have been nothing short of amazing. A Choccywoccydoodah sculpture is always impressive but if you’re not a cake fiend then a ‘cheese’ cake to be served with biscuits after dinner is a fun alternative. I love Fawsley Hall‘s take on this with cute little mice scampering over the cheese.
But there’s no room for cheese in the cutting photo. Nooo no no no no no! I like to stay around and capture the action as it happens rather than a cheese-o-rama ‘mock cutting of the cake’ photo. But be warned: this is a bit of a paparazzi moment for your guests!
If this little lot isn’t mouth-watering enough you’ll find more wedding cake photographs on my facebook fanpage.
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