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Now, I’ve been known to organise a styled shoot or two here at Brides Up North (click here, here, here, here and here to see a few) so I know just how much effort and hard work goes into bringing an initial concept to print in a magazine, or published online.
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I know that lots of my readers are interested in how a shoot comes together, so here’s a sneak peek behind the scenes at the fabulous LOVE The Great and The Wonderful shoot – inspired by the Wizard of Oz – for the latest issue of Lucia Rose Wedding Magazine.
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Phoebe at Flossy & Leigh Makeup Artists Company, who put together the team, says: Our first stop was to find a wedding photographer with a creative vision who would be able to take the idea and put their personal touch to the shoot. It simply had to be the Christine Harrison Wedding Photography Team. Christine and Ian were given the brief and literally, their ideas blew us away. Both Christine & Ian have had years of experience shooting massively successful campaigns for top clients such as Barbour and Hunter, but nowadays they are concentrating their talents on the wedding world. HALLELUJAH!
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Next we sourced our number one floral venue dresser. By now if you’re researching floral suppliers for your wedding, you’d have to be living under the sea to not have heard about Red Floral Architecture, the award winning company based in Hyde. The owner and visionary Mat Hepplestone, took the brief and went off to create his Red Floral Interpretation. The results speak for themselves. If you’re thinking flowers were just something you held down the aisle, think again.
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Mat collaborated with the exquisitely talented Manchester-based Eleventh Heaven by Ann McKavney to create some of the unique sequin chairs you see featured. Ann also designed and created all of the bespoke hair accessories for the shoot. They often collaborate together to incorporate Ann’s crystal creations into his floral work (Red Heaven Rocks).
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Just like with any bride, finding the dress is probably the biggest decision you’ll face. You need to go somewhere with lots of choice and honest friendly staff. We went straight to Prestwich to our friend Carol James at the twice County Bride award-winning Fairytale Brides.
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The choice was endless. They stock Ian Stuart, My Lady, Justin Alexander, Essence of Australia also their Occasions shop stocks Ian Stuart Mother of the bride and John Charles, bridesmaids by Kelsey Rose, True Bride and Venus. The ‘black witch’ or ‘alternative bridesmaid’ dress featured, was from the Fairytale Occasions shop. Very unique and stunning to say the least.
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All of the dresses used in the shoot were by Essence of Australia and are in stock now.
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Then, we went straight to the stationery extraordinaire Deanna, at Deannamic Designs based in Clitheroe. Deanna was the natural choice here, as not only can she literally create anything and everything you want with her background in graphic design, but she can then use her creative and feminine touches to put her spin on the project.
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Deanna created the solid hot air balloon seating plan that was designed to be hung up so that you could see the seating plan from both sides. She also was responsible for the production of the most imaginative wedding invitations and place settings one could ever imagine. The detail on all the stationery has to be seen to believed.
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The number one choice for our themed cake had to be none other than the awesome Abi at Rotherham-based Butterflies and Angels.
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Having shared so many brides with Carol Clayton, the designer at Crystal Bouquets by Tilly based in Leigh, we knew we there was nobody else for the job, when sourcing an Emerald crystal bouquet.
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Ben and Sarah at The Ashes Exclusive Country House Barn Wedding Venue, in Staffordshire were as ever, only too happy to help. Any couple would be lucky to find such an obliging and friendly team around them on their wedding day. Nothing is too much trouble for the Ashes Team, winners of the 2013 Wedding Industry Award for venue in the North West.
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The whole day was captured on film by one of our favourite videographers, Hale based Rebecca Reville Wedding Films.
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So although the original theme idea was ours, the success of this production lay in the team we picked.
However, for those of you wondering what sort of makeup and hair styling equipment (we do hair as well) we used to accomplish these looks, we would have to say the secret lies in our flawless and waterproof airbrushed makeup technique.
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We used a number of different high-end cosmetics including: Temptu, Tom Ford, Shu Uemura, Chanel, MAC, Dior, Clarins, Urban Decay and Estée Lauder. A big secret styling weapon is always the lashes. For this particular shoot we used the awesome lash range by the ND Makeup Artists range, based in The North East. These can be found online for only £8 a pair, and can be reused.
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In order to achieve the hair looks we prefer to use the state of the art salon equipment known as Cloud 9, for amazing results.
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As with the everybody involved, we travel the entirety of the UK (and beyond), but have a base in Barrowford in Lancashire. We have very close links with everyone involved in the shoot and many more.
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If you missed it yesterday, to catch up on the final results and to see the cover shot, click here…
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And remember, there’s no place like home!
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Little Black Book
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Photography: Christine Harrison Wedding Photography
Flowers: Red Floral Architecture
Wedding Dresses: Fairytale Brides
Make Up: Flossy & Leigh Makeup Artists Company
Wedding Cakes: Butterflies & Angels
Wedding Stationery: Deannamic Designs
Sequin Chairs & Accessories: Eleventh Heaven by Ann McKavney
Crystal Bouquets: Crystal Bouquets by Tilly
Video: Rebecca Reville Wedding Films
Model: Annabella Johnson from Boss Model Management (Manchester)
Venue: The Ashes Exclusive Country House Barn Wedding Venue
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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2013 Christine Harrison Wedding Photography
Flossy & Leigh Makeup Artists Company is a Brides Up North Featured Supplier, but this is not a sponsored post
Contact Brides Up North to submit your business as a Featured Supplier
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