This afternoon we’re transporting you to a world of dreamy botanical romance as we share this gorgeous styled shoot captured in my home city of Sheffield.
Lady behind the lens Chloe Grayson makes up one half of Leeds-based wedding photography and design brand Fox & Owl, which she runs with her business and life partner Martyn Roper. Keen to provide inspiration for those planning an elegant, natural and
folksy wedding
, creative Chloe came up with the concept for an ethereal, vintage and botanical shoot captured at none other than Sheffield’s leafy Botanical Gardens.We just love the soft muted tones, elegant styling and stunning surroundings! To fill you in on all the little details, we’ll hand over the blogging reins to Chloe…
Images by Chloe Grayson of Fox & Owl. Models Gemma Sadler and Christopher McElroy.
chloe says:
The shoot was a collection of styled bridal portraits and detail shots portraying simple, elegant, natural and folky wedding inspiration.Ever since my childhood, nature has played a prodigious part in my work and has forever influenced my style. It was therefore only a matter of time before a styled wedding shoot should be exposed to that same treatment.
The intention was to create a collection of photographs with a sense of timelessness and a feeling of otherworldliness. Inspired by the universal theme of romance and looking to decades past, this series was curated to bring out the reminiscer and the dreamer in us all.
The shoot took place at the charming Botanical Gardens in the handsome Steel City of Sheffield. Both the glass pavilions and the Victorian lawns were used. Dense greenery and botanicals are set to be very popular in styling this year and there seems to be a distinctive increase in outdoorsy, travel-themed locations for weddings.
Perfectly imperfect, loose organic florals made up the bouquet. The wildly romantic, less structured floral design allowed elegance to be juxtaposed with unfussiness. Both the bouquet and buttonholes were arranged and handmade by myself, using a mixture of locally sourced flowers.
When it came to Gemma’s hair and makeup, stylist Kirsty Glasby achieved a mix of effortless beauty that was still significantly detailed. The loose, boho hair falling down into soft curls and the natural, youthful dewy style of makeup all celebrated the intentional minimalism of the shoot. The relaxed look of the hair was achieved with the use of a heated wand and then styled from there. MAC, Charlotte Tilbury, Kryolan, Smashbox and Red Cherry were the makeup brands used to achieve the fresh, innocent look for Gemma’s skin. Finally, her nails were painted a complementary shade of pink to co-ordinate with her bouquet, shoes and makeup.
A vintage, Edwardian influenced, cream, crochet-lace brides dress was paired with blush coloured shoes for a subtle and classic look. Christopher meanwhile wore a traditional two-piece black suit, tie and shoe combination with a clean white dress shirt. This seemed to be the simplest and most striking option, giving our groom an understated elegance that paired well with our simplistic bridal style.
The matching rings were minimal and contemporary plain gold bands, with the engagement ring clasping a clear precious stone.
On the day of the shoot, we had a slight challenge with the weather. Although it was a beautifully warm and bright day, the clouds were moving extremely quickly. This resulted in the pavilions being plunged into darkness every thirty seconds or so, making the slots for the bright light we desired quite limited and testing our patience. We had to stand in position, waiting for sunlight to break through the clouds so that we could take shots in those few seconds before another cloud would come along.
When we moved out onto the lawns we were joined by a number of squirrels that seemed to have taken quite an interest in what we were doing. It wasn’t long before they lost interest, but thanks to them I got some very natural shots of Christopher and Gemma laughing.
Not too long after we had started shooting outdoors, the weather took a slight turn for the worse and it started to rain. We were happy with how it had gone so far, so we decided to draw it to a close and take some final detail shots.
My own distinctive and somewhat unconventional style was applied throughout the styled shoot, both during my role as the photographer and also as a retoucher during the post-processing stage. Inspired by natural elements, I tend to gravitate towards neutral, earthy palettes and the soft muted tones that are often associated with film.
