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Today’s dreamy styled shoot delivers boho vibes, but completely re-imagined. Dominated by a soft palette of peaches and cream, and complimented by pampas grass and foliage, and mesmerizing macramé creations – this is far removed from the usual pastel-come-rustic combo we’ve all come to adore.
The vision of photographer Alicia Eden – this minimal wedding shoot brings together a whole bunch of talented suppliers in and around Sheffield, all contributing their creative flair to what turned out to be a challenging day thanks to the blustery British weather! From a peacock chair to milk churns to gin and tonic lollies – there’s an assortment of beautiful (and scrumptious!) styling details to covet.
And with not one, not two but five wedding gowns – plus a white leather jacket – there’s plenty of fashion inspo to pore over too, whether lace, fluted sleeves, tulle or ruffled ball gowns set your wedding dress desires alight. Yes, ladies, boho brides can do ball gowns! Let’s hand the blog over to Alicia Eden for all the inside details.
Models: Abigail Griffiths, Brechan Davis and Martin Craw
With images by Alicia Eden Photography
Inspiration & theme
Alicia Eden says: I absolutely adore going to weddings all year, every year, and capturing a couple’s ideas coming to life on their day, however this shoot was my chance to do things, my way – to show off things that I personally think would look stunning at a wedding.
So often these days, weddings tend to fall into the pastel pink, rustic feel category – and as much as I do love that, I wanted to show something more unique and out of the ordinary.
The running theme behind the shoot was ‘boho chic’ with peaches and cream, pampas grass and foliage, and macrame taking centre stage. I wanted the shoot to have a really relaxed and effortless look, with the dried flowers and wispy pampas grass and feathers – showing how a wedding look can still be beautiful without having to be perfectly polished.
Location
Sheffield Manor Lodge is somewhere I have worked before for a wedding, and I fell in love with it from the moment I saw it! The ruins in the grounds are just breathtaking, and in the summer, the fields are teaming with wildflowers.
However, with us shooting in February, the flowers were nowhere to be seen, and the grounds were instead more bare, with grasses and green plants taking the forefront. Again, this helped to highlight the fact that a wedding can still look amazing even without all the flowers in bloom, and with just the gorgeous exposed stonework as a backdrop.
We were allowed access to the Turret House for our shoot too, which proved to be really helpful as we had awful winds. We decided to set up a shot inside, and the deep wooden floors – contrasting with the stunning detailed ceilings made for a stunning location – again still keeping with the minimalistic and boho vibe.
Styling
For the decor, we had a mixture of dried floral items provided by Samui Weddings, and stunning fresh florals from First4Flowers. The mixture of dried and fresh, accompanied by the pampas grass and feathers, brought the two together perfectly.
Samui provided us with many decorative items including a triangular wooden frame with dried flowers and pampas grass, VW split screen Camper van, peacock chair with dried flowers, outdoor table setup with vases, crockery etc, Indoor table setup with centrepieces, milk churn with foliage and pampas grass.
Wrap In Wood provided us with the wooden and macrame arch, macrame dreamcatchers, table runners and bouquet wrap, as well as the stunning wooden cake stand.
First 4 Flowers created three different bouquets, a buttonhole, a flower crown, and the flowers on the cake. The bouquets incorporated lots of greenery, eucalyptus, pampas grass, as well as feathers and pussy willow to make them look really unique and different from your standard gypsophila and roses.
The stationery, provided by Ivy Alice Wedding Stationery, was all aimed at the ‘peaches and cream’ colour theme. We had a few different sets of stationery to choose from and they all fitted perfectly!
The cake, created by Danielle’s Sweet Treats, was kept simple, with the basis of the cake being the macrame layer and the peach faded colour. First 4 Flowers added the amazing floral and feather additions to tie it together with the rest of the shoot.
Emily’s Lollies provided us with gin and tonic flavoured lollies in a green hue with rose petals, again to tie in with the shoot theme. These were finished off with ‘bride’ and ‘groom’ tags – these would make amazing favours, or even place names with each guests name being added to the lolly tag!
Attire
Rebel Menswear provided us with two Marc Darcy suits for the shoot, comprising trousers, shirt, waistcoat, jacket, tie and pocket square.
We went for the brown suit to begin with, as the colour was fitting with the rest of the shoot, and wasn’t going to stand out too much against the neutral tones.
We also chose a blue suit with rust coloured tie and pocketsquare. We made this decision, as it was their best selling suit, and most popular with real grooms – and we wanted to show off attire that real couples may be interested in for their own weddings.
Be Envied Bridal provided us with five dresses, firstly, a sleek, strappy lace gown by Lo’Adoro Bridal. We decided to use this dress to show how, even when going for a more relaxed and laid back style to your day, you can still choose a stunning glamorous dress.
The other four dresses were all by Mary’s Bridal UK. The second dress was the perfect dress for a boho style – a heavy lace, fluted sleeve gown. This dress personified the feel of the shoot; it was exactly what I had pictured in my mind when I first began planning! The relaxed feel of the dress, with the crisscross lace up back and flared sleeve made the model immediately feel like a outdoorsy boho bride.
This can be said for the third dress too, which was a very similar design with the fluted sleeves, but a much more delicate lace.
The next dress was recommended by the bridal store, and I’ll be honest, when I first saw it – I wasn’t sure! I hadn’t pictured a ball gown dress when I was planning, but I’m so glad we went with this dress. The ruffled layers of lace were simply stunning, and a nice contrast from the more fitted dresses – again showing how you can still have a boho look without the need for the stereotypical slimmer boho dresses.
The final dress was really different, this time taking the form of a more fitted shape, with tulle layers over the top to give a bigger, more A-line silhouette. This dress was perfect in the windy weather, as we got some stunning shots of the tulle layers blowing in the wind.
As well as this, we had a bridal leather jacket provided by Mama Inc Studios, it was white leather, with ‘bride’ painted in gold above a floral decorated skull. Again, this added to the relaxed boho vibe.
Jessica Finn Jewellery Boutique and Studio also made the most unreal rings for use in the shoot. Bespoke, one-off pieces incorporating stunning gemstones, intricate engraving and the most stunning detailing.
Beauty
We had four different hairstyles created by the talented Lindsay at Cameo Hair Studio. Firstly, on our model Brechan, a sleek up do to go with the more glamorous gown, followed by a relaxed version of the same style, showing how an up do can be both glam, or boho to suit the style of the dress. Our model Brechan wore the flower crown on the more relaxed up do too.
On our model, Abi, we began with hair down with loose, natural looking curls – placing the flower crown on top for an effortless look. However, we were battling some unbelievably strong winds, so we decided to turn Abi’s hair into a loose plaited style, adding some small dried flowers.
Both styles would be more suited to younger brides who are looking for either a relaxed and effortless style, although the first style was definitely more defined and polished to suit the more formal dress.
For makeup looks, each model had something different created by the amazing Amber Poulsen Makeup Artist. With Brechan, we went for a deep brown tone with fluffy brows, to show how bridal looks don’t always have to be soft and subtle.
And again with Abi, her look was more coppery and vibrant, with a deeper colour to her lips, something a bit less traditional and more in keeping with the colours of our shoot.
Results
I couldn’t have wished for a lovelier, more talented bunch of people to work with! The day itself was unbelievably windy, we had to move the end of the shoot inside as the models were getting so cold, and their hair was blowing everywhere in the wind. The outdoor table set up was adamant that it wasn’t going to stay on the table and was going to end up on the floor, and we only managed one smoke bomb shot (supplied by Galactic Fireworks) as the wind was just taking the smoke straight away!
The highlight for me was seeing everyone’s individual contributions come together so perfectly! As this was my first ever supplier shoot, I didn’t know what to expect, I knew each person’s work would be amazing, but it’s hard to visualise in advance whether the flowers would suit the dresses, or the cake would suit the cake stand etc. But once we put it all together I was overwhelmed at just how well it all worked together.
My aim was to showcase amazing local talent, and put together something different from your ‘normal’ hotel wedding. I definitely think we managed that!
Georgia Horn Photography is just starting her journey into wedding photography, and it was a pleasure to have her along on the shoot too as the second shooter. Her experience in reportage photography meant she was able to capture the fast paced nature of the shoot, whilst I set up each shot.
I have been nominated for the I Do Wedding Awards 2020! I am so excited and overwhelmed to have been nominated, and even if I don’t make it as a finalist, I am super proud to have even been nominated for such an amazing award. There are also plans in the making for some more styled shoots later this year, as well as my busiest year of my career photographing weddings all over the UK.
