There is big day inspo galore in the gorgeous styled shoot that we are sharing with you today, from the all-important setting to the stylish attire and dreamy details!
Captured at 4* award-winning North East hotel, Beamish Hall, the stunning shots show off the venue’s recently refurbished bedrooms and wedding suites to a tee, whilst perfectly demonstrating the styles of celebrations that the beautiful building effortlessly lends itself to.
Keen to reflect the venue’s key qualities of romance, elegance and fun along the way, Beamish Hall’s marketing executive Thomas Saint-Noir, who coordinated the shoot, recruited a host of the area’s top wedding suppliers to help him achieve his vision of timeless beauty peppered with modern and whimsical touches including lush botanics, blooms and balloons.
With images by Sean Elliott Photography
INSPIRATION
Thomas says: The aim of the shoot was to showcase Beamish Hall’s recently refurbished bedrooms and wedding suites working around a theme of pretty botanicals and mixing in cool greys and golds along with modern touches, such as Pampas Grass, Ivy and balloons.
We were also looking to reflect the ethos of Beamish Hall – romantic, elegant and fun – working each of these key qualities into the shoot. For romantic we decided to keep the styling and colours very whimsical using pale pastels, greens and the traditional white. For elegance, we wanted to shoot a more editorial looking set of photographs that would play as inspiration for future couples visiting the venue. For fun, we wanted to show personality – the most important quality – and so we used balloon sculptures and stunning dresses with modern twists.
SETTING
Beamish Hall is a real hidden gem, set within the rolling parklands of the Derwent Valley. The Hall offers couples picture-perfect grounds, stunning wedding bedrooms and wedding suites that wow!
The venue effortlessly fitted with the shoot’s overall theme as we wanted to mix traditional with modern. The original features and chic interiors allowed us to create a beautiful backdrop for the images.
STYLING
We dressed the venue in blush pinks, emerald greens and lots and lots of flowers! We wanted to highlight the modernity of such a traditional fairy tale venue, thus appealing to the modern bride.
The style team at Beamish Extras helped us create a vision that we could have only dreamt about. Using beautiful flower rings, spectacular centre pieces and an elegant colour scheme – we couldn’t have asked for more.
More than 100 balloons were used to frame the Winter Garden’s Terrace. Chloe from Imaginarium Balloon Studio was up from 6am blowing up the balloons and sculpting them to our desired look. I adored the balloons; it added the fun factor into the shoot. Watching the models later jump into the balloons on the bed was a fly or fall situation. Luckily, damage to the balloons was very minimal, and the shots looked amazing! It would be fun to see a bride or groom recreate these shots.
The Garden Florists went above and beyond in decorating the whole of the staircase with fresh Ivy and decked the shoot locations with fresh and dried floral arrangements. Even though the staircase didn’t make the cut in terms of shots, it is still a real talking point for brides visiting the venue.
The Designer Cake Company was kind enough to supply us with a beautiful floral detailed cake, with fabulous ruffles on the bottom tier, a flower on the middle tier and beautiful sparkles on the top. The cake emulated the theme of the shoot perfectly.
ATTIRE
We used several beautiful dresses to showcase the differing styles. We used two stunning gowns from Q’Nique, an Australian designer who is stocked by Accent Original, a bridal retailer in the heart of Newcastle. The first dress we used was called ‘Roselle’, a floral dress with an ivory coloured lace and dreamy, floaty tulle skirt. I adored the way in which the flowers were entwined with the embroidery. The second outfit from the same designer was the ‘Rosebud’ bustier and ‘Lily’ skirt. Rosebud features floral embroidered tulle appliqued onto a figure flattering bustier in beautiful rosy autumn shades.
For most of the balloon shots in the bedrooms, we used dresses from Atelier Pronovias and Jesus Peiro, both are Spanish designers stocked by Bridal Wish, a family owned boutique in Newcastle. We chose these dresses for their minimalistic and beautiful designs. We felt that using something too floral here would clash with the clean colour pallet.
The stylish menswear attire meanwhile was provided by Affleck & Moffatt located in Darlington.
BEAUTY
For the hairstyles, we wanted something that would complement the theme and dresses. We briefed the hair stylist, Tom William Maddison and he gave us recommendations on what would suit each type of dress. Tom decided to go for soft waves with a boho twist.
For one of the looks we decided on an up do, accessorised with bridal headwear from Accent Original, and a fabulous fresh greenery crown by The Garden Florists. For the second look we opted for long fabulous waves.
Tom was fantastic at working his magic and was on set for all types of touch-ups, from fly-aways to re-doing a style.
For the makeup looks we wanted a sun kissed and glowing from within look. Vicky Hedley kept the skin fresh and dewy, sculpting the blush and eyes to complement the model’s natural striking features. We wanted something effortless and radiant so that it would look timeless.
RESULTS
The shoot was a fabulous day, with everything going to plan! The lighting was perfect inside and outside the Hall. Photographer Sean Elliott was a pleasure to work with giving us his expert insight on the shoot. Allowing him to trust his creative instinct meant the delivered shots were visually and aesthetically pleasing.
The funniest part of the day was trying to carry all the balloons from the Winter Garden’s Terrace up a flight of stairs and into one of the wedding bedroom suites. Trying not to pop any in transition was certainly a challenge!
