It’s holiday season on the blog, and as our editorial team take a break to rest, recover and enjoy an Aperol spritz or two ahead of our super busy autumn season, we’ll be recapping our favourite weddings and styled shoots from the year that shall not be named on our pretty pages.
Check back daily for all the inspo, and to see if your big day or creative vision made it into our top ten picks!
Inspired by the drawing in of dusk and the Halloween season, Tammy at Howards Events has pulled together a styled shoot to enchant and enthrall couples looking for something a little darker than your average.
If glamorous and spooky is your potion, you’re going to be bewitched by the stylings of today’s featured shoot. We’ve got neons, pumpkins, chocolate skulls and a black cake. Add to this a decadent amount of black and orange roses, lots of candlelight and the black bridal gown of your gothic dreams. Or should that be the perfect nightmare? Either way, we’re into it. Trick or treat indeed.
UNVEILED Network Member Howards Events are a family-run business and the models you’ll spot in the shoot are a real life couple who were actually supposed to tie the knot this Halloween! Thanks to Covid-19 their plans have been scuppered and the big day is on hold but they’ve marked the occasion by playing bride and groom in this spooktacular creation. Let’s get the whole thrilling tale…
With images by UNVEILED Network Member Veil & Gun Photography
CONCEPT
Tammy says: Our shoot is named Dark Romance. We chose it to go into the autumn season. Still lots of bright vivid colours but also the chance to create a little more with the black and the Halloween theme.
LOCATION
We wanted a venue where we could really create the moody atmosphere we needed. Unique Occasions at Loversall Farm was the perfect venue for us to bring the theme to life, nestled within a beautiful, rural village on the outskirts of Doncaster, surrounded by 129 acres of farmland.
STYLING
We wanted to go with a really dark moody look so we used a lot of black on the table. But we added orange and gold to bring the Halloween and autumnal colours in. We used pumpkins of all sizes, skulls, long taper candles, long flowing table runners and chair sashes to really pull the theme together and give it the dark romance atmosphere. Howards Events are a family business based local to Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsley, Leeds, Wakefield and Sheffield. UNVEILED Network Member I Do Hire is a new venue dressing and prop hire service for weddings, events and commercial hire, a real one-stop shop for custom colour changing neon and props. They supplied the neon for this shoot.
For this shoot, UNVEILED Network Member Steph from Patacake created various dessert favours as well as the two cake designs. Black and red toffee apples, chocolate skulls, handmade black and gold rock candy sticks and a variety of coloured mini chocolate truffles. The cakes were designed to fit in with the darker side of the shoot. There was a three-tier black wedding cake, with gold leaf separators and fresh bright flowers. The smaller design (designed for intimate weddings) was a two-tier black cake with added gold edible lace, a chocolate skull and fresh bright flowers to match the centrepieces. Patacake creates luxury, bespoke, classic wedding cakes and favours throughout South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.
For the stationery and the invitation suite, UNVEILED Network Member Lucy created a table plan to incorporate the use of mesh and tassels, in keeping with the theme and flowers, adding texture and detail. Lucy Mcspirit Design & Stationery is a contemporary wedding stationer and graphic designer based in Lancashire, offering a selection of modern house designs for the design conscious couple, also a bespoke service to those who would like something a bit different.
Char-Cuterie Boards By Charlotte is a local charcuterie/grazeboard company supplying grazing goods to the South Yorkshire region. All ingredients used are locally sourced and all boards are made using fallen palm leaves, making them biodegradable. All cheeses and meats are sourced with only the finest ingredients from the best suppliers. For our shoot Charlotte used rustic coloured local dairy farm cheeses with autumnal tweaks, such as cinnamon, red wine, apple, pumpkin, seasonal fruit and vegetables, all which coincided with the floral decor and tableware.
The Flower Shop is a local florist in South Elmsall. Jackie from The Flower Shop created a teardrop shape bouquet using black and orange roses celosia (ladies brains) leucospermum, dried protea, hypericum berries, calla lily, dried pumpkins and black ostrich plumes. The foliage used was eucalyptus and grevillea. The flowers on the table were orange roses, celosia, hydrangea, cucurbitas (mini pumpkins) orange carnations and hypericum berries and orange amaranthus. The buttonhole consisted of an orange rose with hypericum berries and amaranthus.
ATTIRE
UNVEILED Network Member Danielle from Danielle Sykes Bridal Designs, handmade luxury bridal label based in South Yorkshire, says “I wanted to create something for the photoshoot that resonated high fashion bridal drama but with a Halloween edge. The feather effect lace was perfect for the bodice to create a dark romantic feel while keeping it elegant and luxurious.”
The featured veil is from Rebecca Anne Designs. With a BA (Hons) in Fashion Design, UNVEILED Network Member Rebecca uses her pattern-cutting skills and knowledge of fabrics to create stunning hand-crafted veils from tulle and lace.
UNVEILED Network Member Tweed & Groom are a family owned independent menswear boutique. They also own The White Yard bridal boutique. Their boutique is for the relaxed groom and his party who want to wear something a little different on their wedding day, rather than the traditional top hats, and tails. Our styling ideas for the suit came from the autumnal gothic influences, and we chose a dark navy and burnt orange detail to reflect the best of the season. Holding a wedding during autumn is a really creative time, with rich vibrant colours to make your styling pop – and this vibe is embedded within the subtle check detail of our Robert Simon suit, and rough silk burnt orange tie.
BEAUTY
UNVEILED Network Member Kelly Hanks is a hairdresser based in South Yorkshire, with over 25 years experience in the hairdressing industry. She’s fully qualified in all aspects of hairdressing but her absolute passion is bridal hair and upstyling as you can probably tell.
Our model Ruby had the perfect ‘bride of Frankenstein’ hair with that incredible blonde streak at the front. We really wanted to show that off and, as Ruby only had short hair, Kelly opted for a cute wavy bob with lots of texture and volume. I’m a massive fan of hair down on brides at the moment as I think it’s perfectly feminine and when being photographed head on it can look ultra glamorous! For the second look, and for showcasing Rebecca Anne’s incredible bow veil, Kelly just went for something simple and sleek but, again, leaving out that blonde streak for the wow factor.
UNVEILED Network Member Sam Page MUA works on photo shoots and fashion shows and her work is frequently featured in magazines. For the shoot makeup, she used a light coverage on the skin keeping it soft and glowing with peach blush to tie in with the autumnal tones on the eyes. This was paired with a subtle smokey winged eye and brick red tone on the lip. When creating this makeup look, Sam wanted it to complement the model’s skin tone whilst tying in with the flowers and decor. This look can be toned down to suit any bridal style. A dewy glowing skin looks gorgeous on brides and is her most requested look.
RESULTS
The shoot went amazing on the day. All of the suppliers involved worked so hard to bring all of our visions to life! I know that one of Danielle’s particular highlights from the shoot was towards the end, with Ruby standing in front of the backdrop on her own with the bow in her hair and the matching mask on. She looked so regal and statuesque with the candles and neon sign lighting up the brick wall. It was a great finale to all the hard work we had all put in making the shoot successful through tough times.
Our models, Ruby and Josh, were actually due to get married this year at Halloween and due to Covid-19 have had to postpone their wedding. They really enjoyed being able to dress up and play husband and wife for us. I’m sure they have come away with so many amazing images from Loren and Millie of Veil & Gun Photography.
