Artistic, delicate and natural
A styled wedding shoot at Skipbridge country weddings.
In August 2020 I was invited to be the wedding florist to create the florals for a styled wedding shoot organised and designed by wedding planner and stylist Hannah from Hannah Rachael Weddings. The concept was based around a beautiful wedding dress designed by Savin London and supplied by Lace & co Bridal boutique. The venue chosen was Skipbridge country weddings in North Yorkshire which consisted of a teepee in a stunning outdoor garden setting surrounded by trees and rustic features including an old vehicle and a bar made from a silo.
When organising a styled wedding shoot a "mood board” is generally created and is a great way to show ideas, design and concept using both images and text. Hannah created a mood board with some of its features shown below in a moodpboard of my own and this is where I started designing the florals.
“Variety: layering, nature and delicate detailing” I decided to use a large variety of flowers and foliage that had different texture and interesting shapes, whilst still being quite delicate for example; Nicotiana langsdorffii with their long delicate stems and small green bell like flowers. The bridal bouquet I created was small and delicate to compliment the wedding dress and not overpower the beautiful hand painted design.
“Painted, artistic & free: bright, coloured, relaxed palette and effortless beauty” The colour palette included soft pinks, violet, blue and green to compliment the wedding dress and the outdoor setting. My style of design is very natural and wild with displays having a relaxed structure. The hanging flower display is naturally designed almost as if it could be found in nature with lots of green foliage and flowers grouped together. All the flowers used in this shoot were locally grown in Yorkshire so it is likely that these really could be found naturally together in a garden in the UK, a very special garden at that!
All the flowers I chose were delicate and complimented each other, I decided not to use any large blooms that could outshine the smaller flowers, I think this also made the displays look more natural and gave them that sense of effortless beauty even though I put a lot of work into their arrangements haha!
“Abundance: nature and colour overflowing and unrestricted” I think this concept is most obvious in the hanging display and the way it’s designed makes it look like it is overflowing with leaves and flowers, I especially loved the coral Amaranthus that dangles down from the display like grapes giving the feel of abundance.
Now to how it worked on the day. So to create these wedding flowers, I started by collecting the flowers from local growers in Yorkshire including Yorkshire Petals and Pickers. Then the night before the wedding shoot I created the bridal bouquet and prepared the flower stems by removing excess leaves and any damaged flowers. I also made the base for the hanging flower display which consisted of a tree branch, chicken wire and some ties.
The flowers then rested in water overnight to keep them fresh. On the day of the shoot I arrived early at the venue and started to create the hanging display. The foliage is displayed without water but to keep the flowers fresh I needed to use water tubes to make sure they had a source of water and wouldn’t wilt, then once all in place the display was hung from the teepee structure.
The great thing about having a teepee wedding is that the structure/build allows you lots of freedom to hang wedding flowers all over the inside of the structure. When booking your wedding florist you can discuss all the options for hanging flowers.
The table displays were arranged in vases provided by Hannah and placed on the breakfast table, along with this beautiful wedding cake created by Alice from Copper Spoon cakery which was decorated with flowers too.
This has been one of my favourite wedding shoots to date and I loved the natural and delicate details created. All the suppliers were a joy to work with (these are listed below), the style ideas came together beautifully and it was organised so well by Hannah. Thank you to Anna Beth Photos for the wonderful photographs.
Styled shoots are a great way to meet other wedding suppliers and try out new design ideas at different wedding venues, putting lots of creative minds together is always fun and exciting. As a wedding florist I look forward to doing more wedding shoots in 2021 and help inspire Brides and Grooms to create their perfect wedding day and to hear all your wedding flower ideas.
Thank you for reading xx
Suppliers:
Wedding Planner/stylist Hannah Rachael Weddings
Photography Anna Beth Photos
Hair stylist Kelly Hanks Hair Design
Makeup artist Arianna Bowler Makeup Artist
Stationary Keetley Creative Weddings
Cake Copper Spoon Cakery
Dress Lace & Co Bridal
Crockery Whitehouse Crockery