Figs & Florals Styled Shoot

Written by: louise

Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Happy Wednesday wedding lovers! I've got some gorgeous inspiration to share with you today courtesy of Jessie Thomson Weddings & Events and Alex Miller Photography. Everything about this shoot is simply divine, from the rich purple and soft blush colour palette, to the easy-to-steal details, and perfect styling from Jessie. Jessie is one of the UK's leading luxury wedding planners, and shares my love of elegant, organic floral design and fine art styling. I'm totally thinking everyone should have a wedding filled with figs & pretty rustic details! I've also fallen head-over-heels in love with gorgeous venue Coombe Lodge - which also happens to be where our Real Life Bride Danielle is getting married next week!

Jessie explains - This shoot was born out of a collaboration with Ashlee from Taylor Barnes Photography - together we wanted to create a fine art styled shoot reminiscent of Californian vineyard weddings, showing that suppliers and brides in the UK can also create that beautiful aesthetic with natural light and the right props & styling. We worked with two other photographers to capture all the details, so on the day I worked with Alex Miller, whose images I'm sharing today.

I wanted to create a rustic chic vibe, with natural and simple materials, gorgeous florals and sweet pretty details. Nothing too forced or contemporary, basically an outdoor dinner party with a fabulous dress code! The romance of the venue really helped me to set the scene, proving that UK country house weddings don't need to be boring or old fashioned. It all started with the humble fig. From there I developed a colour palette with different shades of purple - kept natural with rustic wood and twine, and a touch of pretty blush. It was important to create a styled shoot that revealed natural beauty, combined with chic décor, relaxed composition and a massive dose of romance. The design was kept elegant and naturally sophisticated, which is an aesthetic that increasingly I am seeing my couples being drawn towards. We chose the very beautiful Coombe Lodge in Somerset - the gardens there are spectacular, but there is also a lot of space to work with inside if the good old British weather does fail you! I sourced the vintage French rustic tables and chairs, as well as the candelabras, from Virginia's Vintage Hire who have a fabulous collection if you want to recreate this look. The super pretty floral glassware is actually my Grandmother's (it pained me to return it afterwards!), the plates and dishes are actually from Ikea (so tempted to replace my entire collection with this range), and the rest of the tableware was the venue's own. The cake was very simple, and actually arrived with blue ribbon around each layer - which just didn't sit right for me with everything else. So I carefully removed it and wrapped the cake with some of my spare wool instead, then added figs and florals. Totally changed the look so it worked perfectly! I was also obsessed with finding a wine barrel to display it on (which I also used to style stationery). Bless Rachel (from The Rose Shed) for collecting it for us in her van that morning. Dedication to my cause! I wanted to create more texture in the tablescape since the design was so simple, which is why I used different shades of wool and twine to wrap the cutlery and candles with. Super quick and easy to do and it made such a difference to the overall look {and we'll be sharing the DIY right here next week!} Rachel from The Rose Shed totally understood our vision from the start. She mixed up stunning florals (hello giant Dahlias!) with simple herbs and foliage. Very undone and relaxed, with a touch of elegance. GORGEOUS! The stunning gowns were from one of my fave local bridal boutiques, The Mews of Clifton in Bristol. Jenny Packham is always high up on my wedding styling wish list - I wore one of her designs for my own wedding so clearly I'm biased! The amazing jewellery was from this Aladdin's cave of beautiful pieces called Bee's & Grave's in Bristol. So many vintage stand out pieces in there, we couldn't resist a few bold items like the purple cocktail ring and a huge blue stone bracelet (which is actually a necklace!). The hair and make up was again, about keeping it all quite simple and soft - although we added a little more glam to the looks as the sun started to set!

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Categories: styled shoots · Tags: alex miller, coombe lodge, figs, fine art, jessie thomson, olive, olive blush, organic, purple, rustic, somerset, styled shoot, styling, wedding inspiration