Inspiration

During this time when Covid dictates a lot of what we can and can't do. I wanted to show that turning a few wedding traditions on their head can make them 'just as' and 'even more meaningful and personal when you haven't got an audience. The shoot details everything from the couple helping each other get ready, a first look, a simple but lavish and emotional ceremony (Jen read out a letter she wrote to Oli about what his support means to her and the whole room was in tears!)..., a bath scene, eating cake to a romantic first dance.

It was important to me that the styling was sympathetic to the glasshouse, I didn't want to take away or mask the beauty of the brick walls and original features but instead highlight and celebrate them. Having been inspired by old pictures of the glasshouse in its overgrown and dilapidated state before it was restored, the florals were really important to me and I was keen to bring some (or a lot!) of the wildness back for the shoot. Emma from Tigers to Lilies jumped on the brief and created some incredible floral displays using seasonal early autumnal blooms and foilage that looked like they were literally growing from the brick floors and walls.

I was due to help Oli and Jennifer (the couple featured in the shoot) style and prop their wedding this year. But, like so many others, their wedding has been postponed. Jennifer suffers from alopecia. A condition I know only too well as my mum suddenly lost all her hair (absolutely every strand, even her eyelashes) 3 years ago. I‘ve watched my mums painful battle with the condition these past few years and seen how it stripped away from her identity overnight. I’ve seen the effect it's had on her confidence and how she flits between being vulnerable and embarrassed to defiant and strong in order to cope. It's the same for Jennifer.

I managed to convince Jen and importantly her fiancé Oli to model for the shoot. As much as I wanted to do something positive and empowering for people around the globe that suffer from alopecia. (Or other health conditions that affect the way they look.) Encouraging them to be strong and defiant and give them confidence that they can and will be beautiful on their wedding day.

I wanted the shoot to highlight the meaning of marriage and what it is to find someone that loves you for who you are. And just simply wants to spend the rest of their life with you...no matter what. I think there is a lot to be said for the person that stands by you when you suffer from a condition like this and it was something I was keen to capture in the styling and set up of the shoot.