The Botanical Bride

I'll always have a place in my heart for Sheffield, as it's a city I've spent a lot of time in. This shoot also focuses on botanicals, which is one of my favourite styling themes, so naturally, I've got all the heart eyes for this one. The colours are gorgeous, so earthy, warm and natural and it's lovely to see a botanical shoot with a focus on flowers again, rather than foliage. It also shows that you can totally embrace a botanical vibe for a city wedding. Flower crowns aren't just for countryside affairs you know. There's a dream team of suppliers behind it, like planners Once Upon A Wedding and florists, Frances & Rose, so make sure you check out their websites if you're planning a wedding in South Yorkshire or beyond :)

{Watch The Film}

The Inspiration

The Team Behind The Shoot: The Botanical Bride, naturally, was inspired by the beautiful greenery and natural decor of The Botanist, Sheffield. With hanging lamps, domed glass enclosures and an all-round Botanical ambience, the venue was a wonderful setting for our shoot. As with all of our shoots, we had two photographers on board. When directing editorial shoots for creative inspiration, it is invaluable for us to have the choice of images from two very different photographers. Mariola's style is darker, very similar to film and really accentuated the contrast of the white of the florals and bridal two piece against the greenery, whilst Kerry’s was crisp and elegant.

The Flowers

Frances and Rose was our one and only choice for this shoot (so much that we coordinated the shoot mainly around her availability!) She created table adornments, extra flowers to complement Wildwood Paper’s botanical stationery range, a bridal bouquet with trailing ribbons and the all-important, blossom-infused flower crown. Frances and Rose used 100% British flowers in their arrangements, focusing on blossoms and helebores, the stars of the floral crown. The theme of botany and the stunning natural displays already in the venue meant that using an abundance of greenery worked perfectly, mixing this with white helebores and tulips and also adding in subtle hints of purple and pink. The styling was inspired by the season, fresh buds bursting with promise, lush greenery a reminder that winter will end, a true spring floral adventure!

The Beauty

Grace, our model, instantly came to mind when we were in planning and preparation stages. To the surprise of our photographers - who couldn’t have given her more praise - she hadn’t modelled professionally prior to the shoot. With her natural bohemian-esque, wavy blonde hair and gorgeous cheekbones she encapsulated the ethereal, elegant bride, yet with a touch of wildness about her. Ria, our makeup artist, went for a natural coverage, accentuating Grace's lips with a pale pink nude, eyes with shimmery rose gold powder and by adding a dewy glow to her skin. As Grace’s fell into beautiful natural curls anyway, no hair styling was required.

The Dress

Grace wore a bespoke, two piece gown beautifully crafted by KMR Bridal. The sheer, polka-dot fabric edged with lace was the dress with a difference that we envisioned for the Botanical bride: soft, feminine and elegant but unique. The bridal separates were designed exclusively for The White Yard, a stunning bridal boutique in Elsecar with an industrial chic vibe. Although our initial focus for the shoot was the statement flower crown carefully crafted by Frances and Rose, we just had to get a couple of shots of Grace wearing the delicate floor-length veil by KMR Bridal - and, later, with a simple, elegant tulle veil. Both complemented the two-piece gown beautifully, showcasing two very different looks.

The Styling

As the gorgeous bridal separates and floral imagery naturally captured the eye the most, we decided to keep styling to a minimum. Using The Botanist's own mismatched china plates and silver cutlery, earthenware and wooden candle-holders, we dressed the table with white linen napkins, silver and brass napkin holders and with fresh sprigs that Frances and Rose had prepared. The metallic accents broke up the greenery, adding to the elegance of the shoot. The overall effective was simple, yet very much as we envisioned the styling alongside our Botanical bride to be. With Wildwood Paper's custom-designed botanist table number, encased inside a lovely glass standing frame, our feature table was complete.

The Stationery

Wildwood Paper designed a botanical stationery range specifically for the shoot, featuring a mix of kraft paper, printed florals and leaves. We propped the large ‘Botanical Bride’ sign, edged with greenery, on a wooden easel outside the glass Kaleidoscope Emporium dining section. Wildwood Paper lined green and brown envelopes with a botanical print, in keeping with the save the date card also produced.

The Cakes

Two semi-naked cakes were produced by Harriet's Couture Cakes for the shoot. We had planned to combine these fresh British flowers from Frances and Rose and we couldn't have been happier with the result. The cakes themselves were simple, yet elegant - tied beautifully into the Botanical theme, propped upon wooden pallets with the additional floral adornments.

The Film

We like to add something a little different to our inspirational editorials for our brides and grooms, which is why we invited Lukas & Laura Films and Mathy Creative along to capture videography and stills throughout the shoot. Lukas & Laura concentrated on creating a promo video for the shoot, turning the lens on the aesthetics – the movement of the veil as Grace walked, how the fabric of the two-piece gown fell against our model’s frame and all angles of her ethereal bridal makeup. Mathy worked on a behind the scenes video, which is invaluable to our work as Once Upon A Wedding - we love to add that personal, real touch to everything we do. Our shoots aren’t just static and manufactured editorials. It’s an opportunity for some of the most talented wedding professionals to share their expertise, network and produce something truly inspiring. Mathy captured the photographers working together; Marianne of Frances and Rose adjusting the flower crown throughout the shoot; every spare pair of hands we had working together to ensure that our creative vision translated perfectly into our editorial images. With such a tight timescale, we were all under pressure to get the shots we wanted. Despite this, we couldn’t be happier with the results. The atmosphere of the shoot was brilliant; adrenaline was flowing, all hands were on deck and each and every creative spark was what made the shoot so special. As a wedding coordination business, having suppliers we can trust and recommend to our clients is so important – we’d recommend all these lovely ladies (and Lukas!) over and over.