The Inspiration
Victoria the Photographer: I created this beautiful but simple bridal inspiration shoot in collaboration with some of the hottest talents and suppliers I know from the UK.
I wanted to keep the shoot simple by focusing on details that any couple can aspire to and will have, they can have beautiful stationery, there will be a wedding dress (except for the guys, but you could rock the suit!), there will be a ring, and there will be flowers. I have over the years seen so many beautiful inspiration shoots but felt that maybe some couples feel that they can't aspire to them because their wedding won't look like that.
So I set out to change that. From a practical standpoint this simplicity worked out to be a complete godsend as about 2 weeks before the shoot I broke my arm in a cycling accident. Thankfully with strong painkillers I was able to keep working last summer, and managed to carry everything on to the Eurostar for a little Parisian adventure.
The weather was perfect summer, which inspired the name of the shoot, La douce lumière d'été (The gentle light of summer). The thought behind this wasn't just literally bright sunshine and summer, but the word luminous comes from French and reminded me of childhood summers and the feel of the summer, there is a gentleness to those memories.
The Venue
The shoot started in a typically Parisian apartment with very minimalistic styling and use of a calligraphy love letter to set the scene for the day. My style is very much about storytelling and love and creating a cinematic storyboarded approach is what I love to do.
We then moved outside the apartment for some beautiful bridal portraits in the courtyard of the apartment in the 6e. arrondissement before moving on to the Jardin du Luxembourg for a stunning bridal portraiture inspiration session. I am a very easy going photographer and work with the couple on their day with the emphasis on it being their day, but I do always feel a little bit creatively hamstrung when I'm only given 1 minute with the bride before she dashes off to the church to take portraits. I wanted to show what you can have if you ensure through your stylists/make up artists/hair stylists co-operation can be achieved by allowing me 10-15 minutes of your time before the ceremony.
I wanted to truly create something that was beautiful but also very much something anyone could aspire to by applying a little time to their wedding planning to ensure such portraits can happen. All shot in my fine art pastel style shot on real film and some digital.
In all, the evening came down after the shoot, and I drunk a few glasses of red wine watching Paris' sky turn purple, and that is the dream of a Parisian wedding, it's a classic vision romance and I think we can definitely say santé to that!
The Suppliers
I chose my suppliers very carefully. I met Caroline from
Gather & Bloom in Brighton during a wedding fair and was immediately in awe of her work. Real artistry with foliage, absolutely on point. She is just one of the best to work with, a real creative spirit. Next up was Anna from
This Modern Love, I also saw her at a wedding fair in Brighton and had been aware of her beautiful gowns for some time before. She was super and supplied me a number of gowns to shoot with. I love her style, the kind of dress I would choose for myself, a real sense of elegance, feminine but totally modern - a certain lightness. I also brought in Claire Gould of
By Moon & Tide Calligraphy, she is a real talent with a fabulous imagination, she wanted to try something experimental for the stationery suite and I was so glad she did, when paired with a beautiful ring from
London Victoria Ring Company made for just stunning shots. Don't be afraid of a splash of colour, and to allow a little deep colour accent come from your restrained palette is my thinking, it's a bit of whimsy and a bit of emotional expression.