This afternoon is all about pretty inspiration. I was over the moon when Rebecca from The Bespoke Florist got in touch to share this charming inspiration shoot held at Cripps Barn in the Cotswolds.

With oodles of pretty peach blooms, a retro bicycle, super stylish attire, an incredible cake and lovely stationery. There are sooo many lovely ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Thanks so much to Katie Hamilton Photography for sharing her images with us today. I will leave you with Rebecca to tell all about the shoot;

“With summer finally on our doorstep we put together this dreamy bridal shoot that oozes colour, charm, and vintage loveliness!

The natural timber pergola at Cripps Barn has a beautiful rustic appeal and provided the perfect backdrop for our flower filled shoot. Katie from Katie Hamilton Photography did an excellent job coordinating the day and capturing the tiny details exquisitely. Her photography is dreamy and ethereal and fit this styled shoot perfectly.

Rebecca from The Bespoke Florist provided the floral for the shoot. She is a huge fan of floral wreaths and finds opportunities wherever she can to incorporate them into her work. We hung a large wreath over the table setting made from a hula-hoop covered in moss and ferns. The wreath was studded with Juliet roses, astilbe, hypericum, clematis and hydrangea. Small silver votives filled with single blooms were dotted amongst flower filled silver rose bowls. The overall look is classic, natural and textured.

The retro bicycle and bunting were significant features in our shoot and we were keen to incorporate these elements in the stationery. Our favourite design has to be the place name cards which are styled on vintage baggage tags finished with wooden buttons and natural twine. The stunning three tier cake and cupcakes feature delicate sugar hydrangea and roses in pastel blue and peach. We particularly love the ribbon detail which adds a sense of softness and movement.

When it came to vintage fashion, it didn’t take us long to pick out the beautiful ‘Daphne’ dress by Lyn Ashworth. We adore its soft tea length cut and over-sized bow detail.”

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This morning we are going global. UK based wedding planner Jane from Planned for Perfection headed to Australia for a wedding and decided to create a UK/Australian inspiration shoot whilst she was there.

I so love the Sydney backdrop, the beautiful blooms and the stunning afternoon tea table. Thanks so much to Jonathan David Photography for sharing his photographs and to Planned for Perfection for sending this shoot to WWW, here is what Jane had to say about the shoot;

“Working with lots of brides and grooms from overseas, when I visited Sydney earlier this year for my first Australian wedding, I took the opportunity to introduce my Australian contacts to those UK couples wanting to get married in Australia and introduce Planned for Perfection, my award winning wedding planning company, to Australian couples wanting to get married the UK or abroad.

Despite the aggression on the rugby field and cricket pitch, the long distance love between the Australians and the British is thriving, as is the amount of UK /Australian couples finding love and tying the knot! Australia offers a huge array of choices when it comes to planning your overseas wedding, from the breath-taking landmarks of Sydney or the sunny beaches of Queensland to the rugged outback, many couples choose to marry there after discovering the romance and magic of the Land Down Under. Others decide to marry here in the UK, with an enviable choice of historic wedding venues; castles, stately homes, manor houses and beautiful country house hotels and whichever location you choose, Planned for Perfection can help ensure your perfect day!

Everyone knows how much us Brits love a “cuppa tea” and it appears, so do alot of Australians – Morning Tea, High Tea, Cream Tea & Afternoon Tea are extremely popular Down Under with the English tradition of finger sandwiches, scones & cakes served on vintage china, a real hit in the Southern Hemisphere. So, I decided to invite a hand picked selection of Australian wedding suppliers to “A Planned for Perfection Afternoon Tea” arranging a photo shoot, which combined the love of the Australian out-doors and iconic Sydney landmarks, with a quintessential English afternoon tea…”

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This afternoon i have some delicious inspiration to share with you, sent in by photographer Katie Byram, who organised and shot the most gorgeous bridal shoot.

The idea centred around ice cream, with pale mint, pink and blue tones, quirky touches and the most amazing airstream powder room. I so love the vintage dresses, the incredible bouquet and that cake!

Thanks so much to Katie Byram Photography for sharing her images with us today, here is what she had to say about the shoot;

“Vallum Farm is a fab venue near Matfen in Northumberland. They have recently expanded their business with the arrival of the David Kennedy restaurant, and have started to offer wedding receptions on site. They also have a florist (Wildflower Florist), and other businesses on site as well. I have visited many times over the past couple of years for lunch and their homemade ice cream, and came up with the idea to get together with a bunch of amazing talented North-East wedding suppliers to create a photoshoot.

The theme was based around the ice cream colours mint green and pink, and everyone came together to create this rustic, relaxed, ice cream themed photoshoot.

I wanted to keep it extremely relaxed so chose a real-life couple after putting some shout outs on social media. I had an overwhelming response with about 25 couples all willing to be part of the shoot, I ended up choosing Anna & Chris as they seemed friendly, happy, smiley, and in love! I wanted to use a genuine couple unlike many other photoshoots as it reflected my relaxed style of photography, rather than serious, dramatic fashion posing. Some of the other suppliers were taken aback initially by my decision to not use professional models for my shoot. But on the day they realised exactly why I’d done that and saw it all come together. I didn’t care if the couple turned up a nervous wreck in the morning. I’m used to nervousness and i’m used to putting people at ease! I shoot real life couples all the time! Thankfully the couple were extremely laid back and relaxed from the get-go anyway.

We wanted to keep the theme fresh and interesting.

We styled 3 main areas, the barn, restaurant and corridor, (breeze blocks!) We also used the field for the airstream and car.”

“Styling: Karen from Sweet Pea events asked to be involved in the shoot in the initial planning stages. She was fantastic with ideas to style the corridor, restaurant and barn area. We used Pinterest for a bit of inspiration, and came up with a twist on the haybale seating areas we’d seen there. She also helped to source some of the suppliers and was fantastic overseeing the running of everything.

Table plan and stationery: Wendy from By Wendy (Based at Just Perfect in Cramlington http://www.just-perfect-uk.co.uk/ as am I) She is amazing at coming up with creative ideas. She decided to name the tables after ice cream flavours to suit the theme, and made them in soft pinks and mint green. She also made a bespoke ‘newlyweds’ sign which is a twist on the ‘Just Married’ signs we’ve seen before. Wendy also made the fab paper decorations that were hanging from the cake cabinet.

Flowers: Hannah from Wildflower Florist, which is based on site at Vallum is an expert with unstructured, wild flower bouquets and centrepieces. She created the amazing bouquets and table decor, with lots of hydrangeas. Based on the colour and ice cream theme, the sundae-like glass vases looked stunning with the layers of different coloured flowers.

Cake: Leoni from Great British Cupcakery took on the theme of mint green and went from there, her cake is just stunning! She is opening her new cake parlour in Newcastle this weekend, which will have space for workshops, vintage tea parties, wedding consultations and other things. She is a recent (2011) bride herself and loves all things weddings.”

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Afternoon everyone :-) To get the weekend well and truly started i have some beautiful and inspirational images to share with you. This shoot was sent over to me by photographer Matilda Rose, who alongside some wonderful suppliers created an ethereal style wedding shoot.

I so love the seasonal Spring flowers, the romantic veils and the whimsical feel to this shoot. Just gorgeous.

Thanks so much to Matilda for sharing her images with us today, here is what she had to say about the shoot;

“After months of planning, waiting for the date to come round. Worries about the freakishly cold weather, the day arrived and it was sunny.So great to get together with some truly talented wedding suppliers after a long dark winter and collaborate on a project. Especially one where the main theme was the celebration of light! The inspiration behind the shoot was to really keep it simple. Ellie and I wanted a soft, naturally lit almost ethereal quality to the photographs. Layers of lace, partial obscuring of the picture and lots and lots of flowers! Wanting it to feel more like a fashion shoot but were the girls just happened to be wearing wedding dresses.”

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Let’s have a little whimsy for a Friday afternoon :-)

Photographer Kat submitted this lovely Alice in Wonderland shoot to me that she organised. I love the sun drenched photographs, super cute props and those wonderful terrarium style centrepieces.

Thanks so much to Kat Forsyth for sharing her images with us today, here is what she had to say about the shoot;

“Long ago, before the Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland movie came out, I had a vague idea of doing an Alice-themed shoot; but as with all vague ideas that never get anywhere beyond that stage, I just didn’t get around to it. Then suddenly Alice was everywhere: there were real weddings, inspiration shoots, Wonderland-themed DIY projects, and doing one of my own just seemed like overkill. But along the way I’d been picking up bits and pieces that I thought would work in the shoot if it ever happened.

Then we made the decision to move to England, and I realised that I’d better do the shoot before I had to decide what to do with the props when I packed up my home! I also had the perfect “Alice” in mind: Sara, with whom I’d worked at a bookshop a few years before. My landlady and friend, Mel, who owns a wardrobing/costume business, and does make-up as well (she even did my own make-up for my wedding in 2008), had the perfect little white dress, which I supplemented with a blue bow I’d found in a box at my community theatre group! Mel did Sara’s make-up as well. The flowers, vases and belljars were provided by my friend Eve of Splendid Affairs – I had a definite vision of moss, mushrooms and belljars – and I bought some mixed mushrooms at the supermarket, which I added in myself. Everything else – the keys, clock, pocketwatch, necklace, etc -belonged to me, and we found a way to use them to add to the theme!”

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