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This will be possibly the most epic blogpost I will have ever written…by the time I get to the end of it. Fitting for a totally epic shoot.

When I heard tale of a haunted gothic mansion that had never been finished, fireplaces hanging in midair, I knew I would want to shoot there. I was slightly bored of seeing ‘alternative’ styling that wasn’t really alternative at all, let alone exciting.  I want to create three looks that were totally non-mainstream, that hinted at the fantastical and whimsical, yet remained irrevocably romantic.

When I spoke to the people I wanted to work with, we talked of dark fairytales and Tim Burton. Artistic vision aside, my idea behind this shoot was to showcase some of the amazing suppliers that we have in the West Country and went to some lengths to make sure I got the team that I wanted. We worked together to create inspirational styling that was truly alternative yet beautiful and achievable.

Jump to the bottom for the full team of talent involved on the shoot, or read through for the run down on each of the looks and the talent behind them.

LOOK ONE – Colourpop

This was the most accessible of the looks. A fun, slightly rockabilly style. I fell in love with the outrageously curvy silhouette and fresh colourways of this dress created by Selinna at Alissia Couture at first sight. We designed the look around the dress – with complementary purples from Marc Wallace’s suits, the amazing Carmen Rose bouquet by Bramble and Wild, the colourpop jewellery – this was a look for the bold bride.

FANTASTICALLY CURVACEOUS
Selinna at Alissia Couture‘s theatrical background shines through in her individual and structured dresses. I love that her dresses are made to enhance and show off the bride’s shape and always have an element of fun too. This dress was both womanly with it’s bold corset with lacings aaaaall the way down the back of the dress and tulle fishtail. We wanted to show this dress off to the max, so I was delighted when we were lucky enough to have the lovely Madeleine Havell work with us, a professional plus size model who is stunning as well as being great to work with. Her groom was Alwyn du Preez, a very easy going and versatile South African model.

THE FASCINATOR
I had seen a totally amazing (and creatively bonkers) fascinator that Ani Townsend had created for a Cloth Magazine shoot that I worked on. So, it was natural that I look her up straight away.Also from a theatrical background, talented milliner Ani Townsend surprised us by creating this fascinator for us from a sample scrap that Selinna had sent to Ani! Ani is fantastically creative and also made us the flyaway lace headpiece for our most dramatic look. Ani has recently opened the Milliners Guild in the Arcade in Bristol if you’d like to pop in and see some of her work 🙂

BLOOMING MARVELLOUS
Grace from Bramble and Wild is a young lady with serious talent. You give her a brief and she will work her magic to a T and then some. Her designs have originality and flair, but are always fitting as well as looking effortless. Floristry just comes naturally to her. From her unusual Carmen rose bouquet above, to the trailing orchid bouquet in our third look, I am totally in love with her work. She also made our sets look extra sexy – creating displays on the fly. I think the one that stole the show was her amazing table display for the last look.

JEWELLERY WITH ATTITUDE
Statement quality jewellery with real character seems to be hard to track down these days, so I was like a kid in a sweetshop when I came across Pirates and Roses in Clifton Village. Run by the owner Michelle, it is a treasure trove of unusual pieces that have all been handpicked by Michelle from the local area and around the world.  She only takes one of each item, so repeat visits to her shop are a moving feast. As the name would suggest, some of her goods have a recurrent pirate theme. Pirates and Roses provided us with all the items of jewellery for the shoot except for the neck corset. I loved the tied giant pearls that we used in this look as well as the ice queen jewellery for our gothic look and my personal favourite – the jet black necklace in the third look. When I came across this rainbow crystal skull ring, I could not resist it’s fierce kitsch total OTT-ness. It definitely deserved a closeup all of its own. What a piece.

LOOK TWO – Gothic romantic

This is when I let my inner Tim Burton run riot. It was his ability to combine the macabre with fairytale romance and whimsy that inspired me. In fact our stunning model Helen had initially caught my eye because she had an air of Helena Bonham-Carter about her. We were lucky she could join us as she really breathed life into our fabulous and gorgeous corpse bride, accompanied by David Hill-Souch who was channelling Johnny Depp to the max!  We took inspiration from our gothic ruinous surroundings and it made for somewhat theatrical images.

THE FAIRYTALE DRESS
I’d been aware of Lisa Keating Bespoke Bridal‘s work for some time, but hadn’t actually met her when I called her to ask if she’d like to be involved on the shoot. I’d seen a lot of dress designers but the immense creativity in her designs and her fine corsetry skills really set her apart. Little did I know that Lisa would go on to create two dresses especially for the shoot – both equally amazing. She worked from a brief and my moodboards and it was amazing to seem them realised. From sketch to creation, Lisa’s designs are truly stunning. She produces amazing design after amazing design and each one is different, fresh and all equally gorgeous. Lisa deserves so much recognition for her talent and hard work.

THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKES IN THE WORLD?
I absolutely hounded (communication failure as it turned out…) Lizzie from Chocolate Delores to collaborate on this shoot as I fell in love with her work at first sight. She was the only cakemaker that I wanted to work with. I love Lizzie’s artistic cakes that are all made with real chocolate and a whole lot of skill. She made the dark chocolate cake especially for our shoot…our only complaint was that it was hard to resist the smell of chocolate all day!There isn’t really much more to say other than her cakes are stunning and they taste great too.

STYLIN’!
You will find this hard to believe, but this was Chris Murphy from McQueens first ever photoshoot. Since this was the case, he and I worked together closely in advance of the shoot and I think you will agree he really pulled out the stops on the day. From Madeleine’s rockabilly ‘do’ with lots of height, to Helen and Katie’s desconstructed wild barnets. Chris is great fun, worked really hard and it paid off – not many hair stylists get their first shoot straight into print!

As a sidepoint, I can’t express the love I have for these finely crafted steampunk cufflinks from Pirates and Roses…

FEATHERED FRIENDS
Our raven corpse bride with neck corset courtesy of Devine Delinquents (who also supplied the cufflinks for the final look) are going great guns in the alternative jewellery business at the moment.

LOOK THREE – The Dark Fairytale

This was the most stylised look, I really wanted to up the ante, get moody with the lighting and create some really dramatic shots. This featured the second dress that Lisa Keating Bespoke Bridal had made for us – with its fabulous detachable bustle. I wanted a dress that was still totally wearable as a wedding dress and love the clean lines and silhouette of this look, accentuated by the flyaway lace fascinator created by Ani. Thanks to Katie for being game enough to climb up old ladders and for letting us totally wreck her hair and spook her with ghost stories!

ARCHITECTURAL SPLENDOUR
When our set dresser dropped out of the shoot at short notice, I did panic a little, but Kate from Robert Mills Architectural Antiques stepped in and gave me free run of their Aladdin’s cave of architectural treasures. They often fit out bars and provide pieces for filmsets. A word of warning though – if you stop by their unassuming warehouse, be prepared to leave a little piece of my heart after you fall in love with many of their unique pieces. I can’t thank Kate and her team enough for their generosity. My favoute piece? The cart in the shot below – apparently originally used for transporting coffins!

SHARP SUITS
I really struggled with the menswear initially – most of the menswear in the West Country is somewhat lacklustre, but then I found Marc in his Bath boutique. A tailored suit is just a tailored suit right? Not when it’s a Marc Wallace suit. His sharp tailoring and knack with colours and fabrics make his suits stand out from the crowd.

PICTURE PERFECT

I really needed a makeup artist that could go further than ‘standard’ bridal or beauty makeup.  Sophia Cox is an illustrator and makeup artist who worked to create increasingly dramatic looks from the gunmetal hues of the first look, through the deep vermillion of our corpse bride, culminating in the final deconstructed look overladen with gold powder. Thanks for helping us get creative Sophia!

The Vanity Fair ‘money’ shot:

TEAM TWISTED
This was a huge shoot and would not have been possible without every single member of the team. There was so much talent onsite that day. Additional shoutouts go to the ‘behind-the-scenes’ folk – Damien Lovegrove for spending his day off and sharing his lighting expertise with us, Jon Craig for working a full day after being in a motorbike crash on his way to the shoot (!!) , Lu David for looking after the dressiing room and keeping track of the inventory (we had in the region of £20k of items lent to us for this shoot) and an extra shoutout to Alwyn for taking the initiative to bubble wrap all the props and pack the van for the journey back whilst I was finishing off the shoot. What a day! You can see our cheeky mugs below…bar Damien who had to duck out early.

Credit where it’s due:

Wedding gowns: Alissia Couture and Lisa Keating Bespoke Bridal
Menswear: Marc Wallace
Millinery: Ani Townsend
Jewellery: Pirates & Roses and Devine Delinquents
Floral design: Bramble & Wild
Cake: Chocolate Delores
Hair: Christopher Murphy at McQueens
Makeup: Sophia Cox
Models: Helen Diaz, Madeleine Havell, David Hill-Souch, Alwyn du Preez, Katie Roxburgh
Assistants: Jon Craig, Damien Lovegrove & Lu David
Props: Robert Mills Architectural Antiques
Venue: Woodchester Mansion
Art direction and photography: Marie Man

With special thanks to Hannah and Marcus at Woodchester

If you are interested in creative wedding photography, drop Marie a line.