Woodland wedding styled shoot

Woodland wedding styled shoot

In early May I was pleased when The Nicola Dixon Photography Co approached me to collaborate on a woodland wedding styled shoot.  I don’t attend wedding fairs so don’t often get the opportunity to network with other suppliers.  So, it was great to receive the invitation out of the blue.  Thank you Nicola!  Nicola hosts styled shoot workshops for other photographers.  This was a great opportunity for my work to be photographed by many professional photographers (instead of just my amateur shots in my cobbled together kitchen ‘studio’!).  Also, of course, it was great to be able to to collaborate with some talented wedding people.

The shoot was to feature a real couple.  Musicians, Becca and Sam of Ophelia, in a gorgeous woodland setting at The Bivouac in Masham.  Nicola, herself, styled the shoot.  Firenza Floral Design, one of my favourite florists, provided the flowers.  I love Fiona’s organic, rambling style!

The design process

The cake needed to be at home in a woodland setting.  So, my obvious initial thoughts were twigs and foliage.  With a finalised colour scheme of green and mustard to ‘pop’ against a woodland backdrop, my research into british woodland plants brought up Rowan ‘Sorbus Sunshine’.  With deep green serrated leaves and glossy mustard-coloured berries it was perfect!  I also wanted to include ferns, so plumped for Hart’s Tongue Fern.  (Couldn’t face making Lady Ferns plus I liked the robustness of the Hart’s Tongue’s leaves.)  I teamed this with wild flowers which occur naturally in the chosen colour scheme.  A mixture of dog roses, foxgloves, cowslips and wild poppies.  And finally, brambles – unripe ones, of course, to match the colour palette!

Here’s my cake sketch…

Creating

After ten hours of colouring, rolling, cutting, thinning, veining and manipulating the florist paste, then wiring, colour-dusting, steaming and assembling, the foliage and berries were complete…

I then moved on to the wild poppy, cowslips and foxgloves…

and, finally, the dog roses…

The cake

A slight design tweak was necessary when assembling all the decorations.  Whilst sketching I’d underestimated the size of the fern leaves.  Once made, it was clear they were just too fragile and large to be arranged in a garland around the cake.  I did try!  I’m not new to creating sugar foliage garlands or wreaths but they do work best with smaller leaves.  I’m happy with the final result though and it isn’t a massive diversion from my sketch.  Here is ‘Elvie’ all complete…

Forgive me, although I did my best to whittle them down, there are quite a few cake shots!

The photographers

Thank you so much to Nicola for providing me with the opportunity of creating a cake for the shoot.  And thank you to the talented photographers for their fabulous images!  There were thirteen photographers in attendance.  To demonstrate the variety of shooting and editing styles I’m going to show you my favourite three.  I cannot overstate the importance of professional photography for your wedding day.  Even if it means paring back on other things always choose a good photographer.  They create images like these for you to cherish forever…

The Nicola Dixon Photography Co

Firstly, some exquisite images by the host of the styled shoot, The Nicola Dixon Photography Co.  Nicola, who is based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire but is happy to adventure all over, offers thoughtfully curated storytelling for the madly in love.

Boho-style headpiece by Debbie Carlisle Ltd…

Hair and make-up by April Børjesson Cunningham…

Flowers by Firenza Floral Design…

Unfurl Photography

Here are some beautiful images by Unfurl Photography, based in Hexham, Northumberland.  Gill at Unfurl offers a photography service which treads lightly to capture the pure essence of a moment in time.

Becca is wearing Justin Alexander 9849 wedding gown, supplied by The Harrogate Wedding Lounge.  A floaty silk chiffon dress just asking to be twirled!

My cake, beautifully captured…

Marie Photography

And finally, some lovely images by Marie Photography who is based in Manchester.  Marie photographs the small details as well as the most unforgettable moments, all in the same laid-back and approachable way.

For more images of the shoot, and their other work, feel free to check out Nicola’s, Gill’s and Marie’s websites!

With love, Amanda x