STYLED SHOOT: TROPICAL WEDDING

Lauren of Lauren Alexander Weddings shared with us this beautiful Tropical Wedding styled shoot. I absolutely love all the styling and colours of it. Enjoy!

INSPIRATION AND STORY BEHIND THE SHOOT

This shoot is all about the senses – fierce, animalistic and overwhelmingly beautiful, let’s make ‘strong tropics’ a style that trail blazes onto the 19/20+ wedding scene! The vibe was all about strength: strong women, strong colour, strong patterns and above all strong tropics. Think fierce, think colour, think glitter and sparkle. With Frida Kahlo inspired accessories, pom poms, glitter station, cocktail station, earthy textures, reusing and ethical all products were available to be hired in and reused, or were ethical/sustainable products.

Handcrafted specifically for the shoot, the dress and jumpsuit are embellished with colour, love and sass.

An incredible handcrafted cape and veil were accessorised beautifully and crafted for the shoot, alongside bespoke hair accessories and jewellery with pom poms and raffia.

Deep, sensual and tropical foliage and flowers created drama, height and texture throughout transforming a lovely venue in itself into a tropical paradise perfect for any couple to gain inspiration from. Our cakes were utterly stunning, a little playful and then a spice more traditional.

Lauren Alexander Weddings

It all started when Jordan, from Jasper and Quinn got in touch and asked if I would be interested in co-designing a styled shoot focused around beautiful strong tropical flowers, leaves and excellent structures. Running with this in mind, we devised a shoot brief which outlined the basics and then this evolved over time, especially when working with the gorgeous suppliers we brought together. When Jordan and I first started to think of venues, the biggest thing we wanted to find was somewhere light, yet completely different. We wanted to bring the outdoor in, and Tortworth Court’s Orangery was the most perfect backdrop!

The importance of this shoot was to capture all the senses as well as be fierce, animalistic and overwhelmingly beautiful. We wanted to make an impact on the weddings of next year, the trends and embrace something a little different. With this we aimed to make ‘strong tropics’ a style that trail blazes onto the 2020/2021+ wedding scene! Handcrafted specifically for the shoot, the dress and two piece jumpsuit were embellished with colour, love and sass. An incredible handcrafted cape and veil were accessorised beautifully and crafted for the shoot, alongside bespoke hair accessories and jewellery with pom poms and raffia. Deep, sensual and tropical foliage and flowers created drama, height and texture throughout transforming a lovely venue in itself into a tropical paradise perfect for any couple to gain inspiration from. Our cakes were utterly stunning, a little playful and then a spice more traditional.

The vibes were all about strength: strong women, strong colour, strong patterns and above all strong tropics. Think fierce, think colour, think glitter and sparkle. With Frida Kahlo inspired accessories, a specialised tropical cocktail station, a glitter station, pom poms and earthy texture we wanted to utilise an eco-friendly concept of reusing props and making sure that all were ethically sourced products. As such most pieces were locally brought together reducing carbon footprint, and pieces were handmade and bespoke for the shoot that would then later be sold to customers.

As a Creative Director for this shoot, I wanted to coordinate colours that were a little different from what we have been seeing on the wedding circuit. Texture was super important, using raffia, wool, and lots of structure, yet softened and playful. Lynne from Rustic Rentals has all the pieces that you can absolutely wish for! From her gorgeous peacock chairs, Moroccan lanterns, rugs, tables and she took the brief and brought to it a fun and quirky vibe! Sometimes you need to bring in gorgeous props to turn your already incredible venue into something spectacular, which is what Lynne did! She co-styled with me some amazing areas of the building, creating a beautiful drinks station and a glamorous rattan chill out area. My dreams became reality!

Amanda from Hustle and Twine rocked some gorgeous macramé with a stunning table runner, chair backs, and incredible bouquet wraps. Adding depth, individuality and gorgeous texture, this added to the earthy vibe we were looking to achieve. Never forget to add those little elements that really bring your personality out!

Working with coloured tablecloths and multi-coloured napkins, we really didn’t shy away from colour. This was also mirrored in the stunning hand-drawn stationery provided by the always lovely Sally from From Sally With Love. She took our cocktail cart and created watercolour cocktail drawings, a stunning couple portrait and beautiful table stationery. Taking the drawings off the paper, she was able to have her designs printed onto fabric, which we hung from Lynne’s screens which was the perfect welcome sign! This tropical vibe was then mimicked in the main stationery suite with stunning menu that also doubled as the name card! One of From Sally with Love’s little elements is to hide a secret something in the design, and we used the pineapple throughout to keep the tropical feel in each area.

One of my all-time favourite elements of the shoot was the bespoke pressed fresh flowers and foliage, between glass and sealed as gorgeous signs, then funky phrases were written on for each of the elements of the day. Emily Johnston from Cultivate Interiors was just so gorgeous, and her pieces are all so unique, heartfelt and totally elevated the shoot. Claire Paul Draws finished off the pieces with her gorgeous calligraphy.

Following on from the bespoke feel, I hand-embroidered the table names – focusing on the top table. You will be able to see snapshots of the top table tropical name (with flamingo!) and then a hand-embroidered puffin sign too! Again these little elements, elevated the whole shoot adding personality and individuality.

JORDAN from Jasper and Quinn

Working with Lauren to bring a slice of jungle into Tortworth Court was a real privilege. In the planning process, we both kept earthing at the idea of strong, bold styling, with powerful yet effortlessly beautiful feminine essence threaded through.

I used big waxy leaves to form a luscious base for our florals, including monstera, banana leaf and philodendron, which give a glossy sheen and ooze hydration into any setting. These leaves are so much larger than ‘normal’ foliage and are as important to showcase as the florals, as opposed to being a simple backdrop for them.

Then came the florals with the hues inspired by Frida Kahlo self-portraits – none of the colours matched as such, but were naturally occurring bright and deep oranges, teamed with pale lilacs, rich reds, peaches and creams. Birds of paradise, proteas, hanging orchids and anthurium were among the tropical blooms showcased in this shoot.

The styling of the florals was bold yet defined – from the table centres to the bouquets, I let the blooms and leaves speak for themselves, attempting to team the unpredictability of the direction of growth of the jungle, with the predictability of bountiful flora.

We were so lucky to work with When Charlie Met Hannah for the shoot and they headed up the photography and videography, creating these exceptional images, capturing the fun of the day.

Kates Homemade Cakes

With such a clever theme for the shoot, I had so many ideas for the cake designs. My first design was inspired by more of a traditional wedding cake, with 4 equal tiers covered in white fondant. I wanted to add a twist for this design basing the cake on a rustic jungle feel, which led to incorporating the criss-cross twine detail and the small gold pineapple motifs across the cake tiers. I loved using the hoop for this design as it framed the cake beautifully, by attaching the fresh flowers to the hoop it made a real feature of the space.

My second cake design had a much more vibrant, abstract feel, incorporating fuchsia pinks and flamingos. I decided to use different height tiers to give the cake a more modern feel. I always felt the main feature of this design should be the “brush stroke” flamingo feathers trailing across the two tiers. But By including some hand stencilling too it really added a pop of colour.

To Be Adorned’s handmade cake toppers were created to add the cherry on top of this stunning cake, and were a playful and bespoke way of showing love.

Danielle Hause of O

When I received the brief of Jungle Fun I knew the shoot was going to be epic! I wanted to create something that would blend naturally with the gorgeous vibrant colours that were the inspiration for each creative involved. The outfits needed to compliment not clash so I started with muted tones to really help those bright hues pop. Giving a relaxed but modern feel the looks were born. Such a Funky shoot to be part of it was awesome to be involved with so many artists keen to bring their style to life.

The Look: Lauren

This was paired effortlessly with a hand painted leather jacket from Rock Paper Nib who created absolutely stunning pieces totally bespoke to you and your wedding dreams.

We wanted to create bold looks, deep colours with the makeup and our makeup artist was incredible with the detail. Sarah from Hepcats of Nam was our hair stylist and she created bold, whimsical and strong looks to mimic the shoot. Utilising To Be Adorned’s stunning hand-crafted bespoke hair accessories throughout we were able to create two very different yet complementary looks. First a regal, lioness with raffia crown, and secondly a playful curly bob with Frida Kahlo inspired pom pom headband. We wanted to inspire our brides that although the natural look is gorgeous, you can be playful on your wedding day too!