The Big Fat UK Wedding Bloggers Photoshoot {and video}, Sponsored by Hasselblad...

In December last year, I received a late night email from my friend Kat Williams of Rock n Roll Bride, within which, Kat mooted an idea she had for bringing UK Wedding Bloggers together for a photoshoot. The excitement within Kat's email was palpable and I was instantly smitten with her proposals...

"My inspiration for this shoot came from the fact that I had seen a lot of big brands in The States using fashion bloggers to model for and promote their brands. I loved the idea and thought it could really work in the UK wedding market. After all, wedding blogs are the new wedding magazines, right? I approached Rachel at Wimbledon based 'Luellas Boudoir' to see if she'd be up for letting us run wild in ehr shop, and thankfully, she loved the idea!".

And so, the UK Wedding Bloggers photoshoot was born. Which of course, in homage to the hilarious Channel 4 programme, has now affectionately become known as 'The Big Fat UK Wedding Bloggers Photoshoot' :)

A few weeks later, and after a huge amount of work had already taken place behind the scenes, I found myself pulling up outside of Luella's Boudoir in Wimbledon, with owner Rachel Attwell, where Parisian hair stylist Severin Hubert of Hepburn collection {bonjour Severin!} was waiting for us. We were due to start the day at 7.30am (so much we had to squeeze in) and so without further ado, Severin set out to transform this rather sleep deprived, blogging Mum of two, into a movie star screen siren for the day. A feat, I admit, feeling so completely bleary eyed and a little run down at the time, I wasn't sure would truly be possible! But then, I had never at that point had the utter pleasure of working with such an incredibly talented team of people...

Regular readers of Love My Dress will have seen these 'sneak peek' imagesfrom our photoshoot already. Today, all the bloggers involved in this collaborative project are blogging their respective images, that were created by British Journal of Photography, Photographer of the Year, Lisa Devlin.

I've been a huge fan of Lisa's for a long time now and featured her work many times on Love My Dress. It felt like meeting an old friend when we met for the first time that cold, February, Tuesday morning. And look what she did with her incredibly expensive bit of camera kit, loaned to her by Hasselblad who were our sponsors for the day...

The whole point of this photoshoot was that it would provide a team of creative people, each of us passionate about our roles within the wedding industry, with the chance to collaborate and create something visually beautiful and inspiring that we could share with the readers of all those bloggers involved. It was also, of course, about us working together to promote brands we are all incredibly proud of, and to showcase the exquisite bridal products available through Luella's Boudoir.

For the shots above and below, I am wearing the following items, all available through Luella's Boudoir...

♥ Dress ~ Monique by Caroline Atelier, £2550
♥ Accessories ~ Vintage Clip Earrings £35 and Vintage Diamante Bracelet £145 both by Magpie Vintage
♥ Hair accessory ~ Feather Fan by Emmy, £175
♥ Original vintage jacket ~ my own, via Etsy

The atmosphere present on the day of this shoot was just fabulous. There was much camaraderie and laughter taking place whilst the creative team set out to work their magic on us wedding bloggers.

We had several hair and makeup artists on set with us, and I was really excited about having had Severin Hubert and London and Surrey Makeup Artist Kaz Fernando allocated to transform my looks. Both were incredible. Just incredible. Sev is a true master of his craft and the way he applied the beautiful marcel wave to my hair just blew me away. Anyone who knows me knows I have a rather fond obsession for that whole marcel wave/finger curl style look and Sev was in his element recreating one of his favourite hair styles on my blonde locks that morning.

I adore Kaz Fernando - she is funny, sweet, caring and lovely to be around. She applied my makeup with such great sensitivity and attention to detail, stopping to check at regular intervals that I was happy and allowing me to work with her in directing the whole 'look'. In fact, the whole hair and makeup experience for me was amazing. How incredibly lucky was I to find myself being pampered by two of the industry's most talented creative professionals?

On a personal level, that day on Tuesday 8 February was a bit of a milestone. On Christmas Eve morning of December 2007, I knew nothing about weddings. Later that day, on a rainy afternoon in Whitby, my now Husband proposed to me. Never in a million years would I have EVER imagined that just over three years down the line, I'd be author of one of the UK's most popular wedding blogs, with the opportunity to work with some of the Wedding and Fashion Industry's most talented people and to model for a bridal boutique who represents a collection of brands I utterly adore.

It was also really important to me that a group of normal girls (ok, that might be questionable in some cases hehe!) could prove that NORMAL WOMEN can look drop dead gorgeous on their wedding. You don't need to be stick-thin or fit the magazine ideal of 'beautiful'. Granted, we had our hair and makeup done by experts, but these expert services are available to all and any Brides in the UK (see list of credits/website links at the end of this feature). The point us, with the right team around you on the day of your nuptials, you will ooze confidence and feel totally comfortable with the person you are. I promise you.

At one point, I'd have freaked out that my arms don't look toned enough in the shot below. Now? I adore this photograph. Thanks to the wonders of the Photographer, Stylist, Hair and Makeup Artists and of course, gorgeous bridal attire provided by Luella's Boudoir, I look at this image and I feel confident and beautiful and I just want to smile :) It makes up for all those days I never quite make it out of my PJs and find myself blogging with one finger, whilst my other hand bounces my beautiful little baby girl up and down on my knee ;)

For the group shots below, I am wearing:-

♥ Dress ~ Audrey by Charlotte Casadejus, £1990
♥ Hair accessory ~ Hollywood Band by Magpie Vintage, £340
♥ Accessories ~ Vintage Clip Earrings by Matpie Vintage, £35

The full, amazing team involved in this photoshoot is listed at the end of this post, but for now, I would like to direct you on to the blogs of the following gorgeous UK Wedding Blog girls involved in this photoshoot, where you will be able to view their respective photoshoot images:-

♥ Alexis from OMG I'm Getting Married

♥ Amma of Beyond Beyond

♥ Charley of London Bride

♥ Kat from Rock n Roll Bride

♥ Kelly from Boho Weddings and Events

Huge thanks to London based Wedding Cinematographer Richard of FX Films too for producing the following 'behind the scenes' video :) Richard was FABulous! I barely noticed him blending in to the background to record this footage. He was also a lot of fun to be around on the day. Richard has also prepared iPad and iPhone versions of the video below...

And so there you have it :) The results of our fun, fantastic, brilliant UK Wedding Bloggers photoshoot :)

I feel so very proud of the whole team involved in this photoshoot and would like to thank each and every one of them, a very special thanks must go to Kat Williams of Rock n Roll Bride for her original concept and to Rachel Attwell of Luellas Boudoir, for providing the glorious location, dresses, accessories and for working so very hard in the run up to the shoot. Our Stylist Kate Barbour and Florist Alison Trickey of Pollen Nation also did us all so incredibly proud - thank you so much ladies :)

Finally it was so much FUN to spend time with these UK Bloggers, all of whom I now consider my friends :) These girls are leading the way when it comes to driving the UK Wedding Blog scene forward - they are also supportive and kind each of them and utterly passionate about what they do.

Huge love, thanks and the very greatest of RESPECT to the team below - you are all just totally bloomin brilliant!

The Brilliant Behind The Scenes Team...
Dresses/accessories/location ~ Luella's Boudoir, Wimbledon, London
Photographer ~ Lisa Devlin of Devlin Photos Assisted by Amy Bartlam
Stylist ~ Kate Barbour
Hair ~ Severin Hubert of The Hepburn Collection
Hair ~ Elbie Van Eeden
Make up ~ Alison Cameron
Make up ~ Kaz Fernando
Video ~ Richard Wakefield of FX Films
Flowers ~ Alison Trickey of Pollen Nation

Bloggers/Models...
Kat Williams ~ Rock n Roll Bride
Annabel Beeforth ~ Love my Dress
Alexis Cuddyre ~ OMG I'm Getting Married!
Charley Beard ~ London Bride
Kelly Hood ~ Boho Weddings and Events
Amma Adjubi-Archibald ~ Beyond Beyond http://beyondbeyond.co.uk/blog/

I hope that you've enjoyed looking at these images. Please now hop on over to the other blogs listed above to view all the other wonderful images from this photoshoot.

For information or to purchase any of the items listed, please contact Rachel at Luella’s Boudoir on +44 (0)20 8879 7744 or by emailing info@luellasboudoir.co.uk

Do take a moment to leave a comment below - I'd so love to hear your thoughts on our UK Wedding Bloggers photoshoot project :)

Thanks so much :)

Annabel xXx

♥