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 ‘Luella’s Bridal’ 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 Bridal 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…
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, Devlin Photos
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 Bridal.
For the shots above and below, I am wearing the following items, all available through Luella’s Bridal…
♥ 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 Bridal, 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…
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Film Copyright (c) 2011, FX Films
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 Bridal, 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 Bridal, 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 Bridal on +44 (0)20 8879 7744 or by emailing [email protected]
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
♥
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
OMG Annabel you look amazing! So incredibly beautiful. Those dresses are to DIE FOR and the set at Luellas is gorgeous! And, of course, Lisa has done a fab job with the photos and editing. LOVE this SO MUCH! You’re gorgeous, lady!
Ah, so good seeing you all looking so stunning, gorgeous colour palettes. love love love, especially on this rubbish rainy day x
Wow you look absolutely stunning and so do all the others! Beautiful hair, make up, and styling. Gorgeous! Lovely photographs from Lisa.
You must be so pleased with the results, you look so glamourous!!! Those waves are pure perfection, and those dresses and the gorgeous flowers…I just love it all! Well done to all the people involved in front of and behind the scenes. Such a lovely write up too x
Oh my days, look at you all. Adore it.
I’m hopping from one blog to the next, these images are sooo stunning, you all look so beautiful! I love your personalised shoot, your hair is so pretty, just gorgeous!
Amazing Peoples!!!
Wow wow wow wow. Can I live at luellas please?
Love those little wooden steps. The flowers are pit of this world and you all look soooo beautiful!!
This has made my Monday very bright and pretty.
X x x
Who says when you grow up you can’t play dress-up anymore? 😉 Great job all of you!
My belle Annabel you are stunning inside and out!!! Still can’t get over the fact I was sharing the same air as you xxx You are gorgeous! And lets hope we catch up soon. Much love xxx
It was so lovely to meet you at the shoot Annabel, you looked simply stunning! and your pictures are so you! just gorgeous!
Hoping to see you again soon, much love Kelly xxx
Wow, you all look stunning. Looks like a fun-filled day! x
Love these images so much, you all look beautiful, fantastic photos from Lisa, and Annabel you look stunning xxx
Annabel!!! It was so so lovely to meet you and spend time with you and I can’t wait to get all the bloggers back together again for more gossip and fun. Lots of love you classy lady, you look absolutely stunning!!! xx
Wow, fabulous stuff! Annabel, you are STUNNING.
Wow, Annabel, you look absolutely gorgeous. This photoshoot was a brilliant idea – you all look so fabulous, and the styling, photography and everything else is just fantastic.
Wow – these are gorgeous! Love the flowers and the set up of the shoot – you all look wicked, great photography too x
Omg, this is huuuuge! Such a cool idea to bring you all together! You, ladies, are stunning! Love it!
Loving this whole concept – well done you guys!
OMG honey you look incredible, what a shoot !!
This has brightened up a grey winters day.
You all look fabulous
Cat xx
Very cool! Really liked the video – nicely put together.
These photographs are absolutely lovely, the colours, dresses and set is beautiful, you all look gorgeous!
Such charming, beautiful and atmospheric shots. The dresses are all the more wonderful being modelled by real enthusiasts all clearly having a ball… it gives a wonderful insight into how those dresses could ‘make someone’s day’ rather than just a model shot in a magazine.
I LOVE the monique dress on you, perfect match of lady and dress. It captures your vintage glam style to a tee.
I’m now off to look at the details of the others, especially those 2 dresses on the ladies sitting at the front of the group shots, those are chiffon-and-lace heaven!
me LOVE it ALL…. gorgeousness that you are lady. amazing project.x
Wow, stunning. You look fantastic Annabel and the dresses you are wearing are gorgeous!! I’ve got to stop seeing gorgeous dresses like this, its making me like them more than my own!
Amazing shoot and what a beautiful location.
Fab! x
I love the images.
I love the story behind the shoot, and your appreciation of the suppliers that helped make it possible.
I love your own personal story of the day.
Class and elegance personified.
xx
Lovely Annabel! Great choice of dresses….they really suit your style, and what wonderful hairstyling by Severin…..
Stunning pictures, I love all the flowers
Oh Annabel, these pictures are just dreamy! Loving visiting each blog this morning and seeing all the different takes on the shoot.
Oh my gosh, you look fabulous! Love love love this project. 🙂
Hi Annabel,
I met you yesterday at the Designer Vintage Wedding Show (which I really enjoyed by the way) and as a long term follower of your blog I have to admit now to being really nervous about approaching you to say hello, but you were so lovely! We chatted about my Summer 2012 wedding – I was the girl who wanted a 50’s sort of vibe on the day!
I just want to say, you look so very beautiful in this photoshoot and I love how you have written about your experience. You really are an inspiration to so many women and I just wanted to congratulate you on this fabulous project.
I hope you got home OK to your little girls OK last night?
Kayt xx
Beautiful! Adore the styling x
Stunning!
I love this so much! You look absolutely amazing and just like some old movie screen goddess! Already printed this out to place the images in my inspiration file!
So lovely to see the very talented ladies behind the fab blogs! Gorgeous pictures of real women!! Love it!! More please!!
What a fabulous collaboration!
Lov the frocks and every other single pretty item – you girls look beautiful! So glamourous in your own ways. Thanks for doing this, I’m sure it was tough amongst all the delightful pampering!
Also, lots of thanks for introducing me to EVEN more blogs! How will I fit my job in around my reading time?!
Love love love!!! You all look terrific! That dress is so pretty and Annabel you look drop. dead. gorgeous!
Fantastic photography xx
Beautiful images, really nice style
What an amazing photoshoot. Just seen all the other bloggers photographs and whilst you all look amazing, you just look incredible Annabel, well done you!
Wow, wow, wow!!!!! I have had the busiest weekend and driven 200 miles back home today to read all these beautiful comments! Thank you SO very much indeed, you’ve no idea how they make me smile so 😉
Miss Pickering – yes indeed, I value the contribution of EVERYONE on this special day so very much – they were kind and generous in providing their time, and they also made the whole experience an incredible amount of fun!
Still pinching myself over it all to be honest 🙂
So much love everyone,
Annabel xXx
There are far too few superlatives for this shoot.
Wondrous!
i adore everything about this but especially your hair!
your whole look is my favorite by far, though everyone looks really glam! you look so elegant and cool
Two words – simply stunning!!!!!
I have absolutely adored this whole shoot and have spent the past two hours browsing through all of the blogs of all involved!!!! xxxx
god how gorgeous is this, i totally adore your hair and makeup, just stunning! the dress is amazing! i am not a fan of one shoulder dresses but this is just absolutely gorgeous!
Stunning, stunning, stunning! You should be very proud! Glad you’ve got home safe and well after our busy weekend, was lovely to meet you in person at last! xxx
AHHHHH!!! I can’t believe I missed this earlier! I’m in love with this 🙂 You all look so beautiful!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Lovely Annabel. These images are just so Oscar pap worthy. The epitome of elegance and I know you’ll have inspired many a vintage bride to be as you wear the whole look so damn well. A yummy mummy for sure! What a fab experience it’s been, and what a pleasure to model alongside you. xxx
Another latecomer to the shoot on all of your blogs, but wow this is amazing. What a fantastic look for you Annabel, the dress is perfect and I love all the vintage inspired bling! Absolutely beautiful.
WOW!!! You look amazing! Your hair is stunning-I want my hair to look like that please!! Beautiful pictures! xx
How delightful! Wedding bloggers are the coolest 😉 – Rudy
As a mother of 1 and to be married this year, I find this so very inspirational. Thank you for showing us we can be gorgeous! If I look anywhere near as beautiful as this on my wedding day, I will be a very happy lady x
You all obviously had a fabulous time and it shows in the wonderful photographs now before us – loved the video too. Well done to all concerned it has certainly brightened a very dull day. Annabel your vintage look is amazing and I echo Miss Pickering’s comments above xx
You all look incredible – so pretty and dreamy! What an amazing shoot x
Your photos turned out stunning, jeez! the whole shoot was a brilliant idea!
bloody hell ladies, these pics are STUNNING!
I love everything about them – best for me is the flowers and the style of photography – It was hard to chose though I can assure you!
You are all so beautiful – very renaissance looking – the styling is perfect – ahh wish I was a blogger!! XxX
lovely to see the lady who features and who gives praises to everyones elses’ wedding in front of the camera. you look beautiful what a setting and the outfits are gorgeous.
Lauren
Wow. The Caroline Atelier Monique dress is absolutely stunning. You look wonderful in it. If only I had a budget big enough…
Bit late with this one but I have to say, these are such stunning photographs, you must be so proud! You look amazing, I just LOVE the dress you wear in the first few shoots, everything is styled to perfection!
Thank you sooooooo much everyone! I am feeling the LOVE tonight! 😉 xXx
Fabulous shoot girls! I love the dress your wearing with the one shoulder, gorgeous!
Oh Annabel you look divine! So elegant and glamorous and beautiful. What an amazing shoot to be a part of. Completely stunning! xxx
Loving the pictures you all look fab
So so beautiful, such in inspirational project. The magazines should take serious note of this!
How lovely to wake up to even more really positive comments. Thanks so much again everyone 🙂
If you haven’t done so yet, you really must go see the other Bloggers websites, and that of Luella’s Boudoir. I can’t rave enough about this place, it is just the most beautiful corner of London jam packed with exquisite wedding gorgeousness. Every little nook and cranny of the shop bears something sparkly and gorgeous, the whole team have done an amazing job there, AND, they are soon going to be stocking Johanna Johnson – one of my FAVE designers!!!
Thanks again everyone 🙂
Annabel xXx
Wow-you all look absolutely stunning! such beautiful dresses and make-up and the photos are amazing-well done!
This is just absolutely gorgeous! You look so glamorous! I love your dress!
Beautiful. You really do look amazing. The dress and accessories are to die for x
Wow, wow, wow! Simply stunning!
This is just stunning! Well done to all your bloggers for being so brave. You look amazing!
What a beautiful set of images, you look all look stunning!
Thanks guys for all your fabulous feedback 🙂
Much love,
Annabel xXx
Wow! A nice one! 🙂
Good article. I can use it for my own wedding reference. For me, wedding is one of most important event in our life. You look so pretty. It’s fantastic; that is gorgeous dress, and the bride is wearing it well! Lovely! The gown looks perfect on her. It gives pretty and attractive look. The pictures are amazing and I can’t wait to see the rest! That is such a stunning dress! Really great photos…..thanks for sharing.
Hi there,
Many thanks for your email. I am super busy at the moment preparing to give a presentation to the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners on Saturday 5 March on the role of wedding blogs – arrr! 😉
This means I may be a little slower than usual at replying to emails until things are back to normal next week. Please accept my apologies. I promise I will reply to your message very soon, if I cannot do so today.
If you have an urgent message, please telephone me on 07969 574197 and leave a message if I can't answer.
Thanks so much – have a lovely weekend 🙂
Annabel xXx
Stunners all. Just love the blue and mauve shabby chic mood of the shoot . . .
Beautiful pictures! The magazines should take serious note of this!
Such stunning pictures and so different!