Before the winter frosts truly set in and we are buried beneath all things festive for the next few weeks, I wish to cast your minds back to a particularly lovely late summer day this year in one of my favourite old Buckinghamshire towns with two of my favourite creatives.
Sundari (The Wedding Stylist), Lucy Davenport and I had been nattering over the summer months about working together on a little shoot once wedding season had calmed, to give ourselves a bit of time to breathe creatively following the hectic nature of the summer months. Ideas evolved naturally over time, gently guided by Sundari and her unrivalled eye for detail, to the photographs I am delighted to share with you here.
Using Sundari’s quaint little cottage as the backdrop and the most heavenly array of props she gathered for us, including the delicate menus seen below by Nira from Beautifully Lost Studio, we set to work fuelled by good coffee and buttery croissants. We bought together the tablescape you see in the most natural and organic way, drawing on each others skills and simply tweaking as we went along.
I had spent the day before in the garden, down the allotment and in the garden of my Nana near Marlow, filling buckets with an array of seasonal bounty. Blowsy Cafe Au Lait dahlia, sweetly scented honeysuckle, flyaway Japanese anemone, great curling lengths of Clematis Vitalba from the fields behind, speckled watercolour hydrangea, and an array of favourite late garden roses made the final cut. Apart from a few British grown spray roses left over from a lovely late summer wedding a few days beforehand, everything was homegrown and picked from Buckinghamshire soil - so very fitting for the story Sundari brought together the following day.
Lucy produced her film camera, my heart doing a little leap of joy at the sight, and starting shooting around Sundari and I as we worked, effortlessly capturing the most beautiful details and punctuating our moments of doubt with her gentle encouragement. Armed with a bouquet and a basket of props, we then headed into the old town to a spot Sundari had found, just walking distance from her home. Tucked around the back of an old textile mill with its sweet little workers cottage, we shot the latter part of this story in a forgotten orchard full of towering apple and pears trees laden with fruit.
To accompany Lucy’s beautiful photos on Once Wed, Sundari wrote this sweet little story which I hope you will enjoy…
'The backdrop for our story is the home of our florist muse. Her 17th century cottage is located in a small village in the English countryside called Old Amersham. Her dwelling, and the little visited areas of her village where she wanders, are fuel for her creativity. The warm, late summer breeze sets the mood as she gathers seasonal florals and foliages from her garden; a mood that is reflected in the table she sets for an intimate evening with those she loves.
Buckinghamshire offers up beautiful, English-grown bounty to select from. As summer leans towards autumn, the florals have an incredible depth in tone and texture that allow for the creation of rich, whimsical florals. The floral passion of our muse is one that has been passed down from generation to generation – as evidenced in the flowers growing in both her mother’s and grandmother’s gardens. Using neutral crockery and delicate paperie designs, she creates a table that embraces the warmth and draws the eye to the centerpiece full of history!
Charlotte xx