I have returned, albeit a touch reluctantly, from my little trip away to France with friend and photographer Katy. It was hot and sun scorched but still so beautiful. We found solace in the cool rivers in between shooting, wild swimming wherever possible in Provence and lounging in the shade along the Seine in swelteringly hot Paris. We lived off baguettes, cheese and nectarines, making note of wildflower meadows on our trips to head back to in the cool of the evenings. We enjoyed Monet's water lilies in Paris (embarrassing story to follow in due course) and people watched a plenty, a favourite pastime, from the safety of street side cafes with glasses of chilled rosé. We laughed, a lot, as old friends do and tried to photograph as much of France as we could along the way. Of course there shall be a post to follow once film has been developed, but I have learnt with experience that any photo I take pales in comparison to her work. Best leave this one to the professionals.
Before my attention turns to lovely August brides and their special celebrations in the coming weeks, I wanted to share Jess & Liam's happy May wedding from the busy bank holiday.
My brief; garden flowers with a meadowy feel and a picture of the most beautifully embroidered Temperley London wedding dress Jess had chosen to marry in. We picked flowers as close in colour to the silky threads of the dress - a palette of pinks, lemon yellow, soft lilacs and plenty of green. Just as the embroidery of the dress appeared to grow up from the hem of the skirt, we designed a wild meadow installation to do the same and every element of the day was kept as natural and wild as possible.
Fast forward to the day before the wedding, where the studio floor disappeared underneath numerous buckets of seasonal blooms and locally grown foliage. The scent of sweetpea and garden rose in the still evening air was intoxicating, a firm reminder of why I love May weddings so very much. As the sun set, drowsy bees ambled in and out of the studio, curiously ruffling the petals of the peony and bobbling the bells of the aquilegia. By nightfall I had lost the sideboard to bouquets and buttonholes and the workbench to meadows, but what a jolly sight indeed. The van was packed up early Sunday morning, minus stowaway bees, and with tea and rose shortbread to hand (always) I set off to Milling Barn in Herefordshire to Jess & Liam.
They married outside in the garden adjacent to the barn, surrounded by foxglove, peony, nigella, aquilegia, cow parsley (gathered from the field opposite), daisy and larkspur. Wild posies lined the aisle, leading up to the pretty white bandstand framed by large meadow installations, in front of which they said their vows to one another. As I tied posies and added cow parsley to meadows, I was serenaded by members of the grooms band who later sang Jess and her father up the aisle. An acoustic version of 'Lovely Day' was sung across the garden as I worked, so very apt for a truly lovely couple.
Jess carried an abundant bouquet of clematis, garden rose, sweetpea, peony and delicate homegrown aquilegia, with her maids close behind with their smaller posies of the same. She wore delicate buds and blooms in her hair whilst her maids followed in crowns of white waxflower, and the gentlemen wore wildflowers in their buttonholes. The talented Richard Skins captured the day perfectly, below, and the lovely Lauren from A Piece of the Party was on hand to film proceedings.
Photo by Richard Skins Photography
Charlotte xx