A World Of Imagination: A Creative Bridal Editorial at Gullivers World

Themes

Wild West

The first theme was Wild West and fittingly was shot in the Western World. The buildings, backdrops and signs were incredible for framing the images and the boho style dresses form J&J Designs worked perfectly. I wanted it to feel like they had travelled to the set of a western.

Neon

I loved the neon theme and this section was all about creating something that was ‘out there’ but also stylish. I think everyone nailed this and the balloons on the carousel with the neon tubes and the crown of spikes with the ballerina style wedding dress, along with the neon make up, shouldn’t have worked but totally did. I loved all the different headbands and our model, Tinks even made the balloon dinosaur look cool.

Princess

The Disney Princess section was all about embracing the classic dreamy big dress and creating something soft and magical.

Ice Queen

Meanwhile, the Ice Queen was an ode to Elsa and the new Frozen 2 movie which is out this month. The cool frosty colours mixed with pinks and glitters were phenomenal – I can’t believe how amazing it all looked!

Styling

The fact the shoot took place in a theme park immediately makes everything a bit more surreal and magical which strengthened all the dreamy themes. I loved the colours and backdrops and wanted to transform this super fun place into an ultra cool, glamorous and breath-taking bridal shoot. I absolutely love shooting with natural light and I can deal with any lighting situation and know how to make things work.

There’s so much shooting potential at Gullivers World, so I felt it was important to also show the park in its natural state. This meant that the first Wild West theme was more stripped back. The natural colours and wooden surroundings gave an earthy feel, which worked fantastically with the boho theme. It was really good fun being free to create whatever was in my head and there were some super cool details to work with here.

We went from a natural setting to a man-made carousel, with funky neon lighting and multi-coloured balloons bursting over the carriage and horses. I think this really shows how diverse we are as a team and how we can embrace different genres with equal ferocity. I adored the fact Mat from Red Floral wrapped balloons around a dinosaur (from Balloon & Ballet Boutique) and I loved the harshness and contrast of Tinks’ style and make up.

The Disney Princess section was straight out of a fairytale. The frame on the bridge with those pastels, white balloons, lighting and the bouquets – my word! There is literally no way of describing just how beautiful this all looked.

Stacy from Love Lights the Way and Mat created magic on the pirate ships. Amy had a chain mail wedding dress and it all came together and looked awesome.

Then the Ice Queen set… Tinks looked fierce returning briefly to the Western World under the Love Lights the Way ‘you light up the sky’ sign dressed boldly with balloons and frosty bouquets. Then back to the aqua and white fairytale looking buildings for the most dramatic and gorgeous finale. The modern neon ‘love’ sign dressed with pastel pink, blue and white balloons and guarded by large light up letters spelling ‘ICE’ was the most incredible and original array of fantasticalness.

Attire

The first two outfits needed to compliment the boho, bold themes so the lace detailed dress and the gorgeous cropped pant suit dress were absolutely perfect.

The tiny strapless ballerina style number gave the illusion that Tinks was a little doll in a music box surrounded by an audience of colourful balloons and neon. This really evokes a nostalgic image of childhood which is at the heart of this shoot.

I loved the way the energy of this dress changed with each piece of headwear, the Parisian feel of the red velvet and fashionista neon stars headbands, and then the swan lake feathered headband – supplied by Ann McKavnay from Eleventh Heaven. It was all very gorgeous and exciting.

The Disney Princess dress had to be absolutely outrageous but not tacky, and obviously because the team are so talented – it looked beautiful. Everything came together and worked. The tiny bodice and large train looked utterly stunning and the embellished white headband gave everything an air of innocence and sweetness.

The final dress was the most amazing thing I have ever seen and you could be nothing less than a queen to rock this, so it fitted perfectly with our final theme. The shoulder details and endless sequins made it look as though Tinks truly was royalty.

Beauty

Andrea Baines was our make up artist. As well as weddings she does lots of fashion shoots and this year she made the national news when she went to Glastonbury dressed as a butterfly so obviously she was perfect for such a creative shoot. She wasn’t fazed at all and was spot on with the make up.

Results

I’d worked with almost everyone before and we are all linked together in some way so I was confident it was going to be fabulous which totally takes the pressure off. I just thought the whole thing was absolutely sensational and I’m so proud of the team and happy we were able to do this shoot! Massive thank you to Gullivers World for making my dream come true.

Tony and Sara from Marry Me Films were an absolute dream to work with too. They even brought their dog along who was the world’s best behaved pup ever! They created the most gorgeous and magical video which perfectly captured this fun and romantic shoot.

I really hope this shoot helps to inspire couples on how they can give their wedding a fresh and beautiful edge. A lot of people are looking for something different so I’m really excited to see people’s reactions to these five different themes.