a sumptuous four seasons inspired shoot (a must see!!) | uk wedding blog

Well, I don’t even know where to start with this one! This shoot is brimming with so many styling ideas, whether its a spring time marquee, a summer barn or a winter castle. I know this is a lengthy post, I genuinely could not edit the images down as there were so many gorgeous shots per season. I hope you love it all, let the team know because they all worked super hard on this. Favourite season? I think mine is actually Summer, those florals are just glorious. Credits at the end of the post.

Photography by Fiona Kelly

Our aim was to create a series of artistic, luxurious looks themed around the four seasons, each of which could be used as inspiration for very different, and yet equally lovely weddings. Being fans of all things sumptuous, we chose a palette of colours and textures that we thought captured the essence of each season, and had a lot of fun imagining how we could apply these to the different elements of a wedding. It was a creative opportunity to illustrate a feast for all the senses, a little bit wild, sensuous, and always beautiful.

Spring is all about that delicate, wild, emerging beauty that begins to show even when the ground is still cold, in a palette of delicate colours. Our summer is an expression of joy and exuberance in bold, bright, passionate colours; rich fruits and sparkling cocktails, all surrounded with an abundance of flowers. To me, this look calls out for music and dancing! Autumn became a colour scheme of copper, rich browns, greens and blues drawn from the ever changing colours of a peacock feather. We wanted to combine the fragility with the richness and beauty. Our take on winter was to be the warm, inviting luxury of a midwinter feast, to counteract the cold and harshness of a hard season. The intense wine-reds and many shades of purple along with deepest green were our opportunity to really create a painterly, perfectly sumptuous look.

Summer

Jay Archer wove her floral magic using a broad range of beautifully textural flowers and foliage, much of which were richly perfumed. It is hard to convey quite how lovely the studio smelled that day, and I would really encourage people to think about how much fragrant flowers can make a space inviting and pleasant to be in. I am a huge fan of wearing flowers as jewellery so was especially glad to see Jay’s stunning floral necklace and copper beech crown.

Proving that bridal jewellery can be exciting and creative, Francesca Marcenaro contributed so many lovely touches, from the delicate and sinuous ‘forest fairy’ rings, to the bold ‘volcanic treasure’ pieces and her show-stopping ‘Fairy of the rocks’ necklace that features in spring.

Autumn

Krishanthi Amitt brought us so much beauty in her meticulously made and decorated cakes, as well as a range of delicious tastes and textures in her cakes, meringues, brownies, macarons and honey-drizzled profiteroles. I can personally recommend them all! It’s not just the bride who gets to wear the necklaces; Krishanthi even made an exquisite sugar-flower necklace for the spring cake and it was a tough call to say which was the real pomegranate and which was the sugar one in our Winter look. 

Joyce Connor gave the models beautiful make up that I really loved, especially the touches of strong colour on the eye make-up, bringing some real drama and glamour to the look without over powering our models’ natural beauty. Similarly, Hayley King did wonderful things with the ladies’ hair, creating strong feminine looks that really flattered and framed Kanika and Sayaka’s faces.

Winter

Eagle Eyed Bride’s elegant and tactile stationery provided the perfect balance of freshness, fun, and sophistication. Their Blooms suite really suited the exuberance of our summer look and the cool elegance of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel pattern & print range was the perfect finishing touch to spring. 

The dresses I chose were Spring: ‘Maria’, a silk shantung full-skirted dress;  Summer: ‘Ella’ gold spotted blush crepe georgette strapless dress with beautiful swirling movement;  Autumn: ‘Emmy’ a romantic beaded lace and tulle halterneck dress; and for Winter: ‘Martha’ an elegant ivory silk satin-chiffon empire line dress worn with a silk velvet cape. 

Our photographer, Fiona, wanted to take influence from paintings, particularly the Pre-Raphaelite style, to create images that almost looked like they could be on canvas. Each season was carefully put together to feel like a still life painting. The models were incorporated into the set almost like another creation or work of art in themselves. The desire was to have each element working perfectly together to create the whole look. As well as photographing the whole image and beautifully creating the right mood for each particular season, Fiona also went in close to capture all the individual elements. The finish of each season was very carefully considered to create the perfect balance and depth to reflect the feel and colour. Winter was dark and luxurious, Autumn was made warmer in tones, pulling out the bronze and teal tones, Spring was kept light and airy to reflect the freshness of that season and Summer lit to feel bright and bold.

Amazing suppliers –

Photography – Fiona Kelly

Flowers  – Jay Archer Floral Design

Cakes, sweets  and pastries  – Cakes by Krishanthi

Jewellery  – Francesca Marcenaro (website appears to be down, will investigate!)

Hair – Hayley

Make up – Joyce, of Brides and Beauty

Dresses – Faith Caton-Barber

Stationery – Eagle Eyed Bride

Models Kanika and Sayaka