a beautifully boho retreat | uk wedding blog

Good morning lovely reader. How was your weekend? You can catch up with my week here. We have a feast for the eyes this morning, when Eva emailed and said she had shot the perfect hen party I was a bit dubious because if I could, I would abolish hen parties in to oblivion. But after opening the images I saw it was simply set out as a few girls, in a beautiful manor house having a wonderful time, and really, that’s what we all want right? Feather headdresses are optional. I love this shoot so much! Eva came over to England with a romantic dream of a gorgeous shoot, she definitely achieved that but in true UK style…it rained the entire day.

wording and photography | Marie Marry Me

We used to panic when we heard the words “hen’s party”, because people can imagine some strange things… But what do you think about an intimate party with your besties in a charming House near the lake? We love it!

That’s why we took the suitcases to travel to London, to share a lovely time with our girls. We planned it all: the vintage car to go to the house, the florals to dress the rooms and spaces, the macrame handmade jewellery as a gift for the friends, and a large range of shoes, fine lingerie and dream dresses.

We focused on their friendship: they were the most important thing for us. Their unconditional love was the key of all: the simplicity of enjoying every little time together. It was all planned… All but the rain! Nevertheless we are so lucky about to be surrounded by such a dream team that, from the first time, understand the main concept of this photo shoot, and work together to do the best. It was awesome…!

Thinking of this, we planned a weekend in a beautiful country house near London. The first thing was to find the location. We wanted to shoot outdoor with natural light, so we looked for a house with flowered gardens. Samantha, from Verdigris, found the perfect place: Hambledon House, a spectacular country house surrounded by nature, with flowered gardens and a private lake. It was the perfect place! Thanks to Blank Canvas Weddings, we could easily work with the owners to choose the different rooms and spaces where to build our story: the boudoir, an eclectic picnic, a party under the stars… Thanks to the talented Gabi, from The Fine Flowers Co, we could dress all the beautiful spaces with their flowers. Thanks to her it was just a funny game to play: choose the colours, the place… And she did the rest!

We arrived to London few days before the shoot. Lidia, from Otaduy (a SYGM fave), received us in their showroom. It’s a paradise! She helped us choose the perfect dress for each girl. It was so difficult because their gowns are full of lovely details, but we finally choose three different dresses: the spectacular M.I.A for the bride-to-be, and the delicate “Damien Rice”, with the bohemian “Half Moon Run” for the friends.

Martin, Sara, Lola and I got up at 6am to prepare it all and go to the House. It was a terrible rainy day! We had the hope of the positive thinking, and maybe because of that we had a double rainbow as a reward at the end of the shooting… 🙂

We had to re-plan everything and move the shoot inside the house. We were frightened because we love to shoot with natural light… But we change our mind after take a look to the light conditions of the house: there was a very special filtered light. The atmosphere was just magic!

The girls arrived with Beatrix, one of the vintage cars that Buttercup Bus offer. The main room was dressed with a large old mirror, and a desk to leave all the gorgeous handmade macramé jewellery that Chia Designs created specially for this day. They find three delicate parcels made with lots of love by Lou, from Brighton Lace, with different coloured sets of fine lingerie for each girl. They looked so funny getting crazy about all these little details!

After this first time full of lovely surprises (jewellery, lingerie, dresses, pretty vintage shoes by Rachel Simpson, extravagant colourful props and fascinators by Fairy Love…), we calmed down: it was just perfect! Everything! The girls look stunning thanks to Lena Nixon -as the stylist-, and Helen Brown -as the make up artist-. We shared so many beautiful moments with all the team: the girls playing in the room, like there weren’t any cameras behind the scene. Making toasts for their friendship, getting crazy about the dresses… It was fantastic!

While they were in the room, we installed an eclectic picnic near the lake. The bride-to-be invited their friends to a private picnic party near the lake, with Judy Broad‘s beautiful calligraphies. They shared so many stories together, enjoying a light meal. We used the beautiful vintage sets from Tea and Lace for that.

After this, we planned a cocktail station to continue their party: Samantha and Gabi created an exquisite space under a pergola, dressed with blooms, candles… And everything they needed to create an intimate and magic corner. The drink dispensers from The Wedding of My Dreams became essential for this scene. It was raining a lot (I was frozen!), but the girls were so excited, and they took the opportunity to stay together outside, and play music, and dance in the gardens, until the sunset.

It was a very special day, full of lovely moments, of crazy laughs, singing in the rain, dancing over the rainbow… And it was all so real, because we had to improvise a lot of details. But I think that it was even magical than we thought, because we all love to work with natural light, and shot lovely and spontaneous images. It’s just incredible to take a look to the results, thanks to everybody’s efforts, and thanks to an international team that it was just in point. Thanks… Many thanks to all that have done this possible!