Tag Archives: Short Hair

Simple & Organic Bridal Inspiration

March 30, 2013 in Styled Photo Shoots | Written by Photos by James Melia

James Melia Photography_4546

To me, the thing that makes a really great editorial shoot isn’t all the pretty details (although they help), the beautiful model or the amazing backdrop – it’s the narrative and the story that the images tell. As soon as I saw this shoot sent over by wedding photographer James Melia I instantly started wondering what this girl’s story was and what the photographer and stylist wanted to tell us.

James Melia Photography_4577

But luckily for me I could just ask them! As James explains, “The inspiration for this shoot came from a really simple idea of just a girl, and the beauty of the everyday. Using our model Jemima as our inspiration. each of the contributors added our own elements while working with a colour palette of peacock blues and moss greens. We thought it would look really striking against her delicate translucent skin and white blue cropped hair.”

James Melia Photography_4607

Continue reading

Neo-Noir Postmodernist Wedding: Gemma & Delaney

January 2, 2013 in British Brides, Wedding | Written by Photos by Marshal Gray Photography

NEO NOIR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY_MARSHAL GRAY-2147

Are you ready to start the new year with a bang?! Oh boy am I! In actual fact I saved Gemma & Delaney’s awesome wedding until today because of that very reason – I wanted to start 2013 as I mean to go on. Rock n Roll couples all the way baby!

NEO NOIR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY_MARSHAL GRAY-1714

Gemma & Delaney were married in September at Rushton Hall in Northamptonshire. The elaborate backdrop worked so well as a contrast to their quintessential Rock n Roll and neo-postmodern 80s-inspired wedding. “We got engaged in Malibu in LA on holiday there a couple of years ago”, began the bride. “It was a perfect sunset and totally spontaneous. Delaney had only brought the ring a few hours earlier from a gorgeous little antique shop in Santa Barbara. We were married a day after our 7 year anniversary.”

NEO NOIR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY_MARSHAL GRAY-1965

Continue reading

A Colourful Country Garden Fete Wedding: Tom & Jenny

September 27, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding | Written by

The DIY wedding of Tom & Jenny took place in Kent in July. After a church ceremony, their low key reception was held in Tom’s parent’s back garden.

The bride wore a short wedding dress from Yours Truly Bridal Shop in Maidstone which cost her just £180 with a gorgeous headpiece was by a Rock n Roll Bride favourite, Crown & Glory. Alongside her lucky bridesmaids, she wore Vivienne Westwood/Melissa Lady Dragon shoes and instead of bouquets they all carried a single giant faux flower stem, bought from Hobbycraft costing just £2 each!

“We tied the knot in our local parish church and had a wonderful DIY reception in a marquee on the lawn of Tom’s childhood home”, began Jenny. “Our theme was of a country garden party or fete so we had pétanque, jenga, croquet and a coconut shy that Tom and his best man Nick made for me in secret! We also wanted to make the garden decor a bit of a surprise for our guests, so we had loads of garden gnomes and pink flamingos dotted around that we had collected. In fact of of my favourite parts of the wedding was seeing people continually surprised and excited and commenting about all the little things we had spent so long thinking about and planning for. Whilst it was our day, we wanted to give our friends and family from over the years a great knees up, and seeing all our efforts come off was very humbling. There was no colour theme at all, the brief was simply: ‘colourful!’ And, as can be seen from our bunting, the more mismatched the better!”

Continue reading

Kelly & John’s Simple & Home-Grown Wedding

February 23, 2011 in Wedding | Written by

“Basically our tastes tend towards simplicity and we’re blessed to be surrounded by loving, creative people who helped the wedding feel very ‘us.’ …very down-home, cornfields & college towns… us” explained newlywed’s Kelly & John when I asked them about their wedding inspiration.

The couple were married at St. Patrick Church, Urbana, IL. “We grew up in neighboring suburbs, went to undergrad together, and then Kelly moved to the city for a grant while John continued studying at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,” they continued. “As our future home, at least for a few years, Urbana was perfect for the wedding. Central Illinois was far enough from home to be out of the often over-commercialized urban wedding market, yet close enough for our family to make a day trip. Plus, we really liked the Irish influence at St. Patrick, a small, beautiful church in our neighbourhood.” Following the service, the wedding party headed to their reception at Silvercreek Restaurant, the couple’s favourite restaurant. The chef prepared three richly paired dinners from some of their favourite seasonal food.

Kelly wanted to be comfortable and untraditional in her wedding day look and she found her dress on her very first try, soon after she got engaged from Mikaella Bridal. “On a whim, I visited a bridal shop near my hometown with John’s Mom and sister. Certainly not one for strapless, cupcake dresses, I asked the owner to recommend something simple. I definitely wasn’t expecting to find my dress, let alone have it be the first one! I tried on a few more afterwards, but ended up choosing this super-light, taffeta gown…which turned out to not even need alterations!” With her perfect dress she wore flat shoes as Kelly said she wanted to be comfortable!

To keep in with their simple theme, the couple chose to DIY a lot of their wedding. They designed and printed their own Save the Dates & invitations using Vistaprint, created their own wedsite using sites.google.com to manage the RSVP’s and provide their guests with extra information on their day, and home made all other paper goods like the order of services and table  numbers. Kelly’s Dad even built a display frame for the place cards which were caligraphied by her Mum. Finally the couple tasked members of their families also collected small personal items for the reception which also really made the day a perfect reflection of them.

Continue reading

Carolyn & Julian’s Multi-Coloured, RayBan Registration of Marriage

December 8, 2010 in Wedding | Written by

“My husband and I met on New Year’s day in 2007 after a persistent friend-turned-matchmaker insisted that we meet,” began Carolyn, the bride, when I asked her to tell me the story of how she met Julian. ”It wasn’t love at first sight at all, in fact I thought he looked like an obnoxious guy! It wasn’t until we started chatting online and finally meeting up a couple more times, and when he asked “Have you heard of Explosions In The Sky?” (our space-out-heart-tugging fave musicians). It was a done deal. We became inseparable ever since.”

“We had so much in common, it felt somewhat surreal at times. Music aside, we were also big tattoo enthusiasts but I reckon the core of our relationship is really our nonsensical side. We do so many silly things and laugh at ourselves so much that well, it still is funny! I love that the most about us as a couple. Julian works as a tattoo artist and I am a photographer, I think we both compliment each other so well not only in terms of personality but also on a creative level.”

“I’m not a fan of bling at all, so Julian proposed to me with a vintage film camera that you will see me holding in one of the photos. It was to me, the most perfect engagement gift!”

From this perfect beginning, came a wedding that was perfect for them. This event was actually their ‘registration of marriage’ – ie the legal bit. The bride told me that in Malaysia, it is quite common for this to happen a few months before the actual wedding. Instead of a traditional registration ceremony, they wanted to make a big deal of it and so asked their registrar to come to their venue, a funky bar & restaurant called Palate Palette in Kuala Lumpur, where they signed their papers and promised to marry in front of all their friends and family. “Instead of inviting only a few people for our registration, we invited close friends and relatives, it was pretty much like a wedding-on-the-go. It was really special and so much fun!! We even did a mini-walk in where we walked up spiral steps to ’Today’ by the Smashing Pumpkin’s.”

“What makes our registration Rock n Roll I think pretty much stems from our (nonsensical) personalities and interests. We both love film photography and got our photographer friends to help shoot the event. We got a whole bunch of different coloured Ray Bans for our guests for our photo session, which turned out really awesome! We had several portraits taken of us around the premise which I felt really gave out happy, kiddy feel, simply cause it was colourful. Oh and the surprise for the day (for me), was The Simpsons themed placards!! Obviously, its my favourite cartoon.”

“Another surprise was from my Godmother who prepared a huge board of some of our photos and guestbook, she also went at length to do the flower pieces for each table with recycled bottles. So much love from her I can’t describe!”

The lucky pair get to do it all again next Summer in their actual wedding, I can’t wait to see the photos then.

Continue reading

James & Kassie’s “Earthy-Vintage” Wedding

November 4, 2010 in Wedding | Written by

James & Kassie got married at Casa Blanca on Brushy Creek, Texas in an ”earthy-vintage” themed wedding. The couple chose their venue because they felt it completely reflected the vibe they wanted for their day. “The outside ceremony site, decks for guests to hang out, trees everywhere…..it was just perfect,” began the bride. ” The venue allowed for simple accents and decorations, which was just what I wanted.   The colors were bright and happy, however allowed for that earthy theme to mix right in.  Down our aisle I had 1 ½ – 2ft tree trunks set along each side, with simple vintage bottles and daisy’s just to add the earthy-vintage flare. Our archway was designed with lilies and shells, with vines and curly willow, which added that perfect backdrop for our quick ceremony.” 

Without a massive budget, Kassie had to work extra hard to perfect her bridal look. “I was on the hunt for a vintage tea length wedding dress and most of the gorgeous dresses were out of my price range as they were couture. But Melange Bridal went far and beyond to help me find a dress that was close to what I wanted and helped me visualize what the dress could become with some minor alterations.  Kassie wore a tea-length dress from Melange Bridal, shoes from Aldo (which she found for 90% off!) and jewellery from the fantastic and affordable boutique store called Charming Charlie’s.

Continue reading