vintage styled shoot | serena genovese

The fabulous Serena sent me this styled shoot a few weeks ago and I just fell in love with the prettiness. Books were the inspiration for this shoot; a love story to tell and read; romantic and classic. The books have inspired a vintage feel, with soft and delicate colours. Ivy, ribbons & lace are incorporated for a timeless look. You can catch Serena on her websiteFacebook or Instagram.

Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot
Vintage Styled Shoot

styled shoot | blushing botanics

I caught up with the lovely Susan from Susan Dick Jewellery & Accessories and she told me all about this gorgeous shoot she worked on with some very talented ladies!

“We put this shoot together to inspire the modern bride looking for an elegant contemporary style for her wedding day.”

“Annabeth wore stunning Elizabeth Stuart gowns by Unbridaled Boutique and we adorned her in stylish headpieces and jewellery by Susan Dick Jewellery & Bridal Accessories.  Her hair was teased into sumptuous waves, a bohemian braid and a chic side bun, perfect for the modern bride.  Emma from Pinup Pro Make Up kept the make up delicate, with attention on the smokey eye.”

“The venue was the exquisite Tour House in Ayrshire, Scotland, the perfect place for a small intimate wedding.  Dawn from First Blush created a lush Botanical feel with the flowers and carpet of greenery and flora for the table centrepiece.  The decadent desert table designed by Rosewood Cakes was a feast for the eyes with perfectly ruffled wedding cake, handcrafted floral cupcakes and delectable cake pops.”

“All of this was captured by talented Fiona Watson Photography as well as capturing a behind the scenes video of the shoot.”

Huge thank you to Fiona for sharing her images of this shoot! You can catch her on her websiteFacebookTwitter & Instagram.

Fiona Watson BB Shoot
Fiona Watson BB Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Fiona Watson BB Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot
Blushing Botanics Styled Shoot

braw brides | wedding workshop

On Sunday 1st March Braw Brides ran their very first 'Wedding Workshop' at the National Piping Centre, and we had a ball! I'm so glad that this was documented by Gavin from Gavin Butler Photography because I was lost in a hazy mist of organising and hoping it went well! Looking back on the photos just shows what a great day it was! (Remember this for your wedding photographs people!) Thank you to Gavin, you can catch him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

I started planning the workshop just four weeks in advance (it'd been in my head for many months) and man did I have a lot to do... if you caught the feature on myself over on the brilliant Made Over & Me last week, you might have learned a little bit more about my background and how Braw Brides was born.

Running a Braw Brides event has always been a goal of mine and by working together with my 'Freens & Neeburs'; a group a wedding industry folks who have a great passion for weddings and the industry, we achieved it! I am so enjoying watching our group expand and evolve together, and we are having a great time experimenting and growing our businesses!

So 2015 started with a whole rebrand of Braw Brides... this was exciting and Walnut Wasp did the most amazing job on the new logo and look of the Braw Brides brand.

I knew I wanted to change something at Braw Brides, and I'd been thinking about it for a while, but Gail & David really opened my eyes as to how cool the brand could look. I took the plunge and feel I made quite a brave decision to change the look of the brand completely. David told me a bit more about their thinking behind it...

"Prior to the rebrand, Heather had identified a new audience for Braw Brides, which had slightly shifted from her original vision for the blog. What we found was that the wedding features on the site with highly unusual aspects, or that were heavily skewed towards DIY content, were the most widely circulated. In short, the users that were engaging with the content and returning to the site most consistently tended to share a lot of common behaviours - big Pinterest users; readers of many wedding blogs; more likely to buy from boutique/independent suppliers; planning DIY weddings and so on."

"So, the rebrand was focused primarily on re-engaging this group, and tweaking the look and feel of the blog in a way that appealed not only directly to this market, but also to suppliers in the industry - photographers and fashion designers - who would in turn be more likely to provide the kind of content to Braw Brides that would be valuable for that target audience. We therefore wanted something that felt more adventurous, less obvious, more versatile."

"The brief that Heather gave us was quite specific in terms of the feel, but left plenty of room for experimentation. Punchy but pretty was the key phrase that informed the design process - that came directly from Heather, and in the end I think that's exactly the balance that we reached. There are pretty touches - there's a tiny heart incorporated into the main design; the soft pink from the original branding is combined with a grey to soften the edges; the name Braw Brides itself is pretty. The typefaces and the relative sizing of the elements are clear, impactful and punchy."

"It was a really exciting project to work on because simply put, the core product was so good - the blog, the content, and the network of suppliers that Heather has cultivated over the years was a really strong proposition. It was clear that with some tweaks to how she presented it, it had enormous potential for growth, and that's been proven in the wake of the rebrand and the workshop."

So then it was on to marketing the workshop and planning! Many brainstorms with the other members of my Freens & Neeburs resulted in a strong, clear idea for a laid back, relaxed event with lots of interactivity for people coming along. We wanted lots of space and places for couples to sit and mull over their wedding plans, drink tea, and eat cake! We wanted people to leave feeling like really inspired for their wedding day. As I was an event co-ordinator in a past life, the logistics came easily and the expertise of the brilliant Caitlin from The National Piping Centre made the whole process simple and fun!

Again I called on David at Walnut Wasp to work with me on the marketing strategy... "The workshop was a big experiment for everybody - the first step in a long term plan to expand the services range of Braw Brides. With a small group of exhibitors paying a very small exhibitors fee, and a tiny cover charge on the door, the marketing budget was modest. The goal was to break even, put on a successful event, and gather data with which to grow for the next one. We therefore kept the marketing completely digital (apart from a banner outside the Piping Centre, and some flyering on the day), and did everything we could do to track the effectiveness of each penny spent. The exhibitors really played their part in spreading the word organically as well - it really was an all-hands-on-deck guerilla marketing effort and it was fun as hell! Attendance on the day was great, and the level of engagement by the attendees was really good, which validated our targeting choices."

On the day itself, I found that all the people who attended were really engaged and stayed for a while, perusing all the different ideas and chatting. People were sitting around eating cake and drinking tea, chatting to all our exhibitors and to each other... it was exactly my vision and we got some amazing feedback too! Donna won a brilliant photo and video shoot from One Big Picture Photography and Walnut Wasp at the workshop...

"The Braw Brides Wedding Workshop was brilliant. I have been telling everyone about it. I have visited two other wedding fairs and Braw Brides was by far our favourite. It felt much more personal, creative and all of the people we met were so friendly, helpful and helped inspire our wedding plans. We managed to speak to all of the people exhibiting and hopefully are going to use quite a few of them in planning our wedding."

green pea studios | chantal lachance-gibson

I was over the moon when Chantal sent me this shoot! It is just so pretty and perfect for injecting a wee bit of Spring into our step this week! Thank you Chantal for sharing these gorgeous images with us! She told me what she loved about the shoot... "For this shoot Amanda had her beautiful daughter model for us. Amanda created three main bridal bouquets and looks along with a few smaller ones, florals for hair and button holes. We used the grounds of her home, garden and studio. I have to say the lighting on the day was incredible which made this shoot just that bit more exciting which I didn’t think was possible! Having these beautiful pieces to photograph in that setting with that light topped off with cute dogs following me around… I was in absolute heaven!"

In the heart of the Trossachs, near the stunning Lake of Menteith, these inspirational surroundings plus Amanda's love of design were instrumental in her undertaking a BA in Art and Design specialising in Site Specific Design. On completion of the course and following the purchase of a neighbouring barn and field, Amanda is delighted to put into practise what she loves, has learnt and experienced by opening Green Pea Studio. In her Studio Amanda works exclusively with her own specially grown, seasonal scented flowers creating a natural, vintage and slightly wild style of arrangement.

I asked Amanda a few questions about her work...

Can you tell me a little about your favourite flowers to work with and why?

"I am afraid I am a typical Gemini - split in my choice of favourites...

  1. Blousy romantic flowers and of course scented
  2. Natural, sculptural form e.g. nature at its most subtle and beautiful, lichen covered branches or beautiful seed heads.

As I grow my own flowers the seasons dictate my flower choice and thus stimulate creativity, so it is really lovely to be working with different key flowers each season.

Spring – Tulips, because they are the first things to flower and therefore mean spring and better weather is on its way.  There are so many shapes, sizes and colours  - something for everyone.  When arranging they are great to work with and I love the fact they are rebellious in the vase!

Summer - heavenly scented old fashioned Roses, and peony.  They are just the pinnacle of soft romanticism and never fail to put a smile on faces when given in a bouquet or posy.

Autumn - Dahlia - they close the summer season down and throw me into autumn with their bold & brazen colour and shapes – great fun and very versatile.

Add to the above my signature ingredient birch and branches, birch and catkins, birch and oodles of cottage garden flowers and you have the Green Pea Style.

When I studied for my degree in Art & Design, all my inspiration came from my rural surroundings, natures’ shape, form and oddities.  These unique ‘one-offs’  intricacies - whether a piece of bark, berried branch or larch in flower, married with an old glass vase or bunched in a creamy textured French confit pot – just make me smile.

My new motto for the website when it is finalised is ‘live life beautifully’ and working with flowers allows me to do this."

What styles and blooms do you see being popular for 2015 weddings?

"Care free Boho - loose and light flowers- scooped up meadow style with more use of wild flowers

Dutch master still life - lovely big opulent flowers like peony, roses and tulips, dahlia all used in a decadent way and clever use of soft colour- ways or atmospheric bold juxtaposed colours married with pewter and copper vessels.

Both styles will incorporate an element of the Victorian collectors’ cabinet -specimens - eggs, feathers, butterflies..."

What do you love about working in the floristry industry in Scotland?

"My background is in Art & Design and I now see many florists using creative flare producing beautiful and unique arrangements that are not only well designed and well executed but, more importantly sympathetic to the flowers being used – it makes me proud.

Personally I also now see an equivalent to the ‘slow food movement’ in flowers, there is most definitely an increase in the number of florists growing their own flowers or sourcing within the UK and therefore they learning more about the seasonality of flowers and in turn the medium they are working with – which is exciting."

You can catch Chantal on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest!