Gothic Romance 

Today, I bring a vision that was beautifully achieved in collaboration with some of Bride Club ME’s Vendor Club members. I am delighted to share with you ‘Gothic Romance’, our third styled shoot Captured by the incredibly talented fine art photographer, Melissa Bettie.

Halloween is soon approaching as is the season of autumn, my vision was to create a styled shoot that would touch on the festivities of Halloween and edge into the wintery loveliness that is autumn. I had colors in mind, ideas in my head and ‘must have’ elements to incorporate and this could only be achieved by calling upon the talents of the vendors involved in this shoot. Originally the intention was to create a gothic shoot with an ethereal touch, however, styled shoots tend to take on personalities of their own and it’s never smart to be too rigid, as each creative vendor involved will have their own interpretations too. In choosing the gowns, the shoot went from having an ethereal edge to a glamorous touch, so we rolled with it.

Our shoot took place within the Victoria Stange boutique, I had met with the boutiques founder, designer Olga Nureky, and immediately fell in love with the boutique interiors. A classy mix of black and white fills the venue, creating an effortlessly elegant feel, with a touch of gothic throughout.

I did not have an attire stylist for this shoot, so had to use my imagination when sourcing the jewelry from Vitrine designs and the hair piece by ANAQA that combined well with the exquisite black gowns created by Olga at Victoria Strange Couture. I hope I did them justice.

The stunning cake was designed specifically for our shoot by the Gourmelicious girls. Inspired by gothic architecture, the cake characteristics consisted of dark interiors, peaked roof tops, and pointed arches. The flowers were carefully picked to suit the shoots color scheme, and featured a combination of plum, grey and burgundy fantasy flowers. Tiny Dahlia and washed out blush roses with silver leaves added the finishing touch. The result, a dark, feminine and majestic cake.

The florals and fauna for this shoot were supplied by one of my favorite florists Vintage Bloom (also the florist I used for my wedding). As always, Vintage Bloom were spot on with their creations. The oversized  bouquet and the table scape flowers included Black bonny rose, black Viburnum, deep red hanging amaranthis and orchids, black sunflowers, Dahlia’s, burgundy hydrangeas, artichokes and an assortment of leafs. The bouquet also had added succulents which worked beautifully.

Combining all the table scape elements and added styling touches during the event, was wedding stylist Joelle, from my lovely Wedding/Lovely Styling. I have wanted to work with Joelle for quite some time and knew that a shoot would be an epic one with her special touch. Joelle immediately got my vision when sending the brief and set to work sourcing the table ware and black velvet overlay, spray painting challises with a deep plum hue, coordinating with Vintage bloom on the flowers and effortlessly designing the table scape to perfection. I brought one of my own skull candles in and a friends black skull piece to add a little flavor to the table. Joelle purchased lots of black berries and plums, adding an earthy, autumn feel to the table scape and delicately dripped candle wax over some of the stationery and fruits, giving it all a lived in vibe. It looked incredible.

Adding something a little different to our shoot, was sunny from Sunny’s Pop, a personal friend of mine, who is also a former wedding planner. Sunny provided delicious toffee apples for the shoot covered in a deep red toffee, combined with real twigs, giving that autumn touch. Needless to say, all of us devoured the toffee apples after.

The gorgeous stationery for this shoot was supplied by Ritu at Creative box. Ritu managed to create a glamorous and gothic inspired wedding invitation in keeping with our theme, along with an ornate monogram using, Victorian fonts and gothic prints.

The black colored box containing the invitation created a dark impact perfect for our theme and inside the box set the main invitation on thick board to give a grand effect. A drawer in the box added the surprise element, containing 6 chocolates with personalized wrappers. To add more drama Ritu worked with water colors for the place cards, complimented by a beautiful Calligraphy style font. For the menu and table numbers, Ritu used the designed monogram for continuity.

Finally, our wonderful model for the day was the lovely Nesrin Adnan, who despite not feeling too well was a professional and pleasure to work with. Beautifying our model were the fabulous twin sister duo ‘Makeup by Dee & Dal’. Dee & Dal styled our models hair for both looks and provided their make-up artistry.

This shoot was a real labor of love, and something I personally feel is very different to any other shoot I have seen in this region. A little secret of mine, is I do have a soft spot for anything quirky and outside the box, take note wedding photographers…I’m looking for your submissions. I hope you enjoy the images, please feel free to leave a comment.

The Starting Cast

Conceptualised and organised by: Rio at Bride Club ME / Venue: Victoria Strange Boutique / Black gowns: Olga at Victoria Strange. Photography: Melissa Bettie Photography / Black gowns and tulle: Victoria Strange Boutique / Table Scape and stationery suite styling: Joelle at Lovely Styling / Flowers: Vintage Bloom / Stationery suite: Creative Box / Couture Cake: Gourmelicious / Hair & Make-Up: Make up by Dee and Dal / Model: Nesrin Adnan / Jewelry Accessories (ring, earrings and bangle): Vitrine Designs / Black feathered Hair piece: Anaqa / Bride attire styling: Rio at Bride Club ME, Toffee Apples: Sunnys Pop.

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