The Fabulous Vintage Bride Photoshoot

I’ll be honest, I originally said no to this Fabulous Vintage Bride Photoshoot.  I’ve shot bridal features before and come away feeling compromised and a little sullied.  That sounds a little overly dramatic maybe but when you say you really don’t want to shoot images that just add to the endless pantheon of pretty and pastel and floaty wedding images and you’re assured that’s not what it’s going to be about and you get there and everything is set up for pretty and pastel and floaty it can be a bit demoralising.  So when I was approached by Francesca I said no.  Then she said, I was thinking an Ellen Von Unwerth vibe and I was like, “Damnit.  I’m in.  You had me at Ellen.”  And I’m so glad I was.  Because that’s exactly what we were able to get.  I should have known really, Francesca’s wedding, last year, which I wasn’t able to shoot, had ballerina bridesmaids and Bunny Girl waitresses!  (the wedding I did shoot that day, luckily, was also amazing, otherwise I think I’d still be on a course of heavy barbiturates to get over missing that one, even now) and this wasn’t brilliantly thought through and styled.  Her company is Fabulous Vintage Bride and is an alternative take on wedding styling and prop hire (you can read more by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page, as well as view a selection of the props on her website).  Now the wedding industry is pretty saturated with ‘vintage’ stylings but this feels authentic and the result of a genuine vision.  The images that follow are not so much the props (someone else shots those) but the fashion images, and what was my most satisfying fashion shoot to date, because, recognising we had the same vision for the day, Francesca just left me to get on with it.  Artistic freedom.  Now that’s a rare and precious thing.  In terms of shooting and lighting I started with the day a studio lighting set up, soft boxes and beauty dishes, etc., and ended it with on-camera flash for a rawer kind of feel.

Models were the wonderful Grace Cairns and Diana Vickers

Styling by Francesca Barnes

Hair and makeup by Elbie Bayley

Dresses by Belle & Bunty

More on Francesca’s Fabulous Vintage Bride hire company and vision… 

Fabulous Vintage Bride website