Wedding style: Inspiration on theming a victorian styled wedding
So I have a little addiction {actually, I better confess, it’s more than little} – a huge addiction in fact, to all things era-embracing. As you know, I’m no fan of the ‘vintage’ term itself {far too big a generalisation for me} as I prefer being much more specific, so I’m being specific today-ish!Looking back for a forward look is one of the most fascinating ways to theme your wedding and by embracing those details that you love about an era and seamlessly blending it with more modern styles, like the kiss of lace on silk on a Yolan Cris gown, wedding styles are being reinvented with class, grandeur and opulence of the decades before us. And with a love of glamour, refinement {a quality I’d like to think I have but in reality, well, enough honesty for one day 
Victorian Styled Wedding
With the development of wide puffed sleeves and the birth of the crinoline {the really obtrusive looking wire cage that Victorian women so bravely wore} the Victorian wedding era was a time of profound prosperity and splendid sensibilities and so to was the Victorian wedding. Daintily packed with fine details, delicate china and bursting with pale colours the Victorian wedding style was very much a feminine, posh affair. Add to that, fabulous non-white dresses and definitely not so traditional dresses, splashes of over-the-top gold gilded everything and smother it with sexy lace lingerie and cameos and you have yourself a splendid affair.
Want this Victorian Wedding!
When this Victorian styled wedding shoot landed in my email, I sat, mouth agape at the details. This shoot is beautiful wedding inspiration; the beautiful pale colours in the flowers and the cakes sumptuously surrounded by beautifully feminine wedding dresses. The woman behind the effortlessly contemporary Victorian styled wedding shoot is the fabulous Heline Bekker.
From Heline:
It has been a long time desire of mine to do a styled photo shoot and having photographed many weddings over the past few years, the next natural step was to do a styled bridal photo shoot. For those of you who know me well enough, it should come as no surprise that I wanted to approach things differently.
The Victorian era has always held somewhat of an allure and personally I think it’s an amazing period. I know there are a lot of people, especially brides to be, that are in love with that time period; which is why I decided to do a bridal shoot that draws inspiration from the Victorian era in the hope that it will give brides a wide variety of unique ideas for their special day.
Victorian Styled Wedding Dresses
The obvious starting point for my shoot was the dresses. In my strive to find authentic Victorian style wedding dresses my search led me to the discovery of the wonderfully talented Michelle of Victorian Gothic. I was really blown away by her dresses. Michelle’s dresses are historically accurate and she makes them from patterns that she sources from authentic Victorian books. They are perfect for the bride that aspires towards something unique. And because of Michelle’s approach to the era, you look and feel gorgeous and amazing.
What I also find so amazing about Michelle’s dresses, is the fact that they are designed to fit any shape and size. In order to make sure that everything tied together with the era, our hair and makeup artist Carla Ramsey, took inspiration from a range of Victorian images to ensure all our models looked the part.
After picking out five dresses with Michelle’s help (yes you read that right – five), I could concentrate on my colour scheme as well as the rest of the details. I needed as much inspiration as I could get from the Victorian era, so I started to do some research of my own. My goal was to create something with a lot of colour, detail and, most importantly, big statement pieces. The easiest way to achieve this, in my opinion, would be to incorporate big statement floral arrangements along with lots of detail in terms of stationery, cakes and table settings.
Your Wedding Style
As I wanted the shoot to replicate the opulence of the Victorian era, I decided to have one large statement Victorian bouquet for as inspiration for the bride that wants more drama. Gwenda from Vintage Floral Design Co created the most amazing floral arrangements for the shoot. Also being a huge fan of the era she ensured her arrangements were reminiscent of stepping back into time and attending one of the weddings that we’ve all seen in our ancestors’ photographs.
As an alternative to a floral bouquet, and for the bride who prefers something that is different from the norm, Jinder from The Finer Details made a brooch bouquet incorporating small flowers made from fabric supplied by Michelle so that they were an exact match for the gown. She also made a custom headpiece for the same gown.
The details for the table settings were pulled together with tableware from Couvert Bespoke Event Hire. Their crockery and cutlery is a great addition to any wedding or event because of the absolute beauty of each piece. Alongside the beautiful items from Couvert were some pretty Victorian inspired stationery. Styling of the table was done by Gwenda and Jinder.
Victorian Wedding Afternoon Tea
Another important aspect of the shoot was to include a sumptuous afternoon tea, especially as it was invented by one of Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting who was quite fond of taking tea and petite-sized cakes in her boudoir during the late afternoon hours. We had three magnificent creations made by Renza of Delicieux Cakes whose specialties include working with chocolate, fruit and flowers. Alongside Renza’s vibrant creations were a selection of stunningly detailed cupcakes by Harpreet from Crumbs! Couture Cupcakes and a breath taking macaroon tower by Reshmi from Anges de Sucre.
Victorian Lingerie Set
Lastly, I also wanted to add something as a little extra inspiration for brides specifically aimed towards their honeymoon night. Fashion designer Charlotte from Wilden Bride created a stunning Victorian inspired lingerie set – the perfect way for any bride to start her honeymoon. This was accompanied by a dressing gown by Faith Caton-Barber.
Collaborating with so many talented vendors has been an absolute delight and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I couldn’t have done it without such an amazing team!
Credits:
Photography and Concept:
Heline Bekker
http://www.helinebekker.co.uk/
Wedding Dresses:
Victorian Gothic
http://www.victorian-gothic.co.uk/
Hair & Makeup:
Carla Ramsey
http://www.carlahairandmakeup.co.uk/
Flowers:
The Vintage Floral Design Co.
http://www.vintagefloraldesign.co.uk/
Stationary, headpieces and button bouquet:
The Finer Details
http://www.thefinerdetails.co.uk/
Tableware:
Couvert Bespoke Event Hire
http://couvert.co.uk/
Wedding Cakes:
Delicieux Cakes
http://www.delicieuxcakes.co/
Cupcakes:
Crumbs! Couture Cupcakes
http://www.cupcakeslondon.com/
Macarons:
Anges de Sucre
http://angesdesucre.com/
Bridal Underwear:
Wilden Bride London
http://wildenbridelondon.com/
Dressing Gown:
Faith Caton-Barber
http://faithbarber.com/
Models:
Frankie Holah – http://frankieholah.co.uk/
Vita Dolce
Nastasya Lourier
Candelabras on table: http://www.simplyelegant.co.uk/
Venue:
Pendell House
http://www.countryhousebreaks.co.uk/
Have yourself a splendidly refined day won’t you
Wedding style: A Victorian styled wedding
