by Liz Baker Photography | Wedding planning
Wedding planning: trend or tradition?
Wedding planning trends suggest traditions are out, or at least at an all-time low. Couples planning their wedding in 2019 celebrate how they want, eat what they love, wear what they like. And quite rightly so.
But wedding plans can draw inspiration from time-worn traditions. And some couples may treasure a particular tradition for reasons personal to themselves.
Unique to you
Perhaps you’re ready to throw out the father of the bride’s speech. Maybe you’d love to abandon cutting the cake (or chuck the cake completely?). Or do you even stand on the brink of buying a black wedding gown?
It can also be fun during your wedding planning to consider the history of some of the more old-school aspects of weddings. In the end you should of course go ahead and choose what actually suits you in the 21st century.
Something Blue
“Something Blue” is one surprisingly enduring tradition that still features in many couples’ wedding planning. It has survived through frequent adaptation over the years to remain a popular touch for many brides and their families.
It is one of four things that brides were to wear on their person on their wedding day. Almost 150 years ago, folklore thought to originate in the Northwest of England told that these four things would bring luck, prosperity and a successful marriage:
Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something blue.
Fifty shades of blue
According to the custom, something blue represents faithfulness. It was often the garter which was blue, but more recently the tradition has been to sew a ribbon or scrap of fabric inside the wedding dress. Meghan Markle wore a blue dress on the blind date where she met Prince Harry, and later famously had it sewn into her Givenchy gown.
Blue shoes have been popular over recent years, and general pops of blue in the details of a wedding design have become a classic, iconic look. Grooms have joined the fray with their own Something Blue bowties, socks and suits.
It may be that after all, blue is such a good accent colour that this is a custom worth adapting. So take care not to throw out the blue baby with the tradition bathwater! Here are a few stylish ways to incorporate something blue into your wedding…
Don’t forget, you can get my guide to planning your own fine art wedding sent to you completely free, along with your no-obligation, personalised quote.
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Groom’s blue tweed suit
Delicate blue Nigella (Love in a Mist) in a bridal bouquet
Pale blue crockery for the table
Suited in blue
Blue letterpress wedding invitation
Blue wedding car
Sapphires in the engagement ring
by Liz Baker Photography | Bouquet preservation, Wedding planning
the botanical bouquet
MODERN ICONIC FINE ART PRINT
Introducing…
A new UK wedding bouquet preservation service.
I am delighted to be the first to offer brides & grooms right across the country this modern UK wedding bouquet preservation option. The Botanical Bouquet offers UK couples the opportunity to preserve their wedding flowers as a luxury fine art print. The Botanical Bouquet is an authentic, contemporary approach to preserving your bridal bouquet, inspired by a love for iconic botanical illustrations of the past.
The oldest illustrated sketchbook is traced to a Greek botanist during the first century AD. The practice has never gone out of fashion since, booming across Europe during the Georgian and Victorian eras.
Today the tradition continues to thrive, through watercolours, paper sculpture and glass art. We are thrilled to join the botanical art movement, with hand-crafted surfaces, finest pigment inks and pure cotton papers.
So how does it work? Well, all it requires is a little extra planning and care with your bouquet. Don’t worry, detailed instructions are included in the brochure (request yours here). But in a nutshell… stand your bouquet in water whenever you can on your wedding day. Then, the next day, separate the stems, wrap them in damp cotton wool and post/courier your flowers to me.
I take care of the rest of the process, and you receive your beautiful fine art print by special delivery as soon as you return from honeymoon! I carefully arrange the varieties from your bouquet, using linen boards hand-made in a Somerset bindery. Then I photograph and annotate your design, before ordering your archival quality print on 100% cotton rag.
The Botanical Bouquet print is available to brides throughout the UK. Simply send me your wedding date and browse the brochure. Then choose your surface, mount and any extras. Click here to check if your date is available and receive the brochure.
The Botanical Bouquet Fine Art Print
by Liz Baker Photography | Branding, Inspiration
The DIY fine art wedding bouquet
Are you a modern bride in need of a fine art wedding bouquet? If so, it is certainly a wonderful idea to consider the DIY route for this special aspect of your day.
By getting along to a one-day workshop, perhaps with your mum or bridesmaids, you’ll learn how to create your own fine art wedding bouquet.
These courses offer fantastic value for money for the fine art bride. It’s one of the recommendations in my guide How to Plan Your Fine Art Wedding which I send out to all my clients when they enquire.
The real cut flower garden
It’s always such a pleasure to hang out with Charlie and her team at The Real Cut Flower Garden. Charlie’s home and garden is a true gem in the heart of rural West Dorset.
A journalist and passionate gardener for 25 years plus, Charlie traded the pen for the trowel and began The Real Cut Flower Garden in 2004. They were the first company in the UK to send out bouquets of entirely home grown flowers nationwide. Four years ago expert Charlie launched her Flower School, and every year she and her team add to the courses on offer.
Real flowers for real brides
I was lucky enough to get along to the bouquet workshop in June – perhaps the UK’s most beautiful month, flower-wise. Here are some photos from the workshop, including the bouquets which I created with Charlie’s beautiful flowers. (How stunning do they look tied up with hand-died silk ribbons from Kate Cullen?)
Of course, if you are totally not the green-fingered type, don’t panic! Charlie can supply all your wedding flowers, home-grown and cut fresh from her garden.
P.S. Don’t forget to request your personalised quote today in order to get more tips and keys to planning a fine art wedding.
by Liz Baker Photography | Branding
I make no secret of the fact that I am almost as crazy about wild and undone British floral design as I am about film photography. Inspired by Constance Spry, pioneered a little over a decade ago and made famous by florists and growers like Sarah Winward and Floret. Now, these modest cutting gardens offering strictly seasonal arrangements are on the increase. This is really good news. Such a huge variety of flowers grow here in the UK right through from March to November. Why settle for a tight bauble of white roses on your wedding day when you can have a resplendent reflection of what’s growing in our meadows and gardens?
Holly-Bee Flowers is a flower garden and floral design studio based in Dartington, Devon. Holly specialises in growing and arranging flowers and greenery for weddings, workshops and bouquets. Working with the seasons her flowers are natural, evocative and beautiful. Holly created Holly-Bee Flowers in 2015, with a background in design and a love for colour, texture and growing flowers. Natural beauty is at the heart of what she does. She grows most of her own flowers and foliage in a quintessentially English country garden. She is a firm supporter of British flowers, and also sources from local suppliers where required.
As you can imagine I was over the moon when Holly asked me to photograph her and her wonderful garden in the heart of rural Devon late last summer. It was a very warm day and I wasn’t sure if I was working or playing. I was in my own bit of heaven on earth with Holly’s stunning roses and my film camera. As our English gardens and hedgerows burst into life for another season of beautiful blooms, here’s a brief look at Holly’s cutting garden and a few of her lush creations.
Do also head over to Holly’s own blog, where you can see more stunning British floral design and her flowers through the seasons – she’s pretty handy with her digital camera so there’s lot of lovely photos to see.
Would you like your own bespoke quote for natural business brand images?
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Canon 1V and Fuji Pro 400H, developed & scanned by Exposure Film Lab.
by Liz Baker Photography | Weddings
Classic Fine Art wedding
Today I am sharing a beautiful fine art wedding, captured on film in a country village. I really love it when couples keep it elegant and pared back. Featuring pops of red and a cream tea reception, this is a classic and elegant fine art wedding. I shared this lovely couple’s engagement shoot a while back.
Autumn/Winter Colour Palette
Finally we have the first snow in years here in the West Country! It’s a real winter wonderland out there, so before it melts away I want to share this late Autumn wedding. With lush greens and rich berry reds it features a beautiful wintry colour palette to the florals and cake, in addition to the fading hues of the Autumn leaves. There are lots of pretty details here – and the most darling flower girl and pageboy!
Country Chic
The country chapel ceremony for close friends and family was followed by a relaxed Cream Tea in the sweet old village schoolroom. The minimalist interior of the Somerset chapel – with light-washed walls and dark oak pews – gave a great backdrop for some crisp imagery. I shot the ceremony mainly on black and white film.
Afterwards in the old schoolroom mouthwatering profiteroles, meringues and scones were laid out on trestle tables, and washed down with local cider! All provided carefully and with exceptional service by local caterer Jean.
Luxurious film tones
A change of venue and outfits saw the second part of this wedding in London, which I will share later. But for now, enjoy the gorgeous Kodak film tones of this lovely Autumnal Somerset wedding!
Photography: Liz Baker Fine Art Photography
Film: Kodak Portra 400, Portra 800 & Fuji Neopan 400
Lab: Richard Photo Lab
Floral design: Little Thatch Florist
Dress: Tom Flowers by Berketex
Shoes: Ruby Shoo
Veil: Demelza Charity for Care of Children, Canterbury
Jewellery and hair accessories: Monsoon Accessorize
Hair: Emphasis, South Petherton
Flower girl’s dress & shoes: Monsoon
Cake design & catering: Injeanious Cakes, South Petherton
Vintage engagement ring from Budapest
Ring box: Secret Keeper Box
Cider: Perry’s Cider Mills, Dowlish Wake
Stationery: Wren Press, London
Silk ribbons: Lancaster & Cornish
Fragrance: Jo Malone
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