by Liz Baker Photography | Wedding planning
Botanical wedding theme
A botanical wedding theme works so well within the context of fine art weddings. A couple of years back, Pantone named Greenery as their colour of the year, cementing an already burgeoning trend.
Never out of fashion
It’s not hard to see why foliage and botanicals will never really go out of style. It’s a well-known fact that the colour green has a relaxing, pacifying effect. No doubt due to it being the chief colour in nature’s own beautiful palette. Of course it’s also an elegant palette due to its clean simplicity.
Laid-back & natural
If you’re considering a botanical wedding theme for your wedding, read on! You’re in the right place to view my curated selection of images from over the years, and follow the links to the specific galleries. There’s a varied approach to the style here. But the common thread running through is a laid-back, natural look. Just as if you scooped up some wild, exotic leaves and fruit and scattered them across your scene.
Go green
Olive leaves bring elegance wherever they are used. Succulents work all over the place, even in addition to/in place of centrepieces. These are foliages with those dusky blue/grey undertones which speak of warmer climates. Closer to home Rosemary grows abundantly in the UK and carries its own delicious scent, working well alongside/instead of eucalyptus. Consider other foraged greenery on arches, tables and chair-backs. Trailing ivy on window sills is always an English stunner in my book. And how about asking your florist to create a statement wall or area of floor?
It’s all in the details
Olive leaves & ferns in tablescapes and stationery bring flavour from further afield, as do figs and fig leaves, grapes and other fruits. When it comes to botanical wedding themed stationery you’ll be spoilt for choice. And with the right photographer you can look forward to some beautifully styled photography of your details (think, rings, invitations, perfumes etc). It will be completely in step with your botanical wedding theme, just make sure you keep her up to date with all your design plans as they unfold!
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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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 | Wedding planning
Fine Art Wedding Stationery = Pinterest Heaven (or Nightmare?)
Fine art wedding stationery is certainly not in short supply. BUT finding the right suite AND choosing from the thousands of lovely designs out there does present a challenge. Pinterest seems to be literally heaving with beautiful samples – you’re not imagining it! How will you possibly choose?
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I love to shoot beautiful stationery at weddings (oh alright, and I’m a design junkie) so I want to help you! Here are my top 5 tips for working out what you want, and narrowing down the choice of fine art wedding stationery to a really good shortlist.
1. Set your budget.
First, decide how important it is to you to have a coherent set of paperie, or a unique one-of-a-kind design for your wedding invitations. Work out how much you want to spend. Then you will know whether you can look at completely bespoke designs or whether you need to hunt down a (more affordable) stylish semi-custom suite. Bespoke designs are utterly beautiful pieces of art that are a joy to behold and make a beautiful keepsake from your wedding day. On the other hand semi-custom designs are great if you are on a tighter budget, or need them in a hurry. There are certainly plenty of handsome suites out there.
2. Put your stamp on it.
The next step will be to keep in mind the style, theme, florals or colours that you are planning for your wedding. You might be drawing inspiration from the venue, or the season of the year. Or elements of your romance that you want to thread right through your wedding. This is the stage where a wedding planner will come into their own and do all the hard work for you. So if you’ve booked one you can relax. Or perhaps you are a creative bride and groom who want to be hands-on in your wedding planning. In which case this is when you want to find a stationery supplier who will take your ideas and make them reality.
3. Keep it simple & understated.
Fine art wedding stationery is known for being at once modern and elegant. Often its a minimalist design although that can take many forms. It could be a traditional letterpress font and a thick cotton rag paper. Or it could be an elaborate handwritten design using pen and ink, headed up with an elegant monogram, detail or line drawing of your venue. These could look quite different but they share simplicity and elegance by allowing plenty of space on the page. Further, these types of design rely on understated elements like the texture of the paper or the watercolour wash applied to it.
4. Think outside the box.
Try to think from the start about every aspect of stationery that you might want. Save-the-dates, invitations and RSVPs themselves are the obvious essentials. However, here are a few other elements for you to consider. Will you want place-names or escort cards for your tables? Will you want a table layout plan or table names? What about menus, orders of service, ceremony seat reservations, an order of the day, welcome/directions signs, or signage for cards/gifts/signature cocktails? Beyond these items, have you considered handwritten vows or a penned love letter to give one another on your wedding morning? So many possibilities, but the key is to think it all through and decide at the start what you’d like.
5. Keep up with the paperwork.
Keep in mind timescales, since even semi-custom designs need to be ordered in sufficient time. A good rule of thumb is a minimum of 6 weeks before your print deadline for customisable designs, and 12 weeks in advance of printing for bespoke and handlettered designs. Once you’ve found your favourites, be sure to contact the designer and ask what their exact deadline requirements are before you place your order.
So, let’s recap.
Pinterest is a huge resource for fine art wedding stationery, but arm yourself first by remembering these top five: budget, style, simplicity, details, timing.
Help! I’m still stuck in the wedding stationery mud!
If you’ve followed these steps and are still baffled by the array on offer, or if you got stuck halfway through, then cut to the chase. Here are my best 5 tried-and-tested fine art wedding stationery designers that I have personal experience of. (You’re welcome!)
Laura Elizabeth Patrick (Bespoke)
Bureau Design (Bespoke & semi-custom)
Gemma Milly (Semi-custom)
By Moon and Tide (Bespoke & customisable)
De Winton Paper Co. (Bespoke & customisable)
Of course, stationery is just one stop on your wedding planning journey. 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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by Liz Baker Photography | Wedding planning
What is Fine Art Photography?
This is the question many couples are wondering as they look at the array of options for their wedding photography. And there are several answers!
The original fine art
My own take on it is to produce photographs that are as beautiful as paintings. Paintings are the original fine art. Paintings are often impressions, they use licence, they interpret movement, they invoke feelings. Photographs can do all this too, and that’s precisely what I’m aiming for. And so I coined the phrase painterly imagery to describe my photographs.
Fine Art weddings
“Fine art” is a genre sweeping through the world of weddings. It encompasses every aspect of the planning and design of a wedding. It generally features an elegant, pared-back style with a strong emphasis on seasonal, loose, floral design. Colours, dresses, accessories and makeup vary but tend to lean towards soft, natural and organic looks.
The Film revival
Most accurately however, the fine art wedding movement stems from a revival of film photography. This is really important to note. The look and feel of overexposed film tones is the defining factor of fine art wedding photography. Pioneered by Jose Villa and spearheaded by blogs like Wedding Sparrow, film photography is at the heart of fine art wedding style.
I am proud to shoot film and delighted to be a preferred Wedding Sparrow vendor. And I would be honoured to discuss how true fine art film photography can be the perfect choice for your wedding. Please do get in touch with any questions you may have!
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