"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop"... Alice in Wonderland by Annemarie King Photography...

As you will have seen from our first blog featuring the Alice in Wonderland themed shoot at Scampston Hall, we have been absolutely spoilt by the two photographers who we had the pleasure of working with on this project. Having already given you an insight into some of our favourite photographs, we're now going to focus on each of them in turn. There are just too many beautiful pictures to only have one blog post so here we focus on the gorgeous Annemarie King and her stunning interpretation of our Alice in Wonderland ideas.....

'In my world, the books would be nothing but pictures' (Alice)

It must be very difficult for photographers to interpret and translate our thoughts and produce pictures which bring our visions to reality. But we feel that Annemarie has done just that. The shoot took place at the stunning Scampston Hall, near Malton which has beautiful walled gardens and grounds and a picture perfect lake. From the first time we stepped through the windows and out into the gardens (in true Alice fashion!) we knew it was the perfect location to tell our Alice story - our very own Wonderland.

'Well i've often seen a cat without a grin, but a grin without a cat?
It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!' (Alice)

With our vision and planning, Annemarie truly grasped the story we wanted to portray. Narrowing down the sites we could use was probably the most difficult as Scampston Hall is rich with places perfect to tell this fairytale, but between us we almost managed it!  A further trip may be necessary...

One of the main focuses of our shoot had to be The Mad Hatter's Tea Party and this was probably the area we had the most fun with, excluding the smoke machine of course! (More about that on the next blog) Having located a fabulous site next to the lake, The Wedding Affair set to work providing Annemarie with a feast of colour to photograph. The final pictures are the epitome of the fabulous, over the top scene which can be easily adapted for a wedding.

'Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting' (The White Rabbit)

'Do you care for tea?' (Mad Hatter)
'Why, yes. I'm very fond of tea' (Alice)

'The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today' (The White Queen)

We have no doubt that you will be in full agreement - Annemarie did an outstanding job at this shoot and we can't wait to work with her again. We are so very lucky to work with some exceptionally talented people and love the fact that each shoot, although incredibly hard work, is filled with a lot of laughter too.

With lots of Wedding Affair love, here's the list of fabulous people involved in this shoot.  We would highly recommend Brides and Grooms to use their products and services, here are links to their websites for your information:-

Location - Scampston Hall www.scampston.co.uk
Shoot Organiser - The Wedding Affair www.theweddingaffair.co.uk
Lead Photographer - Annemarie King www.annemarieking.co.uk
Shoot the Shoot Photographer - Chris Milner www.chris-milner.com
Wedding Attire - Plush Bridal Boutique www.plushweddingboutique.com
Jewellery - HF Couture www.hfcouture.co.uk
Alice in Wonderland Cake - Cakes For All Occasions www.cakesandsweets.co.uk
Florist - Elise Flowers www.eliseweddingflowers.co.uk
Hair and Make Up - Alison Clegg & Camilla of Beauty Call www.beautycall.co.uk
Wedding Stationery - I am Nat www.iamnat.co.uk
Fabulous models Amy, Adam, Kay and Charlotte
Event Props - Event Prop Hire www.eventprophire.com

Sharing the Papakata love.....

We're not ashamed to say it - we love Papakata. If you haven't seen them yet, then where have you been?

Papakata describe them as beautiful tents for amazing events and we couldn't agree more. If you're looking for something a bit different to a traditional marquee then Papakata is for you. These teepee style tents pioneered by the Sami people of Lapland are utterly gorgeous and we're more than a little bit in love with them!

Lisa and I had the pleasure of visiting Amanda, Richard and the rest of the team at their recent Spring Open Weekend. The weather was glorious and the event was packed with lots of brides and grooms who had flocked to the Escrick Park Estate over the duration of the weekend so that they could see the teepees in situ.

Visiting an Open Weekend is the perfect opportunity to meet the Papakata team and chat about design options for your big day, some of which are on display. The opportunities are limitless and you can really let your imagination run wild. If you would like details of the fantastic suppliers who provided styling and catering for this event then please contact Papakata directly. As always, they will be more than happy to help!

We'd like to thank Amanda, Richard, Sally and Emily, and the rest of the team for being so welcoming despite being so busy! A big thank you also to Tom Ullrich of Fossca Photography www.fossca.co.uk for allowing us to kindly use these photographs.

Check out their website and see more pictures at www.papakata.co.uk

Keep your eyes open for the next Papakata Open Weekend and make sure you pop across to say hello and experience some Papakata loving! You won't be disappointed!

The Wedding Affair 1950's Dior Inspired Photoshoot at Goldsborough Hall

We have been known to organise the odd photoshoot, allowing us to get some stunning photographs of the venues we work with, and giving us an extra opportunity to showcase some of the fabulous suppliers that attend our fairs. A photograph from the previous 'Rule Britannia' photoshoot has just been used in the latest edition of Vogue Magazine.

If you haven't already seen them, we produce gorgeous A5 colour invitations which are sent to brides by post before each fair, and whilst Lisa was preparing one for The Wedding Affair at Goldsborough Hall we hit upon organising another photoshoot.

 
We had wanted to work with Cat Hepple, an amazing photographer, for some time and as she will be exhibiting at this event it seemed ideal that she be behind the camera at the shoot. In fact, it was her idea to use the 1950's and Dior as inspiration and we were bowled over with this. As a result, we yet again brought together a fabulous team of people to bring this idea to life and we are sure you will not be disappointed with the results.

We'd like to give a shoutout and a huge Wedding Affair thank you to all the fantastically talented people who helped to make this happen:

Cat Hepple Photography - www.cathepplephotography.com
The Harrogate Wedding Lounge (Bridalwear) - www.theharrogateweddinglounge.com
Beauty Call (Hair and Make-Up) - www.beautycall.co.uk
HF Couture (Headdresses) - www.hfcouture.co.uk
Twisted Willow Floristry - www.twistedwillowfloristry.co.uk
Dior at Browns of York (Perfume and props) - www.brownsofyork.co.uk
Models Matt, Sean, Abby and Amy provided by The Model Experience - www.themodelexperienceuk.com

Last but not least we must of course thank Clare and Mark Oglesby and their team at Goldsborough Hall for allowing us to descend en masse and fill this stunning venue with gorgeous models, sparkly dresses, beautiful flowers and lots of laughter!

In all honesty, there is little else we can say about these photographs as each picture speaks a thousand words. They are stunning, beautiful, breathtaking and just wow and we know that we will want to use them again and again.

We're onto planning the next photoshoot at another fabulous venue now but the question on all our lips is:- 'How on earth are we going to make it as good as this one?'......