Ella’s Beautiful 1920s Wedding Inspiration Shoot

“Dear Claire,

I was recently asked if I’d be inter­ested in par­tic­i­pat­ing in a vin­tage style 1920’s shoot by pho­tog­ra­pher Mar­tin Plant of Alter Ego Por­traits. I jumped at the chance as I have always had a deep affin­ity with the 20’s. My grand­mother gave me a photo of Jessie Matthews and I had to admit the like­ness was uncanny. I also have a the­atri­cal back­ground and star­ing at her photo always gave me a sense of belong­ing, of com­ing home.

I am cur­rently engaged to my fiancé Tommy, and came up with the idea of adapt­ing the shoot to inspire my wed­ding plan­ning. I wanted to cre­ate a shoot in a sim­i­lar the­atri­cal style to my pho­to­graph of Jessie. A kind of recre­ation of the photo for my Nan, who is now bed bound and would not be able to make my actual wed­ding day. My fiancé donned his DJ and joined in on a day that was great fun. I would love it if you could take a look at a cou­ple of our pics, I would love to be able to share them with your future brides too.

Many thanks for your time,

Ella“

I was thrilled with the beau­ti­ful images that pho­tog­ra­pher Mar­tin Plant cap­tured on the day. I would thor­oughly rec­om­mend a ‘wed­ding plan­ning shoot’. Not only did we have a fab­u­lous day, but it also enabled us to visu­alise our future wed­ding and has inspired us both to set our date for next year.

Not giv­ing too many spoil­ers of the big day, but I have very much decided to fol­low my heart and plan for an Art Deco and 1920’s themed wed­ding. I don’t feel daunted by plan­ning now, quite the oppo­site, I am excited to meet new wed­ding sup­pli­ers and feel con­fi­dent that I can style my day to reflect my per­sonal love of the era.

I have already pre-booked a vin­tage style hen shoot with Alter Ego Por­traits (in Northamp­ton­shire). I love the idea of immor­tal­is­ing as many mem­o­ries of my wed­ding as pos­si­ble and share some pam­per­ing with my ‘hen’s’.

I could not part with my favorite but­ton bou­quet from this shoot, it had been made espe­cially for me by Bride as a But­ton, with plenty of feath­ers and sparkles. It is some­thing else that I will be able to cher­ish for a long time after the wedding.

Another great ben­e­fit of doing the plan­ning shoot is that I realised I want to incor­po­rate both a roman­tic ‘Pet­ti­bone’ dress for the day, and will cer­tainly be return­ing to the fan­tas­tic team at Serendip­ity Brides, Wee­don, for my fit­ting. I have also decided on a fun flap­per style, for ‘Putting on the Ritz’ in the evening.

We fell in love with the vin­tage charm of Delepre Abbey and love the idea of an alfresco Jazz and Charleston band, with our guests danc­ing the Shimmy 1920’s style.

Ulti­mately the great­est reward from doing this shoot was the fab­u­lous smile that the pic­tures put on my Nan’s face. A big thanks Nan for that photo of Jessie Matthews and in the words of F. Scott Fitzger­ald “Can’t repeat the past … why of course you can!” Chap­ter 6, The Great Gatsby.

With thanks to every­one involved in the shoot:

Natalie Danielle — http://www.natalie-danielle.com (Hair & Make Up artist)
Bum­ble & Bum­ble (hair prod­ucts)
Der­ma­log­ica (skin­care)
Alter Ego Por­traits http://www.alteregoportraits.com
Mar­tin Plant Pho­tog­ra­phy — http://www.martinplant.com
The Blos­som Shop http://www.theblossomshop.co.uk (ivy head wreath)
Vin­tage Head­dresses http://www.vintageheaddresses.com (1920’s flapper/feather head­dress)
Hob­bits Vin­tage Cre­ations http://www.hobbits.org.uk (Darcy lace head­dress & wrist cor­sarge)
Serendip­ity Brides http://www.serendipitybrides.co.uk (Claire Pet­ti­bone Wed­ding Dress)
Bride as a But­ton http://www.brideasabutton.com (But­ton Bou­quets & But­ton­holes)
Quen­ton House, Delapre Abbey http://www.quintonhouse.co.uk/delapre-abbey.html (venue)
Johnny loves June http://www.johnnylovesjune.co.uk (vin­tage flap­per style dress)
Next Ivory Jew­eled san­dals http://www.next.co.uk