The pandemic came with quite a lot of downsides. One of the things that were majorly affected was weddings. As love cannot be stopped, people began to look for ways to adapt. Small and intimate weddings, as opposed to big ones and some other adjustments had to be made. The world has seen than ever before, that whatever the situation, with love and determination, a lot of beautiful things can still happen.

This bridal shoot by Elizabeth Solaru captures the effects that the pandemic has had on weddings. It also shows how we have been able to adapt and evolve with the times.

While you enjoy all the beautiful photos from the shoot, here’s how the Creative Director describes it:

Elizabeth Solaru of the Luxury Business Emporium who conceived this shoot reunited with renowned bridal designer Joanne Fleming Design whose beautiful butterfly couture dresses once again provided the inspiration. This shoot shows the duality of life. Prior to the unprecedented events, all of us were probably happily drifting along, dreamily unaware of the life-altering chain of events about to happen. Now we are adapting to our next normal, coexisting with the unknown as best as we can.

Wonderfully captured by the very talented Eva Tarnok and with beautiful florals by the talented duo of Leanne and Andy at WildAbout, I’m sure you will agree that this editorial captures the essence of the butterfly effect in all its luxurious glory.

COLOUR AND TEXTURE

The texture was hugely important to this shoot. From the delicately embroidered butterflies and 3D embellishments on the couture dresses, the edible pearls, bas relief, gold leaf and sugar butterflies on the cakes to the tactile spikiness and fluffiness of the dried and fresh flowers.

Soft neutrals were the order of the day and the colour palette for the first part of the shoot included various shades of whites, creams, taupe, pastel pinks, and greens interspersed with white laser cut butterflies. For the other half of the shoot, darker colours and black laser cut butterflies were added for some contrast and drama. The chosen metallic accent colour was gold, which was used throughout the shoot.

THE VENUE

The setting for this shoot was the beautiful and spacious Pompadour Summer Terrace at the five-star Hotel Cafe Royal located in Regents Street London. The historic hotel was founded in 1865 and has played host to royalty and rockstars. It was recently awarded the Butterfly Mark for its measurable impact and a company-wide commitment to sustainability. The private terrace with its sweeping colonnades are a signature feature of this Grade 2 listed building and offers the advantage of an enclosed open outdoor space most welcome during these unprecedented times.

DECOR AND DETAILS

The tablescape we created featured a chic and unusually shaped dining table. It was a half-moon, black and white splittable from the UK Event Hire. The idea was to create the most stylish socially distanced seating arrangement for 6 (made up of a lucky couple and 4 permitted guests). WildAbout created a very beautiful floral runner made up of individual floral ‘bubbles’ utilising the curve of the table. This was made up of sustainable dried flowers such as dried bunny tails, pampas grass, Ruscus, Stirling, feather pampas and eucalyptus. These were mixed with some fresh flowers including cream Bianca roses, pale pink David Austin roses, tiny daisies and delphiniums for the pale side of the table. For the dark side of the table, the dried flowers were mixed with black magic roses, black cosmos, eucalyptus and ferns.

The lovely black and white velvet chairs with gold trim were from Eden Events and Bailey Tableware Hire supplied the exquisite Anna Marie butterfly plates and Ebony flora chargers, the coloured crystal goblets and the gold cutlery. The Embroidered Napkin Company designed the monogrammed napkins and Ananya Cards provided the beautiful hand-cut white, pink and orange monarch butterfly-shaped stationery with vellum paper for the menus and invitations.

WildAbout also designed two incredible bouquets, the first was made up of dried flowers, fresh Bianca roses, daisies with soft grasses and delicate ferns. The darker bouquet was a mix of black magic red roses, pink David Austin roses, black cosmos and berries, black eucalyptus and delicate ferns.

THE LUXURY WEDDING CAKES

Luxury wedding cake designer Elizabeth Solaru of Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium created a suite of dreamy butterfly themed wedding cakes. For the lighter side of the shoot, the main cake was a 5 tiered wafer paper confection with the wafer paper ruffles created to match one of the wedding dresses, and it was decorated with an explosion of white sugar butterflies. The second cake was a 4 tier contemporary cake with abstract wafer paper sails reminiscent of the flight of butterflies. The third, featured delicate edible pearls, gold leafing and hundreds of tiny wafer paper butterflies. It was topped with huge sugar peonies, blossoms and sugar butterflies. The final cake for the light side of the shoot was a floating tiered cake constructed to look like the sugar butterflies were taking flight along the cake surface.

For the dark side, one of the wedding cakes featured elements from the dark wedding dress. It was replete with edible sugar butterflies, edible black pearls of different sizes, lustre dusted bas relief and topped with gold wafer paper and black sugar butterflies. The final cake was a two-tiered striking black and gold bas relief cake with a crown of gold butterflies and black wafer paper.

HAIR AND BEAUTY

The bridal beauty was delivered by the wonderfully talented duo of Sylwia Makeup and Liz of Simply Beautiful Wedding Hair. For the first, lighter look, the bride’s makeup was kept fresh, dewy and natural. The hair was a loose textured updo, with her face framed with some tendrils. For the second look, the makeup was darker with a smoky eye and darker lips and the hair was left longer, fuller with a loose side sweep. This year may be the year of the big reset, but we are hopeful that we will celebrate and be free and joyous once again.

Credits

Creative Director: @luxurybusinessemporium
Photographer: @evatarnok
Designer and Bridal Styling: @joanneflemingdesign
Florist and Floral Styling: @wildaboutflower
Venue: @hotelcaferoyal
Furniture: eventhirehub
Cake Table: @edenevent
Model: @harrietsamuelgray