From Lagos to London, This Styled Shoot Takes Us On a Journey of Love & Beauty

BNW July 15, 20211 Comment

Where love is concerned, time zones, locations, and distance are basically words. As far as love goes, there are simply no barriers. With love, what we have is a blending of different elements to create what can best be described as magic!

This styled shoot by CyEhis Events takes us on a journey through the vibrant city of Lagos, with all its colours and opulence to the historic city of London in a smooth modern fairy tale ferry ride. The styled shoot combines the beautiful elements of weddings, from rich luxurious decor and designs to exquisite outfits and all-round radiance. Everything about this styled shoot is giving us the feels of a magical love story and happy ever after!

Here’s how the Creative Director described the shoot:

The ‘Lagos to London’ shoot was inspired by the vibrant, colourful, rich and opulent Lagos lifestyle featuring a bold and colourful colour palette. Luxury Event Planner & Designer, Cynthia of CyEhis Events collaborated with Vero J photography and Affinity Q photography to create this beautiful vision and worked alongside some incredible London based wedding suppliers to bring this Lagos to London shoot vision to life.
My vision was to create something contemporary featuring Ankara print fashion in celebration of that “Lagos Vibes” we all know and love. The Lagos to London shoot was captured on location at one of London’s historical venues, Gunnersbury Park London. The setting at Gunnersbury Park London gave the most beautiful backdrop to achieve this: not only is it such a stunning venue, but its main mansion house, which is also a museum and its beautiful orangery was able to perfectly fit our brief for this Lagos to London Shoot.

Features

The iconic ‘DANFO’ was one of our main focal points of the shoot, with bold and colourful balloons and floral design. My heart was set on using bold colours to design the yellow bus….An idea that was inspired by the fruit and vegetable market in Lagos Nigeria (these markets are usually bursting with bright colours and full of life) and I felt this matched the Lagos vibe I was trying to convey. The iconic ‘DANFO’ ( ‘The Lagos to London Yellow Bus’) – this particular yellow bus is an iconic feature in Lagos Nigeria (It serves as the most popular vehicle for commercial transport within the city of Lagos, Nigeria).

Tope of Balloon Inspirations created the most breath-taking, bold and colourful organic balloon display on the yellow bus using custom colour balloons, Tope created an organic cascading effect with the balloons display from the top of the yellow bus which naturally flowed down into the front seat of the bus creating an overflowing effect out of the front seat spilling onto the floor in a spectacular statement. Funsho of Foreps Decor adorned the balloon installation with a variety of roses, hydrangeas, gypsophila, moth orchids and gladiolus stems to complement the balloon design and create more of a tropical look and bring the overall vision for the ‘DANFO’ to life.

The Ankara attires were designed exclusively by Cumo London brilliantly showcasing modern and contemporary Afro-chic Ankara fashion… A coordinating look was chosen for our couple. The bride wore an off-shoulder mermaid style Ankara dress and the groom, a matching smart Ankara shirt. The bridesmaids all wore the same Ankara print but with mismatched styles highlighting their individuality.

The Orangery Ceremony

I wanted the flowers to take centre stage for the ceremony design of this shoot. Funsho of Foreps Decor worked her magic in executing the design brief transforming the orangery creating softly structured, romantic and abundant floral displays on an acrylic mirror floor stage using silk foliage and flowers in white and greenery to complement the greenery plants in the orangery.

The aisle was aligned with rose petals, floating candles and floral arrangements with draping crystals, creating a dreamy enchanted nook for our couple to say their I DOs. We chose a green and white colour palette for the ceremony design to pay homage to the colours of the Nigerian flag.

Fashion/Beauty

The ceremony look for our bride, was a beautiful bespoke princess style strapless ivory lace dress with a plunging neckline designed by Ornate Bridal. This look was completed with a stunning delicate lace detailed wedding veil by W Wedding London. The sleek chic updo and natural-toned makeup on her flawless skin added glamour to our bridal look, topped off with the oversized, show-stopping bouquet by Tubes floral.

The second look for our bride was a more glamorous sexy look. A non-traditional gown by W Wedding with a front skirt slit that gave it an edge and the look was completed with a luxurious vibrant colour bouquet also by Tube Florals.

David Wej Lagos UK who recently launched their London flagship store were happy to collaborate on the shoot. David Eweje styled the groom in an exquisite stylish black double-breasted 2 piece wedding suit and finished the look with a pair of classic formal patent black leather shoes.

Table Design

The design brief for the tablescape was mirroring the overall vibrant colour palette of the shoot. The intimate tablescape design also fashioned that opulent aesthetic of the shoot concept. Funsho adorned the table with low level and tall floral arrangements perfectly encapsulated the concept, being able to highlight the beauty of the colour palette.

The opulent gold candlesticks, gold reef glass charger plates, white/gold Goa flatware with gold rim dinnerware and glassware sets along with the luxury furniture took the tablescape design to a higher level of luxury with a romantic feel and a nod to the interior of the Gunnersbury Park Museum.

There were so many intricate elements to the shoot – I gave PrettyYummy Cakes the brief of using suitcases for inspiration when creating the cake, I wanted it to boldly reflect the Lagos to London concept. And she ran with it and designed this gorgeous 4 tiered and 1 individual suitcase fondant cake.

The simplicity of the cream cakes paired perfectly with the floral sheet design cakes, adding the gold detailing on each individual tier cake design brought the simple and elegant design together and makes a bold statement echoing the style and colour palette of the shoot beautifully.

These beautiful photo albums by Veronica J Photography and Affinity Q photography and the Epic mind-blowing video by Gtrully weddings truly brought our vision to life and told a beautiful love story.

Overall, the shoot came together so beautifully and I am thrilled with what we were able to achieve through this collaboration thanks to the talented team of creatives on board, the concept and style of the shoot were understood and translated through everyone’s hard work. We were able to create MAGIC!