Victoria Sponge Towers & Floral Bowers – A Beautiful Styled Wedding Inspiration Shoot In The North West

Posted on: 06/03/2012

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It’s a beautiful day across the North today, and if you have to be stuck inside what better way to bring the outdoors in than this gorgeous wedding inspiration shoot masterminded by Emmylou of Lilybud Cupcakes and featuring the work of a team of super talented North West wedding industry suppliers.  I generally hate a name dropper but – look! – the unmistakeable floral excellence of Red Floral Architecture and the gorgeous gowns of wedding industry superstars Charlotte Balbier and Amanda Wyatt never fail to leave me breathless. 

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Better yet, this is the first in a series of three gorgeous blog posts featuring the work of the same team.  Oh how I spoil you!

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Enjoy…

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Emmylou of LilyBud Cupcakes says:  LilyBud Cupcakes is a year old this month and as I’ve looked back over what I’ve accomplished, I can’t help but feel extremely grateful to all the wonderful people that have helped my business grow. So many people gave me opportunities that I could only wish for, when they hardly knew me or had never even met me at all. I still have far to go and there’s still so much I want to achieve but to think that I began making cupcakes in my day’s off from my hospitality management role, taking them in for the staff to sample and thinking that it was just a creative phase I was going through!

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I owe a lot to the photo shoots I was invited to and asked to supply for. I watched from a distance how each supplier brought their products or talent, as well as passion, and made a masterpiece. I couldn’t help but be in awe and feel sense of being overwhelmed at what I saw being transformed in front of me and so to celebrate, I thought that I would arrange my own. 

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I decided on a bridal picnic as the theme and styled a woodland shoot with trees in the background. I also wanted the models to be having fun, and not to be posing, like a lot of the shoots I see. The dresses would have to be easy to move about in and reflect the easy going theme. I imagined lots of laughter captured when the models didn’t realise. I also wanted them to interact with each other and the props, including the food.

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I had a massive bake-a-thon 7 days before the shoot. I made a 4 tier wedding cake for the shoot, around 10 dummy cupcakes, 12 real cupcakes that the models were to eat on set, an assortment of cookies in the shape of love hearts, tea cups, teapots and cupcakes, a 4 layer summer fruit cake, about 20 scones and a selection of beef and chicken salad sandwiches. The models were also given fizzy grape juice (which looked like champagne) to drink and I even took my own bottle of Bollinger.  I have just recently launched my vintage crockery collection and Afternoon Tea Party hire and picnics, so I really wanted to show this off. We had a couple of breakages, but it was expected.

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I am, and always have been, the type of person who tries to do everything myself. It gets me into trouble sometimes and it’s caused a few emotional melt downs but I knew that if I was organised enough… and this is the one thing this industry has taught me, I could do it.

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Charlotte had invited me down to the studio to choose which dresses we wanted to use and we got to meet her lovely team and family.  We decided to have a mix of Charlotte and Amanda Wyatt’s dresses.

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Everybody said what a fantastic day they had and I’m sure you can tell from the photos they all had fun. I am ecstatic that the pictures are amazing and everyone involved was absolutely fantastic! It’s very overwhelming that all these wonderful people and suppliers came together to help me with a small idea that I had.

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As well as all the amazing suppliers, I should also give a mention to one special helper.  My mum was an absolute star! She arrived at mine the night before to get everything ready and make food for the day ahead.  She made cups of tea and coffees all day, giving out sandwiches and cakes, helped the girls get dressed, watched my little girl Lily all day. If you know my daughter, you’ll know she’s a very energetic child! Mum had to chase her around the venue on numerous occasions. Mat from Red Floral suggested I give her a medal for her efforts!

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Little Black Book

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Styling, cakes and cookies, picnic, vintage crockery, pompoms  – Lilybud Cupcakes 
Flowers and bouquets – Mat Hepplestone at Red Floral Architecture

Gold artisan bouquet – Ann McKavney at Eleventh Heaven

Make up and bridal hair styling – Clare Arden at Harry Jon Make Up Artist

Bridesmaid hair styling – Maria Santoro 07966 230 293

Venue – Styal Lodge 

Bridal dresses – Charlotte Balbier and Amanda Wyatt 

Bridesmaid dresses – Amanda Wyatt 

Menswear – Groom

Hair accessories – Charlotte Balbier 

Stationery – David Spoor from Acushla

Photographers Lorna Roberts Photography and Sue Westwood- Ruttledge Photography

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Check the wedding blog shortly for more styled wedding inspiration from this talented team. 

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 Sue Westwood-Ruttledge Photography and Lorna Roberts Photography as tagged

This is not a sponsored post

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