All brides are beautiful. We couldn’t agree more with this sentiment, which is so wonderfully captured in today’s styled shoot at newly opened wedding venue, Cherished Memories – a farm located in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Led by photographer Emily, who works alongside husband Micah, the shoot showcases the diversity of beauty, specifically among brides with a disability. And as Emily eloquently points out, a bride needn’t feel that she should hide this – it should be something that is proudly on show and as beautifully decorated as any other element of her special day.
Bringing on board a host of talented suppliers – careful, creative thought was given to the styling and flowers, with a bespoke arrangement even woven into the wheels of the model’s wheelchair. The result? A sumptuous and decadent shoot with a vintage edge – think rich berry and pink tones, gorgeous lace fabrics and cascading tulle veils – and for a contemporary cool twist – don’t miss the fashionable motifs on the model’s leather jacket too!
All in all, we think they’ve perfectly fulfilled the brief and can’t wait to see what the team does next. But for now, let’s admire this fabulous dose of utter prettiness and inspiration.
With images by Bailey and Mitchell. Model: Cherri Pi
emily says
: The shoot promotes diverse beauty in the bridal industry. We were approached by our model, Cherri, to work together on a photo shoot and while looking for inspiration, we found that there was such a lack of representation of the disabled community in styled wedding editorials. We loved the idea of working with the team to show beauty in our model’s disability, while also showing that she isn’t solely defined only by her disability.We also wanted to show strength and an edge to our model, so worked closely with the team to make sure that came through in the styling of the shoot.
Independent label Born to Thread provided us with some beautiful, edgy pieces of alternative bridal wear for the day, and florists Bloom and Bridal created some truly unique floral arrangements, weaving garlands of flowers around the wheels on Cherri’s chair.
We came across the location – Cherished Memories – while searching for the perfect place to hold our photo shoot, and as it was a new wedding venue in Yorkshire, we decided to check it out. The décor and grounds were absolutely beautiful, but also had their own unique edge that we felt fit the theme of the shoot. Everything was bespoke and made exclusively for the venue and Dawn, the wedding coordinator, was incredible to work with; explaining the history and meaning behind each piece of art and décor within the venue.
The flowers played a huge part in the styling of the photo shoot. Bloom and Bridal did a wonderful job on the day working with us to create beautiful arrangements both in the model’s hair and bouquet, and also a bespoke arrangement woven into the wheels of the wheelchair. We wanted to show how beautiful this important part of the model’s life could be, and that a bride needn’t hide her disability but have it proudly on show and as beautifully decorated as any other element of a wedding would be.
The attire was provided by local designer Born To Thread, who specialises in creating alternative bridal wear. She styled quirky leather jackets with beautiful lace pieces to create a look that was cool and modern but still quintessentially bridal. Because we had such bold styling and so much going on with the flowers and venue, we decided that less would be more for the hair and makeup, both by Beckie Stirk, and kept it simple, natural and elegant.
As we well know in England, and especially in the North, sometimes the weather just does not want to work with you and the day of our shoot was no exception! We had initially wanted to shoot in the grounds of the venue and make use of the views, but we had rain and thunder all day. There was talk of re-arranging, but the thing is, the weather doesn’t always play nicely on the day of a real wedding either! We felt it was important to keep calm and carry on and we quickly re-planned the shoot to showcase the beautiful interiors of the venue instead.
In terms of our initial aim, we set out to shoot something that showcased diversity and a different take on bridal beauty, and I think we achieved that, and we are very proud of the whole team for their contributions on the day!
We hope that this shoot will encourage other brands and companies in the bridal world to think about representing diverse beauty more often. All brides are beautiful, and we want to see this message spread even more!
At Bailey and Mitchell, we are at the start of an exciting chapter in our wedding photography. Having both come from a photography and creative background, we have now come together to start our business as a husband and wife duo. We will be working on more styled shoots over the next few months and have some very cool weddings coming up that we can’t wait to share. We will also be running special offers to celebrate our new joint venture across our website and social media channels that we hope everyone will check out!