Styled Shoot

Modern Wonderland. A Winter Wedding Styled Shoot at Rudby Hall

Sarah Symonds

Today’s styled shoot is guaranteed to keep you warm this winter, as we wrap up and head to Rudby Hall to catch up with Nicole of Nicole Wilcox Photography, and check out the Winter Wonderland she’s created to inspire you winter brides and grooms.

Nicole is a professional portrait and wedding photographer based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. She specialises in documentary style, relaxed wedding photography and her passion has always been in photography. Well, ever since her Grandma put a LOMO 135 VS in her hands at aged 7. That, coupled with a love of Christmas, means this shoot is a match made in… the North Pole?

We’re seeing a more contemporary take on the Christmas tablescape, stunning and flattering gowns and magical yet modern styling, fit for even the most discerning Christmas aficionado. ‘Tis the season, after all.

With images by Nicole Wilcox Photography

CONCEPT

Nicole says: For this winter wonderland wedding we were inspired by the magic, colours and a love of Christmas. I decided to create a contemporary but festive dreamscape style shoot for the modern bride.

LOCATION

Nestled in the beautiful countryside of North Yorkshire, Rudby Hall offers magical views and spectacular reception rooms, boasting period features and incredible views of the dales. Decorated for the festive season with fairy lights and a beautiful Christmas tree, it was perfect for our magical winter wonderland photoshoot.

STYLING

Sam from Ambience Cheshire East teamed up with Hannah from Unfauxgettable and Lauren from Lauren Daisy for a contemporary Christmas table layout. Sam from Ambiance Cheshire East styles luxury weddings and events in and around the Cheshire area as part of one of the UK’s largest venue styling teams, Ambience Venue Styling. Sam creates bespoke designs that best compliment your chosen wedding venue.

The colours were kept intentionally neutral; crisp whites, greens, warm browns and hints of gold, beautiful glasses with rims of gold and white candles. A large wreath centrepiece with a large candle in the centre, decorated with pinecones, cinnamon, acorns and hellebores (to tie in with the bouquet). Hannah from Unfauxgettable is a specialist in premium faux flowers, focusing on sustainable flowers that look incredibly realistic and can be cherished or gifted after the wedding day as the perfect wedding keepsake.

Lauren Daisy is a creator of rustic, vintage pretty hand drawn stationery designs, based in Oxfordshire and designing for couples UK wide.

The invitations and menu cards centred around a beautiful delicate rustic wreath design with hand drawn flowers and greenery. Finished with twine to give it a more rustic feel. Pinecones were a perfect way to tie in the theming, using them for décor and the place names.

Cake It So, based in Leeds, creates jaw-dropping sculpted and alternative cakes for weddings and events across Yorkshire. The cake for our shoot was a four layered cake, iced with navy and gold icing, with some red berry flowers to enhance the Christmas theme. This cake used the deep blue and gold tiers to perfectly highlight the deep red of the Christmas berries and roses.

Ceremonies by Nikki offers completely bespoke weddings with ceremonies tailored to suit your personalities, full of fun and heartfelt moments.

ATTIRE

Betti rocked two bridal gowns from Victoria Robson Bridal. Victoria Robson Bridal is an award-winning luxury bridal shop in Northallerton that opened in April 2015. Winning ‘The Best Bridal Shop in Yorkshire for Customer Service’ for the past four years. Stocking contemporary, classic and timeless bridal and bridesmaid gowns. Victoria believes it is the little things that make the biggest difference to her brides.

Both contemporary gowns, Victoria selected gowns that overflowed with elegance. First a fitted, sleeveless V neck gown with lace details, a button up back and a puddle train. Changing into a plunging sparkly gown made of the most gorgeous fabric and full sleeves (good job too as we headed out into the snow for photos). This gown was paired with an incredible floor length veil, decorated with a stunning painted Christmas bauble design from Star and Leaf Veil. Deborah from Star and Leaf Veil creates show stopping hand painted custom veils for a bespoke and unique touch to a wedding outfit. She’s based in North Lincolnshire and travels regularly to Northumberland.

The figure hugging wedding dresses deserved some unique jewellery. Bish Bosh Becca created a pair of delicate but still dramatic floral gold hoop earrings and hair accessories that featured hellebores which were also used in the bouquet.

The bouquet and buttonhole were kept intentionally neutral and contemporary with ivory seasonal florals – spray roses and mixed hellebores and a couple of cheeky pinecones mixed in too.

Afnan wore a patterned deep blue suit, paired with a velvet bow tie, crisp white cufflink shirt and black loafers. Paired with a crisp and simple rose bud buttonhole. He was, by all accounts, the very definition of suave.

UNVEILED Network Member Fallen Hero, who supplied the suit, was established in 1989 and has continued to be at the forefront of the fashion industry, as times changed the business adopted a more formal wear approach. Fallen Hero Store is a Retail and online fashion store retailing some of the most sought after men’s tailoring and occasion wear clothing available. Stockists of Marc Darcy, Cavani collections, among others, and offering bespoke tailoring instore.

BEAUTY

What modern bride doesn’t consider a statement lip? A contemporary festive wedding is the perfect opportunity to rock a berry lip. Keeping the eyes soft and natural, enhancing Betti’s natural beauty. Her gorgeous locks were simply styled with a curl and paired with a beautiful hellebore hair vine from Bish Bosh Becca. Simple, elegant and gorgeous.

UNVEILED Network Member Claire is the owner, creator and face behind Claire Alexandra Hair and Makeup, providing flawless natural makeup and beautifully styled hair for the modern, fun and laid back bride-to-be and her wedding party. She’s passionate about animals, our environment, and an advocate of non-toxic clean beauty. Using only the very best, professional, premium, cruelty free, and in most cases vegan friendly products available in the marketplace today.

Based in Ponteland, Northumberland in her lovely little home studio. Claire covers the whole of the North-East, Scottish Borders, Cumbria and Yorkshire and is happy to travel further afield if requested.

RESULTS

When we arrived at the venue, we were blessed with a fresh blanket of untouched snow! We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day for a Christmas shoot. The most gorgeous golden hour shots and snowy backdrops made for absolutely freezing but stunning outdoor photos. We even played with smoke bombs!

Our aim was to create a modern contemporary but festive wedding and we certainly managed to achieve that. The snow was the icing on the cake.

There are so many benefits to choosing a real-life couple and inviting a celebrant to my photoshoots; Nikki makes the whole day feel like a wedding and less like a photoshoot. As a real-life couple, Betti and Afnan are more comfortable together and share intimate moments throughout the day. I was honoured to capture genuine tender moments, romance, and plenty of laughter.

It was also great to have a videographer on the shoot. Based in Rotherham, Krysler is a Filipino photographer and videographer based in the UK. A passionate creative with a very keen eye for photography from a young age, he started out as a photographer with the urge to tell stories, give people new perspectives and ways of seeing the world.

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