Carrie On Styling

As you know, I do weddings, and I have done a fair few fashion shoots as well, but I’d never had the opportunity to combine the two.

Until now.

And it’s all thanks to one of my previous wedding clients…

I first met Carrie Southall and Tom Legge when I photographed their wedding, at Snitterfield, a couple of years ago. Not only were they great people to work with, she was a stylist and he was a cameraman so we had a fair bit in common too.

Carrie and Tom on the way to Charlecote House for their reception

Of course Carrie did all the styling for her own wedding

Carrie has created looks for top brands such as Marks & Spencer and Waitrose and has worked in TV with such style luminaries as Gok Wan and Trinny and Susannah – in fact she and Tom met while filming ‘What Not To Wear’ – and when she suggested we collaborate on a photo shoot to promote her new boutique styling and vintage rental business – {re}loved – I was only too happy to oblige.

1950s wedding dress with petticoats from Petticoats-a-plenty and shoes from ASOS

It was a while in the planning, but after a bit of diary co-ordinating, prop-sourcing and outfit selecting we finally hit the studio. It was worth the wait to assemble such a top class team on the day.

First off Carrie enlisted the help of respected fashion stylist Katherine Doyle, who arrived with a fantastic array of vintage wedding dresses from the 1940’s through to the 1970’s, along with boxes full of accessories and shoes.

Carrie and Laura on confetti showering duty (photo by Tom Legge)

Also on hand was local hair and make-up artist Laura Taviner who did a such a great job to create distinctly different looks for each of the outfits over such a short space of time.

The only confetti shot I have ever been able to control | Posing with a posie

Carrie’s parasol propped with silk flowers worked a treat alongside one of Katherine’s hair accessories

Then of course there was our fantastic model for the day – Maria Gardner – who came courtesy of the Alan Sharman Agency. A stunning Coventry lass, Maria was perfect for the shoot and a dream to photograph.

It’s subtle, but I love how the shape of her hair echoes the shape of the train

The list of cast and crew didn’t stop there.

Tom came along to lend a hand and capture some behind the scenes shots while my trusty assistant, Dan Barnes, was there to help things run smoothly behind the camera.

Though last but not least, was my studio pooch Cecil, who loved all the attention and only tried to get in on the action a couple of times.

Cecil wears Dilly Knit jumper. Collar: model’s own (photo by Tom Legge)

With such an illustrious crew behind me how could the photos fail?

You’re all looking at the pretty model and not my messy studio, right? (photo by Tom Legge)

This has to be my favourite outfit of the day – and there was some stiff competition

Carrie had thought out all the shots before-hand and all the pre-planning helped us get through so many different set-ups.

Vintage 1950s dress (Cecil chasing balloons not shown)

A seventies dress alongside another one from the 1950s

Editing these down was quite hard as there were so many fab images, but I have selected these as together they make a set worthy of any style mag.

Carrie’s Liberty print covered suitcase and matching belt really makes this shot

It was great working alongside such a large team of creative folks with everyone pitching in ideas and I hope everyone involved got what they wanted out of the day.

I know I did.

RS x