We recently did a wedding styled shoot in Wellington at Neo Event Venue, located on the Kleinevalleij Estate aptly titled “The Golden Age”.
Our design inspiration was a collection of loosely related things was what helped to bring this vision to life.
In no particular order, they include:
– The colour yellow;
– The Movie – Elizabeth: The Golden Age – the dramatic dresses with spectacular neck detail!;
– An avant garde neckpiece that both Dee Walters (from Shoots by Design) and I (Simone from A Dream Come True Events) came across at different times, years ago;
– and last but certainly not least – the actual definition of Golden Age: “a time of great happiness, success, and achievement” – something that’s easily relatable to someone’s wedding day.
We picked July for this shoot so that we could get our hands on yellow flower varietals such as orchids, lillies, billy balls, carnations, chrysanthemums, tulips and beautiful yellow Kenyan roses. Our main focus is to create budget-friendly arrangements that can always be “upgraded” to the couple looking for a more extravagant look by adding imported flowers like dendrobium orchids, yellow ranunculus or David Austin roses. The flowers we used appeals to all budgets and yellow is such a bright, playful colour, perfect for Spring or Summer weddings.
The cake we used for the shoot was a multi-tiered, lemon-curd filled vanilla cake from Tessa’s Bakery in Cape Town. Again, very colourful and playful with a mixture of white and yellow icing with white chocolate shards and macarons on the top. We love Tessa’s as they have a great selection of celebration cakes at affordable prices. Some couples’ simply don’t have thousands of rands to spend on a wedding cake and this is a wonderful alternative. They also have gourmet cupcakes if you’re looking for something that can double-up as a favour for your guests. We’re talking Ferrero Rocher, Sweetie Pie, Lindt, Rocky Road and Turkish Delight to name a few. Why not get some donuts from them for a donut wall display on your big day. This is the latest trend at weddings and can also double-up as your dessert!
Stephen van Eeden offered to come on board with this shoot and when I met with him to make the dress selection, I immediately fell in love with his bohemian range and a simply stunning gold dress that was perfect for the shoot. We also selected 2 of his pants suits that is an elegant option for brides wanting to be a little bit different. Both have a skirt that can be attached so that it still provides the familiarity of wearing a dress. Beautiful button detail on each of Stephen’s pieces speak to the attention that is given to each and every item he creates. Layers of tulle on the gold dress that created a whimsical feel and an edginess to the bohemian pieces that was a perfect match for the industrial look of Neo. Chrystal from Imaani Bridal provided us with stunning shoes we could pair with each of the looks. Really affordable, comfortable yet beautiful and stylish shoes that will make any bride feel like a princess on her big day!
We roped in Madeleine Conradie to do the hair and makeup for the day and she created the perfect looks with pops of red and yellow on both Listelle and Victoire, our models for the day. While these colours aren’t typical for wedding makeup, they were used in a way that is practical and can be slightly adjusted to suit any bride.
We created a handmade gold wire neckpiece that really turned out better than expected. We drew inspiration from a neckpiece we came across on Pinterest years ago and when photographer Dee Walters from Shoots By Design showed us the same picture during the design phase of the shoot, we knew we simply had to give it a go! We spent hours creating this mini masterpiece together with a wooden willow headpiece decorated with yellow orchids but all the effort was absolutely worth it in the end.
We love keeping all styling simple so that they’re easy enough to be recreated. We used a wooden table and perspex ghost chairs to create a good balance between rustic and modern. We used a lemon coloured mesh table runner, gold candle holders, grey dinner plates, white pillar and dinner candles, a white cake stand, white napkins, glass underplates and a mix of glass and wood for the floral arrangements. Most of the decor elements were provided by Goeters while the rest came from our storeroom.
Stationery was provided by the ever-talented Lezanne’s Designs, expertly bringing our brief to life. We wanted to place emphasis on yellow/gold, grey and white and also yellow orchids. They created a beautiful gold, perspex table name for the shoot and also incorporated tassels and semi-transparent paper in the designs making it modern and elegant. We wanted to bring in a lot of different lighting and Goeters has the best selection, so we really were spoilt for choice. We chose drum shades, wooden lighting and various naked bulbs that we used to create 3 different settings in the Neo Event Venue.
We had such a blast on this shoot and cannot wait to hit the road and find more hidden treasures in the Western Cape. With so many venues to choose from, one can literally never run out of places to use for inspiration and as a location for your next shoot!
A huge thank you to all the suppliers who came on board for the day!
@neo_eventvenue
@adreamcometrueeventssa
@baie_goeters
@bolandweddings
@shootsbydesign
@katiemayhewphotography
@tessas_bakery
@madeleineconradie from @madeleinehairandmakeup
@lezannes_designs
@stephen_van_eeden
@imaanibridal
@victoriakobo
@listellev
