The Inspiration for this gorgeous shoot
We were so incredibly excited when we saw the first movie poster of the Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” new release which comes out on the 17th March 2017.
The elements from the shoot
We wanted to bring to life our vision of this incredible love story, which really is a true reflection of how love should be and stands the test of time. Together with exceptionally talented industry specialist, we teamed up to create an enchanted fairy-tale outcome.
With the décor and flowers, we set out create an opulence hue of golds, soft yellows and Royal blues. Soft romantic style arrangement set a feeling of castle flair and period romance. Old fashioned garden style flowers and roses in gold vase set the table arrangement on a deep velvet runner, cushions and accessories with hints of gold were added to make an enchanted castle setting. The gorgeous crockery was from the talented Sandy Godwin – Clay Creations. It brought an element of old world glamour, yet still gave a new world eclectic statement piece to our table setting. This Crockery is just beautiful crafted and such a wow factor in in any setting.
We had so much fun looking for and creating all the main characters of the story. Bringing the shoot to life with Lumiere, Cogsworth, chip, Mrs. Potts and many of the whimsical characters that are seen throughout. There are sneak peaks of them throughout the photos, they will definitely make you smile.
When deciding on the location of our shoot, one place came to mind straight away, and having had the privilege of working at the incredible venue a couple of times before, I knew Shepstone Gardens, with its spectacular gardens was the only venue to be the setting for this styled shoot.
Sumari Brits always adds incredible sweetly detailed elements, and not surprisingly the cake she did for the styled shoot looked amazing. Following the theme, Sumari created a 3-tiered cake that was so elegant and romantic, her detail is amazing from the tiniest gold leaves to the soft, delicate rose. Working with industry talents like this just puts the cherry on the cake. The finer details in a styled shoot are so important, and this was definitely added by the stationary who was done by The Wedding Lady Marista Gililand. A classical simple statement which just fitted in perfectly.
Our gorgeous “Belle” was the most stunning Alanda Nilsen, incredible soul who was the perfect fit for our fairy tale shoot. Our ‘Belle” was brought to life with the help of the sensational Jana Robertson of Silver Swallow designs. Her dresses are incredible and we were lucky enough to have 3 of her sensational and incredibly designed dress. Flowy and romantic the dresses created such a beautiful statement. Opting for softer colours to create a romantic fairy tale look. One of the dresses was a gorgeous yellow and gold floral to create the famous “Belle” yellow dress. The dresses were full of drama and flowed beautifully through the images. Jana is an absolute master and her passion shows through in each of her designs. To finish off the look we were so lucky that Alanda is a fantastic make-up artist and even though she did her make up just picture perfectly to set the scene, there is nothing that beat her natural beauty shining through, she is just one gorgeous lady and our prefect “Belle”.
Then we will never ever forget the experience we had capturing Belle and her beast. I had the idea of trying to find a model that truly represent the magnificent and a little scary beast from the movie. We are truly blessed to live in the incredible country that we do and after some planning and great help from The Lion and Safari Park, we were able to bring in a touch of Africa with a truly natural Beast to complete the shoot. Our gorgeous lion was the perfect puzzle piece to complete the story we were creating.
A styled shoot can never be done without the eye of an amazing photographer. Leandrie Du Plessis, was such an incredible help with putting this shoot together. We absolutely love working with her as she just has an incredible way of bringing all the elements together to create imagery that has life and so much movement. She has mastered her eye so well and has a natural ability to capture the smallest detail to the largest statement.
The Love behind the shoot is always really import to me and we really couldn’t put things like this together without the support and hard work of The Love Knot team, who are amazing. The Love Knot is just getting stronger and stronger because of you.
THE DREAM TEAM
Flowers, décor and styling – The Love Knot Event Coordination
Photography – Leandrie Du Plessis Photography
Dresses – Jana Robertson of Silver Swallow designs
Sumari Brits – Sweetly Detailed
Make-up and Hair – Alanda Nilsen
Pottery plates/crockery – Sandy Godwin – Clay Creations
Stationary – The Wedding Lady Marista Gililand
Venue – Shepstone Gardens
“One day to start your forever and for always" 