Fresh and Vibrant Summer Tablescaping at Littlefield Manor

This beautiful editorial is giving us serious summery vibes, even if the sun has decided to go missing for most of August so far! Keep scrolling for rainbow blooms, serious cake inspiration and beautiful al fresco dining options. Over to today’s feature stylist, Lucy Wells…

Lucy says…

Littlefield Manor is a beautiful Tudor and Jacobean house situated in a peaceful location amidst 400 acres of farmland with beautiful views of the countryside. It offered the perfect amount of rural charm in a secluded setting surrounded by nature that complimented the vision for the shoot. With so many areas to choose from it provided us with a lovely variety for styling a range of different set ups.

The vision was to celebrate spring and summer with a range of colour palettes and styling options from the more classic to the fun and laidback. While each of the looks we created are quite different the over arching theme was natural, relaxed and elegant.

In the intimate barn we created a classic set up with a trestle table, cross back chairs and a clean, fresh colour palette with hints of white and gold. The gold rimmed china and glasses provide a touch of elegance accompanied by antique brass candlesticks which gave a timeless feel. The tablescape is very clean and understated but the hanging installation brings a sense of drama to an intimate setup. It proves that using texture and natural foliage can be as effective at creating a sense of occasion as filling a room with flowers.

The al fresco posh picnic with luxury grazing platters and cocktails in champagne glasses with edible flowers had a more relaxed, fun vibe and is where we started to introduce a little colour. The use of different textiles including table runners, napkins, throws and cushions add texture as does the inclusion of sustainable dried flowers.

Caroline Bates from Hayloft Floral supplied the flowers. For this shoot she really wanted to focus on creating a fresh, luxurious feel to the florals while keeping everything as sustainable as possible. Using beautiful spring flowers in our lakeside picnic set up including tulips, ranunculus, anemones, stocks, sweet peas, narcissi and blossom to create a meadow-inspired effect. The blooms are complemented by the delicate floral details included in the lollipop favours and stationery design. The elegant cake adorned with fresh flowers and the grazing platters make the setup feel like a wonderful decadent celebration.

Our aim with creating different tablescapes was to demonstrate the different ways you can create a spring/summer wedding set up using nature as inspiration and with a focus on sustainability. By considering the use of British blooms in season it is also possible to keep costs down as well as support local flower growers (all the flowers and foliage for this shoot are British grown and came from within 10 miles of the venue). The three cakes supplied by Dina of Cakes and Leaves all have an eco-friendly focus using all natural ingredients including those used to add colour. Each tablescape has been created as an intimate setup but elements from each could be upscaled to suit larger weddings within a range of different settings.