Opulence at Paradise
A curated directory for beautiful wedding venues, we’re fast becoming a reliable place to source the perfect location – whether that’s for couples searching for their big day or indeed playing matchmaker for the wedding industry itself. Our venues have been the backdrop to many a beautiful styled shoot and today I wanted to share a glimpse inside a recent project curated by Annabel from Love My Dress for Goldsmiths.
Styled by Georgia from Westwood Design, the lady herself is here to give us her take on the day she spent at London wedding venue Paradise, alongside some of the industries best; including Vintage Style Hire, Kate Cullen and of course, Naomi Kenton Photography…
Georgia:
My inspiration very much came from Annabel and the type of weddings her eye is drawn to on Love My Dress. The overall style of the blog is very soft, feminine and classy and I wanted to really encapsulate her personality. I also loved so much of the Goldsmith’s jewellery, so it was important for me to ensure the personality and luxury of the products came through in the styling.
I always start with colour, once I have a palette nailed down I find that everything else comes to me very quickly. I recently painted my bedroom golden yellow and was really not sure about it until I put up an oil painting my sister gave me a few years ago from a gallery in New York. I am not a pink person at all, but the tones of those pink flowers against the yellow backdrop just made perfect sense! For this reason, I had to bring the painting with me, which ended up stealing the show for the product shots. I incorporated green to have three very complimentary colours to work with.
I am always drawn to larger blousy flowers and find it difficult to create anything too neat, I don’t ever believe nature should be tamed! My main goal was to keep everything very light and fresh, using pale grey foliage and soft toned flowers. We were shooting during that glorious couple of weeks in the year where there’s a Peony and Dahlia crossover, so of course both needed to be involved!
As soon as I saw that electric blue at Paradise wall I knew that we couldn’t possibly shoot anywhere else. The textures within the distressed walls immediately grabbed me and the light was outstanding there. There’s a conservatory type room on the top floor which has statues and old stone walls which kind of screamed feminine and classy. Everything about it made perfect sense.
What was most important to me was having soft textures to style the jewellery with. Kate Cullen really outdid herself on this one, she created endless hand dyed silk ribbon in sage green, golden yellow and blush, as well as a silk table runner, sage green napkins and lots of wrapping fabric for the gift boxes. The little details like this allow for added texture and dimension, I particularly loved how the fabric had darker and lighter parts, reminiscent of a watercolour painting. This style worked perfectly with Naomi Kenton’s soft focus style of photography. Furniture was from Vintage Style Hire, who I can always rely on to send over a brief and she’ll come back with all sorts of gorgeous finds for me to use.
As for the rest of the tableware, those cut glass goblets from Classic Crockery Hire kind of made all my pinky golden dreams come true! The colour combination was spot on which picked up on the sage napkins beautifully. To finish it off, The Charming Press created gem shaped place names and gift tags with gold detailing. I also asked Little Bear Cakery to make a selection of treats which were suitably delicious!
Since Annabel was our model, it was important she felt comfortable so I let her style herself in her own clothes. A long time collaborator of hers Issadora, who she can trust to do her hair and make-up exactly how she wants it, was excellent and even got involved with the styling element at times.
Ultimate collaboration at it’s finest!
Venue Paradise by Way of Kensal Green | Photographer Naomi Kenton | Shoot Curator Annabel Beeforth, Love My Dress | Styling & Flowers Westwood Design | Jewellery Goldsmiths | Furniture Hire Vintage Style Hire | Stationery The Charming Press | Silk Runner, Napkins, Ribbon & Gift Wrap Kate Cullen | Hair & Makeup Issidora | Cakes & Desserts Little Bear Cakery | Tableware Classic Crockery Hire.
Utterly beautiful, don’t you think…? I’m also now hoping for something sparkly under the tree!
If you want to discover the talent behind this styled shoot then take a little trip through the credits above. To see the full story about how Goldsmiths create their beautiful engagement rings, hop across to Love My Dress. But if it’s the venue that’s caught your eye, you can of course find Paradise in our handpicked directory.
Thanks so much to Georgia for sharing this with us, we loved playing matchmaker!