Halloween themed, styled wedding shoot, West Yorkshire

Spooky styled shoot at Brighouse Holiday Inn

A few weeks ago Ellanna from Wedding Fayres Yorkshire got in touch and asked if I would be interested in helping out with a Halloween styled wedding shoot in Brighouse, West Yorkshire?

Transitional period

Let’s just say styled wedding shoots have never been my favourite things to do, I’ve been involved in some previously which have been terrible, but at the moment like Jules from Pulp Fiction, I’m in a transitional period and so I said yes.

As soon as I agreed Ellanna started to send me pictures of her vision, which I understood immediately. I also thought that Ellanna actually seemed to know what she was doing so I started to get a little bit more faith.

Location

Where was this spooky-themed shoot going to take place? A castle, graveyard, spooky warehouse? Nope, Brighouse Holiday Inn. Hardly the spookiest place (I never saw Derek Acorah there on Most Haunted) but I was on my best behaviour so I went with it.

On arrival

Last Monday evening I headed over to the location to create magic. When I arrived I walked in to find a wooden hexagonal structure and that was it. Fortunately, I saw my favourite florist Sharon from Down to Earth (the only one I recommend) was standing next to this hexagonal behemoth. Conway wedding stylists were also there helping Sharon with some styling and setting out a table ready for a spooky banquet.

Starting to come together

I sat watching Ellanna’s vision slowly coming together piece by piece, things were looking good and I was thinking how I should photograph everything. My mission was to keep the lighting as subtle as possible, I needed lights, as it was so dark, however it was important that I could make sure the ambient lighting of the candles were taking over. Whilst Sharon was working her magic, I was visualising lots of lighting variations.

Lights, camera, action

All of a sudden, everything was done and it was time to rock! The lights got turned off, the candles were lit and now it was time to shine. As I had been stuck in thinking mode (scary thought) and faffing with lights I hadn’t even seen the model walk in.

Model and gown and make up

The model Emmi looked stunning in a charcoal and black tulle ballgown by Mascara of London supplied by the fabulous Everafter Bridal Wear. Emmi’s make up had been done by Get Gorgeous, Makeup, Hair and Beauty which was the best make up that I’ve seen for quite some time.

Crack on with it John

All the prep was done, Emmi looked stunning and it was time to shoot. Wow! Emmi was absolutely amazing, she held perfect poses and when the beep of the lights changed she went into different poses, it was so nice to work with someone so good. Usually I spend half my time trying to get reactions out of people but this was a moody, spooky theme so I didn’t have to worry about that. I still couldn’t shut up though, even with my face mask on some of my Tourette’s still came out.

Veil

It was great teamwork, Ellanna was helping me all throughout the shoot and making sure the pictures were sticking with her vision. Whoops did I forget to mention the distinctive black lace veil by Ellanna Elizabeth Bespoke. The same Ellanna who was helping direct me, so it would have been rude not to photograph the bespoke veil that had been created for the shoot.

A little rest

Emmi had done a fab job standing there and listening to my jokes so she was due a little rest. Then it was time to photograph the cake which was a spooky art piece created by the very talented Layers and Lemons cake design. It was the perfect accompaniment to the rest of the styling.

Finally

I had done all the pictures that I needed to create with Emmi so now it was on to the little details. It’s usually the little details that make all the difference and Just Lovett Design had created some amazing laser etched glassware and also spooky stationery which probably was the most challenging thing to photograph on the whole shoot but we got there.

Amazing suppliers

The shoot was really good fun, everyone stayed safe and socially distance with their face masks on. Everyone worked well as a team, no one had a diva strop and we got some fabulous pictures. Well done for to everyone involved and please check out the final pictures.