Young Rubbish: Odney Bridal Shoot

Guys, the photos from my wedding were a bit of a disaster. I seriously spent half my budget on this photographer and she pretty much blew it. There were a few salvageable shots (which I hold dear), but she didn't even shoot them in RAW (gah!), so I couldn't go back and edit the bad ones.

This has to be one of my biggest regrets about my wedding day. So, when Mark Nortcliffe asked me if we wouldn't mind doing a bridal shoot together, I think I literally screamed yes.

Mark had photographed us before, and I knew he was amazing, but my respect for him jumped to new heights on this shoot. Here is a behind the scenes look at our day:

First of all, styled shoots are a nightmare and a half to put together (I discuss a bit of what goes in to them here). You have to juggle about twelve different vendors and pray that everyone shows up and hope that none of your equipment breaks down. This particular shoot, which was done for the Odney Club (an exclusive John Lewis employee resort), was larger than most of the ones I did, and Mark carried it out effortlessly.

Secondly, when I found out about the shoot, the one caveat I gave him was that I wanted a modest wedding dress. I know I have a lot of young Mormon girls reading this blog and its important to me to show that it is possible to be stylish, while still sticking to their standards. I knew this was a big ask, and-- if I'm being perfectly honest-- I didn't think he'd be able to do it.

However, he not only found one, but found TWO gorgeous MODEST wedding dresses for me to model. Unless you've been a bride (or even prom dress buyer) who has had to traverse the strapless evening gown market, you have no idea how insanely difficult this is. Mark, you are seriously my new hero.

Another champion of the day was Natalie, my hair and makeup artist. Never have my lips looked so big and beautiful!

The funny thing about the styling is that this was not the look I was expecting. Not that I minded AT ALL, especially given the fact that (unbeknownst to anyone else) Jon's middle school crush was Jennifer Connelly in The Rocketeer. So, he was definitely a happy camper. I'm usually extremely self conscious and would probably never seek out a gown like this, but I have to say, I really loved it (and it is only £225 at Ghost London right now, which I think is pretty amazing for just a beautiful gown).

Our second look was less 40s and more 50s... in sort of a whimsical Alice-in-Wonderland sort of way. I love love loved this dress (it is from Heart Aflutter Bridal)... and Jon looked especially snazzy. But when you have two well-dressed men like Mark and his partner Chris dressing you, you are bound to look chic.

When I was a kid, I used to think my soul belonged in the 1950s. I loved the music, the fashion, the picture perfect fascade of suburban America.... That little pang of longing lasted for a long time. Then, one day in middle school I realised that the 50s had no internet. And if there was no internet, who was going to answer my endless stream of questions? At that moment I realised I was born in the right time and at the right place.

Still, can we go back to full skirts and hats? Pretty please?

The Odney Club was fantastic. They were so accommodating-- and even gave Jon and I a free nights stay and dinner to thank us for modelling for them. It definitely made me think I should be working for John Lewis...