Gothic Romance – wedding inspiration

I am so excited to finally share this shoot with you because it is by far my favorite to date.  Audrey, of French Knot Studios, and I wanted to create a moody, sexy, dreamy styled shoot inspired by the wilderness and Edgar Allan Poe.  We mixed earthy elements such as bones, antlers, feathers and animal skins with things taken from literature and hints of the macabre.  Our palette was a balance of blush and inky tones.  While this shoot is not as applicable to a real wedding as some of our others, I am so proud with the high fashion editorial outcome of this shoot.  I think it best shows off the talents of everyone involved!

Old Sheldon Church set the perfect scene.

Claire Teschel Konishi of Dot + Jim created the feather inspired invitation and paired it with a wood grain envelope.  I found the perfect chapter from a book – “The Nature of Marriage”The Bora ring and Gypsy earrings were borrowed from Gaucho.All of the skulls, antlers and skins were borrowed from a very amazing local artist named Marcus Kenney – his work is incredible – check him out.The two dresses are couture pieces Mangled Courtesan by April Johnston, a SCAD grad and Project Runway alum.This is one of my favorite images from the shoot.Rebeccas Wash did makeup and Lindsay Nix of Towne Salon did the amazing hair.  Audrey created the head piece from a deer neck borrowed from Marcus Kenney – she embellished it with pheasant feathers and about 10 feet of tulle!We played off of Edgar Allan Poe’s “Nevermore” and created a Forevermore banner using tea stained book pages.Madame Chrysanthemum created the insanely awesome bouquet using an enormous resin antler.Claire also created seating escort cards mounted on wood grain paper.Audrey and I created a magnificent tablescape laid upon the tombs at Old Sheldon Church.  Dry ice was used to create that moody atmosphere.Audrey created drink stirrers from sticks and feathers – note, to be used in real life, they would need to be sprayed with a non toxic shellac.  Instead of a wedding cake, we chose to have a variety of chocolates – provided by Chocolat by Adam Turoni.  Each piece was named after a different Edgar Allan Poe book – The Oval Portrait, The Tell Tale Heart and A Premature Burial.Our signature drink, The Maelstrom, was also named after an Edgar Allen Poe story.  Silverware was spray painted and dipped in glitter.Our models were provided by Rise Model Management and they rocked it!The image on the right is another favorite.I hope you loved this shoot as much as I do!  I know this one was pretty untraditional so Id love to know what you think – whether you liked it or not – please leave some feedback!