Spirit of the Mountains – free spirited wedding style editorial

Published by Claire Gould on March 30, 2018March 30, 2018

mountain wedding inspiration UK elopement styling English Wedding Blog (9)

If you love where you live, why not incorporate the essence of the place into your wedding day? You really can get married wherever you’d like nowadays – with the help of a celebrant you can say your vows on the beach, on a mountain top, on a boat, a lake… pretty much anywhere. I’m one of those lucky creatives who live close to the Lake District – and today’s blog post is all about bringing the spirit of a place into your wedding styling.

Previously featured on Love My Dress blog (thank you lovely Annabel!), this shoot was styled and brought to life by me! Sheryl from Oobaloos Photography came to stay, I asked a few more of my favourite suppliers from around the UK to help out, and I’m thrilled to say they did – and all brought their A game on the day!

The Lakes is my home. I grew up here; I spend as many weekends as I can in the mountains. We walk, we explore, we do picnics and country pubs – the best feeling in the world is the one you get on top of the peaks: the vastness of nature in all its glory, with no constraints and the world literally at your feet. This is what we captured in today’s shoot – and if you know what I mean and you love the wildness of nature too, why not bring it into your wedding celebrations in whatever way you can?

The calligraphy suite I designed for this shoot was inspired by the wildness of the fells – they’re unpredictable, wild and rocky, rugged and breathtakingly beautiful. The scenery here has been the same for centuries, and this timelessness translates as handmade papers, washed out watercolour lettering and organic shapes in calligraphy. I also sketched out a simple line drawing of the mountains for the paper invitation set.

Oobaloos Photography Sheryl’s dramatic photography style and creativity were so perfect for our wild spirited shoot, and I love the way she’s captured both landscapes and tiny details in such intuitively beautiful images. Stefanie Grisdale is a wonderful Lake District make up artist, and joined us for the day to turn Jade into a beautiful Lakeland bride.

We were thrilled to have a bespoke dress by the inimitable and insanely talented Joanne Fleming for our mountainside bridal shoot. Joanne’s creations are intricate, heart-stoppingly beautiful, and the midnight blue layer of lace is just enchanting. Clare Lloyd‘s accessories team with Jo’s gowns as if they’re made for each other.

Brackens of Bowness designed a dramatic and wild bouquet for our trip to the mountains! The Lake District fells and valleys are an environment full of contrasts; from heavenly tranquil lakes to imposing rock faces and soaring birds of prey – every bit of this place takes my breath away. We wanted to use those contrasts: the exquisite designer dress against a backdrop of rock and never-ending mountainsides; and natural, organic calligraphy on the softest handcrafted papers set against antique crates and timeless ceramics from our wonderful friends at Narrative Hire for a mountain picnic.