If you go down to the woods...

A few weeks ago, during the height of bluebell season, I spent a fabulous day surrounded by their heady perfume and by an amazing team of wedding professionals. The Bluebell Woods at Yoxall Lodge, on the Derbyshire - Staffordshire border is set to be a stunning outdoor wedding venue owned & run by Charlotte & Dave from Field & Forest Weddings. It is a truly beautiful location and with the bluebells in full bloom, the woods took on an ethereal quality. Ben from HBA photography certainly worked his magic with smoke bombs, lighting and crazy angles. And in true style, the British weather in April gave us the challenges of sun, cloud, rain, wind and snow (yes, snow!) to work with.

Models Suki, Soraya and Sophie ignored goosebumps on goosebumps and managed to look effortlessly gorgeous whatever the weather was doing. Kiki from Air Hairdressing and make-up artist Rochelle O'Brien gave the girls three very different looks whilst Lorraine from Lori G Bridal Studio in Derby provided the exquisite gowns.

Nadia from Nadia DiTullio Flowers worked her magic too, not only creating the most divine bouquet for Sophie, a floral arch, a stunning table-scape and flower crowns, but also building a masterpiece around Soraya! It was amazing to watch Nadia construct the 'flower cape' and see it take shape. Surrounded by bluebells, and with petals from Shropshire Petals scattered around her, Soraya looked like she was part of the woodland.

And what of the cake?! I created a four tiered beaut with a 'floating' tier that I crammed full of Nadia's to-die-for flowers including parrot tulips, ranunculus, stocks and delphiniums. The textured butter-cream complimented the woodland setting whilst the pearlescent finish gave it a striking, almost enchanted, look.

I am so grateful to Ben for inviting me to be part of this photo shoot - not only are his images AMAZING, it was great to be 'on location' and see what goes on behind the scenes. And huge thanks to Nadia for all those lush flowers. I loved being able to go a bit over the top because it wasn't for a client.

Despite the challenges the weather threw at us, everyone worked so well together and when you're surrounded by literally, millions of bluebells, it's not a bad day at the office...