Wisteria Hysteria, that time of the year is here. Do you love it as much as I do? My Dad’s cottage is covered in the stuff, and and I’m so sad to be missing it this year so I’m just dreaming of the stuff. I’m a bit obsessed with it, and if there’s ever any at a wedding venue I’m shooting, you know I’m going to drag you in front of it for a photograph.

A while back I shot Victoria Fergusson Accessories new collection at Hale Park, in Hampshire. It’s close to Salisbury but just inside The New Forest. Though we were shooting Victoria’s collection in January I could see the big twisting vines of the dormant wisteria twisting around the charming pink building. I said to Victoria ‘we HAVE to do a shoot her in wisteria season!’ And so we pulled together our dream team and we made it happen!

The Concept

With the wisteria as a starting point, this shoot celebrates Spring and the seasonal beauty of the month of May in particular.  Many couples choose to have a May wedding to make the most of ‘wisteria hysteria’, and the abundance of beautiful flowers which come out in May. As well as wisteria, peony season is also in May!

We teamed up with the uber talented Gentle Sisters (who are all round wedding beautifiers, they’re two sisters who are florists, stylists and stationers), who added inspiration from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18: 

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? 

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

They took the Spring theme and really ran with it, bringing together spring elements for the table scape and styling. Words from the sonnet are printed onto the sculptural paper favours, designed and hand made by The Gentle Sisters. Their clever hand drawn stationery is embellished with gold foil and when opened these little sculptural pieces reveal a note from the bride and groom and a menu. A really unique piece of stationery and a beautiful alternative to the traditional name place card.

May Day

While the season inspired the blooms, the festival of May Day inspired the decor & our use of gorgeous silk ribbons by Lancaster & Cornish. We wanted to tell a story of the wedding day through the images from bridal prep, through to a stunning costume change for the evening, culminating in an ethereal chase through the smokey maze at Hale as the sunsets.

There are countless other beautiful details by an incredible group of wedding suppliers. All of whom are ready and waiting to make your day just as beautiful. I hope it provides a little inspiration for you. Full supplier credits are listed at the bottom of the post. All of the suppliers involved are based in the South/South West and would love to help you bring a bit of this to your wedding day.

Expert Recognition

We were honoured that our hard work was recognised with a feature on Love My Dress. And if you’d like to see even more images from this shoot head over there. View Annabel’s faves on her post here. We were thrilled with what she had to say: “I have to congratulate the whole team on this shoot; I’m often asked what makes an exemplary set of editorial images (and film!). This, for me, is it.”

Supplier Credits

Styling, Flowers & Stationery : The Gentle Sisters

Venue: Hale Park

Photography: Lydia Stamps Photography (moi!)

Accessories, Hair & Make up: Victoria Fergusson Accessories

Bridal wear: Lace dress & veil Tara Bradley-Birt. Blue Silk Dress & Lingerie: Ailsa Munro

Groom’s wear: Regent Tailoring

Rings: Elinor Cambray

Table & Chairs: Purple Door Props

Crockery & Glasswear: Nanny Nelly’s Vintage Attic

Cakes & sweet treats : Smallpiece Catering

Ribbon: Lancaster & Cornish

Linen: 365 Linen Hire

Model: Rebecca Spragg

Celebrant: David Linaker