Parchment and Gold Inspired Wedding Shoot

Conceived by Elizabeth Solaru of Elizabeth's Cake Emporium, the inspiration of the shoot is a story about a house of female scribes. Scribes were responsible for copying the works of authors by hand. Manuscripts were for the most part written on parchment or vellum and were used before the invention of printing presses, which meant that they were time consuming and very expensive to make. As very important aspects of medieval society they represented major religious, social, and artistic beliefs of the period. Because manuscripts were very expensive to make, they often served as status symbols.

Elizabeth imagined a beautiful scribe on her wedding day surrounded by scrolls and ancient scripts writing a letter to her true love as she leaves the House of Scribes for the last time. As the pen and quill touches the paper and the ink starts to flow, the harmony of gold ink on parchment transforms into a ballet of beautiful letter strokes.

Elizabeth worked with Rola Aina of The New Wonderful to plan, style and coordinate this epic shoot.

The Team

Award winning Amie Bone Flowers is one of the most sought-after florists in the country. She created a phenomenal floral ‘roof’ floral canopy over a very rich and lush inspired tablescape of white and gold. The cascading white florals consisted of white roses, orchids, chrysanthemums, and hydrangeas. The opulent gold rimmed crystal, gold patterned china and gold cutlery were from Options Hire. The Hungarian brocade table cloth was from Over the Top Rentals, whilst the two large candlelabras and gold backed Louis chairs were from Great Hire.

Couture Chairs custom created the rather splendid “his” and “hers” monogram chairs which took centre stage at the wedding table.

The cakes were from Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium. She created a collection of white and gold calligraphy inspired cakes including an all gold dessert table. The tall and elegantly proportioned ‘torn paper’ main cake featured hand written edible wafer paper and the beautiful antique frame cake was in her signature baroque style.

Renowned calligrapher, JB Calligraphy delivered the to the brief. She designed the most beautiful stationery suite featuring the P and G monogram on cream parchment paper edged in gold, displaying her beautiful penmanship.

The very talented Boe of Botias is one of the best hair and make up artists in the UK. For the first look she made the make up soft and radiant with beautiful gold shimmer on the model emphasising the eyes. She also hand made the rather special lace veil (she sourced the fabric from Spain) and a gold tiara that was worn with the champagne gold lace dress from Yolan Cris stocked by the wedding club.

For the second look, she created an up do which went perfectly with the head dress and gold lace ruffle dress from the very talented Ruth Milliam Couture.

San Shawe of Sanshine Photography is a luxury wedding photographer of note whose work is regularly featured on the best blogs and magazines. She has a wonderful aesthetic and her use of light is exemplary. These stunning images reflect her talent and skill.