Morning! I am super-duper excited to share today’s gorgeous styled shoots inspired by one of my greatest loves – South Africa.  The talented team behind this shoot all have strong links to this beautiful country and wanted to share with you some of the traditional, and more contemporary inspirations this part of the world can bring to your day.  And what better place to share than b.loved!  Any detail-obsessed bride will have noticed the immense amount of wedding-related creativity coming out of South Africa in recent years {seriously, go check out some of your pins and I’m sure you’ll be surprised how many of them are from South African weddings!} From instantly recognisable protea bouquets expertly arranged by The Vintage Floral Design Co., to classic dessert dishes by Delicieux Cakes and the golden wide-open fields and ‘big-sky’ photography from Kat Forsyth Photography  capturing golden landscapes, this shoot takes all of those lovely, unique little touches typical of South African weddings and translates them into beautiful ideas for any wedding!

Florist Gwenda Jeffs of The Vintage Floral Design Co. pulled together the shoot and is here to tell us more ~

My inspiration was friendship – I have had the great fortune to befriend some fabulous wedding industry vendors, and amongst them are Heline, Kat, Renza and Anneke, all of whom are of South African origin. I always see the beautiful blooms from their homeland at the wholesalers but have never had the opportunity to use them in my own floral arrangements. So I decided to put us all together to rectify that situation!

Heline may be more naturally at home behind the camera, but she is such a beautiful person both inside and out – she just had to be our ‘bride’ for the day. I wanted the look to convey genuine aspects of her tastes and character, so we went with something warm and romantic, plus more than a little light-hearted fun!

The colour palette we chose was ivory, blush pink, champagne, coral and gold for a sense of classic romance, with just a touch of turquoise, one of Heline’s favourite colours.  I used gloriosa, crocosmia, brunia, various succulents, fynbos (mixed vegetation typical of the Cape region) and two varieties of the mighty protea were used to create two bouquets and some small table arrangements. I just loved the challenge of working with all their unusual shapes and textures.

Heline wore two exquisitely structured gowns supplied by Curves & Couture, one of ivory and the other of delicate blush pink. Her first look was completed with a beautiful, statement turquoise necklace from Mapenzi Gems, the second with jewellery from Renza’s own collection.  Anneke created two gorgeous hair dos with Heline’s naturally long, flowing locks; for the make-up, she used corals, pinks, browns and golds to reflect the flowers and foliage used in the bouquets (they are also colours that are flattering to most skin-tones and colourings).   

Renza’s dessert table fused together all the colours of our palette in a gorgeous array of cakes and delicacies, including a milk tart, soetkoekies served with Amarula liquor and a vanilla sponge surrounded with koeksisters.

We decided to keep the styling quite minimal, allowing the location and the vendor’s creations to create the desire atmosphere of tranquillity and sense of openness.  I was indebted to the other contributors for their suggestions on the best locations and most suitable details to help bring a touch of the savannah to a corner of the Kent countryside.  A friend of mine kindly let us shoot on her farm in Kent and in the little chapel that lies within it.  Our efforts were appreciated by the local wildlife, with a visit from a dragonfly and a little ginger relative (albeit a very distant one) of the great African Lion itself!

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Suppliers: Model: Heline of Heline Bekker Photography // Photographer: Kat Forsyth Photography // Hair & Make-Up: Retromorphosist // Wedding Dresses: Curves & Couture // Dessert Table: Delicieux Cakes // Flowers & Styling: The Vintage Floral Design Co.  // Jewellery: Mapenzi Gems

South African-Inspired Styled Shoot