We had the good fortune last week to style what turned out to be a rather incredible shoot- someone must have been smiling down on us as the terrible beginning to the day (snow and a subsequent car crash) didn't last and the session turned out to be one of the most successful we've worked on. Today we'd love to share with you our ideas behind the shoot, talk a little about the inspiration board Lindsay came up with, and just generally get you inspired about your own wedding in this way. Often a styled shoot- or a wedding- can be built around a single image or item, and as it happened we had sourced the Claire Pettibone gown below (middle) which ended up being our first building block. We had the idea of balancing the darkness of this dress with some light and airy gowns, and through this process the theme of "gothic angels and demons" was eventually hit upon. This incorporated the light and dark aspects we wanted to capture, and was perfect for our venue which had lots of outdoor stonework and an ancient feel. The palette we chose needed to be fairly neutral, as heavy jolts of colour would be overwhelming with such a variation of shade. The overall style was heavily focused on textures and fabric: we chose the other gowns to match our original Claire Pettibone dress to ensure the theme flowed. Florals were wild, free and very foliage-heavy and the main table arrangement we set in an ancient-looking pewter urn. For the table settings we managed to find matt porcelain plates in the gray-green (middle) shade of the palette below: almost the colour of a light shadow. Bronze cutlery, neutral silk ribbon and cut crystal glasses completed the look. One team of excellent Irish wedding vendors along with two very cold models later, and voilà: our shoot was born. We'll be sharing the resulting images here on Fly Away Bride of course, so stay tuned!

Saipua | Paolo Roversi | Nino Munos via Fashion gone Rouge | Erich McVey | Emily Soto for Claire Pettibone | Valentino | Marcio Madeira via Style.com | MK Sadler | Elizabeth Messina