Alice in Wonderland Styled Photoshoot

This amazing photoshoot came about when Kirsty Hardiman Photography and Katy Stroud Photography went to visit Lou and Colin, owners of The Old Milking Parlour at Cavokay House. Walking down to the woodland, they instantly envisaged a tea-party in the woods which led them to thinking of the Mad Hatters tea-party.

Unsure how to put a photoshoot together Lou contacted me and asked if I would like to help Kirsty and Katy bring it altogether at their beautiful D.I.Y venue.

Given a chance my mind goes into overdrive, so when I met with Kirsty and Katy we came up with some amazing ideas!

Naturally for me only a real white rabbit would do and amazingly one of Kirsty’s friends rabbits had just had babies with two of them being white…perfect!

Once we figured out what shots we wanted to gain from the shoot, I was able to contact some extremely talented Dorset based wedding suppliers who were all super keen to join us on this quirky take on Alice in Wonderland.

We chose two very different dresses with Kayleigh, owner of the quaint little bridal shop, Exclusively Yours Bridal Boutique in Blandford. The first one being a ‘Veromia’ ball gown which looked stunning at the tea party and in amongst the tea-cup tree.

Alice was a sweet young girl but as we were giving our Alice an edge it gave Wendy from Sapphire Hair & Make-Up free rein to create something a little bit different. Wendy gave Abbey two different looks to suit the two different styles of dress. The first look combined bouncy blonde curls with an Alice band plait and fresh flowers to match the bouquet, with the second hairstyle featuring a jewelled head piece. The pink and blue glitter eye make-up was perfect for the Alice look, still keeping our model Abbey innocent looking but giving her the edge with some long dramatic lashes.

Our groom model Shane looked extremely handsome in a Wilvorst black morning jacket and striped trousers from Wedding Time in Dorchester. Mixing it up with a tailored waistcoat and two different coloured cravat ties gave Shane, our groom model, two different looks to complement his Alice bride. To finish off the Mad Hatter styling Tracy also supplied a black top hat.

Alice or not, every bride needs flowers and Hanna from Flowers by Tidbury did an amazing job of creating a perfectly fitting bouquet and floral hoop which looked beautiful in amongst the woodland. Our Mad Hatter had a button-hole to match and Wendy was able to put matching flowers in Abbeys hair to tie it all together.

With some moss as the centre runner and some gorgeous heather, parrot tulips and Muscari sprouting from it, it was the perfect setting for the White Rabbit to explore at the tea-party!

A tea-party has to have a tea-set and place settings, so no better person than Vicki from Grannys China Cupboard to supply exquisite vintage china. To keep with the Alice theme, Vicki selected cups and saucers with the classic red and white roses. Extra tea-cups were also supplied so we could tie them in the trees to give an illusional shot. 

Would a tea-party be a tea-party without cake and biscuits?

So, who better to ask than Biscuits by Sarah B to make some themed iced biscuits? With her creative head on Sarah made a variety of biscuit styles to pick out the different features throughout the Alice in Wonderland story, such as the flamingos,  a pocket-watch, top hat, playing cards and of course eat me and drink me biscuits! We also needed place settings so instead of the traditional card ones, Sarah made some edible biscuit ones…who wouldn’t love this!

Jen was our girl from Cakey Lulus who created this masterpiece. With the cascade of red and white roses Jen linked it to the song ‘Painting the Roses Red’ and topped it off with a stack of hand painted sugar tea-cups. Each feature of the cake connected with our bride Alice, with the ruffles and texture to indicate the dress and the lace effect to show off exquisite dress detail, all topped off with the Mad-Hatters edible pocket watch.

Not only this but Jen whipped up some delicious ‘eat me’ cakes. Our Alice and Mad-Hatter were extremely well behaved and did as they were told…

Your guests first hear all about your wedding when they receive their invites and it is generally this invite that gives them a feel for your day. For that reason personalising your stationery set to match your theme or styling is a great idea and that is exactly what Charlotte from Lily & Lottie Stationery did with her laser cut wedding invitation set. This was also matched to the table number and menu cards listing the array of Alice themed tea-party food!

On the day a table-plan shows your guests where to sit for your wedding breakfast which can also be matched to your theme and styling. Matching it up to the woodland surroundings, Charlotte used a grass backing and once again the red roses came into play alongside some classic Alice illustrations.

Don’t be scared to ask your stationery designer for any extra pieces you may need, you will find most are happy to oblige. To make the Mad Hatters top hat a true likeness we needed the 10/6 card as well as some eat me and drink me cards which finished the look off perfectly.

Our shots needed props and styling so Debi from Perfectly Pretty Wedding & Events Styling was the answer to all our prayers. With a huge selection of props, Debi was able to provide everything we needed from the silver candelabra, to a mini tea set, flamingos, vintage books, giant wooden toadstools, a giant chess set and an eclectic mix of wooden chairs. Having these props certainly brought the shoot to life and Debi was in love with looking after the white rabbits (just to point out we had two rabbits so they could keep each other company and also to save them having to model too much!).

Debi had thought of every detail including a handmade dormouse to join the tea-party!

Naturally we had to create some mirror shots to symbolise ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’…

Kirsty wanted to create the idea of looking through a keyhole so she turned all Blue Peter and made herself a super sized keyhole to photograph through.

Not only did we get an amazing gallery from the very talented Kirsty Hardiman we also had Katy Stroud Photography capture a video. Katy did a wonderful job of bringing our shoot to life.

Everyone worked so hard, a complete dream team of wedding suppliers!

Check us out we also featured on Magpie Wedding blog and received this lovely ‘featured on’ badge.

I also love feedback, so please let me know what you think of our shoot below, I would love to hear from you.