A Celtic inspired elopement. This collaborative styled session was the stunning end result of a partnership between Cartref Gardens, Willow Hairstyling, Alexandra Loughton Makeup, Shades of White Bridal. And models Natasha Gottfred and Jonny Kiss. I truly hope you can draw inspiration to put into place in your wild and love filled elopement!

About the Celtic Inspired Elopement

The concept behind this photoshoot was a woodsy and Celtic wedding with a free and fresh feeling. The location resembled somewhere in Ireland or Scotland, with beautiful rich green leaves, ocean bluffs. To make the shoot as authentic as possible, we chose a model that had beautiful natural Celtic colouring. Additionally, we included a Celtic looking flower girl and ring bearer. As I go through each element, I hope you can draw inspiration from this gorgeous styled shoots for your elopement .

Staying fairly minimal, we used the essence of our inspiration to create a lighthearted and personally inspiring shoot. We all let each other create something that spoke to their personal vision. What resulted was the art of pure passion from like minded creators and a magical styled elopement.

The Florals

The florist, Eiddwen of Cartref Gardens, focused on creating works that were wild, natural, and whimsical. Created thinking of misty rocky bluffs and shores and dense woods covered in moss and ferns. The florals were keeping with the Celtic theme with a focus on natural, wild and garden style elements. Most of which may have been grown and used in a Celtic bouquet many ages ago. The majority of the flowers, foliages and mosses were gathered from the wild. As well as from the florists’ garden including garden style roses, snowberries, and spirea leaves. Also featuring fern bracken, rosehips, box, fennel, birch, rosemary, physocarpus, myrtle and Spanish moss.

The bridal floral crowns were done to augment and compliment the model’s red hair and romantic and loose hairstyling. One was a dainty crown, the other was a Celtic princess crown with more of an upright crown effect.

The large hand tied bouquet was a natural gathering of garden grown blooms and foliages emphasizing abundant beauty. Along with a carefully chosen assortment of garden roses, the bouquet also included spirea, fern bracken, amaranthus. As well as, millet, clematis, nicandra, physocarpus, scabiosa, scented geranium, and rose hips. The stems were tied with cream satin ribbon.

The Makeup

The makeup, by Alexandra Loughton, was intended to be a classic, warm toned bridal look with a pop of unexpected colour. An emerald green eyeliner with golden flecks was added to the lower eye. Done so when the bride gazes forward you can see the true contrast of the colours. This creates a unique and classic combination. Keeping the rest of the colours across the face warm complimented the model’s stunning red hair. She achieved a striking contrast with the pop of colour. While simultaneously bringing out the beautiful Celtic colouring of our gorgeous redheaded model.

The Hair

The hairstylist, Marlee, wanted to give the model a loose, voluminous ‘braid’ that fit with the theme but also applied to brides today. Wanting to give the model’s hair a wild, natural look, the hairstylist looped and pinned many small strands of hair to create the illusion of vines. Using a variety of different curling irons, she mimicked a natural curl. Furthermore, the hairdresser placed small dried flowers into the hair and pinned a delicate flower crown on her head. Later, it was changed to an elaborate flower crown made by the florist. To insure that there was no frizz, the hairdresser refined and smooth every hair with the a working wax and a working hairspray.

How did it hold up in the rain?

The weather really added to our Celtic inspired elopement, but it could have been tragic. The makeup artist and hairstylist took such attention to, they both lasted well through the rain. The florist also did a fabulous job on the flower bouquet, boutonniere and flower crowns! They lasted beautifully throughout the photoshoot even though the kids kept on playing with them. In fact, one of the children took a flower crown home and it lasted well for several days after the shoot.

Some tips for photographers

I used a 50mm lens for this session, on my Canon 5D mark iii body. This camera body is weather sealed allowing me to work in the misty conditions. If your camera isn’t weather sealed, you can use an absorbent cloth to wrap around the lens and camera connection piece and lay over the button control on the top- leaving space for your hand. Alternatively, you can use a plastic bag.

Next, to get the kids attention, I used fishy crackers. I had them sharing them, and gave them little challenges to do to keep them involved and interested. This also gave much more candid feeling photos along with making the experience a less stressful one!

Next, The dress was too big for the model, so we used dress clips to fit it to her body. They were strategically placed, or edited out using photoshop in post.

Lastly, it was cold, and the model was wearing next to nothing. So I made sure to keep the photograph flow going. Additionally, because of the heavy fog, we were to lose light much quicker than if it was a clear day. Being able to work quickly is a very important tool, especially for weddings, not just this Celtic inspired elopement!

In Closing

Finally, we were very happy with how the photoshoot turned out. We felt that it was a dimensional photoshoot, showcasing the many different sides of the theme woodsy, Celtic wedding. Some of the photos were beautiful and romantic, telling the story of two lovers. While other photos were avant-garde and told a different story. Lastly, the photos with the children were lighthearted and candid, being inspired by folksy, community rich themes that are associated with Celts. We are happy to announce that this set was published on West Coast Weddings and Wandering Weddings online blogs and was awarded a finalist position in the Vancouver Island Wedding Awards.

In closing, if you have any questions about hiring any of the vendors from this styled shoot, I would be happy to direct you to them! Additionally, if you are looking to create you own styled shoot but are not sure where to start, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.