I’ve been a bit quiet. Sorry about that. Returning to the UK from Asia I came down with a nasty cold and a heavy dose of hayfever so I felt pretty grotty for a while and then I disappeared off to Spain for the ever wonderful Primavera Sound music festival. It was fabulous. Not only because some of my favourite music type people played (Pulp! Low! Sufjan Stevens! PJ Harvey! Girl Talk! DJ Coco!) but also because I got to spend time with my wonderful friends in one of the worlds most vibrant cities. I love Barcelona so very much. Yes indeedy. But that is another story for another time, perhaps. Today is all about BRIDES…

I am a very lucky lady. Having only been back in the UK properly for a few days I was invited to join the lovely Adele Haywood of Blue Lights Photography on an ambitious bridal shoot at Bawtry Hall near Doncaster. Adele put so much into this…and it really paid off. Five models, five themes and a whole lot of borrowed loveliness. Together with photographer Maria Calton, we had a really fun day. I can’t thank everybody involved enough for including me. I had a great time. Hurrah!

It all kicked off at Adele’s Barnsley studio where Emma from Pokadot hair & make-up styling set to work turning our five lovely models into classic, boho, vintage, rock and fun brides. We had quite a giggle and it was great to see the style transformations taking place.

After lunch we all hopped into our cars and headed to Bawtry. The Hall itself is a gracious Grade II listed manor house set in seven acres of grounds including landscaped gardens, woodland and a lake. Once home to a wealthy mill owner and later turned into Bomber Command for the RAF, Bawtry Hall has been painstakingly refurbished and has only recently begun offering it’s facilities for wedding receptions. It certainly makes for a stunning setting, especially on a gloriously sunny day like we had. My word it was warm. So much so that our dear fun bride lost her grip on the balloons due to clammy palms, bless her. But they were fun for a while.

Our first bride, Amy, only had time to shoot with Adele as she had to dash back to work…she runs Serendipity Bridal Boutique in Barnsley. For images of her as our Boho bride, check out Adele’s blog post about the day here. There you will also see more shots of each of our other four brides plus a sixth…the impromptu bride. Yes, that’ll be me. I couldn’t resist trying on one of the pretty frocks loaned by Serendipity Bridal Boutique for the day and we all thought it looked so fab with my ink and my biker boots that Adele decided to snap some shots. And I have to say they turned out great. Thanks, Adele!