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Gunnersbury Park Museum | Acton Town, London
I knew when I heard Jenny from Juno Weddings was doing a Swan Lake inspired shoot at Gunnersbury Park, in West London, and saw the calm, dreamy and ethereal blues, greens creams and greys of the colour palette, that I wanted in on this styled shoot.
It was originally planned for November 2020, but like many other shoots (and weddings) it was postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions, and got put back twice before we finally managed to make it happen in May 2021—and it was definitely worth the wait!
If you’re looking for that calm but also elegant and dreamy location for your wedding, Gunnersbury Park House is a perfect choice. Both the main house and the Orangery have an ivory white exterior, standing out against the green foliage and trees of the park surrounding it. You’d never guess you were in the heart of London; it’s a peaceful and calm sanctuary. The swans were nowhere to be seen when I arrived for the shoot, but the lake by the Orangery had a gaggle of geese, ducks and ptarmigans all completely oblivious to us shooting around them.
The weather was wildly unpredictable and we had to just take the call sheet as a rough guide and drop everything when the sun came out, which it did, in the middle of the day; typical British weather! If you know you need your guests and yourselves to be comfortable and you know you want your wedding backdrop to look beautiful even if it’s raining,
Gunnersbury has glamorous and beautiful rooms in both the Orangery and the main building, and it’s stunning all year round.
Jenny has a real eye for bringing together suppliers that ‘fit’ so well together, both in temperament and style, and she nailed it with this shoot.
The exquisite dress, designed by Nortier Shallow, with its delicate sparkle and sewn in pearls, was created with layers that made the colour subtly change depending on the light. Katie, the bride, said it was so light and comfortable she couldn’t even feel she was wearing it!
Jacqui Larsson’s elegant earrings, bracelet and ring complemented her dress exquisitely. Ben, her charming groom looked so handsome in his suit and bow tie from Cheshire Menswear.
As my filming style focuses on telling a story with great sound and words, I got in touch with Nikki Wood, celebrant, from Perfect Words Ceremonies before the shoot, and we agreed excerpts from her ceremony to use for the film. I loved her warm, calm and kind voice, and she has a real talent for writing beautiful words that are so powerful, they even brought tears to our models’ eyes during the shoot.
She also performed a Harmony Glass experience (rather like a sand-pouring ceremony but with glass crystals); a beautiful and memorable symbol of two becoming one.
I created three main films from this shoot; a short one to showcase the crystals being poured by the bride and groom, a classic ‘story of your day’ film for the couple, and finally a ‘behind the scenes’ film to show off the suppliers and their personalities. Scroll down further to see these.
The Suppliers
The celebrant
The planner/stylist
The Flowers
The bride and groom
Kate and Ben Robinson
The Dress designer
The Jewellery
The Groom's outfit
The photographer
The Shoes
The Table Textiles
The stationery
The Furniture
The cake
Hair and Make-up
Dorota Wojcik
The Harmony Glass Experience
the venue
The videographer
