Gunston Hall Wedding || English Garden Wedding Inspiration

April 26, 2019 Angel Cheng

Being in the wedding industry, it’s so easy to just look at what other people are doing, and feel like you have to something similar, or worse, feeling like you are trying to catch up with others yet unable get there. That’s why I try to stretch myself out a bit more every year, because the most important thing is growth, which should be measured against your old self instead of others, to see how far you’ve gone but also how far you are willing to go from where you are today.

One of the biggest leap of faith this past year was to explore a new photography medium - film. I always knew that I love the film-look - the grainy yet glowy look, the soft yet fine art look. It finally dawned on me that the best way to have my work to have the film-look is to photograph on film (like duh!), but because it’s a completely different approach and process to utilize film to photograph and not to mention the additional cost to purchase and develop films, it took me quite a bit of time to understand and begin to experiment. But once I got used to the process (and if anyone else also shoot films, you will understand the waiting period for film scans to come back is like waiting for Christmas to come!), I absolutely fell in love in the work that I’m producing. I’m no longer spending long hours trying to make my digital photographs look like film because I have real film images in front of me. I figured it’s time to produce something that will look good on the film medium.

At the beginning of the brainstorming stage, I simply conveyed the idea of English, garden-ish, and estate-ish (notice all the -ish because I never know what I want exactly!) to Brooke of Stem and Thistle and Katie of Social Graces Events, and we immediately hit it off with so many ideas to incorporate the theme and the “feel” of the inspiration. But to sum up our ideas and inspirations, Katie described it most perfectly:

This wedding was inspired by an intimacy and natural airiness that alludes to the classic beauty of an English Garden. Historic Gunston Hall, the previous estate of George Mason, was an idyllic background. Muted blush and peach tones showed through the overflowing floral centerpieces, bouquets and hand died silk ribbon. The Bride and Groom shared vows under a large oak tree, a bespoke calligraphy backdrop draped in lush greenery and candles served as the backdrop for their most intimate moments. Following their serene ceremony, the bride and groom shared a meal together amidst an alley of trees leading to the estate home. Rich table top details included custom vintage rentals, antique metallic accents, a textured silk runner and marble place cards. The invitation suite included a watercolor depiction of the historic venue, vintage stamps and hand painted floral details. The groom wore a traditional black tuxedo and the bride wore a classic wedding dress featuring horse hair detailing and her accessories were highly curated including an intricate headpiece, earrings, and a fresh floral veil. The wedding day would not have been complete without the companionship of their family dog, who was also dressed accordingly in a floral wreath for the special event.

I hope you will enjoy this inspiration as much as I do. To top it off, this inspirational shoot was also featured on Grey Likes Weddings (also another big goal/dream that I had for last year - to be published by a major wedding blog in the industry!), which speaks volume in terms of the work that the team have put together and the talents that are in it! I think it will always be one of my favorites! :)