Charlotte’s Bridal Boudoir Album Layout
Today’s blog: Charlotte’s did a bridal boudoir session to boost her own confidence pre-wedding, and to create the most incredible groom gift for her future husband. Here’s her album layout in all it’s glory.
The perfect groom gift: Part Two with curvy E
You know I’m all about the girls right? You do not need anyone to do a boudoir shoot for, because you ought to do it foryourowndamnself. But, if you do have a fantastic partner who treats you right and is about to put a ring on it, you’re not going to find a better wedding gift than this. It’s guaranteed to surprise and delight;) If you’re marrying a girl, I’m sure she’d be thrilled to receive something like this too.
This is part two of E’s boudoir photo shoot, and it’s all things bridal. We paired white and ivory lingerie with a veil, E’s wedding shoes, and lots of delicious natural light. Wardrobe wise, I always recommend adding some of these extra bits in, even if you’re not going to wear a veil on the day or are planning to wear flats under your dress. It really easy to pull a few wedding accessories together (I can help), and it gives the shoot a little something special. For makeup we often go with the classic nude lip and soft smokey eye, but if you’re a red lip girl we’ve got you there too.
If you missed part one, it’s worth a look because it’s the total opposite – dark and moody, and we shot it by candlelight for those extra sexy vibes (LOL). Check that out here: E’s moody plus size boudoir photo shoot part one.
xx
Stormy
Moody, candlelit plus size boudoir photography with E: Part One
I’m thrilled to share today’s post with you, because this plus size babe knocked her boudoir shoot OUT OF THE PARK. Maybe out of the next park too. It went really well, that’s all I’m saying.
E did this partially as a gift to herself, and partially as a groom gift for her soon to be Mr. That’s a brilliant combo if you ask me – something for everyone;)
If you’re plus size or curvy yourself, I hope these images inspire you. It can be scary to think about doing something like this, but I promise there’s a way to photograph every age, shape, and size beautifully. If you’ve had a bunch of crappy photos in the past, or have successfully avoided ever being photographed professionally, I know you might not really believe me yet. That’s fine – drop me an email and we can chat about it. I’ve photographed lots of women who felt the same way you do, and I’d be honoured to prove that mean little voice in your head wrong;)
I’m going to split this shoot into two parts, we’ll look at the moodier, darker section now, and the bridal boudoir section later.
Enjoy!
xx
Stormy
Bridal Boudoir with Crissy
It’s officially wedding season again in London! Today’s blog features Crissy and shows off one of my favourite bridal boudoir looks.
Simple, delicate lace. You just can’t go wrong here.
Le eBay veil strikes again.
Pastel blue is definitively bridal, but I think these black and whites lend a little timelessness to the frame.
Stunner in white.
This non-fussy setup is simple and easy. If you want a more stylised look, a hand tied bouquet would be a great addition. You could also think about adding in your bridal jewellery, or even a bottle of Chanel.
Major props to Gemma for gorgeous makeup and hair. I’m posting this image extra big so you can all appreciate her genius and Crissy’s ridiculously good-looking face.
Thanks Crissy – a pleasure to work with you!
xx
Stormy
The perfect wedding gift: bridal boudoir
Wedding season is upon us, and it’s been lovely working with so many of this year’s brides. If you’re engaged, let me personally invite you to consider a bridal boudoir session.
Obviously, bridal boudoir photography makes an incredible, daring, thoughtful groom’s gift. A gorgeous album full of images like these is sure to be a present your significant other never forgets (and it’s so much better than personalised cufflinks), but it’s a great idea for you too. Wedding planning is no joke after all. What starts out as a magical, fun project full of romance and fairytales can often devolve into a stressful, full-time job. It’s important to take time out so the pressure doesn’t get to you. Even if you’ve hired the most brilliant planner and everything is going swimmingly, it’s still a major life event that comes with stress and uncertainty. You deserve a break! Odds are you’ve been hitting the gym hard too, so there’s never a better time to document what your dedication to the treadmill has earned you;)
Here are a few of my favourite images of Miriam, from my recent shoot with Essex based hair and makeup agency TeamGlam.
For bridal boudoir, either white or cream lingerie works best. Pair your wedding shoes, nude heels, or play up the “something blue” inspired by Carrie Bradshaw.
It’s also a great time to experiment with styling, because you can be a little braver than you might want to be on your actual wedding day. Something like this boho lace hairpiece is the perfect example – looks fab here, but might not be quite right for walking down the aisle.
I like white stocking for bridal lingerie looks. If you’re not a fan, a nude set also works well, or you can go without. Avoid black though, it looks weird.
Loooove this look.
Le veil! You all know I have a special place in my heart for a good ebay veil. This gorgeous number was lent to us by one of the TeamGlam girls, and it’s from her own wedding many years ago.
When it comes to boudoir photography, veils fall in line with heels: the bigger the better.
Here’s a great example – these images were captured about five minutes apart using the same wardrobe, same lovely bride, same location, and very similar lighting. If you’re feeling fun and flirty, we’ll do that. If you’d rather appear more demure and romantic, no problem:)
I retouched out one of the veil’s crystals in this one, because it looked like Miriam had a really big nose piercing lol!
A pulled back shot of the scene. Lovely lovely. Stay tuned for more from this shoot:)
xx
Stormy
Bridal Boudoir: A teaser film of my collaboration with TeamGlam
I joined forces with TeamGlam recently for a day of bridal and wedding boudoir. It was great fun playing wedding dress up and prancing around a few million pound flat like we owned the place;) Final images and a full film to come soon! For now, check out this teaser film, which is the exceptional work of Alex at Black Frog.
Chloe: a Spanish Bridal Boudoir theme in the warehouse
We played “Chloe gets married” at the warehouse the other day…
…don’t you think she’ll make the most stunning bride?
Perfect hair by Gemma, and fantastic-as-always makeup by Debbie. Bridal slip is Chloe’s own, and it worked perfectly.
Many of my bridal clients love the idea of using their wedding veil in their photo shoot, but often times they either don’t have it yet or are concerned about getting it dirty. Enter the ebay veil. This beauty was 8 Pounds and arrived in three days. Possibly the best purchase I’ve made this year!
Lovely lovely Chloe.
This is a boudoir shoot after all, so we stepped things up with a white bodysuit for our second look.
It’s worth noting Chloe’s red nails, which can be a little distracting. Red is a great for making a statement with dark or strongly coloured lingerie, but I’d suggest a more neutral nail colour that will transition through all of your wardrobe choices, particularly if you are planning to include a traditional white or ivory “bridal” look in the mix. We threw this shoot together on very short notice, so there was no time for a jaunt to the nail salon.
We did this set with no jewellery at all, but you could quite easily add some in if you wanted. A small necklace, diamond studs, or a gold bracelet to match Chloe’s metallic shoes would all work well.
A slightly pulled back view of this new warehouse venue. It’s very similar to the old one, so it’s great to have each as an option.
Simple, clean makeup seems to be the best pairing for a bridal boudoir set. I like a step up from natural, but not so much that it grabs your attention.
The new warehouse does have this incredible wall panel, which I fell in love with straight away.
You know I’m a sucker for the backlight.
Look 3: white lingerie separates and nude stockings. It retrospect, I wish we would have done this look barefoot or with different shoes – maybe patent nude heels. It looked great in person, but I feel like the shoes seem a bit heavy in the final images.
This mask on the left is from Tanith at the Masque Boutique. Her metal masks are incredible – if you need to look mysterious anytime soon I’d give her a shout.
Something about black and white images makes you sink into them – they always seem to feel older and more authentic. I’ve been playing around with these genuine polaroid textures and grain settings lately, I think I’m starting to get the hang of it:)
I mean…you can only be pretty and lacy for so long, right? Our last set was black on black, with a strong red lip, smokey eyes, and a lace wrap borowed from Gemma.
And see? Now the nails are purrrfect.
Chloe’s come to steal your soul in this one:)
And that’s a wrap! Chloe you were a dream to work with, thanks again for a fantastic shoot.
xx
Stormy
Sneak Peeks: Chloe’s Spanish themed Bridal Boudoir Shoot
There’s more where this came from.
Also, I’m officially in love with ebay veils. Full report soon:)
Miss Emma and a few new things to borrow
This week on the blog: Emmmma.
Emma and I first worked together about two years ago. She had a very different look back then, so when I had a last minute session come free we arranged for round two. Newer, fresher, summery.
I actually just dug through my blog archives to find our original images, and I’m having a very surreal feeling comparing the two shoots…but that’s another post for another time. On to the good stuff.
Simple, pretty, a little understated, and a little French.
Miss E is wearing Agent Provocateur’s bridal range on top. This bra is part of my (small but growing) studio collection of lingerie that is available for clients to use, but unfortunately I don’t have the matching bottoms. I brought it along anyway, and Emma just so happened to have a perfectly matching set of knickers in her bag. One point to us.
Sometimes the best frames are the ones you don’t even try for.
A little window light is all you really need for beautiful bridal boudoir imagery.
The obligatory silhouette. It never fails.
Next up is this beautiful raw silk kimono and matching knickers, hand made by the lovely Katrina of Stripped Beautiful.
I’ve been waiting for weeks for an excuse to use this in a shoot. It turned out exactly how I’d imagined – soft, flowy, and a little whimsical. This is also available for clients to use, and it’s a very forgiving fit since the knickers tie up on the sides.
Lots of moody black and whites this go around.
And then there’s this number: an insanely priced set from Agent Provocateur’s Soiree Collection. It’s a quarter cup and weighs about ten pounds, but it’s quite tricky to photograph without pasties. I’m working on getting some pasties made to match and then we’ll show it off properly;)
Love this pose, it seems to be universally flattering for women.
A few frames using the vanity table and mirror. This shoot alone has convinced me to buy one of these for the new studio.
The thing about Emma is that she’s got verrry long legs and is six feet tall, so we had to be a tad careful that she didn’t end up looking like she was in a doll’s house.
Fun with mirrors.
Some more fun with mirrors. It’s a bit of a theme this shoot;)
Messy hair, dark eyeliner, and black lingerie for the win.
Miss E has such a great stare down.
A few lighter bed shots next. These sort of images are a great way to inject a little fun and movement into your album.
This room is overpoweringly silver in real life. It looks garish and fake at best (because let’s face it – there’s no way that’s all genuine silver leaf). However, thanks to the magic of a little clever lighting and toning in post processing, the end result is anything but.
There’s something a little Angelina Jolie about Emma here.
Over the shoulder:)
This last set is not for the faint hearted. Another Agent P number, this one is all straps and daring PVC. It’s a bit intimidating, but great if you want something that’s going to push you outside your comfort zone.
You can see it doesn’t quite fit Emma properly, but we though it was close enough to use anyway. If we wanted to get technical about it, we could have just pinned that rogue strap back or retouched it out, but I wasn’t that bothered by it. I just really loved Miss E’s hair and lip colour in this image.
Anyway – if you’re feeling brave, this one is yours to borrow as well.
We ended the shoot in the terribly lit bathroom but still managed these two images. A bit arty and maybe a little over-processed, but still sort of cool:)
xx
Stormy
Florence, where the beautiful people live.
Florence, where the beautiful people live.
Oh blogland, it’s been so long! Sorry for disappearing on you.
I’ve spent the last few weeks photographing a whole bunch of amazing women. I’d love to share their images with you all, but most of my recent clients are keeping their images under wraps, to be seen only by their lucky partners (or…at least not to be seen the whole wide world via the internet). Totally understandable.
So in lieu of a boudoir shoot, I thought I’d share a few images from other things I’ve been working on recently. Cue my first trip to Florence, where the sun always shines and everyone is better looking than you. Also, everyone is cooler than you and proves it by vrooming around on mopeds exactly the way Eddie Izzard described. It’s an amazing place.
It was a truly humbling and momentous experience to photography my first Florentine wedding. As some of you know, I take a select number of weddings each year, mostly previous clients that are now tying the knot:) I’m going to hold off posting too many details for now since this wedding is bound for publication, but suffice it to say that I spent the whole weekend feeling like I’d dropped into some magical alternate universe where I get to be friends with the Kennedy family.
Just one little sneak peek of the bride and groom. Love these two. If you’d like to see more of my wedding work, or get first view of the full wedding when it goes live, I’d invite you to hop over to my wedding website. It’s under massive construction at the moment, so please excuse the mess – I’ve been too busy shooting boudoir to get it all cleaned up:)
