Inspiration Shoot: Urban Jungle

Earlier this month our Urban Jungle Inspiration Shoot was published on Rock My Wedding (you can see the full blog here) and today we’re delighted to be sharing that very shoot with you here on our blog. Giving you all the full details behind the shoot….

When I developed this shoot, I wanted to showcase the relentless ‘cool’ vibes of a city, in a botanical environment. This developed and grew as we sourced our venue - Urban Jungle - a plant centre in rural Suffolk. It was my perfect oxymoron. 

Let’s bring bridal luxe into a cactus house. Let’s sit modernity and urban accents against exotic plants. Industrial triangular arches and mirror balls juxtaposing our Persian rugs. Throw in three unbelievable bridal looks and my happy contradiction was conceived. 

We took the beating heart of a city wedding; effortlessly cool caped wedding dress, bridal jumpsuits, squared necklines, handmade clay jewellery, cocktails and ‘good vibes’ and threw it inside a jungle. I kept the looks strong and the details simple. Pure white in all floral creations allowing our plant-heavy surroundings to provide us with colour. The exotic plants inspired an editorial makeup look, clashing Orange, Pink and Red - always a beat of something urban inside our wedding jungle.

Wedding Stationery & Tableware

The focus throughout the shoot was on contrasting elements, so we wanted to continue this into the details and table styling. Our tableware was modern, clean and mostly minimalistic, provided by the brilliant CMA Hire. Then the introduction of the more rustic furniture from Urban Jungle began the contrast. We had Southwold Flower Co. provide the bottled foliage, which added another layer and finally the stunning simplicity of our stationery by Lucy McSpirit Design rounded our look, bringing it back to the urban style. 

The crockery, cutlery and glassware, together with the stationery would actually create a clean city look, if not for the surroundings, so we lifted that urban style and placed it into something more wild. 

Wedding Cake and Tropical Bouquet

For the bouquet I wanted ‘jungle’ to be the main influence. Keeping it tropical and structured. Southwold Flower Co. hit the spot, creating a palm and orchid fusion that sat perfectly with every bridal look we explored. 

The wedding cake was beautifully designed by Amelie’s Kitchen. Helen at AK took inspiration from the textures and patterns of our final dress, Forrest by Rachel Rose Bridal, as well as the plants, meaning the all-white three tiers at first appear to be minimalistic, but on closer inspection gain depth and complexity thanks to the stunning details being played with. 

Three Bridal Looks

We worked with Abigail’s Collection to select our looks for this shoot. Seeking minimalism, city luxe and hopefully a jumpsuit! I was originally looking for something sleek & caped but our lacey, flared, 70s inspired jumpsuit from Lillian West was even better. Setting it in the cactus house meant our sharp edgy modernity was provided by the plants while the high neck, button back, lace jumpsuit provided the contrast. We paired it with a vermillion platform shoe to continue the 70s inspiration and were thrilled with the results. The cactus house portion of our shoot ultimately became all about personality...‘Til’ death do us party’. 

wedding jumpsuit by Lillian West

Our second look was Maddox from Madi Lane Bridal. It’s minimalist, modern and utterly gorgeous. We paired it with some cat-eye sunglasses on the shoot and set it in our show-stopping ceremony set up in the exotic garden, making for some transformative images and film - we certainly didn’t feel like we were in Suffolk. 

Wedding dress with cape by Madi Lane Bridal

Forrest by Rachel Rose Bridal was our final look. It encapsulated the modern, urban bridal look we were seeking; sleek, eye-catching couture. With bold square neck-lines (a future bridal trend) and beading, this form-fitting dress was another exquisite look. We worked with it at our mirrored bar, and awesome cocktail service provided by Ace Bar Events, creating a city vibe that once again was a paradox in our botanical jungle. We also took it out to the medditerranean garden, working with a golden throne amongst the palm trees. We could leave minimalism behind and lean into the decadence of the look. 

White beaded wedding dress by Rachel Rose Bridal

Each look was paired with a set of handmade earrings by Muted Luxe. The elegant and simplistic sophisticated designs were a perfect match! We took inspiration from the exotic plants for an editorial makeup look, clashing orange, pink and red - always a beat of something urban inside our wedding jungle. 

We’re so proud of this fabulous shoot, every supplier helped us to bring this vision to life. From bolding asking for clashing orange and pink make up looks, (sorry Emily, but you made it WERK!!) to throwing glitterballs into a cactus house. As Rock My Wedding kindly said…

“This shoot has left tradition behind and shown us there is no right way to do a wedding. Nothing is off the table (especially not neon signs) and the more contrasts, the better!”

Now, immerse yourself in our Urban Jungle…

The full team

Venue: Urban Jungle | Planner & Styling: The Wedding Planners | Photography: Gemma Giorgio | Videographer: Mike Savory | Bar: Ace Bar Hire | Make Up Artist: Emily Chantal | Model: Cornelie | Dresses & Jumpsuit: Abigails Collection | Shoes: Next | Lighting, Neon Signs & Mirror Balls: Dreamwave Events | Florists: The Untamed Florist | Stationery: Lucy McSpirit | Tableware: CMA Event Hire | Arch, Rugs, Peacock Chair & Armchair: Anthology Vintage Hire | Cake: Amelie's Kitchen | Jewellery: Muted Luxe