I don’t even know where to begin describing what a fabulous time I had organising this styled photo shoot with Jackie of Ooh Mrs James Wedding Blog and Vintage Wedding Dress restorer.  We first met at a networking event a year or so ago and hit it off straight away, (how can you not, dressed up in 20’s gear in a fun photo booth?!)  Jackie is just so lovely and her passion for fashion and ideas for weddings are immense!  When she launched her restored vintage wedding dress  business I put the idea to her about doing a styled shoot as I’d never done one before and that was it – we were away!  We planned it around Jackie’s idea of “Dolly takes a trip to the Seaside” – vintage dresses but with a quirky edge and some rather incredible over the top make-up, fantastically applied by Naita Channer- one of the models and Jackie’s friend.  You can find her & message her on Facebook here (business website to follow soon).  We wanted to contact suppliers who needed photos for their websites and were building portfolios up and we were so lucky to have on board Claire of Rosey Posey Creations with her gorgeous head pieces and Hannah of BonnieBooButtons with her extraordinary button bouquets and button holes!  Then the lovely Fenella of Fenella’s Flowers sent me some of her beautiful bespoke fabric flowers to include and last but very much not least the fantastic Tess of Chatter Cakes came up with two brand new cake creations just for the shoot and brought along some truly scrumptious cupcakes for us all too!  Oh and I almost forgot to mention the lovely staff at Irregular Choice shoes (love love love) who allowed us to borrow a few pairs for the models which we treated like the crown jewels all day!  Wowsers – amazing stuff, how lucky were we?!  With all these fab creative folk on board we just needed the right location and the perfect weather to complete our little venture which is when I found Seabank!  Oh my goodness what a place!  RIGHT on the sea in Selsey – a restored vintage railway carriage.  Dolly was on her way to the seaside at last, vintage suitcase in hand…  But what would she find there?  Two rather handsome young lads dressed to begin with in waistcoats from A Suit that Fits then more casually in stripy seaside outfits Jackie sourced to help them woo the girls!  We seriously had so much fun.  I loved getting all the bits we needed – balloons, candy floss, sweeties, bubbles, various vintage props (a few I borrowed from Lucy Jayne Ltd) and seeing it all come together on the day was kind of just a little bit awesome!  OK – it was mega awesome!!!  We were all shattered by the end of it but I’d do it all again in a flash…. #missingseabanksomuch !!  Thank you to Jackie & Helina & Lila & Naita (the beautiful models) and Tarek & Andy the handsome chaps and to Tess & Hannah & Claire & Fenella & Irregular Choice and Catherine the owner of Seabank and Laura for coming along to 2nd shoot for me a bit… (her incredible photos are here!!)

So here goes… Dolly Takes a trip to the Sea… – and a few behind the scenes!

Please do take the time to check out all the amazing suppliers – like their pages on Facebook and give them a shout if you need more info on their products and prices as I know they’d be more than happy to help.  If you want to holiday in Seabank then do it!  It really is such an amazing place.  Thanks again everyone x