Today’s inspiration comes from the super talented Lisa from Devlin Photos. Not only is Lisa an awesome creative Brighton wedding photographer, she also runs Photography Farm and is the lead wedding photographer at Rock n Roll Bride Magazine.
When Lisa got in touch saying she had compiled a shoot that focused on micro weddings, micro budget and micro frocks… I obviously was interested! With so many shoots focusing on big budgets and lots of suppliers, I was keen to see what she had put together. Over to Lisa to tell us more about the shoot…
Lisa from Devlin Photos…
What was the idea behind the shoot?
There have been so many incredible styled shoots cropping up recently, we offer them at Photography Farm and I’ve seen some wonderful ones from other workshops or from individual photographers. However, I wonder if sometimes they might intimidate photographers a little and put them off creating their own shoots. That perhaps the thinking is that they always have to be big and elaborate with a small army involved in producing them.
My aim is always to inspire other photographers but I realise that I have a fair amount of resources that I can tap into at my level in the industry. What If I was new and didn’t have any of that and I didn’t have much in the way of a budget? Could I still create a shoot?
So I set myself the challenge of producing a styled shoot for under £150. When it came to thinking of what to shoot, I was thinking of the kind of weddings that I am currently trying to attract. I was shooting all over the UK until *you know what. But right now I am loving shooting smaller weddings and elopements that are more local to me, so the shoot was specifically targeting micro weddings and thinking about what urban laid back but stylish brides might wear. Pairing non wedding dresses with cute bridal accessories like veils.
Where did you get your inspiration from?
I was very inspired by Lily Allen’s wedding outfit and built a Pinterest board around that with lots of super short dresses, city brides, brides in sunglasses, bow veils, gold mini dresses. Then I had a look at the sale section on ASOS to see how far my micro budget would go. I was surprised that I could get three frocks and still have 50% of my budget left over.
How did you find the suppliers who made this concept come to life?
My original idea was to have no suppliers involved. Thinking that I wanted to show photographers that is is possible when you don’t have a little back book full of industry contacts. So I wanted to take my ‘bride’ to a make up counter to get her face done and then to a florist to pick out flowers and have a bouquet made up on the spot.
However, I ran onto problems as makeup counters are not currently offering makeovers and as the shoot was on a Monday, many florists were closed. So I reached out to a local MUA, the brilliant Lydia Pankhurst to collaborate on this shoot with me and I improvised on the flowers by picking up some eucalyptus at my local greengrocers.
What looks are your favourite, and why?
We achieved three quite different looks. A soft ethereal one with a feather veil from Crown and Glory, a tuxedo dress with bright accessories plus a gold mini dress with a giant bow veil. This was my favourite look as it was the most playful.
Do you have any styling tips for readers looking to emulate this shoot?
Don’t think that styled shoots need to be all singing and all dancing. They can be simple and they are also about everyone involved having creative playtime. There is no client to please, so this is you experimenting and seeing what you can come up with.
You could start with just one look and shoot for yourself and your own portfolio. Anyone can buy a white dress and a length of tulle like the one that we used for the bow veil.
What is it that makes your shoot unique?
This is such a simple and achievable shoot. I hope it inspires brides having their own micro wedding to book me and that it inspires other wedding photographers to create their own shoots.
What’s the most important tip you have for couples planning their wedding?
It’s 2021, normal rules do not apply.
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