Wes Anderson Wedding Inspiration at The Barn at Avington

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Colourful Wes Anderson Wedding Inspiration…

Love Wes Anderson films? Well we have a treat fro you today!

Taking inspiration from his films The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom; photographer Kirsty Mackensie wanted to create a bridal shoot that reflected Wes Anderson’s colourful, quirky visual film style with a nod towards his offbeat humour.

Together with wedding stylists The Wedding Spark, they created the perfect combination of colour, fun and cinematic style.

Over to the team to tell us more…

The Wedding Spark…

When Kirsty Mackenzie got in touch about organising a Wes Anderson inspired shoot, we leapt at the idea! Wes Anderson movies are just so iconic; the design, the detail, the off-the-wall atmosphere, and don’t get us started on the colours!

Together we brainstormed our ideas and two films kept coming up, so we quickly decided we wanted to focus on the quirky romance of Moonrise Kingdom along with the colourful glamour of The Grand Budapest Hotel

We’re not the only Wes Anderson fans in the wedding industry – far from it in fact! As we started approaching people about this shoot, we were met with a huge amount of enthusiasm, and the final team of suppliers shared our levels of excitement about all the little extra touches we had planned. The shoot was a total delight to work on as everyone was really invested in making it as authentic and gorgeous as possible.

The Barn at Avington was the perfect place to hold this shoot, with its light and airy blank canvas interior and gorgeous grounds. The end result was as if Sam and Suzy were all grown up and celebrating their wedding in a wonderfully whimsical way. Our lovely bridal model Georgia looked stunning in vintage-inspired pieces from free-spirited designer Indie Bride, while groom Maxwell was boho-suave in a deep green suit from Adam Waite tailoring and bowtie and pocket square from Dapper & Suave.

We created an external ceremony area with colourful mismatched chairs from Purple Door Props. The rug aisle led to a contemporary Lo & Behold Bespoke bohemian backdrop where our gorgeous couple could exchange their vows. Inside, we styled colourful, bohemian tablescapes with beautiful crockery from Vintage Flair, and gorgeous spring florals from The Wild Fox in our distinctly Andersonian colour palette of red, mustard and pink.

Wes Anderson’s attention to detail is legendary, and we wanted our shoot to feel as authentic as possible. Our amazing team of suppliers went above and beyond with little touches and extra elements. We included vintage suitcases and facsimile editions of Suzy’s books seen in Moonrise Kingdom; our models rocked their box camera and binoculars props with flair (don’t they look gorgeous?!) and can we just take a minute to talk about the stationery? Kelly from White Cottage Weddings did the most phenomenal job. Bespoke Zissou style welcome flag? Check. Cheeky statement ‘what kind of bird are you?’ escort card display? Check. Hand drawn maps and an invite suite on paper that matched Suzy’s red and pink letterhead in Moonrise Kingdom? Check and double check. She also created place names featuring photos of the other shoot suppliers for that extra meta Wes Anderson-esque feel.

Over in our welcome area and cake table, things got a little more luxe and lovely. Welcome to the Grand Budapest Hotel! The seriously brilliant Emily from Maid of Gingerbread created an enormous (and delicious) gingerbread replica of the iconic hotel, and we surrounded it with other details from the film, including a Mendl’s patisserie box and image of the notorious Boy with Apple painting.

The gorgeous piano bar from With These Hands Weddings was the perfect place for a welcome cocktail, and Joey from The Wild Fox added wild and abundant flowers to make it a real statement piece. You can almost smell the Eau de Panache!

The weather had been toying with us for most of the day, threatening showers off and on. Thankfully as evening approached, the clouds cleared and we got the most beautiful golden hour light. Perfect for some shots in the colourful bell tent village provided by Baylily Bell Tents (where else would our newlywed Camp Ivanhoe alumni spend their wedding night?)

Anyone who knows Kirsty knows she has a very serious love affair with smoke grenades, and they made the perfect end to a really brilliant shoot. We are so happy with the end result – it was an ambitious shoot to put together, but everyone worked together so beautifully.

It wouldn’t be a true homage to Wes Anderson without a film, and boy did Robin from Loved Up Films deliver. Using whip pans, tracking shots and crash zooms typical of Wes Anderon’s cinematography, not to mention a killer soundtrack, he created The Lovebirds of Avington Barn. We. Love. IT!