Spiritual Boho Woodland Wedding Inspiration

I adore today’s inspiration wedding shoot put together by Roka Bella Rose Weddings and captured so beautifully by The Unbridled. The colours, the woodland setting, the dark yet warming editing style of the images, the spiritual elements, the gorgeous wedding dresses, the jewellery, the stationery, the florals – honestly there is not one part of this wedding shoot that I don’t love. It is gorgeous, it is earthy, it is beautiful to look at and carries a subtle spiritual intensity which is certainly resonating with me this morning. But above all it comes with a huge dose of gorgeous wedding inspiration for you to draw from, especially evident in the styling of the bride.

I am also proud to say that it features two members of our über cool wedding directory: Indiebride London, who is responsible for the beautiful second wedding dress, and Wonderland Invites who designed the stationery. Two very talented and creative ladies that we are very proud to be promoting and who you should most definitely look up!

Look out for the dyed pampas grass (a trend we’re sure will be huge for 2020), the depth and texture created by the earthy tableware by Febbie Day Ceramics and the wooden eco wedding ring alternatives by Eco Wood Rings.

Roka Bella Rose talks us through this gorgeous shoot, how they drew inspiration from earth and fire elements and all of the talented suppliers involved. They also offer excellent brain storming advice on how to develop your own ideas for your wedding.

Enjoy lovely people, it’s a fantastic shoot…

An Elemental Wedding …

Words by Roka Bella Rose Weddings

Let’s face it, wedding planning is daunting and some decisions are really tough. One of the toughest can be choosing your colour scheme and theme. When I get asked to help design a wedding this is always a good place to start.

I like to try and help our couples think outside the box and think of different ways they can make their wedding really personal and special to them, their individuality and what they love.

Each star sign is linked to one of the four elements: fire, earth, air and water. As I was walking in Wareham Forest with our young baby, Jude The Dude, and our chocolate Labrador, Henna, the idea of an elemental wedding came to me. I searched all the hashtags I could think of, and couldn’t find anyone who had used elemental signs as a theme to base a wedding around. I decided I’d showcase this to couples by organising a fire and earth styled shoot at our new wedding venue near Corfe Castle in Dorset.

Fire and Earth…

I started by writing down the words ‘fire’ and ‘earth’ and thinking of what each of them brought to mind: colours, textures, the feel, any plants or items they made me think of, and I designed the colour scheme and decor around this. This is a great technique you can use to help create your theme or colour scheme. Mood boards are life! I created a mood board and sent it to some hand picked suppliers to ask if they would be part of my vision.

The beauty of a styled shoot is that it is your time to play and let creativity run wild and be free. I wanted all of my suppliers to feel this. I totally trusted what they would bring to the table using my mood board and colour scheme, so I wanted them to do what made their souls sing. What they brought to the table was nothing short of incredible!

The theme throughout were the two elemental symbols, so the ceremony backdrop had to be the everything for this. My husband and I designed it to be interchangeable for any combination of the four signs so it can easily be adapted for couples wishing to hire it. Maia of Maia Sellen Floral Designs made the perfect floral corsage to dress it with. She linked her floral artistry the whole way through the shoot from the ceremony backdrop, to the bouquet and elevated tablescape florals beautifully. You can never have too much pampas grass, right?

Pampas grass, cacti and fir cones… elements colliding in a beautiful mismatch that just somehow works. That sounds like marriage to me. Stunning stationery by Wonderland Invites, the handcrafted ceramics by Febbieday Ceramics and the complimentary glassware by The Fabulous Company all help make the tablescape what it is by complimenting my botanically dyed, handmade table runners and napkins. Never underestimate the fine detailing when planning as it can really help bring the look together as well as adding another dimension to your design.

Two Bohemian Dresses…

There were two aspects of the shoot, the ceremony in our natural woodland basin, and the fairy light tunnel alfresco dining on the courtyard. We needed two dresses. Why restrict yourself to one when you can have two. We are expensive hippies after all.

For the ceremony we chose the relaxed, boho, sustainable, vintage inspired ‘Willow’ by Indiebride London. I mean, come on now, just look at those lace sleeves and back, crushing over here. Miina makes the most beautiful, comfortable dresses for the laid back bride and she has ethics to match.

For the evening part of the shoot we wanted something a little glitzy, we still wanted it to have a boho feel, but with a touch of sparkle. Kayleigh who owns Exclusively Yours Bridal in Blandford decided ‘Jasmine’ by designer Giorgia Couture was the perfect match, and we all totally agreed.

Two dresses need two different looks, so MUA Roanne Lemoine, and Liz, The Artful Hairstylist completed two beautifully boho looks. Liz added some of my botanically dyed silk hair ribbons to the ceremony look, and some of Maia’s florals to the evening look.

Moody and Atmospheric…

Photography is a massive thing for me. The photos of your special day are what you keep forever. Every time you look at them it refreshes the memory and gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside. Really look through portfolios on Instagram and see who you’re most drawn too. For this shoot we wanted moody and atmospheric, we wanted to get the feels, so we needed The Unbridled.

The ceremony shoot in the woodland was totally enchanted. The forest even gave us a perfect fairy ring to play with for some epic photos taken by Carla. Fairy rings aside how about wooden wedding rings for a woodland wedding? Beautifully crafted, Eco Wood Rings to be exact, and jewellery to compliment them by designer Rebecca Furze Jewellery. Oh the beauty! When planning a woodland ceremony you have to try not to get carried away with the fairies and take into account some very real practicalities such as power. Nobody wants to walk down the aisle to complete silence, but surely everybody wants to walk down the aisle to the ethereal sound of the Gongs played by Scania Price, and the Harp played by Amy The Harp Lady. Fairytale!

Just Be Yourselves…

You can plan your wedding however you both want, you don’t have to do what everyone else is doing, just be yourselves. Make yourself a mood board with all the colours and looks you love, and any personal details that make the two of you unique, brainstorm and have fun. Once you have a feel for your wedding write a checklist of all the things you need to style, design, remember, and take into consideration. Use your mood board and apply it to each of these to create a strong theme throughout. Suppliers love a mood board, it gives us a real feel for you guys as a couple. I always create private Pinterest boards with all of my couples. Ssshhh my secret is out! We all add to it and get excited together… yes I really do get as excited as you guys do! I make a lot of personalised items, so this is a great place for me to be able to add photos as I make things so that everything is all in one place.

Once you find a supplier whose style makes your heart sing, they can point you in the direction of others with a similar style to what you’re looking for. Your vibe attracts your tribe, and trust us, you will find your perfect matches.