Today on Wedding Friends we are featuring a spectacular creation, The Color Me Beautiful Styled Shoot. An inspirational styled shoot put together by top wedding suppliers in Gauteng directed by the awesome team of As Sweet As Images. Assisting with the planning and co-ordinating was Tickled Pink Weddings and Events and the stationery was done by Ninirichi Style Studio. This is a first of its kind and Wedding Friends is very proud to feature this piece of art!

{Who conceived this look?}

The look was conceived by Amy Wolland from As Sweet As Images. With her love for fun and colorful images she wanted to inspire future brides and grooms to think outside of the box for their wedding day. In keeping with the Summer 2013 fashion colour palette, she decided to bring together some of the top suppliers in Johannesburg to create an inspirational styled shoot and approached Natalie Elliot from Tickled Pink Weddings and Events to assist her with planning and co-ordinating the shoot and bringing all themes, suppliers and aspects together to create an exciting look.

{Please describe the theme}

This wedding theme is based on a vibrant, bright, colorful, yet stylish and sophisticated look for the modern day bride.

{What was the inspiration?}

The summer 2013 fashion colour pallet - brights, pastels, neutrals. The current trend of merging styles from different eras - vintage mixed with retro mixed with modern.

{Styling the banquet table}

* We started with building a neutral white canvas of furniture to off-set the bright pops of colour we would introduce.
* A large white repurposed barn door formed table.
* We used an eclectic and quirky selection of containers and objects scattered along the length of the table -in which the flowers would be arranged. Different textures, heights, shapes and proportions where used to bring visual interest and detail to the design. These containers were all given a white coat of paint to tie everything together to form part of the neutral canvas.
* White tiffany chairs dressed up with cerise pink button-tuck cushions.
* We added beautiful high back bride and groom feature chairs - to add height and glamour to the table. We created "Mr." and "Mrs." signs for the chairs from our honeycomb fan flowers.

{Now for the color}

We used our high gloss candy color range of charger-plates as the foundation of the design to introduce the pops of colour to the table - creating a polka-dot effect.
* We then paired these charger-plates with complimentary colored linen napkins.
* Arranged balls and single stems of color grouped flowers were added to the white containers.
* The menu and name cards added a stylish graphic element to the overall table design - again using neutral white and greys as the base and introducing pops of paired colours. The combined use of retro fonts, polka-dot and sophisticated graphic lattice patterns gave the design a contemporary edge. and sophisticated graphic lattice patterns gave the design a contemporary edge.

{What are the key elements of the look} {Styling the details}

The stylist team from Ninirichi Style Studio - took Amy's colour me Beautiful brief - and together with Tickled Pink, their combined skill and expertise brought the theme alive through the various visual elements:·

{Bridal party styling} {Venue} {Car}

The same design / styling principles were carried through to all the details: Colorful soda welcome drinks served in mini milk bottles, striped paper straws decorated with mini pinwheel toppers and matching graphic tags. Colorful photo-booth backdrop made from layered fan flowers. Colorful lounging areas: Bright cerise pink feature sofas, accessorized with round cushions and complimentary colour grouped floral arrangements. Candy Buffet: Neutral grey wooden backdrop dressed up with colourful paper pom-poms and polka-dot paper punch crafted garlands. Color grouped candy and matching graphic tags. The centre-piece a three tier cube polka-dot cake. tags. The centre-piece a three tier cube polka-dot cake. tags. The centre-piece a three tier cube polka-dot cake.

Bride and bridesmaid dresses - opted for white all round to again create a neutral pallet to off-set the pops of color brought in through the shoes, accessories, floral hair decorations, make-up and bouquets.

{Do you have any stylist tips for brides and grooms who are keen to recreate the look themselves?} {Suppliers}

Groom - grey two-piece suite with quirky choice of pastel yellow shirt and turquoise bow-tie and suspenders.

The venue choice was key to the success of the shoot as we needed amazing light and a dark/ green background to ensure that the Colors were able to pop naturally.

A colorful, quirky car was required to add to the fun loving nature of the shoot and merge with the chosen palette of colors. We selected a beautiful Vintage 1960 Jaguar Mark IX. We packed the boot full with suitcases and the brides shoes to add to the vibe!

A few key tips to introducing a multiple colours pallet - to keep its sophistication and to avoid the risk of the design looking childish

* Select a combination of bright saturated colours and toned down pastels to bring visual balance.
* Pair bright colours with complimentary pastels.
* Don't combine too many colours together- rather separate the colors into pops or groups throughout the design.
* Tone down the colour by off-setting it against neutrals - in our case off- white and greys.
* Don't use all the colours in equal proportion - rather let some colors dominate - in our case cerise pink, pastel yellow and turquoise blue were the dominant colors in the design.
* Props: Introduce colourful props during your photo-shoot to create those fun photo opportunities to add even more color and variety to your photo album. We used a giant clear balloon filled with colourful polka-dots and a multicolor tissue paper tassel string.
* A memorable wedding design is all in the detail - carry through your colorful styling into every aspect of your design. Guests notice the small details and are made to feel truly special by all the effort you put into the styling - not to mention your wedding album will be a beautiful colorful conversation piece for years to come!

Photography: As Sweet As Images | Co-ordination: Tickled Pink Weddings and Events | Stationery: Ninirichi Style Studio