I have a fun little inspiration shoot today from a great group of wedding professionals in Townsville (see more on the Townsville Wedding Team website). They got together last month to stage a “Make Believe Wedding”. I think getting together with other vendors like this can be so much fun! It allows vendors to try new things without the constraints of a real wedding day and gives us some lovely inspiration to pour over. Today’s shoot is full of citrus and summer and such a nice relief to gaze at in the middle of winter!

Honey of Insight Creative who photographed the inspiration shoot, sent over the photos today and together with a mood board of images, worked with the vendors to create the shoot “Inspired by light, bright days with a hint of crispness, freshness and memories of easy, laid back summer days with friends…

Citrus, rustic, vintage, organic, pastels, bunting, earthy, weathered & worn, antique.”

Honey explained in detail the inspiration behind the shoot. “With the Make Believe Wedding we really wanted to show local brides that they could achieve something truly special and unique using some of the amazing suppliers we have right here in North Queensland.

I adore the citrus tones of lemon yellow and mint green with creams and greys, so we used these colours as our starting point. We wanted to steer clear of the beach style weddings that we see so much of up here, so we decided on a rustic style – which went just beautifully with our colour scheme.”

Lace & Tie Design ([email protected] 0448 284 010) created the stationery for the shoot, including invitations, place cards and cake buffet signs.

The ‘bride’ wore a gown from Wendy Makin paired a hairpiece from Vintage Rose. The ‘bridesmaids’ wore gowns in citrus yellow and mint from Cheryl’s Boutique.

Boheme Beauty styled the makeup for the mock bridal party while Tiki On Akers styled the hair. Jewels were from Jewellery By Design.

The flowers for the inspiration shoot were styled by Townsville Flower Market.

The ‘groom’ and his ‘groomsmen’ wore grey suits from New Park Suit Hire & Menswear.

The shoot took place at Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms. Honey says “We were in heaven when we found our beautiful location – the Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms – North Queensland’s oldest heritage listed building, built around 1865. A gorgeous old Queenslander building with timber verandah, rusty tin roof and chippy paint in abundance – a photographer’s dream! Also right next door – a little orchard, just perfect for our ceremony.

Jennifer Celotto of Dragonfly Ceremonies ‘acted’ as the celebrant.

Honey recalls “Our model bride and groom are a real-life couple so the love was real (as was the kiss in the wedding video!), and all of the ‘guests’ were their friends – so it was such a fun day for everyone involved.”  (Can you spot the bridesmaid and groomsmen who were a Polka Dot couple? )

The girls wore shoes from Shoedini.

Honey says “We styled the wedding to have lots of casual rustic elements – metal trunks and wooden crates, reclaimed windows, old bottles and vases, vintage tea cups and wine glasses, well loved tables, and a mish-mash of old chairs – and softened the look with handmade bunting made from op-shop doileys and scrap fabric, and simply stunning flowers in creams and yellows.” Cassandra from Out Of The Blue Events helped plan and styled the shoot.

Honey says “All up we had 18 local suppliers involved, covering almost everything you would have at an actual wedding – we even had a sit-down meal and full dessert table – yum!” Yongala Lodge catered the mock reception and provided wine & drinks from Yalumba Wines.

Happy Cakes created a range of sweet citrus inspired treats for the cake buffet which included a lemon yellow two tiered wedding cake.

Townsville Wedding Videos created this fun video of the mock wedding

Congratulations to all the vendors involved and thank you for sharing the shoot with us on Polka Dot Bride! What wonderful inspiration for a Summer wedding!