Severndroog Castle Woolwich Harnaam Kaur Bridal Shoot

I have Time Out to thank for some of my adventures – the vegetarian Chinese or the zombie run. It was also the place that I noticed that there was a Beard Exhibition on at Somerset House and there was only one female portrait. The portrait was of Harnaam Kaur. Harnaam has polycystic ovary syndrome, which meant she started growing a beard from 11. Harnaam’s inspiring story features on Rock n Roll Bride today so make sure you read it!

I had always been intrigued by the thought of floral beards and a thought came to me of wouldn’t it be cool to have a floral beard on a woman. I emailed Harnaam and she was excited and wanted to get involved.

The location for the shoot was Severndroog Castle in Woolwich. It is the only castle in South London and run entirely by volunteers. It had laid derelict for nearly 20 years and was saved from private developers to preserve its historical, architectural and constructional heritage and its environment. It has just received its marriage licence so you can get married onsite and hold a small reception there.  It is worth climbing up that hill to see the view from the viewing platform alone.

The shoot centred on two looks – bold emerald/gold and crimson and neutral/white but most of all we decided to be inspired by Harnaam’s unique look.

It was amazing to see with such a loose brief how much creativeness each supplier brought to the shoot.

The bold tablescape by Jacqueline of Blessed Union Events included a sari inspired gold sequined and pink table with gold bracelet napkin rings and table jewellery. Crimson charger plates and coloured glasses mingled with scarlet peonies, emerald satin napkins, after dinner mints, gold cutlery, place cards and menus by Mani’s Creative Services.

Lucy from Wild Coco created a bright floral turban crown with bright crimson and orange flowers and fern to complement Harnaam’s turban. A three tier hand painted cake with gold leaf took centre stage on the cake table surrounded by hand made heart shaped marshmallow pops and multi-coloured meringue drops.

The neutral look featured a circlet of gyp, cream rose armbands and a wild flower floral beard. Beautiful muted tones of green and orange macaroons with mini cakes circled the two tier cake made by Ellie from Milk Street Kitchen. She had replicated the delicate flowers on the tea length wedding dress on the cake.

Harnaam wore a tea length wedding dress from Cutting Edge Brides in Bexley with a cerise full petticoat. Cutting Edge Brides ensured that the dress was fitted perfectly to Harnaam’s measurements, so I know any brides going for a fitting will be safe in her hands.

Her makeup was done by Kam, a local Gravesend make up artist with a smoky eye look to enhance her eyes.

A big thank you to Cassandra (as always) for shooting behind the scenes. Till the next adventure!

Here are some images from the shoot. Enjoy!

Suppliers

• Venue: Severndroog Castle Woolwich, SE London http://www.severndroogcastle.org.uk/
• Model: Harnaam Kaur https://instagram.com/harnaamkaur/
• Make up artist: Kam Sandhu https://www.facebook.com/kamsmidastouch
• Stationery: Mani’s Creative Services (Tayjal Mistry) https://www.facebook.com/ManisCreativeServices
• Wedding Dress: Cutting Edge Brides, Bexley, Kent http://www.cuttingedgebrides.com
• Cakes: Milk Street Kitchen (Ellie) http://milkstreetkitchen.co.uk/
• Flowers, Floral Crowns and Beards: Wild Coco (Lucy Mooney) http://www.wild-coco.com/
• Tablescape Design: Blessed Union Events (Jacqueline Mars) https://instagram.com/blessedunionevents/
• Photographer: Urban Bridesmaid (Louisa Coulthurst) http://www.urbanbridesmaid.com
• 2nd photographer (behind the scenes): Cassandra Watson http://www.cwatsonphotography.co.uk/