Modern Vintage Wedding Inspiration at Deer Park Country Hotel, Devon

The beautiful venue of Deer Park Country Hotel is the location of today’s modern vintage wedding shoot, with beautiful period features, pink touches galore and British bridalwear – it’s the perfect mix! Claire of Claire Bemister Photography and Marie of Marie Chandler Bridal coordinated the shoot to create a vision of how modern and vintage can be mixed to make something chic and alternative for your big day. There’s lots of inspo for you to take from this one. Here we catch up with them and the rest of the team to find out about this modern vintage wedding at Deer Park Country Hotel in Devon.

“I love a good contrast/juxtaposition and the opportunity to think a little outside the box so a contemporary vintage wedding style was perfect for the theme of the shoot! Both myself and Marie Chandler Bridal both wanted to shoot something a little more editorial than a typical styled shoot, and really wanted to tap into a true modern vintage theme. Marie’s couture has many influences from her background in costume design and so she was totally on board with the idea of taking some of her early 1900s style silhouettes and uplifting them against a modern backdrop and styling.”

“We honed in on some 1920s style features that we wanted to carry through the design aspect such as the cake, the stationary etc, but we didn’t want it to become a “Great Gatsby” theme or too obviously Art Deco, so we settled on a scallop shape.”

“We also wanted it to be gentle, with some romance and elegance, and we decided that a soft but vibrant pink was the way to go. We carried this subtle scallop detail through to the beaded bridal top, modernised by the silk bridal trousers, and elevated with a vintage style beaded cap. To avoid this then becoming “too modern” we used another separates set for our other model – this time pairing a top from Marie’s “Nashville” collection that had a Victoriana/Edwardian feel with a modern sleek silk skirt and really amped up the ruffles with a headpiece by W-Collective. In pink, of course.”

“We carried this vision of pink and delicate excess across in the use of veils too – why wear one when you can wear two?! More is more, right?! The veils, be they ombre, beaded, or a gentle hue of pink, were layered and draped around to soften and highlight features in the room, and even over the seating plan by Zoe Barker Design. Using a soft fabric such as tulle can be such a graceful and simple yet effective way of dressing a space, especially when you layer the tones and lengths of fabric.”

“This elegance, clean lines with a touch of frou-frou can be seen in the cake, stunningly designed by Avant Garde Cake Studio, displayed on a modern pink cake stand. The pink sugar scallops dance their way up the tiers and it hurtles into life with the amazing blooms bursting out like roses from an old building, or coral through the rocks under the sea.”

“These beautiful blooms were provided by Peonies From Pluto, and Alice created two stunning bouquets. The first was a large, loosely tied bouquet, full of large country garden flowers in full bloom such as lilac and peonies, and some stunning protea, with a wild and romantic feeling. The second was a smaller posy, with a slightly moodier feel to offset the vibrancy of the first bouquet. It was full of delicate anemones amongst gentle peachy toned peonies, and was just stunning. The pink blooms offset amongst the green foliage are brought out in the ring, kindly loaned by London Victorian Ring Company. The pink parti-sapphire changes hue dependent on the light, transitioning between pink and green in its stunning platinum Art Deco setting, perfect for a modern vintage wedding!”

You can see the ring in a close-up alongside Zoe’s gorgeous stationary. She again utilised this gentle scallop detail, and soft pink colour with the idea of layers. The invite has layers tied together with a vintage style covered button and a modern slimline typography, and the curved corners of the invite really raise that soft elegance of the layered watercolour background to a whole new level. The same concept is used in her signage and is truly stunning.”

“We chose to shoot at Deer Park, because we desperately wanted a venue that had both a modern and vintage feel to it, and in particular with beautiful suites. We wanted to shoot in a bridal suite to give that softness and intimacy, and just to do something different to the typical table set-up. Deer Park was pretty perfect for that – Sophie, the wedding coordinator, even confirmed that yes, they did indeed have the roll-top bath we had been dreaming of! Because the rooms have been styled so well, they needed very little additional dressing (definitely something to bear in mind when you are wedding planning). We simply had a few vintage glass bottles and liquor glasses (sourced from second hand shops and family cabinets), a few left-over flowers and some extra tulle – a really simple concept that was very effective and can be easily carried forward throughout a day for table dressing and beyond.”

“Deer Park has wonderfully high ceilings which just call out for something that emphasises their height – balloons! Joanna from Balloons and Ribbons kindly provided an array of tones in pink, blush, cream and green. Balloons are a very simple and effective way to draw the eye upwards and to draw your colours through a space, whilst feeling whimsical and fun. This contemporary whimsical feeling was used to balance out a vintage approach to the posing of our models for the images. Due to the photographic methods of the day, Victorian and Edwardian wedding images are typically strongly posed and relatively stoic, and we wanted to incorporate an element of that for this shoot.”

“Toni Searle Beauty gave our models a wonderfully natural romantic look with a strong eye, picking up some of the hues of the anemones whilst also complimenting our models natural skin tones. This look highlighted their natural features and beauty, but was still dramatic enough to make them stand out. You want to be relaxed and feel like your own amazing self on your day.”

“Hannah of Hair by Hannah gave us tousled romantic up-dos hinting of the era with chignons, but with less restriction for a more modern feel. The chignon was perfect for adding a few delicate florals, or for holding in a veil either above or below. Steffanie’s side chignon was perfectly balanced to offset the beaded headpiece. I think they’re absolutely perfect to let the styling and atmosphere sing”

The Team- Modern Vintage Wedding Inspiration at Deer Park, Devon

BridalStyling and Photography: Claire Bemister Photography @clairebemisterphotography

Concept: Claire Bemister Photography and Marie Chandler / Bridal Wear and Beaded Headpiece: Marie Chandler Bridal@mariechandlerbridal/ Bridal Veils and Tulle Headpiece: W-Collective @w_collective / Make-up: Toni Searle Beauty @tonisearlemua/ Hair: Hair by Hannah @hairbyhannahuk / Stationery: Zoe Barker Design @zoebarkerdesign/ Balloons: Balloons and Ribbons @balloonsandribbonsuk/ Cake: Avant Garde Cake Studio @avantgardecakestudio / Flowers: Peonies From Pluto @peoniesfrompluto / Ring: London Victorian Ring Company @london_victorian_ring_co/ Venue: Deer Park Country Hotel @deerparkweddings @deerparkcountryhouse /Beaded Hat: Pearls and Swine @pearlsandswine / Models: Steffanie Fisk @steff_wiltcher , Kiah Jones @kiahjones_