On Wednesday I had so much fun.  I drove up to Lancashire to meet Mark Tattersall, we had lunch and caught up, then we set up a mini photoshoot.  Mark took the pictures and I brought along a boot full of ‘bits and pieces’ from my home, some beautiful English sweetpeas and delicious cupcakes.

I suppose in the world of weddings you would say I ‘styled’ the shoot, but it feels rather odd, as it was more just a collection of pretty things made to look nice.  With this gorgeous (and sometimes stifling) hot weather we’ve had, I wanted to create a small lazy summer picnic.

There are so many fantastic English fruits and flowers around, that I just went for what was about.  The cherries and strawberries are both English and came from my favourite grocery, and when I popped into And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon they had some of their delicious cherry bakewell cupcakes, which couldn’t have worked out better.

The pretty purple sweetpeas were grown in Cornwall and bought from Blossom Flowers in Manchester, one of my fabulous businesses listed on the directory who source a lot of English flowers.  I also added some cow parsley that was growing in the shady woodland behind where we were set up.

All the items are from my home, the lovely wooden crate was bought at a carboot, the bird tiffin tins were a wedding present from my uncle and aunt and can be found at Nkuku, the white and blue enamel bowl was used for clotted cream at our wedding, and the blanket is made from recycled wool and was bought from a National Trust shop.

These gorgeous teacups  – each with a different coloured inside – were rescued from Mr Rigg’s Granny’s kitchen.  She recently passed away and we were allowed to have some of the things left in her flat.  The kitchen was full of gorgeous old crockery, some of which we use everyday, and these teacups were just too pretty to leave.

And not forgetting one of my favourite (!) recipe books – The Pooh Cook Book.  Found at a charity shop this is one of those books I want to cherish forever, and if I ever have kids am determined to cook my way through.  It includes recipes for Pooh’s Raisin Bread for Eating with Honey, Lemon Snow, and Hot Chocolate for a very Bluterous Day.

Mark’s photos make everything look so pretty and elegant – what you can’t see is me off to the side stretching over fences to pick elderflowers or with sticky fingers cutting chunks out of cupcakes.  How lovely does it all look once it’s been captured by a great photographer?

So what do you think of my attempt to make  a pretty scene?  Would you like to see more posts like this featured on the blog?  Have you any ideas for mini shoots we could do? 

I thought it would have made for a lovely setting for an engagement shoot, so if there’s any interest from couples in the North West who’d like to have some photos taken in a relaxing and beautiful setting (with a picnic or something else), send me an email at charlie@thenaturalweddingcompany.co.uk.

The details

All the photos were taken by Mark Tattersall, a wedding photographer based in the North West.  He specialises in creative reportage style photography and his studio is run on an eco policy. Visit his website www.mark-tattersall.co.uk for more details on his wedding packages or get in contact at mail@mark-tattersall.co.uk.

The cupcakes bought from And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon based in Didsbury, Manchester.  The flavours we had were Cherry Bakewell, White & Milk Chocolate Bomb, and Lemon Cheesecake.  They bake and ice the cupcakes by hand and have a committment to using fair trade, local and organic ingredients wherever they can.  They also do weddings and celebrations.  Visit their website www.dishesandspoonfood.co.uk or send them an email at thebaker@dishesandspoonfood.co.uk.

And as mentioned, the sweetpeas bought from Blossom Flowers based in Chorlton, Manchester.  Blossom source a lot of English flowers, foliage and leaves and create beautiful wedding flowers. Visit their website for details or www.blossomflowers.co.uk or email them at shop@blossomflowers.co.uk.