How a Wedding Stationer planned a styled wedding shoot.
Elmley Nature Reserve:
A Styled Wedding Shoot Inspired by Nature, Food & Good Company
There’s something really special about creating a wedding shoot from the ground up. This shoot at Elmley Nature Reserve started with a simple idea: creating a wedding setting that felt relaxed, creative and full of personality, where the stationery felt naturally part of the whole day rather than just an extra detail.
Set within the wild landscape of Elmley, the vision was centred around nature, shared food, sustainability and thoughtful details. We wanted everything to feel warm and welcoming — the kind of wedding where guests gather around long tables, pass plates between each other, stay chatting long after dinner and fully enjoy being together.
The first move was finding the right team. We wanted the overall feel to be warm so the team was key. Though in an industry absolutely full of wonderful people and incredible talent, this was not very hard. So where to start? For me the venue had to be first. Having been a big fan of BBC’s The Traitors, and Francesca Rowan-Plowden. I came across Elmley Nature Reserve as Francesca was the interior designer for the farmhouse and our opening setting for the shoot. I fell in love with her style, the honeymoon suite is so fresh, bright and airy. When I got in touch with Georgina the director at Elmley she was thrilled and so excited for the shoot. It felt such a natural fit.
Secondly, I needed help! I am no stylist or planner so I called upon the gorgeous Penny from Penelope Weddings who has such an elegant look with refined glamour. Penny and I met at a small wedding fair a couple of years ago and she was so friendly and kind, I never forgot her and knew I wanted to work with her. When Penny said yes, I was flooded with relief. I could not have planned this shoot without Penny, she was behind all my calm on the day and she was there at every step along the way in the lead up.
Photographer. I knew it had to be Paul Read. He did not know it perhaps, but we had worked on two weddings together. His photos stop me in my tracks. The talent he has for capturing people is something to be respected. I was blown away with the photos of my stationery and the wedding days. So this was a given, it had to be Paul. And as you can see from the photos, he has used what we supplied, and created magic. I actually took some photos on my phone on the day - I think I will have to post them to show the difference between Pauls photos that are art, and my own!
The styling took inspiration from the surroundings, mixing soft florals and painterly textures with the rustic setting of the barns and open countryside. The colour palette was full of muted peach, blush, soft greens and earthy tones, all designed to complement the landscape rather than compete with it.
Food played a huge part in the feel of the shoot too. Instead of formal plated dining, the menu focused on colourful sharing dishes using seasonal ingredients — vibrant beetroot, squash, peas, herbs and roasted vegetables. It added so much life and warmth to the tables and made everything feel more relaxed and sociable.
Chatting on the phone to Georgina, we discussed the mood and vibe we wanted for the shoot. A light brainstorming session meant that, suddenly, we were looking at food! We wanted the day to feel as authentic as possible, so people sharing food and laughter was key.
Alongside chatting about food, it opened the door to chatting about real-life people — a real couple. And I am so glad we opened that chapter.
See the mood board below that I put together for the shoot. This was so useful when getting suppliers on board, and for me, it helped to keep us aligned with the original brief and not stray too far (which was hard at times!).
So it was set — we would be looking at food!
Elmley has a few recommended suppliers that they like to use for food, and we felt it was important to work with suppliers Elmley knows and trusts, particularly because of the nature of the venue.
Georgina sent me through some options, and Minno seemed perfect. So, we got in contact with Katy at Minno!
Katy’s dishes were absolutely perfect for our brief — both in their sharing nature and their aesthetics. The aroma drifting out of the kitchen was absolutely gorgeous, and the colours that arrived on the table were an incredible fit.
One of my favourite parts of the shoot was tucking into the exquisite food that was placed in front of us!
Katy, a lady of many talents, also delved into cocktails on shoot day. Part of our stationery look was creating a cocktail menu and coasters, so naturally, we needed some beautiful cocktails to go with them!
Here are some more Paul Read shots to drool over!
Speaking of food, what about the CAKE!
I had recently been to an open evening at a venue where I met the talented Shelley. After the event had finished, she handed out her cupcakes, which were the most delicious cupcakes I had ever tasted. So, when it came to planning the shoot, I remembered those cupcakes and just had to ask her to create our cake!
The wedding industry in Kent really is not very big, and it turned out that Shelley had actually made the cake for Penny’s wedding! A wonderful coincidence!
Shelley’s cake did not disappoint. It was creamy, it was decorative, and it was very ‘in’ with its length! We even got to do a couple blowing out the candles and kissing, much to Liz from Reels of Content’s excitement!
Here she is in all her glory — the stunning cake created by Shelley from Shelley’s Cakes.
One I haven’t mentioned yet — another supplier who was one of the OGs of this shoot. Someone I know from Sevenoaks and whose work I just love: Hannah Evans Flowers.
That Hannah Evans of THOSE FLOWERS!
Hannah started her business only in November 2025 and absolutely blew us away with her palette, hard work, preparation and simply divine flowers.
The elements (wind!!) were not totally in her favour, and this was her first shoot — and a big one too, with many different locations and suppliers. So, it was a big learning curve for Hannah, and one which she tells me, now the shoot is over, that she was so happy to have been part of.
Hannah’s flowers were above and beyond, and they were everywhere! Everywhere you turned, she appeared with a new display — all complete showstoppers.
I know Hannah through a friend, and she actually asked me to help create her logo, so it felt very natural to ask Hannah to be part of the shoot.
Launching a new business at a shoot like this is such an exciting thing, and I did apologise to her that it was so soon after Mother’s Day!
Things were coming together!
At this point in my planning, we had a venue, stylist and co-ordinator, photographer, florist, cake designer, chef, and stationery and live illustrator (me, in case you weren’t listening!).
Penny and I were working together in the background, and we organised a day with Georgina to do a site recce. This is where we met Elmley’s wonderful Wedding Co-ordinator, Stephanie, who gave us a fabulous tour and had both Penny and me wondering what life events we had coming up where we could book the space!
Penny knew some wonderful suppliers we might need — things that, in my line of work, I simply hadn’t considered. I genuinely thought the venue would supply these things, such as crockery, glassware, linen and furniture.
Local to me in Sevenoaks are the wonderful Holly and Charlie, who own Locate to Create — a unique and eclectic mix of props and furniture that became an important part of the look of our shoot.
These props feature in almost every shot from the shoot. They really helped to create the look I had envisioned in the mood boards.
We also chose to cover the tables with linen. The barn is a relatively dark space, so we wanted to add colour wherever we could. Just-4-Linen have some fantastic offerings and were happy to help us out.
For crockery and glassware, Penny and Georgina recommended Black Saucers. They were a huge help and had so much to choose from!
Our vision was coming together. Penny was brilliant at bringing it all to life, choosing what to put where and having ideas for so many elements that I simply hadn’t thought about.
Colour was something I was very keen on, so I wanted to look into a candle supplier. I did a lot of research, as new shapes and luxury were something I really wanted to bring into the shoot.
On Etsy, I came across Maison Bohiti — primarily a trade and direct-to-customer candle maker, but with a wish to do more weddings. So, I reached out to them and, gladly, they obliged! They even sent me some antique candle holders to use too.
We could have stopped there. And we almost did. But suppliers kept asking if we would have a couple… in all honesty it was not something I had considered when I initially set out to create this shoot. But without the couple, there would be no dress, hair or makeup supplier. This would have been a great shame! Chatting with Penny we decided to go for it. I am so thrilled we did. It took some research to find a couple - we knew it had to be a real couple. Vix and Ben were getting married days after the shoot and so it felt a brilliant fit. Through a friend, I had another contact Charlotte and knew she would be a fun addition to our day and having two brides enabled us to show off two dresses, two hair-do’s and two bouquets.
Let’s talk dresses! I have known Sarah from Brides Dress Revisited for a couple of years now. Sarah’s shop is full of GORGEOUS pre-loved and off-the-rack gowns. Vix, Charlotte and I had a fantastic day trying on dresses and meeting Sarah’s amazing team! We had too much of a choice of dresses but decided on two that worked well for our brides and venue. Each had a different look which made for two different looks for the shoot.
And last but absolutely not least - For hair and make-up we were lucky enough to work with the wonderful Aston and Emily who made our brides look beautiful as ever!
I suppose we should also have a moment for ME and stationery!!
Designing stationery for a shoot has the advantages of creating a suite that I get to make all design decisions on and try out looks that I have been desperate to try. Starting with shape. I was so keen to create shape through cutting - starting with oval invitations, circular menus, with a scallop edge and an upside down, arch welcome sign.
I also wanted to experiment with velvet ribbon, so I included this on the magazine for the day, the welcome arch and the table name cards.
Another fun addition - creating leaf cuts for the place names.
Here are some of Pauls amazing photos which show off my stationery suite.
The fantastic Lizzie from Reels of Content came along too - it was fab to have video footage and behind the scenes content creation from Lizzie. Lizzie also has a client who creates delicious Macarons so we were lucky enough to have some on display too on the day.
I just wanted to extend a massive thank you to our team of suppliers for the day. And a special thanks to Penny for all her support in the lead up. And to Paul for his tremendous patience on the day and for running around creating such gorgeous shots.
Full list of suppliers below:
Planning and Stationery @feather.ink
Planning and styling on the day @penelope_weddings
Venue @elmleynature
Photographer @paulreadphoto_weddings
Content @reels_of_content
Florist @hannahevansflowers
Dresses and Jewellery @bridesdressrevisited
Cake and Biscuits @shelleys_cakes
Food and Cocktails @minnokitchen
Hair @astondavieshairandmakeupartist
Makeup @willowandrosemakeup
Furniture @locatetocreate
Tableware @blacksaucerstableware
Macarons @madmacaron
Linens @just_4_linen
Candles @maisonbohiti
Models @vix.rodwell @charfortune13