Enchanted World Of Elegance At Evergreen Garden Venue With Helena Couture Designs And Her Team Of Wedding Professionals

Inspiration – The Foundation For All My Ideas.

Stepping Through The Grand Wrought Iron Gates At Evergreen Garden Venue, Is Like Stepping Into An English Fairy Tale. The Modern World Falls Away, As You Are Whisked To This Enchanted Land, Where All Your Senses Are Enhanced, Creating Memories, Forever Etched, Never Forgotten.

Anyone who knows me, knows how I am inspired by everything around me.  When people ask how I come up with my designs and shoot ideas, I tell them the environment I am in at the time and this shoot was no different.

I originally had a conceptual shoot idea for this dress, FLORENCE, sorted for a different model with a different theme, but the universe was telling me something different.  There were many hours of alterations required for the dress to fit the previous model correctly, time which I was running noticeably short on.  For part of 2020, my staff and I had spare time, due to COVID-19 but as I was now at the beginning stage of two years’ worth of shoots to be shot in six weeks, time for minimal alterations was all I could afford. 

One of my main business principles, is that the garment I design for my client must fit perfectly and suit her figure shape.  It’s a matter of giving my client what they need, sometimes instead of what they want, while still having them and myself feeling overjoyed with the end result and this is no different when I match a model to a dress for a shoot. 

All was not lost on the previous model, as I now have a new design, which I will be starting soon and excited to add to my collection. I’m even more excited that it will suit her figure shape and personality perfectly too, but that’s a different story, for a different shoot.  Back to the inspiration for this shoot.

My model Tina is a professional dancer and when she came to try a few dresses on, Florence was the winner.  The way she twirled and moved in the dress, bought it to life and from there the whole scene for the shoot feel into place before my eyes and it was just a matter of organising the vendors, which was easy, when I explained the idea.  We were lucky enough that Tina’s partner Carlo was able to be her “other half” in the shoot, so the chemistry was already there and shows through in the images and video.

When I coordinate a shoot I do not like to hinder the creative ideas the vendors have in their chosen profession, so I only ever give a rough guideline/story board for the shoot and look forward to what they come up with and I’m sure you will agree that result these images and video have portrayed is awesome!

I wanted this shoot to have a certain amount of European formality, while still being free with the movement of dance, semi-modern style and colour of dress, while having Naomi, our harpist playing in the background set the stage.

It was winter and many plants at Evergreen Garden Venue were in hibernation, but this was a bonus for our shoot, as I wanted the brown/charcoal rawness from the tree branches, green bushes, concrete statues and sandstone to be the backdrop and the dress and flowers to be the colour.  It worked beautifully.  Even the charcoal suit Carlo was wearing, was his own, with the pink hues in his shirt and tie subtly showing enough colour to compliment Tina, the hair and makeup, flowers, food, and our dress.

It has always been a pleasure to shoot at Evergreen Garden Venue and as I have shot there several times in the past, I always try to better myself, every time I shoot there.  I have known Marina and John for many years now and each time we catch up, which is usually when we shoot together, I see how much more their venue has to offer.  I discover something new, whether it is hidden in the garden or a new concrete statue on their manicured lawns, or the iron gates or heavy wooden doors that open to a lovely new surprise.  You might recognise the venue, as it has been used as the venue for several reality TV shows. One of the best venues to have an intimate function or even elopement.

Moss and Stone never fail to impress me with their forward-thinking designs.  We have collaborated a few shoots together recently and Sandie the owner and her staff, always likes to give me something different to the last time we shot together.  It is always a nice surprise, seeing what her team come up with and this time was no exception.  The bouquet and buttonhole made up of dried foliage in soft, light warm shades complimented the bride and groom’s ensemble and gave a magical feel to the shoot. 

Amanda from Amanda Higl Hair and Makeup went for an up style with the hair, to add to the formality of the shoot and to not “clutter” Tina’s décolletage or shoulders, as there was enough detail from the dress.  The subtle makeup, in soft warm pinks is all that Tina required, as her facial features are pretty much perfect, and Amanda only need to highlight what Tina already had, natural beauty. 

Amanda and I have worked on shoots together for years and I have often turned to Amanda for advice on a shoot, as I sometimes have my head in the clouds and Amanda brings me back to reality.  We often joke that Amanda is also my clock, when at a shoot, to stop us from falling behind.  It is always a pleasure to have Amanda work along side me in any collaboration and I’m always blown away with how she can turn makeup and hair into bridal art.

Craig, the head chef from In Season Catering did a wonderful job with the food presentation and taste. You will notice how the colour and style of the food matched the theme and the taste was divine. Not only were the models lucky enough to taste the food but some of the vendors too.  Moet, our female dog model, was the luckiest as she was rewarded with both the remaining eye fillet and salmon AND she ate her veggies too! What a good girl.  Amanda and I were lucky enough to sample the dessert and boy did it our taste buds jump for joy.  Seriously, if you need catering for your event, In Season Catering is one of the best and you will be satisfied visually and with a full, content stomach. 

Geoff from Motion Art Cinema did such an awesome job of the video.  I really wanted a videographer for this shoot, as I felt it was important to capture the movement from each scene, especially the dance, but Geoff got much more than I anticipated and that’s why I leave it to the experts.  I knew of Geoff’s work, years before I ever met him in real life, and he was the only videographer I wanted on this shoot and was so happy he was able to make it and when you see this video, you will see why too.

Last but definitely not least is Ben and Hope Photography.  I have only been collaborating on shoots with Ben and Hope for just over a year, but it feels like we have collaborated for years. We clicked straight away, when they saved a shoot of mine last year, when the photographer originally organised, was too ill to do the shoot that day. 

Ben wanted to meet with Marina and myself prior to the shoot, so we could go over what we all wanted to achieve on the day and would run smoothly, which it did.  Ben has always been honest with me and will let me know if an idea of an image I have, will work or not, or if the image is better in a different location.  The hardest thing to deal with, when working with Ben and Hope, is culling the images, as they are always so good and as you can see, these images were hard to cull! 

Anyway, I better go, as this was suppose to be a short blog, but it’s always hard for me to keep it short, when there are so many great things to say, but I now need to follow the saying, “a picture says a thousand words” and I hope you enjoy our story, as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Related Tag: Wedding Gowns Brisbane

Helena x

It is always so much fun collaborating with such a great team, that it’s hard to say it’s work.
I would like to thank my team of creative industry professionals, who helped turn my dream, this shoot, into a reality…

P.S – If you’ve looked at the whole blog, can you spot something we had to change part way through the shoot?