Persephone Bridal Portraits by Debbie Lourens

Afternoon, my lovelies! Time for some unusual and pretty inspiration, courtesy of Debbie Lourens, a Cape Town-based photographer. Debbie has a fresh approach to bridal portrait sessions for those brides who have approached her wanting to ‘rock the frock’. I am not always a huge fan of the so-called ‘trash the dress’ sessions as they CAN be tacky, but do I love the idea of a bride getting to wear her dress again and create something special and beautiful together with her photographer! In this case, Debbie was inspired by her own love of Greek mythology (which I totally share) to produce a shoot themed around the myth of the goddess Persephone. In case you’re not familiar with the story, it goes that Persephone (the daughter of Zeus and harvest goddess Demeter) was kidnapped as a young maid by Hades, god of the Underworld. Her mother, devastated, went searching for her, and eventually Hades agreed to allow Persephone to return to her mother, but first gave her a pomegranate to eat. When Demeter saw Persephone with the ruby stain on her lips, she knew that her daughter had tasted the fruit of life, and made a new home for herself. So a bargain was made. Each spring, Persephone returns to the world, heralded by flowers. Each autumn, she enters to the underworld, and as her mother grieves, the winter season comes. Lovely, isn’t it? And what a perfect inspiration for boho brides.Read More

Calm Waters {and a Vera Wang Dress}

Some questions are hard. What’s the meaning of life? Where is Lord Lucan? When Miranda and Steve got married on Sex and the City, did their son become Brady Brady? But when photographer Shireen Louw asked me if I’d like to feature a gorgeous couple out on a yacht with incredible views of Cape Town and a Vera Wang dress, it might have been the easiest question I’ve ever answered. Hells yes. So here it is. Drop whatever you’re doing, and enjoy the abundant loveliness.Read More

Five Brides

Good morning friends! I have something a little different for you today, but I absolutely love it! A trash-the-dress/rock-the-frock session with a difference! I was intrigued when I spotted these pics over on Joanne Markland‘s blog, of five bonny brides walking along a Cape Town beach. It turned out that this was a very special photo shoot put together by five cousins: Hailey, Melissa, Leigh, Rene and Robynne-Leigh. The girls decided that, once the last of them got married, they would all get back into their wedding dresses one more time and have photographs taken together. Jo shot Robynne’s wedding last year, and soon after, the cousins came to her with their idea.

Unfortunately on the day it was extremely windy and cold, but this didn’t dampen anyone’s excitement and enthusiasm as they put on their sneakers and played princess on Sunset Beach near Milnerton. As they said: “it was great fun and created memories… ones we will never forget”.

What do you think? Would you rock the frock with your besties?Read More