A Very 50s Rockabilly Shoot – Tiger Lily Bus Company

As the end of August is drawing near, I thought it would be fab to brighten up your day with this gorgeous Rockabilly shoot from Fleming Photo and Tiger Lily Bus Company that took place at Gate Street Barn.

Lex was first contacted by Marsh and Gwenda about the shoot – I knew I was going to be on board. Having worked with them both before, I knew we were all roughly coming from the same idea. Then I was shown Tiger Lily the bus and instantly I could see it all come together. Coming from a very relaxed, non-traditional approach in how I shoot weddings, it was exciting to plan a style shoot round a bus!

Instead of overly posing the models, I got them to play games, tell jokes and generally have a laugh; something that really suited the overall look we were going for. My favourite part of the day however was getting Molly, our bride for the day, to feed a baby calf in her pink ombre Oh My Honey dress!

Gwenda of The Vintage Floral Design Company and The Vintage Floral Design Studio​:
“I met Marsha early on in my wedding industry career and I was so excited by her latest venture with the fabulous Tiger Lily! I instantly envisaged a bold and beautiful colour scheme, the epitome of Summer with a hint of the exotic. Florally, for the bouquet I combined lilies (naturally!) with alstromeria (also know as Peruvian lilies) and some epic protea and some statement phoenix palm
leaves. The buttonhole featured some Blushing Bride mini-protea and a lily bud. On the bus, I combined lilies in our key colours of pink, orange and yellow all along the rails on the ceiling. The table decor includes small arrangements of the key bouquet elements. For the stationery, I again reflected the three main colours and the key motif – more lilies!”

Marsha of the Tiger Lily Bus Company​:
“Tiger Lily is the real deal. Born in 1954 with beautiful curved roof windows flooding the inside with natural light. Sympathetically restored to keep her vintage feel. Now beautifully transformed to serve English Bubbly and cocktails. The perfect unique addition to any outdoor wedding to get the party started from reception drinks on arrival and all through the evening. This really is a bus like no other!”

Andy from Locke & Busby was on hand to offer two of their custom made cinema signs for the day. Their stunning red and white love-heart cinema sign was the perfect way to lead hypothetical guests from the bus into Gate Street Barn. “The pink and orange jumbo balloons add a splash of colour and fun – set up by The Sweet Hostess. Each balloon is adorned with pastel and silver paper garlands. The cake stand was the perfect colour match to the fabulous Tiger Lily Bus!”

The cute peep toes from Marsha Hall Handmade Shoes depicted the elegance of the 50’s styling. Tying in the beautiful colours from the lillies theme, they were made from a gorgeous coral kid suede with detachable bows in yellow suede and a playful pink patent threaded through a crystal heart to give a bit of sparkle, because diamonds are a girls best friend after all!

Let It Be Cake: The 50s wedding cake was themed to match the beautiful dresses of that era. We added some lush pink frills to bottom and top tiers to copy the layers of frills undergarments of the wedding dresses used. We used a light pink colour to match the gorgeous colour scheme. The white and blush diamonds add a bit of glamour!

Amanda White Hair and Make-Up: The look for this shoot was very much a modern twist to the 1950s theme – keeping in mind the era we wanted more punchy makeup to compliment the ‘fun and flirty’ aspects to the shoot. I wanted Molly’s eyes to pop, using smouldering brown, orange and gold hues to also tie in nicely with the theme. Throughout the shoot I kept to a lipstick palette of vivid pinks and oranges. I wanted the hair to be playful but to have volume much like the 50s era. Molly had a great shade of silvery blonde which enabled this look to stay modern when styled. I wanted the hair to be loose in places so it retained softness and to keep that girlie/fun theme throughout the shoot.

I wanted to try to film the shoot loosely the way we would approach a wedding film. Confetti & Silk film with a cinematic mindset – linking scenes with transition shots, rather than jump from section to section sharply. I started with establishing the concept of the shoot, setting the scene and moving the viewer through the day and how it developed. We built up to the couple being together in the bus – much like at a real wedding. Starting with makeup shots as you would a bride in the morning through to having the bride and groom relaxing together at the end of the day in the bus, all the while trying to incorporate as much of the other vendors contributions again in seamless transitions.

Styled Shoot from Confetti & Silk Wedding Video on Vimeo.

How awesome is this shoot? I am in love with Tiger Lily and all the gorgeous styling from the day. Huge thanks to all the suppliers involved and to Fleming Photo for sharing with Marry Me Ink! Enjoy the rest of your summer!