Bridal Shoot in the Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds

On the last Saturday in March I had the pleasure of working with a lovely lady called Claire Dunkley who designs some beautiful and unusual dresses. I had worked with Claire a few years earlier on a bridal shoot and was very much looking forward to seeing her again and her dresses. We started off early on the Saturday morning and had been given permission to photograph in the Abbey Gardens in Bury St Edmunds. Fortunately the weather was kind to us so we got to use no end of locations in there. Laura, our model for the day was superb to work with and was a complete natural in front of the camera.

I very much enjoyed doing something a little different with the poses and locations and being able to spend longer setting up some more posed images.

To begin with we photographed a gorgeous, vivid pink dress which I think looks beautiful against the yellow stone background.


We then went on to photograph a blueish purple dress with lots of ruffles that moved so beautifully with a swagger as Laura danced around catching the light perfectly.



We also photographed a lighter blue scallop dress which Claire had sown on thousands of sequins and beads all by hand. I like the contrast in this one of the blues and yellows.


As well as the more unusual dresses Claire does make the more traditional white wedding dresses as well. I love these photos taken of Laura outside the gardens with the dress flowing out behind her.


Overall, we were delighted with the end results and Claire is hoping to use many of these images in her publicity material. If you are looking for a one-off wedding dress then I would strongly recommend seeing Claire to see if she can design you the dress of your dreams. I will also be adding some of the beautiful wedding dress photos to the galleries section of the website shortly

I wish Claire all the best with her business and am looking forward to photographing some of her new designs next year. Thanks should also go to Laura (the model) for all her hard work and to Mille Fleurs (for making us up a small posy of flowers to use)