Tropical Bird Neon Wedding Styling

Today’s bridal shoot is so vibrant and full of colour and quirkiness; you are going to love it! The shoot, captured by Rebecca Douglas Photography, was inspired by a neon colour palette and the tropics. We adore the neon details, tropical bird elements, amazing feather eyelashes, tribal-esque necklace; in fact, we are just in awe of the whole thing.

If you fancy having a wedding that is full of fun, we hope you take lots of inspiration from this fantastic shoot…

The Concept and Styling

“I first had the idea for this shoot about 5 months ago. I woke from a tropical neon dream, literally, and rang Rebecca Douglas straight away. Our combined passions for neon and birds led me to set the style. I am a lover of the bright, the bold and the ballsy, and as the last 5 months have gone by I have been increasingly inspired by the tropical and tribal patterns, trends and colours that have come about in the fashion world.

“Initial styling thoughts included neon (obviously), tribal patterns, rainforest foliage, natural textures and, of course, tropical birds.

“Although we work primarily within the wedding industry, this shoot was always going to be more of a fashion-led one, with a stunning Native American model in a non-wedding dress made by herself, a floral tribal-esque necklace to replace the classic bridal bouquet and hot pink feathered eyelashes!

“The concept was then emphasised with the use of prop styling and dressing by myself, including neon beaded backdrops, cocktail umbrella letters, rainforest table settings and a giant bird cage sourced from the lovely Scotts of Margate.

“The guys all did such a fantastic job of interpreting my brief and went above and beyond anything I imagined.” — Jenny Sinclair, Bellaboo and Beau

The Model and the Dress

“Naturally wedding dresses are often overworked as they are a statement of a lifetime for some brides-to-be. What I wanted to do was highlight how the simplicity of style and silhouette can be just as effective, by implementing on-trend colour contrast accessories.” — Nova Clarke, Nova Clarke’s Workshop

The Cake

“Jenny had given us a detailed brief on the style, look and feel for this Tropicana shoot, together with an inspiring Pinterest board, which really excited me! The use of the neons and bright, bold colours got my creative juices flowing straight away for a “thinking outside the box” cake design. I sent a few designs over to Jenny and elements were pulled from the sketches to bring together the final design. This incorporated tropical birds and parrots that were cut out of sugar and hand painted with a mixture of melted cocoa butter and amazing edible dust colours that I sourced to achieve the look, complemented and highlighted with some Henna inspired gold edible lace. The bold design was then set on a blank sharp edged white base layer cake, for that crisp and bright look to really be brought to the fore. The cake was finished with neon netting and ribboning to the base board for that final pop of bright. It was an amazing shoot to have been involved in, and can’t wait for another one!” — Liz Chatfield, Sylvia’s Kitchen

The Stationery

“The Neon Pink and Rainforest Green were the stand out colours for me when designing the stationery. I complemented the colours with a bold, geometric Perroquet, some simple stripes and tropical inspired fonts to complete the look.” — Jennie Whittaker, Whippy Weddings

The Nails

“I wanted long, bold fingernails so I created the length with acrylic nail extensions with CND liquid and powder, followed by a Shellac polish called Tropix. To create the true neon look I used a CND additive called Day Glo which is neon orange, followed by a Shellac top coat. For the toes I used Tropix Shellac and the Day Glo additive again.” — Debbie Clarke, Nails ByDebbie

The Make-Up

“As a make-up artist, having the opportunity to indulge in an explosion of neon colours was a real treat! The inspiration was taken from the tropical Amazon; the beautiful birds, colours and texture really allowed me to be vibrant with the look and feel. The element of the tropical birds’ feathers inspired me to really indulge in the eccentric neon pink lashes, and I blended a variety of neon pigments along the eyelid using the Urban Decay limited edition neon pallet. Pink plays a part in many weddings, but we took it to another level using a bold, exotic neon lip, with Mac’s Yum Yum Candy. Our beautiful bride had the most perfect skin tone, which was just so radiant when using Mac Strobe Cream and Lustre Drops in bronze… creating the perfect exotic feel.” — Rebecca Brown, Rebecca Brown Make Up Artist

The Hair

“As we only had one model and so many statement accessory pieces to fit in, I created two different looks with the hair. We started with a look inspired by ruffled feathers with a bridal twist, and finished with a smooth, sleek and understated ponytail, like a tropical tribal goddess.” — Jennifer Baker, Obsessions Salon

The Flowers

“The inspiration for my Phalaenopsis orchid and Midelino stick necklace was a fusion of African tribal jewellery with a Native American twist. Using bright clashing neon hues , I created an original statement piece to challenge the norm when it comes to bridal flowers and bring the whole look into today’s bang on trend of tribal neon.” — Sally Parkes, Flowers by SP

The Photography

“I am obsessed with birds, so to be working on a shoot with a tropical bird theme was a real treat. Finding the perfect venue for this shoot was important to me from an aesthetic point of view, and The Boating Pool was just perfect. With it’s floor to ceiling windows and simple white space, it was perfect for our colour popping shoot. I loved the double exposures, and blending the textures of the beaded curtain, bringing that element into some of the portraits.” — Rebecca Douglas, Rebecca Douglas Photography