Peonies are one of my favourite flowers and it appears, many others feel the same. There is something so whimsical and intoxicating about this sweet smelling, fluffy beautiful bloom and kicking off our wedding inspiration for the year is this beautiful pink peonies wedding inspiration shoot.

Juli of One Sweet Girl dreamed up this concept and worked with Virginia of The Bouquets of Ascha Jolie and Steve of Steve Koukoulas Photography to create a pink peony wonderland.

Juli tells of her inspiration behind the shoot. “This was a dessert table I created to celebrate the Peony – I have had the general concept for this table held in my imagination for the longest time – so long in fact that I can’t remember when the minds-eye vision of what I wanted to create first appeared, but it stayed there, never wavering, just waiting patiently for the timing and creative minds to be right in order for it to genesis.”

“Peonies thrill me.  They are all at once delicate and literally petal-soft to touch, and so inspiring in terms of their colour palette.  The way that Mother Nature perfectly ‘paint splatters’ deep pink onto the petals of paler blooms in a way that I can only ever dream of achieving; their amazing scent – and that these flowers are so inspiring that some brides schedule their weddings just to  ensure that they can have peonies in their bouquets.  There could be no other flower to inspire such a table as this {even though you could easily recreate this with other flowers and colours}”

“I adore peonies as much as I adore pink, and these two things are a perfect marriage with my own signature vintage style – creating the desserts for this table was not so much as question of “where to start”, but more so “where to stop”.  Working with my very talented and great friends Virginia of The Bouquets of Ascha Jolie, and Steve of Steve Koukoulas Photography, we stepped into my imagination and brought my vision “into the light”.””

“I was really blessed to work with Virginia on this table – as soon as I mentioned cascading peonies, I needed to say no more – she knew exactly where I was going in my imagination, and hers was equally fast in catching up!  We arrived at the location ( a local park literally 5 minutes walk from my home) before 6am to set-up to be ready to shoot at 7am to get the best morning light, and Steve the photographer literally took one look and started shooting – it was a real meeting of 3 creatives who each saw exactly the same minds-eye vision.  Steve captured the very essence of what I wanted – style and grace and pretty and pink and peonies – simultaneously.  I am beyond thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with Steve as well as Virginia on this project.”

 

“With regards to the table, it came to me direct from my imagination.  Which I know sounds really odd, but once I closed my eyes and saw the cascading flowers, I knew exactly how I wanted the cake to look – it had to be ruffled, and those ruffles had to be petals, and there had to be lots of them, just like peony petals!  From there, the ombre effect was a natural progression {as well as being the latest style craze} – and the result is, I think, resoundingly unique.  I loved every minute of creating this table – from the concept to the creation of the desserts, to the shoot-day execution… that was a thrilling moment – seeing it, in the flesh, exactly as my imagination had seen it.”

“Desserts include a 3 tier ombre effect ruffle cake (bottom tier is a double-barrel), matching cupcakes with ruffled blooms, raspberry flavoured gourmet marshmallows, coconut ice, peony-inspired vanilla bean sugar cookies, rosewater meringues with edible sparkle dust, and cake pops.”