Safari Styled Shoot at Sir Ban Yas Island by The Wedding Haven

Hey Folks,
So it’s NYE tomorrow!! I can’t quite believe it. Where did this year go? Today I’m sharing this gorgeous styled shoot created by May at The Wedding Haven. She teamed up with my good friends Bernie + Bindi and drove all the way (its a good few hours buy car) to create pretty pictures with real life giraffes. It’s just a little bit epic if I do say so myself. Oh and how good is this giraffe selfie??? Love it!

And over to May….
Given the restrictions of getting flowers delivered to the venue, I needed to think outside the box. So I figured what better way to do so than actually use what nature provides us – and it worked out pretty well! Using the fruits was an extension of the theme of the shoot. The colors of the berries, kiwis, grapefruit..etc. brought to life the setting itself. I was surrounded by wood, and trees, and I wanted some color. So I figured the fruits were both easy to bring to the venue, relatively inexpensive, innovative, and gave me the color that I needed so that the setup didn’t look too rustic.

I wanted to design the table and fruits in a way that it looked like a table runner. The colors that I was leaning more towards were reds – with Christmas around the corner, and it being one of my favorite holidays, I figured why not! 🙂
It’s funny when people ask me about my styling process, I usually tell them I start with a blank canvas, I then go ahead and make a plan of what I want it to look like, but on the day of the shoot, event, or wedding, I end up changing it up based on what I ‘feel’ will look better. For this shoot, I had initially thought of using big bowls to place the fruits in, but when I got to the venue, and saw the table, I figured we needed to fill it up and the vases won’t give me the full, messy effect that I was going for. So I ended up cutting the fruits in half (I love symmetry), which gave me both the ability to play around with the placement of the fruits, and it added that lush rich color that you see in the photos – a huge thanks to Bernie who brought out those details. Mission accomplished? I think so! 

Lovely Vendors 
Venue: Sir Ban Yas Island 
Styling + Planning: The Wedding Haven
Photography: Bernie + Bindi Photography 
Wedding Dress: Vanila Wedding Boutique 
Cake: Sir Ban Yas Island