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A melbourne wedding photographer features designers, wedding planning tips, wedding styling and more.
Jul 18, 2020
Jaime Lee Major is one of Australia’s brightest design stars. Her bridal collection has grown over the last 10 years making her one of the most sought after dressmakers to come out of Australia. Jaime Lee Major wedding gowns are meticulously crafted pieces of art.
A while back I photographed the Perth wedding of Sarah and Dave, which started in a majestic ceremony and ended in an actual rave. Throughout all that this wild Jaime Lee Major creation weathered all the wild glory.
I wanted to do a piece on her because I am inspired by her wild design talent and outer-space way of approaching bridal gowns for folks wanting something a little more on the edge. Her designs are for the fashion-forward bride (the exact words that came out of David’s lips all day at their wedding).
Jaime Lee Major background
Born and raised in Fremantle (Perth), Jamie Lee Major rose to fame after she designed a gown for Kimbra at the Grammys in 2013. Her blue tulle and Swarovski encrusted dress was seen by 40 million people and she gained a mighty whack of international fame, and said in an interview for VOGUE that she hadn’t really thought about bridal couture but had so many enquiries that it ‘just sort of happened’.
She’s won WA Designer of the year, been featured in VOGUE, dressed Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Rita Ora (to name a few). Major has since left the red carpet behind her now to focus her creative genius on wedding dress designs.
Luxury wedding dresses like you’ve never seen before
Jaime Lee Major wedding gowns are priced from $5000 to $24,000, but worth every cent. They are pieces of art that she carefully wraps around a human body, and have endless hours of labour put into every last little detail. There are hundreds of thousands of beads, crystals, pearls and stitches in her creations.
The bridal collection features a lot of tulle and exposed flesh, lavishly covered with luxurious embellishments. They’re a Pinterest board dream. You can forget the classic silhouette or cathedral length train.
Jaime Lee is talking frills, cuffs, ruffles, sparkles and bespoke demi-couture tailoring. The materials tend to stray away from classic whites and ivories and delve into lux golds and silvers. Something I’m excited to see more of in contemporary weddings.
If you’re a bride who wants to do things differently then Jaime Lee Major’s collection is awe-inspiring. See-through trouser suits and everything covered in Swarovski will certainly turn some heads and take your Grandmothers idea of the traditional wedding dress for a glorious golden ride. The way the light catches the sparkles and the overstated glamour is perfect for any bridal shoot.
Jaime Lee Major wedding gowns: also a photographers dream
There is no end to this gifted woman’s creativity. She is such an exciting element in Australian wedding scene. One of her recent catwalk gowns used the most insane floristry to bring her ideas to life.
I love capturing everything that makes the day special, the bride’s dress is at the top of my list. Be over indulgent, be bountiful, be sumptuous. It’s a wedding, nothing can be too amplified! Your dress should make you feel like you’ve never felt before and there is no way in hell you can’t feel $1million dollars in a Jaime Lee Major wedding gown.
Find Jaime Lee Major wedding gowns online
Jaime Lee Major on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaimeleemajor
Fremantle and Perth Wedding Photography
Steph and Zacs Quarry Farm Wedding, and Fremantle wedding photo locations.
Oli is hired to do this all over the world documenting humans and ritual, from America to Antarctica.
Jul 6, 2020
Brooke Tyson Ritual – some of the most incredible bridal designs on the planet, with delicate contours and flowing textures, and what a treat it was to photograph them in a (real) blizzard, atop a volcano in New Zealand, draped over our incredible model, Fran, for the Story and Light photography workshop hosted by the genius wizardchildren over at Bayly and Moore.
Featured here is the Brooke Tyson Ritual Luna gown, as well as their Flora gown.
Story and Light was sponsored by the brilliant Australian film-lab Atkins, who kindly developed and scanned all of these images, shot entirely on Kodak Film. More on analogue wedding photography.
Removing herself from the perilously wild volcanic blizzard (despite the hardy protection of the Luna gown), here, we see Fran emerging from a more friendly forest, in the Brooke Tyson Flora gown.
Above and below is the Flora gown. Anyone that has ever met a New Zealander knows that the Ritual collection benefits from the classic kiwi ingenuity, developed in and around curious brain-zaps that test the edges of what bridal gowns should look like.
Celebrating free-spirits and with inspiration taken from cinema and folklore, the Brooke Tyson Luna gown was pretty much made to be draped across Franc and then whisked by a blizzard in on top of a volcano.
Brooke Tyson are also featured here on my top 5 best modern wedding dresses.
Find Brooke Tyson Ritual online
Website: https://brooketysonritual.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brooketysonritual
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrookeTysonRitual/
For more wedding dress designs from another planet, check out Jaime Lee Major.
If you like Brooke Tyson, you might also like these incredible wedding jumpsuits.
Oli is hired to do this all over the world documenting humans and ritual, from America to Antarctica.
Jun 12, 2020
I’ve been lucky to photograph love and ceremony on all continents, which means seeing so much of the worlds most incredible bridal design on brilliant lovers in all kids of places: these are 5 of the best modern wedding dresses i’ve had the pleasure of working with.
When you look at how Australian and New Zealand designers have to fight for a place at the table with smaller markets and at a geographical disadvantage to the rest of the world, it’s no surprise then that some of the most brilliant and forward-thinking designs have actually come from this corner of the globe as they place tradition a gentle second, and innovation first, pushing the craft of design past the edges.
And so, incidentally, these designers are all from Australia and New Zealand.
As an art-lover, a beautiful and thoughtfully designed gown is captivating to look at and brilliant to photograph (as a kid who grew up on death-metal and martial-arts, this isn’t exactly a sentence I ever thought i’d say).
This is a run-down of 5 of the most beautiful gowns i’ve had the pleasure of photographing.
Best Modern Wedding dresses:
Brooke Tyson Ritual
Brooke Tyson Ritual is what happens when you have a curious kiwi, captivated by the world of cinema and nostalgia and with a childhood spent playing dressups, cast her hand to the fine art of bridal couture.
Brooke Tyson’s Ritual gowns shown here are the Flora gown, and the Luna gown, photographed on Franc on film, on a volcano in New Zealand. You can also view a full feature on Brooke Tyson Ritual here.
Find Brooke Tyson Ritual online:
Suzanne Harward
Suzanne Harward is a designer i’ve had the good fortune of working with several times, and you can see a feature on 3 of the best Suzanne Harward wedding dresses here too.
Suzanne Harward is an icon of the Australian bridal design scene, with a rich long history while always staying two steps ahead of the trends. Check out the impossibly brilliant songbird gown.
Suzanne Harward songbird gown.
Find Suzanne Harward online
Alex Perry
Alex Perry isn’t necessarily a name synonymous with bridal design – and this isn’t even a piece from his bridal collection – but that didn’t stop the forward-thinking Liv from adapting one of his other pieces for her wedding to Adam.
These two marvels are featured on Together Journal, where you can see even more glorious images of their day and her incredible sense of style.
Find Alex Perry Bride online
One Day Bridal
Founded by Kyha Simpson after tying the knot and wanting to bring something new to the industry, One Day Bridal. Designed and handmade in Melbourne, One Day Bridal are one of the early frontrunners of doing things differently, and as a result have inspired an industry-wide shift in risk-taking designs.
Find One Day Bridal online
Paolo Sebastian
I hope i’m not the only one who, based on the brand name, initially thought Paolo Sebastian was some kind of lavish octogenarian European designer with over half a century of brilliant work under their belt.
Nope – it’s the work from the genius mind of an impossibly young designer, Paul Vasileff, straight out of Adelaide, Australia.
Paolo Sebastian gowns blend a nod to tradition offset with something resembling the top end of the disney playground of fantasy designs.
Hannah wears Paolo Sebastian. The Royal Mail Hotel wedding of Hannah and Ben, alongside the inimitable Humdrum Films, is featured on Farewell Fiance,
Find Paolo Sebastian online
Jaime Lee Major
Jaime Lee Majors designs are from another planet. The Fremantle / Perth designer made a name for herself cutting cloth for every celebrity under the sun, beginning initially with an epic gown for Kimbra right around the time of her career take-off.
Since then, Jaime Lee Major has used her progressive, artistic inspired approach to design gowns that push bridal to the very edge. Check out this incredible piece from the Fremantle wedding of Sarah and Dave.
Find Jaime Lee Major online
Jaime Lee Major on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaimeleemajor
While you’re here, take a peep at these incredible modern wedding jumpsuits.
Oli is hired to do this all over the world documenting humans and ritual, from America to Antarctica.
Jun 8, 2020
Tanya and Ryan are Jiu-Jitsu diehards, who train together, and Mario-Kart together. These legends had their Two Ton Max wedding in Melbourne right at the 11th hour before Melbourne’s first Covid lockdown. In one of Melbournes most brilliant warehouse wedding venues, these two got it done in style with a crew of the best. I was lucky to be along for the ride with my dear old mate Michelle Grace Hunder, photographing this together for the first time in years (we started out as a wedding duo before going solo).
Enjoy this little peek into Tanya and Ryans Two Ton Max wedding, featuring Melbourne wedding celebrant Shannon Jeans running the show. For more beautiful warehouse, rustic, or alternative wedding venues in Melbourne, check out this post on unique Melbourne wedding venues, featuring Rupert on Rupert and Gather and Tailor.
Book Two Ton Max for your wedding
Two Ton Max website: http://twotonmax.com.au/
Oli is hired to do this all over the world documenting humans and ritual, from America to Antarctica.
Jan 8, 2020
Zoe and Adam married at the incredible Hydro Majestic hotel, in New South Wales. Zoe’s bridesmaids wore stunning Elle Zeitoune bridesmaid dresses, in emerald green.
We’ll share more from their incredibly beautiful Southern Highlands wedding soon (we’re waiting for it to be featured in… a publication of some sort in the coming months), but for the moment, we just wanted to share these incredible, shimmering emerald green bridesmaid gowns.
To hire me to photograph your wedding, enquire at Briarsatlas.com
Shop Elle Zeitoune bridesmaid dresses
Elle Zeitoune website: https://www.ellezeitoune.com.au/shop/section/55/Bridesmaids
Head here for more modern wedding dresses.
Oli is hired to do this all over the world documenting humans and ritual, from America to Antarctica.
Dec 5, 2019
Modern bridal jumpsuits have made their presence felt at some incredible weddings over the last few years, so I picked out some favourites. If you’re considering a wedding jumpsuit, check out these stylish scallywags, and examples of the white wedding jumpsuit making a statement.
Being a little island far away from everything else, we tend to end up doing things out way, and wedding fashion and styling is no different. The wedding jumpsuit can be easier to move around in, less finnicky, and as a result, one often overlooked ingredient in keeping your wedding day fun, simple, and hassle free.
Which isn’t to say there’s any compromise in style when going the route of a wedding jumpsuit – check out these maestros to see just why – featuring bridal jumpsuit designers from Australia, all the way over to the UK’s Emilia Wickstead.
White lace wedding jumpsuit: Kirstyn
Modern white bridal Jumpsuit: Hannah
Emilia Wickstead white wedding jumpsuit: Tess
While you’re here, check out what are some of the best modern wedding dresses i’ve seen, as well as this beautiful Byron Bay wedding venue.
Oli is hired to do this all over the world documenting humans and ritual, from America to Antarctica.
Apr 8, 2019
The Suzanne Harward Songbird gown is an impossibly brilliant piece of design by the crew at Suzanne Harward. Featuring embroidered tulle, a circular skirt, and incredible floral and bluebird details from top to bottom.
I photographed the wedding of Laura and Walker held at Daylesford Convent, and this post will feature just images of Laura in her incredible gown. Their dog Bonnie came along for the ride (as in, the entire ride, start to finish, including dance-floor raving at the incredible Daylesford Convent) and what followed was a wild day of rain-dodging and glorious times with their community at one of the gems of regional Victoria.
To see their full wedding in detail, keep your eyes on Together Journal, where it will be featured.
See the Songbird gown also featured here in Modern Wedding Dresses.
Enquire about Suzanne Harward Songbird gown
Suzanne Harward website: https://www.suzanneharward.com/
Looking for another incredible wedding gown? Check out this modern wedding dress by Jaime Lee Major.
Oli is hired to do this all over the world documenting humans and ritual, from America to Antarctica.
Jan 30, 2018
Mariana Hardwick is Australia’s leading designer of bridal couture, with new and progressive twists on bridal classics. Over the last 30 years, modern brides all over Australia and beyond have picked a Mariana Hardwick wedding dress when looking for wildly progressive but timeless designs.
Because I photograph weddings all over Melbourne and the Yarra Valley, that also gives me the chance to check out some of the incredible designs happening on our own fine lands.
Today it’s this majestic Mariana Hardwick wedding dress on Elisha, at her wedding to Daniel at Yarra Valleys Zonzo Estate. Elisha and Daniels Zonzo wedding was featured over on Ivory Tribe.
Find Mariana Hardwick online:
Mariana Hardwick website: https://marianahardwick.com.au/
If you love this stunning Mariana Hardwick wedding gown, you might also like these modern wedding dresses, fellow Melbourne bridal designer Suzanne Harward, or these beautiful modern bridal jumpsuits. Pick up the work of this beautiful Victorian designer for your New South Wales wedding at Deux Belettes.
Oli is hired to do this all over the world documenting humans and ritual, from America to Antarctica.
had a look around? check out these legends:
A New York elopement
Newport Substation wedding
Wedding at Mount Sturgeon Homestead
This might be,
the start of,
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