We are so thrilled to have this shoot from the amazing and fantastic Anna Hardy! From the gorgeous photography to the perfect afternoon tea, get ready for some serious eye candy!

A couple of weeks ago I spent a brilliant afternoon down in St. Albans with Alex and Rory, a really lovely couple who have been married for a few years. Like many people, they felt that as much as they truly loved their wedding day, they would perhaps make a few different choices for the day if they were to do it all over again now, and wanted some up-to-date, romantic pictures of them together as a couple that reflect their current tastes and style.

So, Alex decided to do a ‘My Favourite Things’ shoot, gathered together a whole raft of items that she loves, some from their own home, some bought specially, using an underlying black, white, red, silver and grey colour palette to tie everything together. She even managed to get hold of the Vera Wang dress she considers to be the one that got away (“the one I should have had on my wedding day”), and brought lots of fantastic items to the shoot – beautiful flowers, little paper hearts and messages, delicious cakes (the little round cakes on sticks were my favourite – completely cute and really tasty), stripy napkins, heart shaped sandwiches, cookies, daft glasses, empty picture frames, beautiful china and books. Both of them looked gorgeous – Rory looked really dapper and handsome (I particularly loved the red braces and his grey brogues), and as for Alex – well, the dress was incredible (just look at all the amazing detailing and fabric) and she looked beautiful, with such a fantastic smile and those stunning big blue eyes.

Alex also runs The Bijou Bride (http://www.thebijoubride.co.uk/), a fantastic wedding planning and styling service, and she also wanted to be able to use the shoot to show clients and readers lots of different ideas for the kinds of details and items that you can use to personalise and style your wedding. With a background in organising movie premieres and styling music videos, I knew she would be full of ideas and she didn’t disappoint – it was a really fun day and it was so enjoyable to work with someone so passionate and excited about what she does. As a couple Alex and Rory are great – really in love, extremely friendly and warm, interesting and fun to photograph, and we had a great afternoon wandering around, chatting and laughing. Here are some of my favourites…