So a new season is upon us and Dottie – our traditional vintage marquee – has been taken out of her bags for this amazing shoot at Pentney Abbey.
Dottie was super-excited to feel the wind rustling through her beautiful canvas roof and lovely wooden poles – even the relentless rain couldn’t dampen her spirits!
Loading and erecting a marquee is not the easiest of jobs at any time – even more so at 5am on a cold, windy and rainy day… but the show must go on! After a few months of downtime for the entire crew, I was surprised to see Dottie erected by midday and all the guys drinking tea and eating jam tarts.
In the afternoon, our lighting team Nick and Richard from Emotive sound and light, transformed Dottie’s ceiling into what can only be called ‘a spectacular vision of wonderfulness’.
The following day us girls started the real work… giving Dottie a full makeover!
The wonderful Lucy arrived at 8am and started laying all the tableware from Helene Millet, making sure everything was perfectly lined up for photographing. She then decorated the tables with beautiful lace runners and brass candlesticks.
All the girls from Swaffham Florist arrived at 9am with a van packed full of greenery – these professional florists are worth their weight in gold. I’m sure Michelle and Megan must have super bionic fingers as it wasn’t long before Dottie was completely transformed with hanging garlands, ribbons, lace, geometric hanging panels, neon lights and not to mention the biggest gold glitter ball in the world. Dottie was now the marquee of all marquees – a complete showstopper!
The only thing left to complete the day was seeing what magic Liza Smith and Leanne Eldridge had produced in hair and make-up for our models.
Take a look at the results… and please do comment below to let us know what you think.
Lots of Dottie love xx
Here’s a list of all the wonderful people who helped to make Dottie look amazing: