Jesus Peiro on Gemma. Photography by Juliet Mckee

As an advertiser in You and Your Wedding it is my dubious privilege to receive an early copy of the magazine. As befits my geek status I like to, then, scrutinise every page for credits, mentions, new labels, who’s in, notable exclusions and most importantly where my ad is (LH page facing fashion editorial – just so you know.) In the past I have used Rosa Clara images predominently. Their images are strong but alas their customer service does not match. The new March/April issue of You and Your Wedding will be on the newstands soon and for the first time ever I have featured a shot from a collaborative shoot.

The shoot was organised by Stacey-Marie Chalk from Cherrytopped Wedding Planners and photographer Juliet Mckee. The brief, the vision, the styling was all theirs – Miss Bush was simply ‘wardrobe’. When asked to get involved with collaborative shoots (read – nobody gets paid!!!) I am very circumspect. I see lots of styled shoots fail by using badly fitting dresses and however beautiful the table arrangements look the fashion can badly fail the images. The great aspect of being asked to be involved as wardrobe is that Miss Bush can concentrate om what they do best. Selecting and fitting dresses and providing on site wardrobe services.

The end result is that I have a collaborative shoot that has been featured by Love My Dress and Rock My Wedding amongst other blogs and is soon to be featured in Wedding Magazine. It continues to circulate and be featured nearly six months after the shoot. For me this was worth all my time, that of my production manager Janet, the custom made pieces, the custom dyed shoes, the money I paid Gemma and the day on location for Janet and myself.

As a huge and amazing bonus it was my first introduction to Janet Mohapi Banks, a couture wedding cake designer, and Steph – chief designer at Fairynuff florists. I have subsequently worked with both these remarkable women and thank Stacey Marie and Juliet for asking Miss Bush to be involved.

Here are four shots of Miss Bush house model Gemma in a stunning Jesus Peiro dress, one of which can now be seen gracing the pages of You and Your Wedding.