by Hanami Dream | 5, April, 2016 | news, styled shoots
After a short hiatus (and a couple more babies between us!), Hanami Dream and Farrow Photography are proud to announce that they will be doing another styled shoot later this year.
Farrow Photography & Hanami Dream
They first joined forces in 2014 to bring to life some inspirational themes to show how you can enhance your milestone events (whatever the age of the guest). Their first shoot was based on Alice in Wonderland and they held a cute tea party to mark Alice Day (4th July).
Their next shoot followed shortly afterwards in August to mark the 75th anniversary of the release of the Wizard of Oz film. They were honoured to be able to showcase some amazing products from local suppliers in their Wizard of Oz themed children’s party.
Photography by Farrow Photography
Following the success of their previous themed photo shoots, they will collaborate once again to produce an amazing bridal styled shoot based around another well known story, The Wind in the Willows.
The shoot is planned for this autumn in the Oxfordshire countryside of the Cotswolds and we’re excited to offer the opportunity for local suppliers to join with us. So let us know if you’d like to provide products to bring our creative ideas to life in a wonderful new inspirational shoot.
The beauty of styled shoots (versus a real life wedding) is that this is your opportunity to be a little more extravagant and really show off what you’ve always wanted to do. You can indulge your fantasies. Maybe you’ve got a new product that couples won’t have seen yet or you want to create something really unusual that you wouldn’t normally do.
Styled shoots are a collaboration of like minded people that can create great things together but perhaps don’t have the budgets to produce this kind of work if they all worked independently.
Everyone works pro bono, so it is just your products that you’d need to provide to be involved. Nicola from Hanami Dream organises and styles the shoots and Sandra from Farrow Photography takes the shots. And the rewards are amazing with great imagery of your products in an amazing lifestyle surrounding, plus inclusion in all our promotion of the shoot and a feature on Hanami Dream’s blog, which is a UK Blog Awards finalist this year. So there’d be plenty of exposure of your beautiful products.
This is an inspirational and aspirational wedding styled shoot to provide images that we want to share with the whole wedding world. We live in a beautiful part of the UK and have some wonderful talented suppliers in the wedding industry right on our doorstep. So let’s show what our part of the world is truly capable of producing!
If you’re local and think you’d be interested in showcasing your products in our shoot then please email Nicola from Hanami Dream and outline what your product is and how you think it would fit in and enhance our theme. We’ve put together a mood board on Pinterest so you can get an idea of the kind of things that we’re after.
We are looking for some of the following (although this list isn’t exhaustive – if you can offer something we’ve not thought of we’d love to hear from you too):
- Accessories
- Bridalwear
- Bridesmaids dresses
- Cakes
- Catering
- Décor
- Favours
- Florist
- Hair & Make Up
- Models
- Shoes
- Signage
- Suits
- Tableware
- Transport (including a vintage car, a colourful old fashioned caravan and a barge!)
We’ll only be including one supplier from each category (ie only one florist will be used for the whole shoot) to provide clarity and clear communication.
You can see from our previous shoots that we really like close up detail shots which show off everyone’s products that have contributed very nicely – it is all about the little details that bring any event to life.
We look forward to sharing more news as plans unfold for this colloboration.
Photography by Farrow Photography
by Hanami Dream | 15, August, 2014 | blog, tips
“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true”
This month marks the 75th anniversary of the film release of the Wizard of Oz. With the themes of this story as our inspiration, we look at 7 tips for how to follow your own yellow brick road when planning a special occasion.
1. red – follow your heart
The colour red often signifies passion, energy and taking action. What better place to start when planning your special occasion than with what your heart desires. You can take inspiration and guidance from many different areas but make sure your event is personal. List out the things you really want to have at the occasion and what would make you happy. Think about how you want it to look, sound and feel to you and your guests (even taste and smell like too!).
Any theme can be adjusted to suit your occasion. For example, did you know that in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz book by L. Frank Braum in 1900, the shoes that Dorothy wears are actually silver? However, most people associate Dorothy with red shoes. Why? Because the film makers of the 1939 film adaptation decided to take advantage of the revolutionary use of new Technicolor. So you can tailor any occasion so that it brings your dreams to life.
2. orange – good communication
Orange is associated with optimism and communication. With this in mind, the next part of the planning process should focus on being able to communicate your vision with others. Once you have the plan of what you’d like your event to be like, share it with the people that are going to help you bring it to life.
Maybe you are involving an event planner, multiple suppliers or calling on favours from friends. Think about who needs to be involved, what they can offer, how it will come together, as well as where and when the event will take place. Also make sure you look at what budget is available and how much everything will cost.
At this stage, good relationship building is important and these friends (and colleagues) will help you along your journey. Just like in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy’s new friends give her support and the encouragement she needs to seek out the Wizard.
3. yellow – have courage 
Whilst yellow is often seen as a happy colour, it sometimes depicts cowardice. There will probably be some tough decisions to make when planning a big special occasion. Perhaps the reality of your budget means you have to rein in a few of your plans, or other people’s involvement means compromising on some thoughts, or maybe who you want to invite and have on your guest list causes headaches. So make sure you have the right people with you along the way to help with these difficult decisions.
For Dorothy, she sets her sights on finding the Wizard and stays focused on this end outcome. Her vision is clear, others join her and they stay on track despite facing obstacles along the way.
4. green – be resourceful
Don’t get green with envy. If there’s something that you can’t afford or can’t source, then consider making it yourself. Be self sufficient and do it yourself. Be resourceful to overcome set backs and perhaps consider different options.
Think about things you could borrow from friends, hire from suppliers or buy second hand rather than buying them new. There are lots of free local recycling websites to source products, online auction sites and car boot sales if you need to be clever with your budget. Or if you’re feeling crafty there’s lots of inspiration on sites like Pinterest on how to make event decorations like fan bunting, pinwheels, pom-poms or paper flowers (which are cheaper and last longer than real flowers). Involve your friends and family in making stationery as an ice breaker for different people to meet before the special occasion.
Take the lead from the main characters from the Wizard of Oz who all doubted their self reliance. They didn’t realise that they actually possessed the things that they were searching for all along.
5. blue – use support
The colour blue is said to be calming and instil a sense of peace, trust and loyalty. Keep this in mind when you are in the throes of planning your event.
At the beginning and end of your planning time, there will be a flurry of activity needed but in between it may feel like a lull of planning and decision making.
Focus on the end goal of what you want to achieve so you don’t get swept along or side tracked with irrelevant ideas. Remember that there are other things in your life as well as planning a special day and don’t lose perspective on everything else.
The support of your family and friends will be important. After all, there’s no place like home.
6. indigo – trust your head
Indigo is often thought of as the colour of idealism. However make sure you use your brains to not only visualise your dream but also to trust your intuition. Know when to include realism in your decisions too. Maybe you haven’t seen a second cousin for over 10 years that your parents think you should invite to your event but you don’t really know them. If you’d rather invite another close friend than your long lost relative then you may need the courage to address the situation with your parents to explain how you feel.
Perhaps use Dorothy’s friends (the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Woodman) as a guide to making decisions – what is your head telling you to do, do I have the courage to do it and, most importantly, how do I feel about it? Follow what your gut is telling you to do. Dorothy ventured in to the unknown and learnt to rely on her instincts and to trust her intuition to guide her on her journey.
7. violet – enjoy your creation
Don’t be a shrinking violet – let your imagination go wild! Inject personal touches in to your special occasion and you’ll be able to blend together families, friends, traditions, cultures and lots of creativity. Then enjoy it. Your earlier planning and communication with your suppliers will pay off now. You’ve put in a lot of effort, so now is the time to spend with your guests relaxing and making the most of your celebration. If you have involved a planner they can manage the special occasion for you which would mean you don’t have to worry about all the fine details on the day. Capture it too, so you have lasting memories of what you’ve achieved.
In the Wizard of Oz, the main characters all get what they really desired (a heart, brains, courage and to be able to return home) but they also ended up with much more than they first wished for.
Make your special occasion unique and tailored to meet your needs. Have the confidence to follow your own yellow brick road and your dreams can come true.
See how we went over the rainbow with our Wizard of Oz party.
Photography by Farrow Photography
by Hanami Dream | 15, August, 2014 | blog, inspiration, styled shoots
Photography by Farrow Photography
We decided to follow the yellow brick road as the next theme in our series of joint ventures to bring to life some inspirational themes for special occasions. These are to showcase how you can use a theme to enhance your milestone events, whatever the age of the guest.
1. red – follow your heart
Our inspiration was sparked this time with the build up to the 75th anniversary of the film release of the Wizard of Oz. We also learnt that apparently L. Frank Braum (who wrote the Wonderful Wizard of Oz book in 1900) was inspired by Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland so it seemed like a natural progression in our journey.
We loved the idea of lots of fun, friendship and camaraderie in our event and as we were using children as our models again we wanted to ensure we had lots of things to entertain them and keep their attention. Plus we wanted to capture a sunny summer vibe with bright on trend rainbow colours and we wanted to include sunflowers, balloons and emerald city inspired décor.
Other things that inspired this shoot included:
• Tin cans – it seems that my obsession with all the things you can do with tin cans has led my husband to worry that I’ll soon appear on the Hoarder Next Door programme on television. Yes, I saved A LOT of used tin cans in the build up to this event. But they are so versatile and really add to any rustic décor scheme – as lanterns, flower pots, adorned with tassels, with holes punched in or painted to suit any colour palette.
• Posters – we’ve recently been decorating our son’s bedroom and spotted a poster of a lion that we loved in a home decorating magazine. We searched high and low and eventually found the exact one from The Kid Who. So our son is now the proud owner of the lion poster by Ingela P Arrhenius, a great Swedish graphic designer and illustrator, and we are trying to decide what our next lovely purchase will be by Ingela.
• Strawberries – you might wonder how strawberries inspired this shoot. Well, it was actually in the act of trying to protect our strawberries from naughty birds scrumping our lovely fruit in the early summer. We were searching for netting to buy to put over the strawberries and came across various sizes of smiling scarecrows to buy. Hope we have more success protecting the blueberries from the predators this month!
• Paint – I’m currently in love with the chalk coloured paints by Annie Sloane (who incidentally resides in our part of the country). Some beautifully painted stools in the Old Pill Factory, in Witney, ignited my fascination with rainbow colours.
• Vogue – another fabulous shoot by Annie Leibovitz in Vogue in 2005 featured Keira Knightley as Dorothy and shows how subtle theming of the characters can still give a great affect.
• Scottie Dogs – okay so the dog in the film version of the Wizard of Oz was a Cairn Terrier, but how could we not love the dogs used in the recent Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Glasgow and wish there was a way to use them in this shoot?
• Old fashioned sweet shops – the Shake Shop in Witney is an awesome place to visit and, as well as shakes and smoothies, has loads of great sweets to chose from like giant rainbow lolly pops.
• Cakes – these are never far from my thoughts at the best of times but recently I’ve loved all the cake pops that are so popular and amazing rainbow layer cakes. We had a slice at a 
recent christening and were fascinated by the time and effort gone in to making a wonderfully impressive cake.
• Emerald green – this was Pantone colour of the year in 2013 and still seems to be everywhere (or is it just because we’re thinking about the Emerald City that we’re seeing it more?!) and we really liked the emerald furniture in the Relics of Witney recently.
We also read the Wonderful Wizard of Oz book by L. Frank Braum and realised how many differences there were between the book and the 1939 film adaption. This made us realise that whatever the theme, we could adjust it to suit our occasion anyway.
You can see more of our inspiration for this party and follow Hanami Dream’s Wizard of Oz board on Pinterest.
2. orange – good communication
For this event we also involved a great team of local suppliers to showcase their products and enhance our theme further. So as well as partnering with the wonderful Farrow Photography, we also shared our vision to go somewhere over the rainbow with 8 other suppliers each offering different products.
Our partners for this shoot were:
Caked In It – who supplied the rainbow layer cake and rainbow push pops
www.facebook.com/pages/Caked-In-It/159983567354526
@cakeditin
Cotswold Kids – who provided the ruby red sequin shoes worn by Dorothy
www.facebook.com/cotswold.kids
@cotswoldkids
Distinctive Petals – who gave the flowers in a sunflower bouquet, on the table, hanging in trees and in the hot air balloon basket
www.facebook.com/#!/distinctivepetals.florist
@D_Petals
Fairford Balloons – who offered the bunches of latex balloons, rainbow balloon arch and the hot air balloon
www.facebook.com/fairfordballoons
@fairfordballoon
Mrs W Tutus – who made the white tutu and blue gingham apron that Dorothy wore
www.facebook.com/pages/Mrs-W-Tutus/199071030217068
@MrsWTutus
Pedal Car Parties – who lent the vintage pedal tractor for the Kansas farm scene
www.facebook.com/PedalCarParties
@pedalcarparties
Teddy Bears of Witney – who loaned us the Toto and Mini Dorothy Steiff bears
http://www.teddybears.co.uk/
www.facebook.com/pages/Teddy-Bears-of-Witney/107426666094204
New stationery company launching soon – who produced the name place cards
Contact Hanami Dream for more details.
We love the opportunity to be able to support local independent companies and have some amazing ones right on our doorstep in and around the Cotswolds. #indieretail
For more information on the suppliers that supported this shoot and showcased their products, take a look at our No Place Like Home blog post too.
3. yellow – have courage
We had to make some tough decisions whilst planning the shoot and had to be realistic with what we could deliver in the time and budget. In addition, whilst not an ideal time of year, we had chosen to do it during the peak summer months when everyone is busy with lots of events. So this meant that some suppliers were not available or couldn’t sadly commit to this project. Plus, with any event that you want to hold outside, we were once again at the mercy of the elements. Despite a glorious few weeks of amazing sunny and hot weather, the week of our shoot was when things looked like breaking. We knew that we could postpone the shoot by a few days but some of the suppliers’ products would start to fade if we couldn’t use them when we planned. We were brave and continued with our plan of shooting one Friday morning and the weather was brilliant until lunchtime. Thankfully by this time we had luckily finished and packed everything away.
4. green – be resourceful
As well as having some amazing products supplied by our partners for this shoot, we also produced a number of the props and decorations ourselves. Funds, availability and suitability often mean that making things yourself (or having them commissioned) will ensure that they match and are completely tailored to your occasion.
The things we made included:
• Green teepees for the Emerald City – triangles of different material sewn together with a heavier duty material hexagon base, held up by inserting and tying dowels, then finished off with doors with material tie backs.
• Gingham bunting – my mum has an amazing stash of material including the blue gingham that I used to sew the bunting. This was from the remnants from my primary school summer uniform that she’d made for me!
• Pin wheels – made from card in the seven different colours of the rainbow. Relatively easy to construct with squares of card, scissors and split pins. Then hung in rainbow order for lots of impact. 
• Tin man – lots of sweet corn, chickpeas and tinned tomatoes were consumed to leave some different sized empty tins held together with wire and split pins to make the tin man. Finished off with a silver hat made from a circle of card and a red card heart.
• Painted tins – whilst I had a grasp on how to mix colours to achieve 6 of the 7 colours of the rainbow, I had to do research to discover the proportions for making indigo! I used a one coat, all surface paint suitable to go on a number of materials without a base coat.
• Crows – these were made with some simple origami skills of twirling birds from black card for the scarecrow to chase away.
• Net for hot air balloon – we plaited some wool together and tied it around the big 16″ balloon (supplied by Fairford Balloons) at the top, middle and bottom. Then tied long strands from the top band, through the middle band and to the bottom band and then attached them to a painted tin can full of flowers (provided by Distinctive Petals).
5. blue – use support
Most of our band of party goers were dressed in clothing to give a subtle hint of the theme, apart from Dorothy who had an amazing outfit.
The costumes consisted of:
• Dorothy Gale – white full length tutu with blue gingham apron and red ribbons (made by Mrs W Tutus), red ruby sequin shoes (provided by Cotswold Kids), blue gingham ribbons for plaited hair, wicker basket and Toto Steiff teddy bear (borrowed from Teddy Bears of Witney).
• Tin Woodman – grey cords (from H&M), light grey t-shirt (from Next) with red felt heart sewn to pocket and silver card pointy hat with red card heart.
• Cowardly Lion – brown cords, yellow t-shirt and ribbon ‘medal’ badge.
• Scarecrow – denim dungarees, check shirt (from Baby Bird at Mothercare), straw hat (from Fat Face) and prefect’s badge.
6. indigo – trust your head
So with our party visualised it was then just a case of bringing everything together and coordinating all the products coming from different suppliers and sources:
• Collected shoes, teddy bears, name place cards, balloons and flowers from suppliers
• Received deliveries of the tutu, cakes and vintage pedal tractor from suppliers
• Borrowed straw bails, prefect badges and table from friends
• Made tin man, sign for Emerald City, table runners, gingham bunting, costume accessories, pin wheel decorations, black crows and hot air balloon netting
• Collated all other props and costumes
• Ironed linen (why is it I find myself doing more ironing for work than I ever do in real life?!)
• Prepared and pruned garden
• Dressed the scenes by stringing up pin wheels, flowers in tins and crows, setting the table, tying rainbow ribbons round cutlery and the most important job of creating the yellow brick road with yellow chalk on a garden path.
7. violet – enjoy your creation
With everything set up, it was time for our party to begin. Dorothy, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow enjoyed playing in the following scenes:
a. No place like home – the farm in Kansas consisted of:
• Straw bails
• Wooden toy farm
• Hanging black crows
• Vintage pedal tractor (provided by Pedal Car Parties)
• Bunches of balloons (supplied by Fairford Balloons)
b. The Witch is dead! – the Wicked Witch of the East got crushed ‘under the house’ and all that could be seen of her was her:
• Black and white tights and
• Shiny red shoes
c. Follow the yellow brick road – off to see the wizard and along the way the friends played with:
• Chalk on the yellow brick road
• Pinwheels in the ground (from Cargo)
• Basket
• Dorothy and Toto teddy bears (borrowed from Teddy Bears of Witney)
• Rainbow balloon arch (supplied by Fairford Balloons)
d. Emerald city
• Two green teepees complete with ‘bell not working’ sign at the end of the yellow brick road.
e. Somewhere over the rainbow
• The party table consisted of:
○ Rainbow cups, cutlery and crockery
○ Table runner of burlap material, ‘yellow brick road’ and rainbow painted tin cans filled with gypsophila (flowers provided by Distinctive Petals)
○ Name place cards
○ Rainbow layer cake (created by Caked In It)
○ Rainbow cake push pops (created by Caked In It)
○ Heart, medal and prefect’s badge
○ Toto teddy bear (borrowed from Teddy Bears of Witney)
• The other décor included:
○ Pin wheel bunting
○ Tin man out of cans in tree
○ Lion poster
○ Scarecrow in tree
○ Hot air balloon (balloon supplied by Fairford Balloons and flowers provided by Distinctive Petals)
○ Tin cans filled with sunflowers (flowers provided by Distinctive Petals).
Then it was time to enjoy and capture our party somewhere over the rainbow.
To see all the photos from the shoot please go to www.hanamidream.co.uk/wizard-of-oz/
Farrow Photography & Hanami Dream
by Hanami Dream | 15, August, 2014 | blog, styled shoots
We love the opportunity to be able to support local independent companies and have some amazing ones right on our doorstep in and around the Cotswolds. #indieretail
We were really pleased to work with the following fabulous suppliers that supported our Wizard of Oz shoot and showcased their products.
Caked In It – who supplied the rainbow layer cake and rainbow push pops
www.facebook.com/pages/Caked-In-It/159983567354526
@cakeditin
Making the “Edible Incredible”. Whether you desire elegance, vintage chic, cupcakes or something more adventurous, Caked In It provide a friendly, customer focused bespoke service to achieve your deliciously dreamy cake. Shortlisted in the 2013 Wedding Industry Awards, they really do love what they do.
Cotswold Kids – who provided the ruby red sequin shoes worn by Dorothy
www.facebook.com/cotswold.kids
@cotswoldkids
Cotswold Kids opened in Witney in 2003, and specialises in baby and younger children’s fashion and gifts, toys, and nursery items, with key brands Natures Purest and Jellycat. A new website and online shop is imminent, in the interim using Facebook as their main customer-contact tool, pending their re-launch in late summer 2014. A big clearance sale is now underway, with classic baby and children’s fashion at great prices, Spanish shoes, Hunter boots, dress-up and occasion wear. Brands include Mayoral, Kate Mack/Biscotti, Kanz, Boboli, D’arcy Brown, and more. Don’t miss out! Do visit them on Facebook and Like to be sure you’re among the first to hear about new arrivals and special offers, not least their re-launch event (date tba)! Or visit their pop-up shop in Mill Street, Wantage for a selection of new baby gifts, toys and accessories. New permanent Wantage shop coming soon!
Distinctive Petals – who gave the flowers in a sunflower bouquet, on the table, hanging in trees and in the hot air balloon basket
www.facebook.com/#!/distinctivepetals.florist
@D_Petals
Distinctive Petals is a fresh thinking innovative floral design company. Specialising in wedding and events. Based in Witney in the rural Cotswolds, Distinctive Petals use from flowers from the auctions in Holland to make your floral dreams come true. Contact them at info@distinctivepetals.co.uk or on 07725806756.
Fairford Balloons – who offered the bunches of latex balloons, rainbow balloon arch and the hot air balloon
www.facebook.com/fairfordballoons
@fairfordballoon
Fairford Balloons was established by Paula Marshall 3 years ago within Enntwine Gift Shop based in Fairford Gloucestershire, run as a partnership with her Mother Val Marshall. After a few changes and a move to a better location in the town, Fairford Balloons has gone from strength to strength, now providing balloons for the whole of the Cotswolds/Gloucestershire/Wiltshire/Oxfordshire and even London on a couple of occasions. Providing something different to the standard helium balloons, Fairford Balloons have been a hit for all types of parties, weddings and events. Also offering a delivery service to keep convenience and customer service to a high standard. If you are interested in knowing more then please feel free to take a look at their website or contact Paula with any questions 01285 711057.
Mrs W Tutus – who made the white tutu and blue gingham apron that Dorothy wore
www.facebook.com/pages/Mrs-W-Tutus/199071030217068
@MrsWTutus
Mrs W Tutus hand makes Tutus, Tutu Dresses, Tulle Crowns & Wands for Bridesmaids, Flower Girls & Fairy Princesses everywhere! With 30 colours of Tulle available, we are sure to be able to create something that fits perfectly with your chosen colour scheme or with the imagination & dreams of your Little Princess! Please do not hesitate to get in touch with your requirements.
Pedal Car Parties – who lent the vintage pedal tractor for the Kansas farm scene
www.facebook.com/PedalCarParties
@pedalcarparties
Pedal Car Parties hires out a set of beautiful metal vintage-style pedal cars for children’s parties, and delivers them to village halls, sports halls, private homes and schools across the region for children’s parties. Included in the package are toy traffic cones, road signs, traffic lights and a pop-up garage, as well as coloured bunting and party game ideas to make the perfect party for the under 5’s. Pedal Car Parties was named Best Party Supplier in the South East by Netmums in 2013.
Teddy Bears of Witney – who loaned us the Toto and Mini Dorothy Steiff bears
http://www.teddybears.co.uk/
www.facebook.com/pages/Teddy-Bears-of-Witney/107426666094204
Teddy Bears of Witney has been fortunate to have handled teddy bears, new and old, for nearly thirty years. Every day they witness the joy they bring to people of all ages. They search the world for the bear-makers they most respect, love and admire, sot that they can share their bears with you. They are open seven days a week.
New stationery company launching soon – who produced the name place cards
Contact Hanami Dream for more details.
See how we went over the rainbow with our Wizard of Oz party.
by Hanami Dream | 15, August, 2014 | inspiration
Follow the yellow brick road with sunflowers, rainbow colours and balloons, dressed for the emerald city.
See more images in our gallery
Photography by Farrow Photography
by Hanami Dream | 25, July, 2014 | news, styled shoots
Hanami Dream and Farrow Photography are collaborating again. This time they will be following the yellow brick road with a Wizard of Oz themed children’s party. They will also be showcasing some amazing products from local suppliers – after all there’s no place like home.
Look out for the photos next month when they go over the rainbow and celebrate the 75th anniversary of the release of the Wizard of Oz film.
