Did you know that the current popularity of the white wedding dress is due in part to the power of photography? True! In 1840, Queen Victoria wore a white gown at her wedding to incorporate some lace she owned. Her wedding photograph was widely published and brides have been emulating her color choice ever since. Prior to the Victorian era, a bride might wear any color except black (the color of mourning) or red (which suggested ill-repute). Serendipitously, there’s a recent post on historical and current wedding dress colors at a blog I follow, COLORlovers.

Many thanks to the modern and fashionable Renaissance Providence Hotel for letting us run around their marbled halls. Last year, my wife and I did a staycation at the Renaissance and we fell in love with its funky rooms, friendly staff and Temple Downtown, the chic restaurant and lounge located downstairs.

The amazing and colorful dresses you see below are the creation on Framingham dress designer Julia Anne Ebel, of Celtic Dragon Dress Designs. We asked her to create dresses inspired by a winter color palette, and wow, did she deliver! Stay tuned for Julia’s new couture wedding dress site which is coming soon.

The models’ dramatic makeup was provided by makeup artist, Jenny DiMucci, who I’ve worked with on an earlier ShootStyle outing.

And huge thank you to Brittany and Kate, our gorgeous models.  I’m always on the geeky side of the lens, but I’ve got to imagine it’s hard to have a half dozen photographers simultaneously vying for your attention, yet Brittany and Kate handled the day with poise and aplomb!

Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot: