Every now and then I get the urge to want to be super creative and really let my inner artist shine. I love my clients and absolutely everything that I get the opportunity to photograph… but sometimes I want to photograph something just for ME. Photography started out as just a hobby for me and a way for me to express myself. I am not very good at expressing myself through words and I feel like I am a little bit better at it through photography. I do however try very hard to let the world know what I am feeling in words and hopefully you are able to get to know me a little through my blog and photos.
I like to call myself a swirly girl. Because I love all things NOT straight. I love anything vintage, wrought iron and swirly. My favorite store is Hobby Lobby because it is a swirly factory. My mind also thinks in swirls and not straight lines. I am a dreamer in every way and have been that way ever since I was a little girl. I can remember imagining beautiful love stories in my head and playing out the entire scenario step by step fantasizing about every little detail. Little did I know, God made my mind to work like that for a reason. I feel so blessed every day that I am a swirly girl and that because of not seeing life in straight lines, I can capture the swirly emotions between two people and portray it in a photograph. I love that God made me swirly. : )
So because of my love for anything vintage, I decided one day that I wanted to style a vintage shoot and came up with a vision for what I was looking for. At the time I had no idea how it was all going to come together but I knew what I saw in my head and I was determined to make it happen. I started off by asking Valerie of Southern Fete, aka event planner extraordinaire, to help me not only come up with some great ideas but to also help me style the entire shoot. Valerie is one of the most talented people in the wedding industry and I am so lucky we found each other last year! She is young like me and her and style is very fresh and modern. (By the way, check out some photos I took of Valerie here.) She is SERIOUSLY gifted and I will continue to brag just how awesome through my photos below. I told her my vision, color schemes and ideas and she truly helped me make them come to life.
I could not be more happy with the way my dream turned out in these photos. They are truly a piece of my heart displayed in print. I could continue babbling about just how much I love them but I will let the photos do the talking. I hope you enjoy them and I also hope you are able to get to know me just a little bit better.
PS. Narrowing the images down for the blog was next to impossible. There are well over 50 images in the post… so get ready for a long one!
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So first up I have to talk about this bouquet. We originally had a different bouquet for the shoot but had a little mishap so Valerie, being the awesome event planner that she is… had brought several fake flowers in the colors that I wanted for backup. I basically looked at her and said, “okay Valerie, I have a major challenge for you. I need you to take all these flowers and make a wedding bouquet in 20 minutes… AND, I want it to look like this, this and this.” We only had about 45 minutes left to set up everything for the shoot because we were on a light time schedule, so that’s why I had to put the pressure on her. Ummm, not only did she make it happen in 20 minutes, but she made the bouquet look better than ever!! When she walked up 20 minutes later my mouth dropped open. This woman never ceases to amaze me and I truly think this is a prime example of just how incredible of a wedding planner she really is. Brides, hire Valerie to plan your wedding… she will make EVERYTHING about your big day one million times better.
Seriously, how beautiful is this bouquet??
Not only is Valerie an event planner, but she also designs and creates invitations, wedding menus, etc. She made the following wedding invitations for our shoot. Again, I never even saw them before the shoot… I just trusted her completely and she completely amazed me. She is a great listener and really is all about portraying her clients vision and does an excellent job as you can see.
One of my ideas was to include a little wedding cake as part of the shoot. I asked her if she knew of any young talent in the area that we could showcase. I wanted someone who also could pick up on my vision of the vintage theme I was going for. She said she had someone in mind and so then I left in completely in Val’s hands. She introduced me to Heather of Social Bites of Ruston – when Val sent me a sneak peak of the cake Heather created for me the night before the shoot, I about DIED. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better cake if I tried. I had never even met Heather but somehow through Valerie, she picked up on my vision and created a masterpiece.
Agh! It’s SO perfect! I wanted to keep it forever and WOW it smelled so good. When I saw the teaser the night before the shoot I immediately ran out and bought several buttons in the colors of the shoot. Heather is completely GENIUS for incorporating little buttons on the cake… oh and they are completely edible as well. I told myself, “Buttons!?! Why didn’t I think of that!!” Thus why you will continue to see buttons everywhere through out the shoot. (Even on the invitations above.) And the cute little tulle on the cake?? ADORABLE! Seriously, Heather is SO talented. I cannot even believe how amazing she really is. You MUST let her design your wedding cake and deserts. She is yet another young fresh person in the wedding industry and ultimately — TALENTED.
Heather not only brought the cake but she made several other cute deserts for us to play with.
Katie and David came into my life recently and were a complete Godsend. As soon as I got to know them a little, I knew immediately they were the perfect couple to model for my shoot. These two are truly one of the most beautiful couples I have been able to work with… and not just because they are pretty on the outside… but more so because of their inner beauty. They are both genuinely kind and loving and I just know a match made in Heaven. They are getting married in a couple of years so when I asked them to practice playing husband and wife for my shoot, they were more than excited!
My dear friend Courtney Davis from Kiki’s Consulting came to the shoot and did Katie’s hair and makeup. If you follow my boudoir blog you already know tons about her. She does hair and makeup for all of my boudoir clients and several of my brides. She is by far one of the most gifted hair and makeup stylists on this planet! I am so lucky to have her in my life. She is AMAZING in every way and did an outstanding job of highlighting Katie’s natural beauty.
A toast with banana pudding shots? Oh yes.
The dress is from Bustle in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sarah is the owner there and is yet ANOTHER young and fresh talent in this area. She is SO FLIPPIN’ gifted at finding the most beautiful and unique wedding gowns. So many of my brides get their gowns from there. You may recognize this particular one as the original owner was one of my very own brides, Angel. See her wedding here.
The boutonniere was hand made by Michael’s aunt who refuses to go into business even though I have told her she so should! She is SO talented and I could not believe it when she made me a bout that was exactly what I was looking for. How gorgeous is that?
Katie you are exquisite! I love your beautiful heart, please never change.
This hairpiece is by Lo from LoBoheme. She is also another talented hairpiece designer in the wedding industry. I could go on and on about her as well but just check out her website here.
The following is definitely one of my favorite parts about this shoot… all the gorgeous vintage details!! Together with Valerie, we both combined several of the things we had brought to the shoot and made this beautiful setting:
And of course notice the beautiful menu card Valerie made.
Details!! Oh and you know I had to throw a vintage chandelier in there somehow!
You may have noticed “Steven and Allie” on the menu and invites, which would explain the SA by their feet. We told Katie and David that for the day they were going to be given the names Allie and Steven… because we said so!
More details. I also had to be certain to incorporate a couple of vintage cameras as well. I mean hello, this is MY shoot after all and it’s supposed to be portraying ME.
Beautiful couple!!!
The end.
I hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit into my heart. Thanks so much to Valerie, Heather, Courtney, Katie, David, Anne (for letting us use her house as a location!), and Michael for all your help in making my dream come true. I couldn’t have done it without any of you. xoxo
