My First Time..
This was my first time ever doing a styled shoot!
This styled shoot actually originated from a Craigslist ad! I was looking for mid-century, modern furniture on Craigslist, and I happened to see an ad for a photographer seeking models. I had only recently begun to promote my floral design business, and I decided to reach out to the photographer, Natally of Lumiere Visual Arts, to see if she wanted to collaborate at some point. Thankfully, she did! Interestingly, I chose to do a Pantone Color of the Year shoot because I didn’t exactly love the chosen color (called “Greenery”). I decided that I wanted to create and design a setting utilizing Greenery in a way that would make it appeal to me, and so began the design process for the shoot. In my opinion, Greenery fits very well with “modern” style. When Natally suggested using a new, industrial venue for our shoot, I immediately jumped. A new venue? That's almost unheard of! I emailed Angelica, the venue manager at the Willow Ballroom and she excitedly agreed to partner with us for the shoot. The Willow Ballroom is just 30 minutes south of Sacramento in Hood, California, and it’s a beautiful venue that offers freedom of size and space. For the floral arrangements, I used bright green sword fern which matches the Greenery color almost exactly, and I mixed in some darker ferns here and there to tone it down a bit. White garden roses, hydrangeas, and ranunculus were the perfect choice to soften the the look and increase brightness. Consistent with the modern elements, I put the arrangements on tall rectangular glass (which also allows you to see people sitting across the table), and we placed the arrangements on a grey chiffon runner to soften the tablescape. We found the ghost chairs via a post on Instagram, and when set alongside the wood table, the chairs complimented the modern, industrial tablescape perfectly! Irna from Celebration Rentals also supplied the beautiful wood tables and the gorgeous rose-gold flatware that matched the reds in the wood table wonderfully. I asked Liz, the calligrapher, to do a modern lettering on the invitations and menu cards and she was thrilled to be given some freedom. They turned out so great that I almost want to frame them! Joli from La Tavola Fine Linen Rental was a joy to work with, and visiting their new Sacramento showroom was an event in itself. It's gorgeous! They provided us with napkins and a fun background linen for the invitations. Dina from Bride to Be Couture generously agreed to let us borrow one of her most sought-after dresses for the weekend. The gorgeous model Ariela (and her husband was the groom!) fit the showroom dress PERFECTLY. We added a tulle skirt for some of the shots which added a bit of softness to the modernity of the shoot. Hair and make-up was done by the lovely Becky, who accentuated the model's beauty but did not overpower her. She did her hair down for part of the shoot and a beautiful up-do for the second half of the shoot. Thank God for social media and Craigslist ads!
