"Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world."
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

FLORAL DESIGN : JULES DESIGN

VENUE : SASSAFRAS SPRINGS VINYARD

FURNITURE AND SETUP : EVENTURES

DRESS AND MODEL : SHE SAID YES

I don't get the chance to shoot many styled sessions these days. As much as we'd love to work in a world where everything is completely perfect if I'm honest I watch photographers who crank out styled shoot after styled shoot and wonder if they love imperfection as much as I do. There's something so special about organic moments unfolding in front of you and there's so much art in making beauty out of chaos. (Not to mention I kind of love the idea that the majority of the shots that we share with our clients as our portfolio are not staged.) That said, when this list of vendors calls on you to do a styled shoot there's no saying no and I certainly am glad I didn't.

To be fair I had absolutely no idea what my team was walking into when we agreed to this shoot. After wrapping up the Ultimate Wedding Experience a few days before our friend Julie (from Jules Design) had the idea of using some of her florals she'd ordered into pull together a pretty lavish bridal shoot. She pulled our friend Randall (from Eventures) in and they dreamed up the idea from the ground up. All I knew we needed was to call Myka (from She Said Yes) and see if we could pull together a model and a perfect dress and somehow without any of us communicating on the overall look it came out just like this. Truth be told this is a perfect example of what happens when you hire vendors who trust each other completely. I was so excited when I saw Shannon step out of the car in that beautiful dress. Shannon and I had the chance to work together on another She Said Yes shoot and I absolutely loved the way she had fun with the challenges as they came up (of course in that situation it was 60 mph winds and this time it was harsh afternoon light).

Anyway, there's not a ton of story here. I am always blown away when sessions like this come together but we did this entire shoot in about 45 minutes and with Max and Delyn firing away I had the chance to simply play with a new camera and really enjoy the process. Ultimately this session was a huge success and I'm so excited that I did take the time to be available for this shoot. Of course there aren't a lot of companies who would roll into a shoot like this with three photographers but all of us were eager for a chance to unwind and have a little fun and I am pretty proud of the way this thing finished up!