Vibrant Amalfi Garden Wedding ~ Style Shoot

I thought it appropriate that I share the style shoot I poured so much of myself into this past fall for the last blog post of the year. The idea of having a style shoot was implanted in my photographer brain at a photography conference I attended in January 2014. I threw the idea around in my head for almost the entire year and then come August I finally put my foot down and got down to business. I’m so glad I did, I’m head over heels with the results and I met some wonderful people in the process who were EVERYTHING in bringing my vision to life.

I’ve learned some things about organizing and the creation of style shoots. 1) Your vision/theme is oh so important. I basically couldn’t plan anything until I had clear intentions set aside for what I wanted everything to look like. Staying on track in terms of theme and style was tough but well worth it in the end. Everything came together so well and there was a reason for that, I was super picky about the colors, the cake, the placesettings…basically all that went into it. 2) Staying organized is key. I contacted and worked with a bunch of wedding professionals/vendors in the Austin area. I felt a little bit like a wedding cooridantor (I’m glad that’s not my day job, so much work!!). Staying on top of emails and keeping everyone involved informed as the ball was rolling was key. 3) Style shoots are super fun and well worth the effort once all is said and done. I can’t wait to do more!

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My inspiration for this shoot all stemmed from a location, a location near and dear to my heart…the Amalfi Coast of Italy. Alex and I honeymooned there back in 2008 and I absolutely fell in love with the turqoise sea, the peach and yellow rooftops, and lemon everything. You’ll see how the color palette and the flavor of Amalfi worked its way in and out of every image. Come see my favorites!!

Isn’t this tablescape just so lovely and yummy? Katie Kaighin of Little Yellow Flower Design and Jenifer Sanregret of Sanregret Weddings were my styling gurus who created something straight out of my dreams. The rustic table and vintage cake stands and tins from Bee Lavish Rentals worked perfectly. And scattered on the table was sea glass and broken bits of pottery that I hand picked from Fornillo Beach in Positano. It was all perfect.

One of the very first decisions I made when envisioning this shoot was which couple to use. Kylie and Zane came to mind immediately. We shot their February wedding this year and loved them and their style so much. They were the obvious choice and so easy to work with. Not to meantion, hot to trot.

And the flowers Katie put together, just dreamy and exactly what I was hoping for. Not only did she create lovely table displays, a bouquet, a boutonniere, but TWO floral crowns. I was so in love. I told her the colors, the types of flowers I liked and that I wanted Kylie to look as if she existed in a wild garden and told her to do the rest and to have fun with it. I knew I could trust her to create something absolutely stunning! I’ve been a fan of her work for so long now.

Isn’t that cake awesome?!?! I knew I wanted a “naked cake” and something super simple. Jackie McGrath of Sweet Treets Bakery was a breeze to work with. She was so accommodating and helpful throughout the entire process. The vanilla cake with buttercream frosting was so delicious too.

As luck would have it Jenifer, my super awesome stylist and coordinator of the day is married to Grant Sanregret, owner of Austin City Lemons. It’s a lemonade stand that pops up on South Coungress and along South Lamar and has zingy, zippy lemon beverages. They provided the delicious lemonade for the day that inspired our fizzy fig lemonade cocktail. Other key players in the cocktail were Topo Chico, Deep Eddy Vodka, and a fig simple syrup. Yumz for days!!! I just love these deconstructed cocktail snaps!

And no Austin style shoot would be complete without a debut from jewelry designer Kendra Scott. The turquoise earrings and pendant necklace brought Kylie’s look to a whole new level. I love bold pops of color on a bride!

The invitations were a fun art project I put together with the help of my crafty mom and her stamp collection. I simply channeled past calligraphy classes I took with Mama Lewey and raided her stamp collection to create these watercolor inpsired beauties.

Isn’t Kylie’s gown such a stunner? It’s the gown she wore on her own wedding day, I love the ease of it and how well she was able to move in it. Thanks to Audrey from Second Summer Bride, they have such a beautiful inventory of wedding dresses!

Alright, MAKEUP! And HAIR! Rhea McCarter and Chancy Cone of Adore Makeup Boutique and Salon were magicians and complete rockstars that took Kylie’s look to the next level. I told Rhea I wanted Kylie’s face of makeup to be natural and “beachy” with a bold lip and VOILA! I told Chancy I wanted ALL THE BRAIDS and VOILA! I couldn’t have been more thrilled. And as with all my vendors and lovelies that day, they were so charming and kind. Thanks girls!

Then it was time to take down the first “cake table” and set up another beautiful display of the placesettings. Again, Katie and Jenifer rocked it out and created such a stunning visual for me to go crazy photographing. The goblets were fresh from our personal drinking glasses at home :), the plates were finds from Austin’s Antique Mall my mom and I rooted around for one afternoon, and the silverware is my grandmother’s from Norway. I love personal touches in shoots like these!

Thank you to everyone involved, I couldn’t have done it without you!! Also a special thanks to my husband Alex who listened to me toil over every detail of this shoot for months and was there the day of to help photograph and do some heavy lifting. Thank you to Ren for your humor and manual labor. A big thanks to Bonnie for helping coordinate schedules and helping me navigate this beautiful property. And a million thank yous to Bill and Bettye for allowing me to photograph on their private residence. I’m oh so grateful!