It all started with a vision: Ellie of Ellie Mae Photo’s vision to be specific!
Ellie came to me with her magnetic and bubbly personality presenting this wonderful idea, and I before she even told me what it was, I knew that I had to be in — duh! Ellie described her vision as a bridal editorial highlighting 3 women of color, their natural hair, and a cool, edgy city warehouse vibe. Obviously I was down.
In the wedding industry, there’s an unfortunate lack of representation of Black women and other BIPOC. As Ellie expressed, when she was a little girl, she always pictured her hair straight on her wedding day – because that’s what she saw. She felt like her own amazingly gorgeous curly hair wasn’t enough, so it was imperative that during this shoot, those women rocked their natural curls.
Ellie asked me to sprinkle some of my fairy dust on her already amazing creation, so that’s what I did – and that’s where the concept of Earth, Wind and Fire was born.
The name Earth, Wind, and Fire was inspired by the drop-dead gorgeous women in the shoot. I thought it would be a fun idea to make each woman their own element: Earth, wind, and fire.
After getting the name and the overall concept set in stone, I knew I had to call in some experts…
First thing I thought of was florals. I connected with the one-and-only Stephanie from Earth Blossom Flowers (I mean it was only right – the shoot’s vision was literally in her name). And let me tell ya, she did not disappoint – she knocked every element out of the park, as always. She took the ideas I put on the mood board and brought them to life.
My next thought was, “well, now who’s going to do makeup?” Liza Ray, of course! And wow, was her makeup on point or what?! She elevated the looks to a whole new level by capturing what each element was all about.
And lastly, we needed some bomb ass wedding gowns for this shoot. Ellie and I each had some specific characteristic we wanted in the gowns. It was important to represent each woman’s element in her dress, so we called the wonderful Lauren from Wildblooms Bridal.
For Earth, we wanted something that looked like it grew from the ground. Our model needed to look like an Earth goddess. The gown HAD to have texture, plus beautiful floral lace… and this amazing detachable gauzy sleeves put the goddess in earth goddess.
For Wind, obviously something ethereal, smooth, movement was mandatory. It was amazing that we had the option to add sleeves and really capture that “wind” element.
For Fire, the gown needed to bring on all of the sassiness and texture that we could get. We wanted to channel that inner salsa and flamenco dancer to bring out the spicy flames that Fire makes us all think of. We wanted people to view these photos and start sweating because she’s so hot.
Between me and Lauren’s great team work, we carefully and meticulously chose each gown specifically to bring each element. Chef’s freaking kiss.
The best part about this shoot? Other than the absolute AMAZING success, was the collaboration. Ellie is the definition of a team player — we worked so well together, effortlessly running each idea by each other and always remaining on the same page. Watching Ellie both in front and behind the camera was unlike anything I ever saw! The way she directed and supported the models with such ease, kindness and strength was one of the highlights of my day!
I wanted to make sure I was doing her original vision justice, but she believed in my ideas every step of the way, which made the lugging 3 set-ups worth of dresses, flowers, props, makeup and accessories up and down 5 flights of stairs all worthwhile!
That day, the energy was truly extraordinary. Everyone was vibing, working together, and creating pure magic. This shoot was a labor of love, and I’d be honored to work with all of these lovely vendors again!
If you liked what you saw and you want to collaborate on a styled shoot with me in the future, send me a message here!
Design + Planner: Lindsey (@wildflowereventsdesign)
Photographer: Ellie Mae (@elliemae.photo)
Makeup: Liza (@liza_ray)
Florals: Stephanie (@earthblossomflowers)
Wedding Gowns: Wild Blooms Bridal (@wildbloomsbridal)
Models: Earth/Chinara (@chinarastroman_) Wind/Asia (@asiaacakes) Fire/Dyiamond (@dyi.tiana)