Let’s talk about styled photoshoots. There’s a lot that goes into creating the perfectly curated moments you see sprinkled through Instagram. And as your (self-proclaimed, for now) go-to New England design team, we wanted to dedicate this blog post to spilling all of the styled shoot tea! We’re walking you through our June shoot at Glynwood from start to finish, giving you a front row seat to the entire design, planning, and styling process. Interested in seeing how we (with the help of amazing vendors, venues, and creators) work our magic? Keep scrolling!
Before we get started, though, we want to address the question that you’re probably asking yourself: what’s the point of a styled shoot? Short answer: aesthetics. Long answer: to showcase and promote our design and planning abilities, provide a place for other vendors to do the same, connect with potential future partners and photographers, scope out venues, and engage in collaborative efforts to further hone our teamwork skills and foster relationships with other brands within our industry. Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s talk about how the styled shoot process begins.
The first step? The idea. As all the best projects do, styled shoots begin with a killer concept idea, usually as a result of some serious social media stalking and a trend, location, or style that we want to put our own spin on.
As soon as our inspiration has materialized into something tangible, our next move is to create a mood board to provide a home for all of our ideas. We live for a quality mood board. Pictured below is our initial vision for this shoot, where we’ve outlined our color preferences, floral inspo, dress options, stationery design, and decor pieces that we hoped to use as a baseline for our final creation.
Once we nailed down our focus for the shoot, we began our hunt for like-minded creatives to participate. We find it best to choose the photographer for the shoot first, because their photo style dictates a lot of the end result of the shoot. We were introduced to our photographer, Cassandra Daye, at the first styled shoot we ever hosted (peeds that Wadsworth shoot)! We were immediately impressed by her work, and swore that we would work together as soon as the opportunity presented itself. This shoot was finally the time! Her style is more fine art than our typical whimsical, boho designs that change with the seasons. After sending several venue options back and forth, we both agreed that Glynwood could provide us with the perfect marriage of our two aesthetics. We had been wanting to work with them forever, and now we had an excuse to propose the idea to their event team.
In reaching out to a venue for something like a styled shoot, it is important to always be authentic in your approach. We sent them a clear message, outlining exactly what we were hoping to do and the specific benefits that we could provide their venue. Through our discussions, we were reached a mutually advantageous agreement — we get to use their gorgeous venue (with the promise of highlighting their cottage and boathouse, per their request), and they are entitled to use our photos for promotion on their social media pages and in their marketing materials.
Once we nailed down our focus for the shoot, we began our hunt for like-minded creatives to participate. We find it best to choose the photographer for the shoot first, because their photo style dictates a lot of the end result of the shoot. We were introduced to our photographer, Cassandra Daye, at the first styled shoot we ever hosted (peeds that Wadsworth shoot)! We were immediately impressed by her work, and swore that we would work together as soon as the opportunity presented itself. This shoot was finally the time! Her style is more fine art than our typical whimsical, boho designs that change with the seasons. After sending several venue options back and forth, we both agreed that Glynwood could provide us with the perfect marriage of our two aesthetics. We had been wanting to work with them forever, and now we had an excuse to propose the idea to their event team.
In reaching out to a venue for something like a styled shoot, it is important to always be authentic in your approach. We sent them a clear message, outlining exactly what we were hoping to do and the specific benefits that we could provide their venue. Through our discussions, we were reached a mutually advantageous agreement — we get to use their gorgeous venue (with the promise of highlighting their cottage and boathouse, per their request), and they are entitled to use our photos for promotion on their social media pages and in their marketing materials.
Glynwood sits in all its glory on a 250-acre farm, 90 minutes north of New York City, in the quaint little town of Cold Spring. This is an area Lindsey knew very well, having grown up in the Hudson Valley herself. We loved this venue for so many reasons, but one thing that initially impressed us about Glynwood was their commitment to hosting events with a focus on sustainable food and regional agriculture. Located aside a serene pond, we felt compelled to highlight their boathouse even if they hadn’t requested that we shoot there. The second we saw it, visions of a magical, romantic reception moment danced in our minds… Alexa, play Dancing in the Moonlight. Flickering candlelight, luxurious velvety chairs, dusty rose accents peppered through dreamy greenery… we wanted it all. And that’s the beauty of a styled shoot: we had the opportunity to create whatever our hearts desired.
The venue is one of two main components that influences our plan for the entire shoot. We scope out its surroundings, leaving no stone left unturned for potential inspiration. It’s important to us to focus on enhancing what’s already present at a given location, because every place has something unique worth showcasing. The second component is the season. Glynwood in June meant lots of warm tones and lush greenery, so we wanted to stick with that in an effort to portray the venue in the most authentic light.
Once we’d chosen Glynwood, we worked together with Cassandra to pull vendors from both of our worlds to complete the shoot. We at Wildflower previously had connections to bridal boutique Everthine Bridal (@everthinebridal) and TS Calligraphy (@tscalligraphy) from previous shoots. Cassandra already knew (and loved) Olive and June Floral Co (@oliveandjunefloralco) and Osman (@hairwizardofoz) from their previous collaborations. It was so nice to work with new people and cultivate new working relationships with other creatives that we now look forward to bringing on for future weddings we’re working on.
Venue and vendors, check. Now, for the most vital element of the shoot: models. Our main priorities in choosing models are diversity and inclusivity. Because there are so many different types of humans and different types of love, it is extremely important to Wildflower to represent all of them, not just the white, heteronormative couples. We found Amanda and Jean while stalking Cassandra on Instagram, and later learned that they were her real clients, getting married later this year. We immediately messaged her and said, obviously in all caps, WE NEED THEM! They were effortlessly photogenic, and completely radiating happiness in the pictures we saw of them on Cassandra’s feed. It was an added bonus that their *real* wedding was coming up soon, so we were truly capturing that almost-newly-wed love.
Models secured. Now for their outfits. We did a deep dive into their Instagram (again, we were stalking; no shame), and found that Jean had some real swagger, and was able to really hold a style and be in the forefront, so we wanted him to have an amazing piece to rock. Enter: pink suit. Like, come on. That was iconic. As we recently said via Instagram post, sometimes all you need is a beautiful man in a beautiful suit. We’re still thinking about it two months later… But can you blame us? It matched the aesthetic perfectly. And with those crisp white sneakers? A statement.
As for Amanda, since we were doing the shoot on a farm, we really wanted to implement a cool juxtaposition of this sort of country surrounding with a high glam bridal moment. Clearly, we saw that she was absolutely stunning, and didn’t need a fussy dress to distract from her natural beauty, so we added a dress to our moodboard to capture the vibe and sent it over to Everthine. They provided us with a bunch of options, but once we saw those sleeves on the Hazel gown by Emmy Mae Bridal, ohhhh my *heart eyes* we had to have it! It was so simple yet so chic and high impact. We knew that Amanda would rock the you-know-what out of it, and that’s exactly what she did.
Amanda and Jean were the most easy going, sweet and in love models we could have ever hoped for. Given the current state of the world, it was all of the vendors and models first time really out in the world, and Amanda and Jean really trusted us leading up and throughout the day, that it really allowed our true vision to shine through!
Even though Amanda was deathly afraid of water, her soon-to-be husband, Jean, convinced her to get in the boat anyway to help us get that shot. As soon as Jessy, Wildflower’s Associate Coordinator and DFAC (down for anything chick, duh), noticed that Amanda was still feeling a bit apprehensive about the boat, she jumped in the water without a second thought to make sure Amanda felt comfortable and safe. In true Jessy fashion, she had worn a bathing suit under her outfit, just in case. And that’s the dedication we’re proud to bring to every shoot.
The details take a little while to iron out, but once most of the planning is complete, our next task is the fun part: shoot day!
Every shoot is different, but they usually last a few hours; setting aside time for setup and time for actually taking the photos. And obviously time for hanging out, chatting, and probably a few dance parties, because that’s just how we work. The Glynwood shoot lasted for roughly 6 hours, because there were a few parts of the shoot’s setup that were very intricate, such as the ceiling decor above the reception table and the florals on the porch.
The hanging glass orbs over the reception table ended up being the star of the show. Dara’s imagination really came through for us on this one. Oftentimes when we see the final product of a gorgeous shoot on Instagram or Pinterest, we don’t realize how much effort truly goes into pulling it together. Jessy spent hours tying each individual glass vase to the greenery before nailing the look. Despite the hard work, we’ve decided to tie it into a few of our designs for 2021 weddings, because we’re simply too obsessed with the outcome.
Coming in as a close-second favorite was the porch ceremony. This one was Lindsey’s baby. All we want in life is a heart-eyes-worthy front porch. Once we’d nailed down Glynwood as our venue of choice, we knew we had to work in the porch existing cottage porch structure into the romantic ceremony moment. We wanted flowers crawling up the stairs and columns, completely enveloping Amanda and Jean in a bloom of love. And we couldn’t have been more thrilled with how it turned out.
In some regards, planning a styled photo shoot can be even more difficult than planning a wedding. Of course, there aren’t as many moving parts, and we as the design team are (almost) in complete control of the overall aesthetic of the shoot, but there are still a lot of expectations to manage. We prioritize the needs of everyone involved, and pride ourselves in ensuring that all creatives involved are represented.
Styled shoots like Glynwood allow us to express our creativity, work with friends both new and old, make connections with others in the industry, scope out wedding venues for future brides and grooms, and test out decor elements that we’re hoping to use throughout our clients’ events. We put our planning, networking, and design skills to the test, and Instagram benefits from the pretty outcome. We get to put it all on the table (literally), showcase all that we can do, and have a great time doing it.