Happy #WeddingWednesday guy! I decided back in January that this year will be all about trying new things for me. And professionally the first new thing on my list was executing my first wedding styled shoot. For anyone who doesn't know what a styled shoots is, it's when different vendors (coordinators, florist, cake artists, etc.) collaborate together to create a wedding collective scene. The idea is that everyone donates there services and in return they get images for their social media feeds and websites. I had seen so many other photographers participating in them but I did not know how essential they are for career. Another vital thing I started doing this year was reaching out to colleagues and mentors and mentors to help me along this entrepreneurial journey. And they explained the importance of styled shoots. So this year I decided I would just go for it and it went better than I could have even dreamed.

I worked with an amazing team including an Event Designer, Candace Carson, and an Event Coordinator, Felisha Orchid. We came up with a theme for our shoot, which was 'Something Blue'. The idea was to play off of the wedding tradition of having “Something Blue” on your wedding day. The goal of this styled shoot is to celebrate the color blue by creating an intimate monochromatic scene using various shades of soft and pale blues, accented with copper and touches of white. We photographed the styled shoot at University Golf Club (a gorgeous golf course club house) in University Park, IL. University Golf Club is a spectacular venue with tall ceilings and gorgeous floor to ceiling windows. We also had a beautiful couple, along with gorgeous florals, and many other unique design elements. Our vendors truly outdid themselves (they are all listed below with their websites).

One of the coolest parts of the Styled Shoot for me was who we choose to model for us. Marcel and Melanie have been married for a few years but never had an actual wedding. Melanie told me a couple weeks prior to being asked she talked to her husband about doing some sort of bride and groom photo shoot. So when I reached out to them Melanie actually cried. We made sure she got the full bridal treatment from an amazing make up artist to a gorgeous bridal gown. We even did a first look for them. Marcel had the sweetest reaction to seeing his bride in a gown for the first time. We got to create a memory for them that will last a lifetime. It's moments like those that make me happy to be a photographer!