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Back in the Fall, my friend Katherin from Resounding Whispers Photography and I started talking about doing a styled shoot together this Spring. We decided to do earthy wedding decor and collaborate with some of our favorite Chattanooga-area vendors. Little did we know, Spring 2020 was going to be practically non-existent due to COVID-19.
What is a Styled Shoot?
According to ruffledblog.com, “a Styled Shoot is a wedding setting created by a team of wedding vendors to flex their creative muscles in a collaborative effort where typically everyone provides their services and expertise in exchange for images of their work.”
We have done several styled shoots before, as they are an excellent opportunity to work with a style or a design that you haven’t had the opportunity to do yet. So when we began discussing a styled shoot, my one desire was to do the full event design, rather than just flowers. We have been offering full event design and some other design services for a couple years now. But, we rarely get the opportunity to have complete design control.
Most brides want to design their own weddings, and choose all the details themselves. However, we occasionally come across a bride who has great taste and a specific style she loves, but feels completely incapable of pulling it all together herself. To that bride, I would definitely suggest hiring one of your wedding pros to help design the entire event so that your style comes together perfectly on your big day. I have been doing wedding flowers for almost a decade, but before I went full time with it, I was also a professional graphic design and industrial designer. This gave me the perfect skill set to offer full event design to my clients. So, when dreaming up styled shoot opportunities, I knew I wanted to “flex my creative muscles” in that area.
About the Flowers and Earthy Wedding Decor
We decided to do earthy wedding decor, but with a few boho details and a warm color pallet. My nickname for this color pallet is “Butterscotch Sunset”, haha. Floral-wise, that meant using some gorgeous full blooms like the beige-y Quicksand Roses and Plum/Peach Hellebores, and mixing them with some more funky textures and foliage. In this case, we used Dried Bleached Ruscus and Fern Leaf, and paired that with some Dried Palm Leaves/Fans to add in a little boho flare. The floral arrangements and the bowls at each place setting are from a set of stone/concrete pots and bowls we have in our rental inventory. We knew that using something more natural-looking would fit our earthy wedding decor style perfectly.
For the decor, we used our rental gold candlestick set, which includes new gold and vintage aged candlesticks for a perfect mix. In the candlesticks we chose butterscoth-colored taper candles. We decided on this warm color pallet to play off of all the venue’s natural wooden features, and I just LOVE how all the warm tones worked together. The linen napkins are actually drop cloths cut up. I didn’t want to use a formal white linen napkin, so I loved the idea of using drop cloth with a raw/frayed edge because it is a little less refined.
Invitations and Paper Goods
As part of our full event design services, we include the graphic design of all the paper goods and any signage needed for an event. It’s our favorite thing for all those details to coordinate. For this shoot, we definitely wanted to bring in some of those warm tones, so we did that with the linen-textured background paper, the camel-colored waxed twine, and the hand-stamped gold seal. Combining those elements with the pear place card and a blush cheesecloth table runner brought that earthy style all together.
About the Vendors
We knew Katherin from Resounding Whispers Photography was great at family photos and portrait sessions. But we had never worked with her on a wedding or styled shoot. We’re so happy with how she photographed every detail perfectly. Kelsey at Mrs. Bridal Boutique very generously let us borrow this gorgeous wedding gown, worn by our model and friend Moriah Stanley. Seriously, how GORGEOUS is she in the dress! And her real-life husband Jaymes worked the camera as well. They really could be models, am I right?
The venue we chose was Ridge Rose (formerly called Candlelight Ridge). The outdoor and rugged feel of the tent was the perfect setting for our earthy style. However, one thing that I was absolutely shocked by was how gorgeous the Stone Cottage is. This cottage is situated right next to Hickory Hall (the main event space/tent), so it offers easy access to the bridal suite as well as a stunning backdrop for pictures. With lots of vintage furniture and details inside, it offers a magical setting for getting ready.
I also want to mention my amazing second designer McCaull Vandergriff. If you’ve ever worked with us at an event, you know she’s an invaluable part of our team. She is also our awesome Coordinator for events where we’ve included Day-of Coordinating services. I can’t imagine Lang Floral Designs without McCaull, and I appreciate her help so much with this shoot!
Vendor Team
Photography: Resounding Whispers Photography
Flowers + Design: Lang Floral Designs
Venue: Ridge Rose in Chickamauga, GA (about 30 minutes outside of Chattanooga, TN)
Bridal Gown: Mrs. Bridal Boutique in Ooltewah (about 15 minutes outside of Chattanooga)
Invitation Design: Lang Floral Designs
Models: Jaymes & Moriah Stanley
Coordination: Lang Floral Designs
I also want to mention two vendors who we were originally collaborating with. The Copper Quail had very generously planned on letting us use some of their vintage furniture pieces, and some dishes for the place settings. Also, Sweet Angel Cakes had planned to make two semi-naked cakes with caramel drizzle and gold leafing (my mouth is watering just talking about it!)
Then COVID-19 Happened…
At the time of the shoot however, COVID-19 restrictions were just starting to effect normal life. The state of Tennessee was limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people. They also recommended that social distancing measures be taken along with the prevention of sharing germs. We felt the only way to honor those directives was to scale down a little bit. We have worked with both vendors at previous weddings, and they are excellent at what they do! I soooooo appreciate their willingness to be a part of this shoot, and also their understanding when we decided not to use them due to COVID-19.
Thank you to all the vendors who participated in this styled shoot! We love how all of the details came together so perfectly, and we hope you do too!
Make this look!
How to create the prefect Earthy Wedding Decor
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Lang Floral Designs is a premier wedding florist in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We do wedding and event flowers in the surrounding areas of East Tennessee and North Georgia, and we also love providing brides everywhere with useful ideas and information for their wedding day. For a better idea of all we can do at your wedding, click here. Contact us today if you’re interested in hiring us for your wedding or event.
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