Last week I was in Richmond VA for a photography conference and one of the days I participated in this MASSIVE Styled Shoot put together by the team of Creatively Gathered. It was held at the BEAUTIFUL Mount Ida Farm about an hour outside of Richmond. This was actually my first time participating in any styled shoot and it was a learning experience for sure!

If you’re not sure what exactly a styled shoot is, that’s totally fine and you are not alone! A styled shoot is when a team of vendors comes together to create a faux “styled” wedding. Photographers gain beautiful images for the portfolio and florists, calligraphers, planners, etc, get beautiful images that highlight and show off their talent and hard work. Styled shoots give all the creatives involved the creative freedom to control all the elements and create a vision in their head. This particular styled shoot actually had three different styled weddings that we were each able to photograph and I will be posting about each one separately.

The first one I was involved in was titled “Zero Waste”. Lots of neutral colors, dried florals, recycled paper, and earthy elements made up the details and decorations for this wedding. To be honest, this was the styled wedding I was least excited about, but after editing this one, I think this might be one of my favorites. The colors and darker mood of the decor and details match my editing style so beautifully! A super fun thing about a styled shoot is that there is ZERO pressure to “get the shot” because it’s not a real wedding and so you have complete freedom to just be creative. I also had the creative freedom to play a bit with my editing style with these images. One thing I decided to do for all of these images was to add in a little bit of grain to give them a more authentic film-like look. I don’t do this for my client’s wedding photos but I really love how it turned out for these styled images.

A huge thank you to this amazing team of vendors who contributed to the “Zero Waste” Wedding:

Styled Shoot Coordinator: KlayneStyled
Wedding Portfolio Specialist: Dream Team Academie
Venue: Mount Ida Farm
Rentals: Gardenia Social
Florist: Your Signature Designs
Floral Headpieces: Sarena Floral Designs
Cake Designer: The Cake Bee
Food Waste Pick-Up Service: Enrich Compost
Invitations: Okota Weddings
Jewelry & Hair Pieces: Dareth Colburn Designs
Gifts & Naturally Dyed Ribbon: Northern Dyer
Men’s Bands: Board Thing
Calligraphy: Pencraft and Post
Hair and Make-Up Artist: Beautiful Dream Team
Men’s Attire: Classic Tuxedos
Alterations: Fariba Bridal Alterations

There were all these beautiful styled mats that you could use for the details, but this wedding was so earthy and simple that I felt the concrete floor went best with this invitation suite so I moved it off the board and put it straight on the floor. I’m not against styled boards, but I also really love using what you have and finding a way to incorporate the getting ready space into the detail shots.

Xoxo,
Mary Kate