Four months ago, I posted
this inspiration board for a shoot I was really excited about. The shoot had been in the works for two months before that. And now I finally FINALLY get to share it! It was worth the wait.
So back in March, Melissa of
The Loveliest Day and
Melissa Elise Event Design told me she had an idea for a photoshoot inspired by
psychedelic album cover art and asked if I would like to be a part of it. Obviously I gave a big huge YES. My record nerd husband is a huge psych fan and I have always loved the look of the album art. The crazy colors, swirling patterns, and art nouveau influence totally get me. I grabbed a stack of 30 or so records and got together with Melissa. We narrowed it down to 7 or 8 albums that really inspired us, and Melissa threw out ideas like biker culture and a hippie commune vibe. We bonded over a mutual love of things that are beautiful but a bit rough around the edges and knew we were on to something good.
Fast forward two months, and Melissa had put together an amazing team of wedding professionals all ready to bring their A game. Melissa herself did an amazing job of pulling together perfect details and crafting a ton of decor for the shoot.
Miss Tashina custom made dresses for the shoot and also was our bride model. She also brought in gorgeous accessories from
Sweet Evie and
Jenny Dayco. Melissa from
Pow Wow Vintage Rentals not only provided a ton of decor, she actually custom made many elements, including the lattice tabletop.
Adam Hunt created papergoods that looked like spot-on psych posters.
Erin Hearts Court took dreamy photos, brought like a billion different cameras, and gave us stellar styling input. My girl
Erica made a beautiful cake.
Emily Dawn Artistry did a beautiful job with the hair and makeup. And finally
Star Ranch (the venue) was just AMAZING (seriously; Melissa and I about died when we did our first walkthrough).
Some of my favorite shots:
A bit more about what we created:
For the ceremony, I really liked the idea of sticking to the album art inspiration. I love taking a sort of esoteric idea and reinterpreting it in a subtle and surprising way. Basically, I wanted to create a structure that was the shape of a record and somehow incorporated some of the vivid, swirling floral designs common to the backgrounds of psych albums. And I wanted the structure to be big enough to frame the couple. So I created this:
I purchased two 4 foot by 8 foot panels of wood and attached them together to create a giant square. Then I drew a flowy, organic shape on the wood in pencil. This was filled in with about two dozen small floral foam pieces that were custom cut and hung on little screws to fill in the space. Finally, I added tons of peonies, garden roses, dahlias, poppies, bouganvillea, viburnum, and celosia to fill out the shape. I loved seeing the lushness of the flowers against the raw wood. It took about two hours of prep and two hours on-site construction to create. But once I had it in my head, I had to make it. Some close ups:
For all of the flowers, I chose lots of big, colorful blooms that have a trippy feel. I used four different varieties of roses that all had variegated painterly colors and mixed them with garden roses. I mixed in accents and even a few passion flowers cut from my yard. The bouquets were wrapped in psychedelic trim complete with embroidery and tiny circular mirrors. My favorite bouquet shot:
And some more details, in no particular order:
Ombre miniature flower arrangements in jars as favors:
Gold lattice tabletop and tie dyed bowls:
Crazy-with-textiles cake display with a gorgeous view. Created on a hangman's gallows of all things (we had to take down the rope):
Moonshine bar. With Moonshine, beer, and rootbeer:
Florals in colored depression glass:
I could go on but this post is already obscenely image heavy. You can see tons more detail on
Green Wedding Shoes and
The Loveliest Day. And if you didn't follow those links, just know that there was more awesomeness. And there was also a motorcycle getaway into the sunset.
Sigh....
p.s. if you hire me to recreate that ceremony setup, I will be your b.f.f.f.f.f.f.f.f.f.
