Wonderland: Chapter 1
We'd been dreaming of covering our outdoor bed with moss since we brought it out to the woods a couple years ago. With that vision in mind, we decided that a bed covered in moss would lend itself nicely to a dreamy bridal shoot.
The more we prepped and discussed the visuals for the shoot, the more it started to take shape. Visions of moss, teacups, roses and cute little details took on a life of their own and hinted gently at an Alice in Wonderland vibe and it organically grew from there.
When we decided to make this a bridal shoot, we knew we wanted to work with Something Blue Bridal. So many of our brides have gotten their gowns there and they have so many beautiful gowns to choose from.
We asked ourselves what would Alice wear if she would get married today? It made it hard to decide which gown to go with but there was just something so unique and modern about the one we chose. We've never seen one like it before and we wanted it to stand out but not be your typical princess gown.
Sandy, owner of Something Blue Bridal, was very generous to allow us to use the WTOO Lenora gown for the day! Both of our Models Demarie and Brooklynn looked stunning wearing it! We love the short sleeves, beaded circle lace and open back. The silhouette of this gown is stunning!
The bed is located down the hill at Carmen's in laws. It took a lot of walking up and down the hill to carry everything down the hill and later back up. Everybody helped and it was truly a labor of love.
We were all giddy with childlike excitement as everything came together ... we believe it's important to keep a sense of wonder as you walk through life as an adult.
What would Alice look like
if she got married?
For a few weeks prior to our shoot we started gathering things. Between Etsy, Amazon and all of our collaborateurs we found items to transform our spot in the woods into a magical fable land yet again.
We just tried to imagine in what kind of dreamland Alice would love to hang out! We hung a chandelier, bird cages and books from branches. We decorated the head board with teacups ... put mushrooms along the path, keeping it subtle with just enough details.
“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.”
Charlyn from Charlyn's Floral instantly understood our vision and the garland she made for our bed with red roses, peonies and hanging greens was out of this world! The bouquets and floral touches were all better than we could've hoped for. You've got to love a florist who has a bag full of moss in her possession!
We found the huge roll of moss on etsy and it covered almost the whole bed. The rest we filled in with Charlyn's moss and we still love the lace bed skirt Carmen's mom made.
We used a glass table Carmen had gotten from Redeemed Furnishings a while back. Jamie added her Dad's retirement clock that lent itself perfectly for our shoot. We love to use items dear to our heart and kind of hide them in our shoots. Like the Swarovski crystal butterfly Carmen's parents got her while vacationing in France. Carmen is a butterfly lover, so there has to be a butterfly somewhere... we also used some favorite vintage teacups that are family heirlooms or random finds.
We couldn't get over how magical it looked and all agreed we'd love to live there and so would Alice! We even had a little birdy visit us and when nobody was looking some critter stole a few of our cupcakes.
Last minute we asked Brad from Brad's Design & Jewelry if he could lend us a wedding band and some other jewelry to complete the bridal look. We love Brad because he always says YES! The vintage inspired Saphire engagement ring looked gorgeous on Demarie's delicate hands.
We knew we needed a few of our favorite hair and make-up gals from NW Indiana to add the final touch to this epic production.
We loved the hair & makeup on Demarie & Brooklynn!
We asked stylists Madeline Chambers and Brittany Miller to do hair on our models. For make-up we asked Makeup Vamp Deanna Roberts and Amy Bangalan. We have all worked together before and knew these talented ladies would not disappoint.
Brittany created a beautiful updo on Brooklynn and added some feathers and flowers. Maddie gave Demarie a practical ponytail and added some colored extensions. We love the romantic and editorial looks they came up with! We changed it up a few times and in our Chapter 2 blog you'll get to see a bit more.
A couple weeks prior to our shoot the talented artist Jessica Warzyniak from Ohh Nice Nails found us on instagram and of course we wanted to add her to our team when we saw all of her ingenious nail designs. Jessica went out of her way to create and work her magic on the model's hands. (Wait until you see the fabulously wonky nails for the Alice part of our shoot.)
We love these triangle earrings by Brad's Design & Jewelry
We love artist collaborations and were so excited to be working with this talented group of women that volunteered their time and talent to make this vision spring to life. We couldn't believe the luck that everyone's schedules synced up with amazing weather for our shoot!
This was the bridal part of our styled shoot, in a few weeks we'll be sharing a bit more of our Alice in Wonderland inspired shoot!
We always believe in the possibilities, at least after we've had our first cup of coffee! We hope you love the images as much as we do!
Thanks to everyone involved, including Carmen's in laws who let us take over their home from morning until sundown!
Carmen & Jamie