Beaver Creek State Park Styled Boho Watercolor Wedding for The Rising Tide Society
This year, I was fortunate enough to come across an absolutely amazing group for creative entrepreneurs called The Rising Tide Society. The focus of this group is community over competition, where we're encouraged as creatives and business owners to stand beside each other and build each other up. "A rising tide lifts all boats." This is SO true and SO powerful!
After I came across this group, I discovered that there are local chapters all over the country that meet up the second Tuesday of every month for Tuesdays Together. And there was a group in the Youngstown area with a lot of people I had heard of or only met once or twice. Needless to say I was nervous but oh so excited to meet with these lovely people and really see what this group was all about! This group has been nothing short of amazing since joining them and the movement several months ago! They're all so talented, supportive and eager to teach and learn.
With all that being said, The RTS encouraged us to collaborate with each other and plan a styled shoot. So we did just that! We decided on a boho watercolor themed wedding and our plans really came to life at Beaver Creek State Park in East Liverpool, Ohio. The clearing surrounded by tons of tall trees and a gorgeous shaded area down by the river really complimented the theme. As we all teamed up to arrange props, the amazing Bianca Heasley and Emily Kobylanski worked their magic for hair and make up with the gorgeous models.
When planning a wedding, there are so many little details that go into creating a cohesive, beautiful display for viewers. Fortunately for us, we had sooooo many AWESOME and talented people making this shoot come together in a short period of time. Everyone was on the same page and just "got it". The cake and snack table, provided by Rebecca McElroy of Junque Boutique, couldn't have been more perfect in showing off the stunning three tier cake designed and made by Jasmine Santos of Jazzy Cake Creations. If you ready my previous blog, you'd recognize that name, as Jasmine created the stunning script cake from my last styled shoot. Everything she creates is magic, so I knew she'd come up with something absolutely amazing. And the cake definitely didn't disappoint!
Rebecca also provided the pink settee (swoon!), the sign and some cute wooden cheese platters. Her daughter, Libby, was also there to help out. She is a master at calligraphy, and only 11 years old! Not to mention she's sweet as can be like her mama :] Everything they make is swoon worthy, and I highly encourage you to check out there shop!
Complimenting the cake as well as the rest of the table were beautiful floral arrangements by Jenny Wehr of The Willows by Wehr. Jenny also put together a beautiful bouquet and some DROP DEAD GORGEOUS floral crowns for our models! I may be a little biased since purple is my favorite color, but the color combos were just stellar! They worked beautifully, not to mention smelled amazing! Between the cake and the flowers, the entire area we shot in smelled like heaven. Jenny also added roses to the arbor, made by my mama, Marikay Bellino. It was the same arbor I used in my wedding two years ago (you can see the arbor in all it's vintage, lace wrapped glory in the blog post from the amazing husband and wife team of Swatch-Studios here). I'm so glad we were able to give it new life! And my dad is definitely glad it's not in his garage anymore :P
Jennifer Dirksen designed the soft and beautiful watercolor stationary for the shoot and they were printed by Minuteman Press in Youngstown, Ohio. The shoes by Gianni Bini were provided by Lindsey of Lumin Images and the super awesome wood stand was made by her mom, Sue Ramdin.
Let's take a moment to applaud our models. Seriously. Applaud them. Yell and cheer loudly, because these people were PHENOMENAL! It was insanely muggy and hot out that day, and they were in full attire with hair and make up for the girls. Oh, and they were stalked by 11 crazy people carrying cameras :P They powered through like champs!
LeAnn and Jered Gamble were our Bride and Groom. LeAnn wore her stunning wedding gown from Treasured Moments Bridal while Jered rocked the laid back look like a pro, with suspenders, khakis, and a blue button down from JC Penny with rolled up sleeves. As a fun little side note, it's worth mentioning that Jered and LeAnn had celebrated their one year wedding anniversary several days before our shoot! Their emotions and happiness shined through so authentically, as if it were their actual wedding day.
Kyle and Katie were part of our bridal party. And guess what - they're a real life couple too! Katie rushed to the park to get her hair done after class (umm, Katie, you're amazing and we appreciate you!). She looked ABSOLUTELY STUNNING in the glittery Aiden Mattox cocktail dress Lindsey of Lumin Images provided for our shoot. Like Jered, Kyle completely rocked the casual men's attire. These guys, seriously. GQ. And the girls. Stop. Just stop. Gorgeous people, ya'll.
Riley and Alex. Where do I even start with these two? They are the cutest little girls ever! Their mom, Melissa, is also a photographer, so they are used to the model life ;] They were so sweet and did a great job while all 11 of us took turns admiring their cuteness and capturing it. And their dresses, what?! They were just perfect! I tried to bribe the girls into getting one made in my size, but they just laughed at me (dangit!). The dress design was by Lindsay Stumpo and made by Krystyna Williams. And the gorgeous pink settee pictured below - compliments of Rebecca from Junque Boutique :]
And sometimes, when there are 11 photographers around, behind the scenes photos get taken ;]
Lindsey doing her thing.
Ashley photographing these little cuties.
I spy a floral crown. Danielle, you rocked it and I love you for that :P
A huge thank you to all of the amazing vendors that participated!
Venue: Beaver Creek State Park
Cake: Jazzy Cake Creations
Florals: The Willows by Wehr
Dress: Treasured Moments Bridal
Stationary: Jennifer Dirksen of Minuteman Press
Hair: Emily Kobylanski
Makeup: Bianca Heasley
Linens: JoAnn Fabrics
Custom Sign and furniture: Junque Boutique
Arbor: Marikay Bellino
Models: Jered and LeAnn Gamble, Kyle and Katie Buxman, Riley and Alex Mills
And to the huge group of other photographers - YOU GUYS ROCK! It was such a pleasure working with some of the areas best and seeing how everyone worked to get their shots. From the way they communicate with clients to the way they style shots, I took something away from each photographer there! Knowing we were shooting the same pose or the same subject, it was so cool to see everyone's end results and how different they were! If you'd like to see their shots from this shoot, follow the hashtag #ytownRTSstyledshoot or check out their other work at the links below!
Melissa Moliterno