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Jewel Toned Styled Shoot at Blackstone Rivers Ranch
If we could put this shoot into one short word, the theme was JOY. From the choice of vendors, time of year, vibe, colors, you name it- the goal was joy. Danielle and Karis met at a wedding a few years back and just stayed in touch via Instagram gushing over all the pretty wedding things.
Dani reached out to Karis one day in the beginning of 2022 and said, “hey girl, would you want to help me do a styled shoot? I’m dying to add some color and fun to this wedding world and create some inspiration for couples to show all the possibilities of what they could do for their big day.” And that was the end of it!
The Theme: Doing a Jewel-Toned Styled Shoot
Copious amounts of phone calls, voice memos, and mood boards later, we had a vision and started pulling the pieces together. Dani was the inspiration and shared that she had a dream of doing a Jewel Toned styled shoot and already had a Pinterest board made. We already had the photographer and planner sorted out, so the first piece of action was a time of year.
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Spring in Colorado
The shoot took place on April 19, 2022. So our planning process started and took us 2-3 months to pull everything together. Spring in Colorado is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever been a part of. We knew we wanted to do the shoot in the mountains for this very reason- what is more joy-giving than colorful jewel tones in colorful Colorado during colorful spring in the mountains?!
The Venue: Blackstone Rivers Ranch
Next step: reaching out to our venue of choice Blackstone Rivers Ranch. Set back in the mountains is beautiful Idaho Springs, CO, we knew this peaceful venue surrounded by smells of pine with a babbling river running through it! Not only is it elegantly rustic, but it has the most iconic pieces to its venue: a beautiful wooden bridge crossing the bubbly brook, as well as the most fun rope swing attached to the bridge that swung out over the water.
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The Rest Of the Vendors Fell Together Beautifully…
We obviously all had to take turns laughing and swinging our hearts out as we showed and directed our sweet couple. The rest of the vendors honestly fell together beautifully. Each vendor was chosen because of their unique skill-set and style. Our videographers, Ariel Films and Jon Broncucia of Indy Pop Photo both are excellent in their crafts in capturing the pure emotion of moments and emotional storytelling.
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The Florist Came Through With The Most Beautiful Bouquets
Our florist was a dream come true! Susie Loupe with Lil Bug Florals was the missing piece that pulled everything together. Not only is Susie an absolute delight to work with, but she is a creative genius that has been in the wedding industry in many facets for a long time and understands the ins and outs.
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She came through with the most beautiful bouquets, bud vases, and flower arrangements for the table as well as was the professional behind styling our invitation suite flat lay alongside Dani.
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Our Models Were Perfect…
Our models, Jonny And Vanessa Kupin were the most perfect fit for this styled shoot because of how in love they are and how easy it is for them to make each other laugh. Joy is a huge part of what we wanted to bring out in this shoot and showcasing the true love and happiness of our couples is important to us because to us, that’s real.
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The giggle kisses and laughter were so easy to bring out of them, which is very much our vibe. Vanessa and Jonny also recently opened a mobile craft coffee cart and are jumping feet first into the wedding industry by caffeinating everyone and bringing this extra fun and tasty offering to couples’ special days. Typically, you see a lot of specialty cocktails so we felt showcasing a different option would really inspire couples to try something new.
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The Dresses
Olivia’s dresses provided the dress of our dreams. We wanted something unconventional, but whimsical, elegant and FUN, all at the same time. They delivered! We couldn’t get over how perfect the turquoise pop of this dress was and we loved being able to choose something that would inspire couples to color outside the lines for their own wedding and move away from the classic white wedding dress choice.
Vanessa Piccola and Chelsea Elle were our hair and makeup team and when I say they are the best in the business, I mean that with complete sincerity and honesty.
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The model commented multiple times about when Chelsea was applying makeup, it felt so lightweight, she wasn’t even sure there was any makeup on her face. We loved that the makeup application wasn’t so heavy that our model was unrecognizable from herself.
It was the perfect touch of soft glam. Vanessa saw our hair vision and completely delivered it, even doing our model’s hair in such a way that it gave us multiple styles and options with a bedazzled headband and jeweled hair clips. These two are excellent in their craft and everyone who gets to work with them-bride or vendor- leaves better because of them.
The Amazing Cake
Megan over at Vintage Cafe LLC is quite literally an artist in her creations. Megan’s style is classic, tasteful, and aesthetic, and she was an irreplaceable part of the shoot. The cake she made for us was not just delicious (we all chowed down post-shoot), but it was exactly what we were looking for in both color and artistic creativity. It was the most beautiful, vibrant blue with texture all around it and florals to top it off from Lil’ Bug Floral.
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Event Rents was the best thing that happened to us. Shoutout to Char at Event Rents who was the biggest delight to work with. We wanted bold, conducive, and elegant decor. Char helped bring our vision to life by assisting in picking pieces that went with our vision. We used black plateware, a deep magenta with a shimmery teal undertone for our base linen and naturally because we love gold, gold accents.
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Event Rents had everything we wanted and more to make our vision come alive, including separate shimmery teal linen for our cake table and our invitation suite flat lay! They were responsive, kind, and so helpful. The only DIY we used were the candle stick holders and candles because Event Rents had everything we needed!
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We Couldn’t Have Done It Without Our Stationary
SkelleyWest Letter Press is a serious MVP. Our date was quickly approaching and we were having trouble finding a stationer. SkelleyWest came up and jumped on board right away, without hesitation.
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We couldn’t have done it without SkelleyWest Letter Press and wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. She was truly the perfect fit for this shoot and we’re so thankful the stars aligned for us to find her, as her stationary could not have been a more perfect fit for all the colors we wanted to showcase in this shoot.
The biggest challenge we faced for this shoot was really the time of day and the wind. We’d get our flat lay perfectly set and then a big gust of wind would come in and blow it all away so, we’d have to reset again.
The Challenges of the Shoot
Which, truthfully, is a lot like a wedding day. Things are never perfect, we’re on tight timelines and often times having to think quickly on our feet. The difficulty with the sun was that as it kept moving, we had to keep moving our sweetheart table to avoid any harsh sunspots on our couple as well as the details. The team worked together to ensure the table was moved gently, all while other team members were holding onto the glassware, candles and florals to ensure nothing tipped over mid-move.
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The planning process was seamless and sweet. It started with two girls who had not only a dream of working together, but bringing a team of kind, fun, talented vendors together to create a bold, colorful shoot to encourage couples to be more playful and throw tradition out the window if that’s what their heart desires. Weddings have truly become unique and a true reflection of the couple getting married, and we are SO here for that!
If we have anything to say to couples about planning their wedding it’s these two things:
1- It matters who you hire for your vendors. We can’t stress this enough. You’re going to get what you pay for. Budgets are real, but it’s important to figure out your priorities and put your money towards those things. Having a reliable planner to assist in budget planning is HUGE, as well as being able to assist you in picking the right vendors who fit your personality, budget and style. Make sure you’re hiring people whose style and flair you love, but also personality you jive with and trust.
Also, listen to your vendor’s recommendations for who they suggest working with. Inter vendor working relationships and trust is so vital and will make your wedding that much better if your vendors already trust each other. This is a huge reason our styled shoot was such a success. Each and every vendor worked seamlessly together and it made it that much more fun and exciting to really put something together that inspires couples to be bold with their wedding color palette.
2- Do whatever the heck you want to do! If you want disco balls and tinsel everything, then do it! If you want cream and red classy, then do it! Create a vision (Pinterest is the most helpful) and find vendors who fit that vision or ask a planner for their assistance. Most vendors’ Instagram pages are the best places to start with this as they are today’s portfolios.
The bottom line, it’s your wedding, You’re marrying your favorite person. No one is like the two of you. You likely have inside jokes, things you both love that you can really bring into the style of your day to make it truly one of a kind to represent who you are individually and as a couple. And hey, we are here for that!
Want to see more styled shoots? Check out our styled shoots page.
