Wildest Dreams- Ethereal Lakeside Styled Shoot

In May of 2021 we held our second Green Wedding Guild Styled Shoot challenge! This event gives planners the opportunity to create a styled shoot focusing on green wedding inspiration, to showcase the various ways a couple might choose to plan their weddings with sustainability in mind. We encourage planners to think outside the box and try options they may not have worked with before, whether that's foam free florals, rental attire, or vegan dessert!

This year's styled shoot event took place in Raleigh, NC at Bill Scott Pavilion. Here's the first of this series of styled shoots from the Guild's May event, planned and styled by Bri by Design! Check out some of the images by Rose Trail Images below, and learn more about the inspiration behind Bri's design!

What inspired your theme/style?

I am a huge Taylor Swift fan - and Wildest Dreams is one of my favorite songs - it always sounds so whimsical and magical to me - two of my favorite words to describe a wedding day. I really love romantic and whimsical themed celebrations, so that feeling really inspired the style. Creating the design, I took some pieces that I have collected, mostly from thrifting, that I was dying to use, and formed everything around those! The main one was the second dress our model wore but also tabletop pieces like the fairy tale-like mirror, the candle sticks, and the hand dyed purple napkins, which are all available add-ons for Bri By Design couples. Also, the fireplace that is at Bill Scott pavilion is GORGEOUS - so I knew I needed to use some florals and candlesticks to really utilize the fairy tale-like vibes it gives off.

Tell us about the flowers you used- did you try any new techniques?

I designed all the florals - which is really one of my favorite parts of a design. Florals add so much life to a wedding and really display a fairytale to me, so I love it when I get to practice! All the florals were bought the day before the shoot at the NC State Farmers Market. I love that I can go to the farmers market and grab locally grown stems I want, without breaking the bank! I used a new technique of arranging the centerpieces, which I learned on tik tok... I was really excited about it! Instead of floral foam, I used a taping technique on the centerpieces. It turned out so well that after the flowers from the shoot were past their prime, I went and got more flowers to make another arrangement with the same base. Being able to utilize the same pieces/techniques over and over help create a more friendly planet.

A few more highlights:

Dress: We worked with 2 dresses - the first one was from Silviyana Weddings, which is an eco-friendly wedding dress shop. Not only are her dresses gorgeous, they are lightweight, linen-like materials that make them perfect for a summer day! The second dress was re-used, from my own wedding! I only got to wear that tulle skirt for about an hour and I loved it so much that I knew I had to find another way to showcase it. Audrey caught the magic of the dress so perfectly and tied it into the theme perfectly.

Jewelry: Joint Venture is an amazing jewelry consignment shop that offers some of the most unique pieces I have ever seen. They offer a unique collection of vintage, estate, and antique jewelry, as well as pre-owned contemporary/modern pieces.

Rentals - we really tried to utilize the venue space to its fullest, creating a vibe with the lake and minimal rentals. We rented tables and chairs and plates from DeeJays but everything else was from the stash of Bri By Design. One of my favorite hobbies is thrifting and I always love finding unique glassware and decor pieces. All the rest was what we collected from past weddings in hopes of being a resource to future couples to minimize waste.

What else would you like to share about your inspiration for this shoot?

Audrey and I both like to take inspiration from nature to inspire our creativity. I really wanted to utilize nature as much as possible, because I feel like that's what fairy tales do - Rapunzel is trapped in an ivy covered tower, Snow White lives in a stone cottage, and Belle is lost in the woods. These stories, although filled with castles and magic, utilize the nature around them to tell the story. When Audrey and I were first planning this shoot, she told me "I might just run off in the woods to get the photo" and I was like "YES! do it!" That's why we kept our scenery at Bill Scott Pavilion very natural.

Vendors:

Planning, Flowers, and Stationery: Bri by Design

Photography: Rose Trail Images

Venue: Bill Scott Pavilion

Rentals: Deejays Event Rentals

Jewelry: Joint Venture Jewelry

Gown: Silviyana Weddings

Officiant: Magical Weddings by Carly