{A Styled Shoot} My First Fake Wedding!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 5:46AM OK, so many of you know that I am not a fan of SMP. I mean, I am, but I’m totally not.
Here’s the thing. Back when I was doing my own wedding planning, I was a fucking mess. I mean, I really was. I thought a fantastic photographer would cost us about $1000. I did too think that! See how ignorant I was? I thought a $25K wedding would be Over. The. Top. Oh, how painfully wrong I was! Happily, this thirty-something bride learned quickly, read blogs, started writing a blog and I worked my budget to an inch of it’s meager life. Our original headspace was around $16K. I knew I didn’t want to spend more than $20K and we came in at $18,229.42. Booya. Anyway, when I discovered wedding blogs (thanks a lot, Beth), SMP was a go-to for a looooong time, but it drove me freakin’ CRAZY! I could NOT look away. I would think to myself, “How much would it really cost me to buy 77 antique keys to attach as cute little nothings to our favors?” or “*GASP!* I. MUST. HAVE. THAT. RANNUCULUS-FILLED. ARCH. MUST!” or even, “I can totally justify those Stuart Weitzman's.” And at the time, either I wasn’t noticing or they weren’t calling out the fact that some of the weddings were actually styled weddings. Meaning, not real. Does anyone know for sure when they changed that? All I know is that I hated them. Still kind of do. But I still cannot look away. Cannot.
So this brings me to my very first FAKE Wedding! WOOOOOT! Just so all y’all are clear. This wedding is NOT real. It’s fake (so do you get the whole “Unfake Wedding” thing now?). That’s not a real bride. There are no guests. However, the work that has gone into this shoot is the quality and the style that you can expect from these vendors. That’s what a styled shoot is for. Did you know that? It’s to showcase the event planner and the florist and the photographer and the cake designer and…..you get my drift. Could you actually have this wedding featured here today? Yes, you could. Who knows how much it would cost? I certainly don’t and of course, it all depends on head count, baby.
So please, check out the very first Fake Wedding here at The Thirty-Something Bride and get inspired. That’s what these shoots are meant to do, to inspire you and to show you the best of what these vendors can do. Make sure you show them some link love. These shoots are a total pain in the ass. I’ve done a few now for Trulu Couture and they take all day – and then some. The prep work is astounding, just as much as if it was a real wedding. A lot of folks work for free to make this sort of stuff happen, to get their name out there. As proactive brides and cool readers, I’m sure you’ll check them out….right!
So without further adieu, may I present:
Not Your Grandma’s Wedding
A Vintage Shoot
Photographer: Christy Whitehead Photography
Hair Stylist: Kristy Blake, Angel & Mi Salon
Event Planner: Tanya Hendricks, Southern Charm Weddings & Events
Flowers: Rachel Ely, Blossoms & Accents
Reception Venue: The Glen Venue
Dress: Black Tie Formals
Accents + Extras: Lauren Atwaters, Ten23 Designs
Cake Designer: Patricia Millican, Metro Custom Cakes
Make Up: Lindsey Wirht
Tuxedos: David's Tuxedos
A word from the vendors about this shoot:
"This was a stylized shoot that we did at an old sawmill. We had tails for the groom and a lacey dress for the bride. Handmade cameos are featured on the cake. We even had an actual family marriage certificate displayed in a frame on the sign in table. We loved the idea of missmatched place settings and the feel of you pulled this stuff out of your grandmother's trunk. Very much a possible do it yourself project on a budget."
Again, many thanks to all the vendors who made this lovely, inspiration shoot possible. So leave a comment and tell me what you like about this shoot! And don't forget to check out the vendors!
Designer, TruLu Couture
Blogger. Wife. Smart Ass.
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Reader Comments (11)
Interesting. It seems fake to me because of the lack of real emotion on the faces of the bride and groom, but if I hadn't known ahead of time, I wonder if I would have been able to tell.
Thanks for featuring us! We had so much fun with this shoot. The marriage certificate was from my grandmother's family and it dates back to the 1800's and it says they got married in a post office!
Also, on a side note, it's actually Kasey Blake on hair.
Thank you so much for posting our photoshoot. This was actually a dream of mine to have a wedding using all my grandmother and mother's old things. I wanted it to feel just like you had taken your grandmother's hope chest and pulled all her old things out and put them on your tables. There is something so sentimental about using family heirlooms on such a special day! Thank you again for featuring us.
Beautiful.
Only thing I see missing is one of your lovelies in her hair.
beautiful setup! that "bride" is GORGEOUS.
I love the cameos on the cake.
I have to say that I am not a fan of the fake weddings. I understand that vendors have to get themselves out there, but this is not showing their real work because it is highly stylized. And if you're going to have a fake wedding, can you at least feature a fake bride who is not a skinny white girl?
Still love your blog tho.
(like the compliment sandwich?)
@Elaine - Yeah, it's tough to branch out of the skinny white girl bride thing when you're putting together an inspirational shoot. And as Tanya's comment described, she used her personal family heirlooms as part of the decor, so I guess you have to work with what you have! But as a skinny white girl myself, I would love to branch out into different ethnic groups for my future shoots! I had one shoot that I still can't publish (waiting...waiting...) where the "bride" is African (NOT African-American, but literally from Africa) and has super short hair and the hair toys looked AH-mazing on her.
And yes, compliment sammiches are yummy! :)
Gorgeous and the cameo brooches on the cakes are too awesome!
xoxo,
Chic 'n Cheap Living
You know what would make fake wedding shoots tolerable in my opinion? Give us a budge breakdown.
I totally understand shoots they are meant to be inspirational and act as an advertisement for the type of work these vendors do. But again, I'm left thinking, I wonder how much X or Y costs when I look at them. And when I don't know how much something is, it doesn't really help me plan and get inspired for my own wedding. It just leaves me frustrated.
I know some vendors don't like to give pricing out right up front, but at least a price range would be nice.
@Ms. Bunny - FEAR NOT! I'm actually working with another group now to price out their inspirational shoot! That way we KNOW what the stuff costs!!!
I think my favorite part is that you let us know it was fake, and showed a few set-up photos. Thank you for it! You hit it on the head - styled shoots that don't say they are styled really hurt engaged couples. They set up unrealistic expectations. But this feels different somehow - it feels achievable for the rest of us. Good job! :)