I’m back to my studio in Los Angeles after spending the past two days in Ladera Ranch and Mission Viejo down in Orange County. And what an amazing two days it was! Several months back I was contacted by Summer Watkins of Grey Likes Weddings about teaming up with her to create a faux wedding for photographer extraordinaire Jessica Claire’s first photography workshop. The goal was to create exquisite details for Jessica to use to teach workshop attendees her personal tips and tricks for shooting magazine-worthy wedding details. Of course, with Summer doing the styling and Jessica leading the photography, I couldn’t have been more thrilled to get onboard with the project.

After months of planning and meetings with Summer in Riverside and Huntington Beach, by the time this week rolled around, I was sooooo ready. I was also bursting with excitement at the prospect of working with so many insanely talented wedding industry professionals, and ridiculously excited about seeing my floral designs photographed by so many different photographers!

I’m not going to lie, putting this shoot together was a lot of work! It was basically on the same scale as a small wedding, with the added bonus that we got to set it up on a Wilderness Nature Park in the middle of nowhere (so it wasn’t the middle of nowhere, exactly…just far from the urban jungle that I call home). Oh, and let’s not forget the 97 degrees of pure heat and the arrival of the Santa Ana winds! Pulling this off was no small feat, but as I look at the images below, I am certain that it was worth the blood, sweat and tears. Okay, maybe it was just sweat. And dirt.

These images were provided to me by Brandon Kidd, who attended Jessica’s workshop on Tuesday and was the first of the attendees to post his images online. I am overwhelmed by his detail shots and the astonishing beauty of his work. Thank you, Brandon! There is so much I could say about the flowers and creating these designs, but in this case… the pictures say it all.

What I will say is how much I enjoyed working with Summer (left). Her vision for this event was brilliant, and working alongside her throughout this process was a tremendous experience. I have worked with coordinators and stylist who have such a “set in stone” mentality that they don’t allow the other vendors/designers room to be creative. Summer’s design process was a breath of fresh air. She gave me all of her concepts for the overall look, along with the color scheme and theme- then she gave me free reign to do my thing. As a designer, there’s nothing I love to hear more than: “You’re the designer, DESIGN!” She also truly went the extra mile with all the thoughtful details and DIY projects she incorporated.

Megan (center) was so creative with her paper designs- they added such whimsey and charm to the event and Megan was just loads of FUN! Last but not least, it was so nice to finally have the chance to work with Jessica and to watch her conduct her class with such grace and ease. I just wish I could have listened in on ALL of the workshop!

Throughout these past few days, I’ve been reminded afresh of how very fortunate I am to be working in an industry I love with so many fun, interesting, innovative and exceptionally talented designers and photographers. Lucky me!

The Designers
Stylist: Summer Watkins of Grey Likes Weddings
Floral Design: (me!)
Hair & Makeup: Vivian Tran of All Made Up
Invitation & Paper Goods Design: Megan Gonzalez of MaeMae Paperie
Paper Goods Printing: Czar Press
Hair Accessories, Shoe Clips, Banner: B. Poetic
Cake: Cheryl Stewart of Cake My Day
Calligraphed Boutonniere Tags: Victoria Hoke Lane of Calligraphos, Ink

The Photographers
Jessica Claire : Blog Post (of course!)
Brandon Kidd : Blog Post
Jenny Liu : Blog Post
Richelle Dante : Blog Post
Jeanna Hayes
Rachel Clare : Blog Post
Alissa Ferullo : Blog Post
Person + Killian : Blog Post
Cathy Empey : Blog Post One, Two, Three, Four
Watson-Studios : Blog Post
Lisa Hessel Photography : Blog Post
Ashley Hoskins Photography : Blog Post
Shuffield Photography : Blog Post
Fola Adewole Photography : Blog Post
Kari Sikorski Photography : Blog Post
…
{Other workshop attendees, if you post photos from the workshop, please send me a link and I’ll add you to this list!}

• Posted: Thursday, Sep-24-2009
•  14 Comments
• This post was filed under Blog and tagged with: Design & Styling, Photoshoots, and Workshops.