A bridal photo shoot in Paris~ Part I

At the end of March I had the amazing opportunity to fly off to Paris with my  friends and colleagues, Robert and Kathleen Trenske , Candice Dowling Coppola from Jubiliee Events and my dear friend and partner in crime, Sarah Gleason (aka: Marshie) to put together and style a photo shoot in Paris! Clearly, it was a dream location. I cannot think of a better group of people to explore the city of lights with—the creative energy was flowing like the seine and it was an experience of a lifetime!

Candice and I worked on coming up with a design board for our shoot, as we usually do, and were really inspired by a photograph that Robert and Kathleen took on their first trip to Paris. We wanted to do a monochromatic, black and white shoot, where the images felt like classic black and whites - even in color. I really think we achieved that! I had a vision for fashion that was heavily influenced by runway, vogue, and of COURSE Sex in the City and Candice pulled together romantic and unique elements for a fabulous tablescape.

Throughout the process we worked with Kim Peytet of Parisian Events, who helped us source all the wonderful Parisian venders that collaborated with us! Kim introduced us to so many wonderful people who I will introduce YOU to throughout this post!  We could not have pulled this shoot off without the efforts of Kim!

During our short (count 4 days!!!!) time in Paris, we did two days full of shooting and one day full of scouting. The other day was the day we all arrived—so we really hit the ground running! This shoot was recently featured on Style Me Pretty, and was part of Robert and Kathleen’s brilliant photography seminar for international wedding photographers – Taking Off.

                                  
Kim secured a beautiful apartment for us to work from and for Robert and Kathleen to teach. It had a roof top deck that overlooked the eiffel tower, where Candice put together an amazing tablescape with the help of several talented people! The morning began with hair and makeup… our model, Segolene, is positively beautiful. Hair and makeup was covered by our new friend, Masafumi Matsuda, who also doubled as our Japanese / Parisian tour guide on day two. =) If you are looking for beauty while in Paris– look no further!! Masafumi is absolutely amazing!!! I styled Segolene in the most stunning Modern Trousseau gown (before it hit the runway at bridal market) and jewelry in layers, and layers of decedent pearls and diamonds!

                                                                                                         

Candice styled the gorgeous tablescape with white linen from our friends at Rentals Unlimited. The best part? They company's president happened to be in Paris (randomly) while we were there, and stopped in to say hello! It truly was an East Coast destination. They also provided the lace-styled chair caps and white napkins. Catherine Muller put together a beautiful white and green arrangement in an antiqued pedestal. The arrangement was very gardeny, filled loosely with calla lilies and other beautiful white flowers. She did an amazing job! The paper flower garland from Kate's Paperie down the center of the table was absolutely brilliant!
   We got the table set up just in time to get a few quick shots before it started to pour rain.  We took that opportnity to take some stunning shots of our models indoors. At the first break in the weather, we made a mad dash to the eiffel tower to end our shoot.  We are so glad that the weather held off for us so that Robert and Kathleen could capture these stunning images!

Keep watching the blog for images from our shoots on day 2 when we shot in a traditional parisian cafe, in the metro and in the hills of Montmarte overlooking the city!

xoxo,  TWD

Shoot credits:

Photography~  Robert and Kathleen Photographers

Shoot and tablescape design~ Jubilee Events

Parisian coordination~ Kim Petyt of Parisian Events

Shoes~ Vouelle

Makeup~ Masafumi Matsuda

Fashion styling~ Beth Chapman,  The White Dress by the shore

Tuxedo~ Tuxego

Cake~ The Sugar Plum Cake Shop, Paris

Floral design~ Catherine Muller, Paris

Invitations ~ Posh Paperie