Elopement Styled Photoshoot

One of my goals for 2020 is to put together multiple styled wedding and elopement shoots, especially during the wedding “off-season”. A styled shoot consists of multiple vendors coming together to create a simulated or “styled” wedding. The goal is to use the photos from the shoot to build their individual portfolios. Everyone involved gets to use the photos the photographer takes to show off their work and build their portfolio to show future clients what they can do.

One of the great things about doing styled wedding shoots is that we, as vendors, get to be more creative than we necessarily get to on actual weddings when we are at the direction of the bride and groom and their vision for the day. We get to take our individual skills and talents and come together to make the vision come true! It also is a lot of fun to connect with other vendors. This is personally one of my favorite parts! It has connected me to so many talented and wonderful individuals in the wedding industry that I might not have otherwise met. It also allows us to build our preferred vendor lists that we can give to our clients to show other vendors we recommend and have worked with as they choose for their wedding day. Referral is one of the best ways to get new clients.

For this particular styled shoot, I decided to go with a more adventure elopement vibe! Adventure elopements is a niche in the industry that I am really trying to get in to and I wanted to build that area of my portfolio. It is also becoming more and more popular as an alternative to the large, expensive tradiotnal weddings.

I was able to put together such an amazing team! We did the shoot out at Cronan Ranch Trails in Pilot Hill, CA. It was gorgeously green and sunny which made for the perfect backdrop. Luna (Ethereal Zen Creations) put together an absolutely stunning triangle arch covered with flowers. Her work is so beautiful and constantly makes my jaw drop. She focuses on the details and her imagination with the flowers astounds me! I can barely keep a cactus alive so her green thumb also baffles me in general and then she just takes it to another level! I was so excited how the arch came out and the bouquet she put together! The bouquet fit the style of the wedding dress we had picked out perfectly!

The female model, Nicci, was absolutely stunning in the wedding dress ensemble that Katie (Beauty by Katie C) put together! I love that crop tops and two-piece wedding dresses are in style right now! It makes it so much fun and work perfectly for the elopement vibes! Alyssa did the Nicci’s makeup and hair and made her look that much more gorgeous! Nicci and her boyfriend David were such troopers as the second photographer Morgan (Morgan Alanna Photography) and I had them walking all over the mountain side for some awesome shots! They are absolutely adorable together and made for the perfect couple to model for my first styled wedding shoot.

As we posed them by the alter designed by Luna, we had them hold the vow books designed by Bailey (Bailey Louise). Bailey has completely captured my love of dried flowers in her handmade vow books. They are seriously so gorgeous and I am already planning on commissioning her to make some for my wedding!

One of my favorite shots of the day was when we had Nicci and David put on backpacking backpacks and hung the “Just Married” signs made by my talented sister, Rebecca (The Painted Word). I am constantly in awe of the talent my sister has and her artistic abilities and she showed them off perfectly in these signs. I love the vibes of a backpacking adventure elopement and these photos completely exceeded my expectations! It is shots like these that I would like to get so many more of and shoot an actual backpacking elopement!

All in all, my first styled wedding shoot went better than I could have ever imagined! I got the chance to work alongside my photographer wife Morgan and whenever Im with her I always have a complete blast! She constantly inspires me! I couldn’t have asked for a better team of talented people! I cant wait to do my next one… stay tuned!

Vendors Involved:

Photographer: Katelyn Bradley Photography

Photographer: Morgan Alanna Photography (@morganalanna_photography)

Model: Nicci Justice (@niccijustice)

Model: David Dodge (@dodgebro56)

Bridal Stylist: Katie Cowden (@beautybykatiec)

Floral: Luna Williams (@ethereal.zen.creations)

Vow Books: Bailey Wineland (@baileylouise)

Wooden Signs: Rebecca Bradley (@the_paintedword)

Thank you to this amazing team for making my vision come true!

If you are in the wedding industry and would like to be apart of any of my future styled shoots, feel free to write a comment or send me an email at katelynbradleyphotography@gmail.com.