The other day, I was, for the first time, truly blown away by the power of networking. And not just boring networking at an office mixer. Creative, imaginative, artistic networking amongst a bunch of creative, imaginative artists. A lovely mess of tea roses and feathers and chandeliers. A vintage sofa in the middle of a field, models in makeup chairs lining the parking lot, and oh, the chords of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” lilting out of a trombone up on a hill. It. Was. Awesome. All this awesomeness was the culmination of a Gatsby-inspired styled wedding shoot I’d been planning for the past few months… a shoot that has, over the course of the summer, made me thrilled, made me nervous, made me ridiculously stressed out. Because really, all a styled shoot is is a big fake wedding. ON STEROIDS. And since planning a wedding brings on all those conflicting emotions- excitement, anxiety, total bridezilla meltdowns- planning a fake one kind of does too. But in the end, it was a complete and total success. It was fun and there was dancing and we ended the shoot with champagne. Ha!

Building a styled shoot from the ground up was an interesting task. A few months back, Mark suggested I set up a styled wedding shoot, and because I can’t do anything halfway, I sort of ran with it. (Pinterest is awesome- and dangerous. In case you didn’t know.) And one-by-one, I met and brought onboard some of Atlanta’s most creative wedding vendors in the history of EVER. Seriously, these ladies poured their hearts into this and watching so many people come together to help me make this happen was incredibly humbling. There’s just something really, really cool about meeting strangers over coffee and, before you know it, you’re both excitedly talking with your hands about little details and big concepts that have the power to turn an idea on paper into something that translates into reality just the way you’d imagined. And then, when everything finally comes together and you see your ideas-come-to-life, you can’t help but feel inspired by the insane amounts of creativity that surround you. And that’s what a styled shoot is all about- inspiration. For brides. For florists. For designers. For photographers. For anyone that wants to be inspired.

And Gatsby. Yes, everyone loves Gatsby. I mean, how could you not? It’s a love story that’s dripping with romance and illusion and it sort of defines the American psyche. Jazz. Fast cars and fringed skirts. Art deco and moving pictures and the height of oppulence and tenacious living. Dancing! The Charleston! Speakeasies! And Al Capone. Because everyone kind of wants to wield a tommy gun. Or something.

A million thanks to the amazing vendors who helped me turn a little old Pinterest board into such a beautiful, breathtaking reality. You. Are. Awesome.

 Prop Styling & Vintage Rentals | Blue Eyed Yonder

Florals | Lindsay Coletta Designs

Dresses | Francisco Costa & Knot Couture

Headpieces & Bride’s Bouquet | Chaos Couture

Hair & Makeup | Athena’s Requiem

Musician | Chenitha Reddick

Desserts | Bookie Macarons

Banner | Liddabits Design Shop

Models | Alexis Montclaire & Tracy Barahona