We woke up early (5:30am) to be able to make it to the winery by 8:00am; It's about an hour from where I live. The winery was off the beaten path and well out of service range, so luckily Google maps got us there just fine. The drive over the mountains was stunning, it was foggy and the trees were covered with ice, but the roads were just fine.
We got there just a few minutes after 8:00am. The shoot was going to be set in the conservatory which connects to the tasting room at the winery. You can see from the photos how beautiful it is, it reminded me on a small scale of the Gaylord Opryland Resort where Kenny and I got engaged! We walked inside and were greeted by the owner, who told us that the Kara should be there soon. She showed up a few minutes later with a really cool bouquet that was made up of dusty blush roses and "tropical" evergreen leaves, which was created by The Faded Poppy to reflect the vibe of the conservatory.
The hairstylist (Erica from Top Knot Studio) arrived shortly thereafter and got set up while Kara, Kenny and I moved all of the tables and chairs that are usually set up throughout the conservatory out of the way for the shoot. After that, Erica got started on my hair. Kara wanted some sort of curly, half-up style, so that's what Erica provided and it turned out great! During that time, Kara took my ring (eek!) and went to get some detail shots of it with the bouquet, and the dress.
When my hair was just about done, Kara moved us near a window and got some shots of Erica finishing up my hair, both for the shoot and for Erica to have for her portfolio.
Around 10:00 when my hair was done, Kenny and I got dressed. Kara brought some navy blue ankle strap shoes with pearl detailing on the heels, and some gold and blue beaded earrings for me to go with my Lulus wedding dress which she had sent to me a few week prior, and a super adorable navy floral tie and pocket square for Kenny (I already ordered another one of the ties for Kenny to have because we both loved it!) We got mostly dressed, and then Kara got some shots of Kenny zipping up my dress.
After that, we spent about an hour in the small conservatory taking various shots, some portraits of us alone, but mostly photos of us together, of course! Kara was so awesome, giving us prompts to get us to react in different ways for photos like "Kenny, seductively whisper the names of breakfast cereals to Laura" or "Laura tell Kenny some things you're proud of him for."
 |
| This is the reaction sexy breakfast cereals invoke, ha! |
We also got to "practice" our first dance which wasn't as hard as we thought, but definitely made us interested in taking a few lessons, even if just for fun!
Once we were done shooting around 11:00am, we changed back into our normal boring clothes (ha!) and helped move all the tables and chairs back to where they belonged. It was so cool to be able to participate in this shoot and get these photos almost as a dress rehearsal for our wedding. Huge shoutout to Kenny for doing it with me! It was definitely outside of his comfort zone, but he did so well and looked SO cute, and I know he enjoyed it because Kara encouraged him to be his goofy self.
P.S. Once we left the winery, we got SO lost! We were heading to Charlottesville which is close to the winery so the owner gave us directions, but I don't know where we went wrong! We had no service and no map (as if I could read a map... please), and drove around on the same road that she had told us to take for at least an hour! Eventually I saw a sign for Dyke, a town we had come through on the way to the winery, so I knew if I went back through there I could make it back to the main road (and cell service!) We finally made it out, and that trip was a little adventure in itself, ha! We spent the rest of the day in Charlottesville since we were already in the area, and it made for a great, albeit long, Saturday.
I hope you had a great weekend!!
xoxx, Laura
No comments