Planning a Styled Shoot in Washington, DC

Apr 16

When I started Velada in Fall of 2024 I decided to do a slower and more progressive approach to my marketing and promotion. As a freshly minted planner & business owner, I was looking for alternatives to get more amazing photos before I booked my first official wedding.

So I said.. why not just go for it?

A few weeks after launching Velada, I posted this on my Threads account:

To my surprise, Megan Dix Photography said that she was willing to take a meeting THE FOLLOWING DAY!

I pulled a pitch together in less than 24 hours and this the aesthetic I presented her:

I wanted the shoot to be winter-inspired without being cliché. I feel like winter is just a cool-toned, dark & moody time so I decided to move away from any Christmas-y colors and pitched a jewel toned shoot full of rich textures, bold colors, and an overall moody vibe.

I could tell Megan was a little nervous; she has never shot a color palette like this. She definitely was not more nervous than me as this would be the most challenging aesthetic I’ve ever pulled together… and this was going to be one of my first projects with Velada.

BUT WHY NOT? I figured I would learn a ton about design through the process, I get to test my creative abilities, and if I pull it off, it would be a big way to introduce of Velada, and myself, to the wedding planning industry.

So, I got to WORK!

The first task on my list is to create a persona of who this hypothetical couple would be. I would ask myself a million questions:

What kind of wedding dress would our bride wear?
How would this bride wear her hair?
Would this groom wear a regular tux or a velvet tux?
What would their rings & accessories look like?
Are they artsy? Would they like the vintage vibe?

Putting myself in the shoes of my hypothetical couple helped me make a TON of decisions in order to get this aesthetic to feel genuine. It was a crucial first step that I believe led to the shoot looking great!

Second on my list was securing a venue and we landed on hosting the shoot at the GORGEOUS Fathom Gallery on 14th St.

It was the perfect place to bring our artsy & bold aesthetic to life and we knew quickly this is where this shoot HAD TO HAPPEN!

Once we had the venue secured, I had COUNTLESS meetings with my Creative Director & Lead Designer, Rachel, to discuss how we were going to make this aesthetic work.

She was a wonderful partner in this entire process and I’m so excited to introduce her soon to the Velada family!

About 3 weeks into working on the design, I attempted to do my first test.

We always knew we wanted that super dramatic Teal tablecloth, but what texture? What shade of teal? What fabric should we use?

In addition, at the early stages of designing, our plan was to lean more heavily on gold tones & champagne.

Truth be told, the first test was DEFINITELY NOT my favorite. So I went back to the drawing board!

After this first attempt at a table scape, I met up with the lovely Daniela Ricci from Party Rental, LTD. We played around with all kinds of textures, fabric, chairs, and colors. Once we landed on the STUNNING teal velvet tablecloth, we started building the pieces over it. We settled on black plates but the champagne napkin was still not working. We were about to give up until we paired it with a gorgeous dark plum satin napkin.

THAT IS IT!

I will admit, at this point, this aesthetic is getting WAY outside of my comfort zone, but we are too deep in it now.

WE MUST EXECUTE!

We knew that if we wanted something that we will hardly ever get at a proper wedding, this was definitely in the right direction and to get there, the journey was going to be uncomfortable.

After that, we kept securing incredible vendor collaborations, including SocialWeds, the BEST content creator in Puerto Rico, Zabu Candles, who is a very talented luxury candle designer, Andrew Turnure Media, a fabulous videographer to do our video, Rebecca from Mobile Beauty Services LLC agreed to do our bride’s hair & makeup, Katie Cakes DC was onboard to create for us a gorgeous wedding cake, The Bridal Boutique to loan us a gown, and Friar Tux for the groom’s attire.

Now, we just need a BRIDE & GROOM!

We talked to dozens of couples interested in doing this shoot, but there was absolute magic when we met William & Grace. We needed a tall bride to fit the hem of some of these sample gowns sizes.

It was a VERY tall order, no pun intended; Grace is a whopping 5’10”.

Once we went to The Bridal Boutique in Columbia, MD to try on the gowns, we knew we had something so special. She looked gorgeous in everything and we settled on a gorgeous gown from Essense of Australia for the shoot.

The process after that was a bit bumpy.

For example, our first order of plum tapered candles arrived destroyed. About 25% of flower order arrived either wrong or dead. We had to make SO many trips to our local floral wholesaler.

In addition, we ordered stationery that did not arrive on time, leaving us to design a quick menu and place card. SHOUTOUT to Basecamp in DC for coming through for us with the fastest print time ever.

But after every single hurdle, we made it work!

The day of the shoot arrived and I will admit, I was still nervous about seeing how everything came together… and boy, as soon as the table started coming to life…

WOW!

Every headache, every moment of self doubt, every decision, every risk, WAS SO WORTH IT!

We were left with this gorgeous shoot in a BOLD, COURAGEOUS, & DARING color palette that I was insanely proud of. We had an AMAZING team of vendors who created works of art with my vision. It was truly such a magical day!

Anyway, I’ll stop jabbering, scroll to see for yourself:

This shoot has taught me to be more confident in my design and my planning skills. I learned so much about selecting, prepping, and arranging flowers, I learned about the power of combining textures and how selecting the right ones are crucial to the design. And finally, I learned the importance of stepping out of my comfort zone and to attempt the risky design. In my case, it definitely paid off!

If you ever want to collaborate with Velada Events on another styled shoot, please call me or reach out to me, because this one was really fun, crises and all!