Palm Springs Inspiration with Rent The Runway: Summer

I am back today with the SUMMER installment from my 4 mini shoots with Rent The Runway. Check out SPRING, if you missed it.  You can also see how one of my favorite wedding blogs, Every Last Detail, covered this inspiration.

When I came to the realization that my 1 flamingo shoot was turning into 4 Palm Springs mini shoots, I had to figure out a way to execute them all, in one day, efficiently and economically. No one tells you this, but planning a photo shoot is really hard. I have to convince people to buy into my vision, give up their time, possibly invest in product (like flowers), find models and source all the little details. For every shoot I’ve done, I’d put out $500 – $1500 from my own pocket. All for the *chance* at press and the *chance* at it leading to a booking. And unfortunately I can’t say that an inspiration shoot that I’ve participated in ever led to a booking. But when you are new, there is so much pressure to put out beautiful content, so you do it.

I love the dresses in this season so much. The pink bride’s look is striped with silver and gold sequins. Interesting while still being formal enough for a bridal look. The bridesmaid is a fantastic shade of teal that screams Palm Springs.

You might have noticed that in SPRING, Holly Chapple only made hairpieces for the models – no bouquets. This was part of my strategy to be economical – not only for the vendor, but also to show brides that they don’t have to have bouquets if they don’t want them or can’t afford them. In SUMMER, the bride carries a killer modern, all tulip bouquet. But for the bridesmaid look, we went again with floral jewelry – this time in the form of a unique wrist corsage.

I worked with Fig. 2 Design to create a stationery suite that would work with any of the 4 inspirations – don’t forget that green can often be considered a neutral addition to your color palette! I decided to include them in this post because I couldn’t wait any longer to show them off! I love this mid-century-modern inspired invitation set. Also, how gorgeous is this vintage Vespa? I was so thrilled to be able to include it as a potential get-away vehicle. It would be a crime to have a mid-century-modern photo shoot without a Vespa, I think.

Endless thanks to Katie Stoops for these gorgeous photos and Carola Myers for working so hard with very little time to make these models look beautiful and different in each of the seasons!