Love in NYC Shoot by Fondly Forever Photography


Cute little cupcake? Check. Balloons? Check. Pretty flowers, dreamy light and one crazy awesome Brooklyn rooftop? Check x3. I just love how this session from Fondly Forever Photography, above all else, makes me feel. Jen said the vision for the shoot was a roof top bridal session full of simple and pretty details, and light and airy colours. She and her best friend, McKenzie from McKenzie Miller Films, contrasted that with the designs and lines of the New York City skyline and I have to say they nailed it. There's just something so carefree and soothing about the simplicity here. Be sure to check out the video from the shoot too. It's like something out of a dream (much like yesterday's shoot). Enjoy your Thursday, blogettes!


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Photographer: Fondly Forever Photography / Videographer: McKenzie Miller Films / Dress and headband: H&M / Shoes: model's own / Balloons: Party City / Cupcake: Cupcakeland / Flowers: corner store in Greenpoint

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Spring Inspired Shoot by Simply Bloom Photography


You know what's funny, blogettes? I have a blogging bucket list. I've always thought bucket lists were rather daunting when it came to life as a whole, but making a bucket list (or rather, a fancy-titled list of goals) that pertain to this little blog here, was totally a ton of fun and really has helped me stay motivated and inspired. One of the things on that list of mine has always been to feature an exclusive shoot and wedding from my most fave photogs of all time, the sweet Christine and Vania from Simply Bloom. Imagine how fabulous it was then, to get this submission from them with news that it would be exclusive to Hey Gorg? I probably celebrated that day with a Starbucks. A Starbucks Venti that is. Then proceeded to tell Christine and Vania that they were already hired for my maternity session (all of this coming from a girl who never wants kids. I've lost my mind).

Enough about me though because this shoot is way too gorgeous for words. The thing about Simply Bloom is not only does every single shot look like something sent from above, but these chicks have an acute sense of style that makes even bunnies, fruits and veggies look downright stunning. Check out some of my fave shots below and to catch more fabulousness from these two head over to the Simply Bloom blog where I promise you find yourself submerged in pure prettiness. Christine and Vania, thank you from the bottom of my heart! I can't wait for you to one day shoot my belly; emphasis on the one day part :)


{About the shoot, from Simply Bloom} When we dreamed up this session we had major spring fever. Everything seemed on the verge of birth. We were inspired by Caravaggio's Bacchus for this spring-themed shoot and incorporated real fruit, a rabbit, and a hand-crafted headpiece overflowing with fruits and extravagant florals - an important element in Caravaggio's paintings. We appropriately held the shoot in an orchard at its flowered peak. While we were working to bring our vision to life, we knew we needed a powerful and meaningful colour palette. Our favorite resource for color and inspiration boards is always Magnolia Rouge; we chose this gorgeous board as a starting point: 

What do you think, guys? Pretty spectacular right? Enjoy your morning :) xo

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Rustic Elegance Inspiration Shoot {Sneak Peak}


Last week, I had the pleasure of coordinating and styling an inspiration shoot up in Traverse City,  Michigan. The fabulous Tonya, flew in from New Mexico to shoot the entire thing and her and I spent three days getting to and from Crooked Creek Ranch; I think we were in my Jetta for close to 500 miles in total. Let's just say we're pretty good buddies now! The photos turned out beautiful, and the above doesn't even do justice to our sweet models, the incredibly jaw-dropping florals, the sweet favours and pretty paper products, the stunning venue, the gorgeous cake, the dress, oh my gosh that dress. And I could go on and on and on. Once we find out where all of the photos will be shown you can bet I'll have a full recap for you all but for now hopefully the above shot will hold you over. Team Crooked Creek Ranch? I heart you all. Thanks for the wonderful day! xo

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Spring Inspired Beauty by Shannon Grant Photography


While your little self is reading this blog post, yours truly is making a five hour trek up to northern Michigan for an Inspiration Shoot I've been planning since February. Can I can three cheers for that? You can bet all the money to your name, I'll be stopping for multiple venti lattes along the way (we're talking almost 350 miles of traveling in one day here people), but I can promise you that it'll be worth the three days journey around the entire state. The fabulous Tonya flew in from New Mexico last night (now that's dedication!), we're off to pick up the florals and voila, we'll be in styled shoot heaven by this afternoon.

In other news, I love me some Shannon Grant, guys. Like seriously, isn't her work is just so darn pretty? She sent me over this fabulous shoot a few weeks ago and since then, I've been dying to show it off. Don't get me wrong, I love a shoot filled to the brim with steal-worthy ideas and wedding decor inspiration, but a shoot with inspiration on how to look your bridal best, is a bunch of wonderful all of its own. Check out all of these gorgeous gowns, hair styles and make up that you too can use for your own big day (hello, long eyelashes!) Happy Wednesday, blogettes. See you all tomorrow for some more gorgeousness!


{More about the shoot, from Shannon the photographer} In celebration of our New England winter finally coming to an end, we orchestrated this editorial styled photo shoot "From the Estate with Love." Our goals were to capture the feeling we get when Spring is approaching and love is in the air. Serenity mixed with unbridled optimism. Giddiness laced with a calm peace. The feeling that everything is right with the world and the possibilities are endless. 

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Why Styled Shoots Won't Ever Fade Away

I find that one of the tough parts of having a blog and a business that work hand in hand is trying to justify your own way of doing things. One person may tweet this and one may blog that and all of a sudden you might stop in your tracks only to find yourself reevaluating your goals, your plan of action, your way of making things work for you. I know that as much as I believe whole heartedly in myself, as a newcomer to the industry I often find myself overwhelmed with the amount of learning I have yet to do. However there is one thing I am sure of.


One stat that has emerged from engage11 and really has me feeling slightly defeated is that "brides are not embracing styled shoots." (I do realize this is a convention for luxury brides which is a clientele I am not trying to reach out to). As someone who was once up to her eyeballs in endless amounts of 'inspirational' wedding photos during my engagement, I can see both sides of this discussion. For brides with tight budgets and limited resources it's defeating to see perfectly styled shoots knowing you'll never be able to create something as structured. And I totally get that a real wedding where a ceremony takes place and a union is made, where there's an actual guest list and a meal being served is extremely different logistically than say a styled shoot organized by a planner/florist/designer/photographer. I agree that no wedding vendor should ever advertise to potential clients that these shoots are in fact real weddings. Because well, they're not.

However. And this is a big however. When you go into business as a wedding stylist and coordinator or start a business venture with goals of styling events (i.e. designing the aesthetics of a wedding and making your design concept come to life on the big day), and you have yet to build a portfolio, have zero proof of your talents, haven't had the opportunity to showcase your abilities, or even worse, have actually booked clients but they haven't given you full reign to style their event to reflect your talents - then where is an aspiring wedding stylist to turn to? What about wedding stylists and coordinators who are trying to set forth new trends, trying to freshen up their portfolio, trying to work with new talent in the industry? What are they suppose to do? When I officially started Hey Gorgeous Events just eight months ago I had only my wedding photos for my portfolio. Which is great. But I knew I'd need something more to add to my portfolio to speak to brides.

Inspiration shoots are a lot of work. But speaking from a stylist's point of view, they are in my opinion one of the best ways to showcase the talents of various vendors and hands down, until you can lock in brides who trust your vision entirely, one of the only ways to have complete control over the creativity that goes into creating wedding-type portfolio images. And while there's no guests eating and drinking and celebrating at a styled shoot, there are still time constraints, unpredictable weather conditions, vendors who cancel last minute, scheduling conflicts, flowers, invitations, cake, decor, a venue, a photographer, a model, a gown, accessories, favors, a videographer involved (and the list goes on and on) that are just as real as they would be at a 'real wedding.' And that is why I 100% believe in styled shoots. And will continue to do them.

The stylist in me doesn't spend months preparing for inspiration shoots and collaborating with 12 plus vendors with the mindset that my efforts are strictly for potential clients. Instead I create these opportunities for myself, and for the others who instill their faith in me to organize such endeavors, because I enjoy doing so. That and it's an amazing networking opportunity for all involved AND most importantly, these shoots allow us the freedom to showcase our work, talents and abilities. Which in turn ends up being both a benefit for us and a benefit for potential clients or brides who will forever as long as the industry exists, be on the look out for new inspiration. A win win for all.

I'd love to hear from both brides to be and stylists below! Please play nice.
Above photo by Beth Kaye, from my first inspiration shoot. That helped launch my business.

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Rustic Elegance Inspiration - Part I


I found the above inspiration board via the ever so lovely Snippet and Ink when I was trying to define a mood, feel and vision for my latest project in the works. Crooked Creek Ranch in beautiful Northern Michigan tweeted me a few weeks ago saying they'd love for little old me to style a shoot on their property. I was probably more excited than I should be about the opportunity until I realized that a very sweet friend of mine is a venue coordinator at the location (Hi Mich!) and Apb and I will in fact be moving back to the mitten state next month; surely these are both signs that this collaboration is a match made in heaven, no? The board above is sort of a guide to set the scene but we will be sticking to an all white and cream palette with pops of browns, lots of baby's breath, burlap and perhaps some galvanized steel. The best part is the spectacular red barn that will be used as the background to our set up; oh and the chance to get all of my ideas out there with the talent of other amazing industry vendors has me eeeek-ing and eeeep-ing over here! If you are an etsy seller or vendor who feels your services and products fit the above description and collage of images shoot me an e-mail to discuss what you have to offer. We'd love to have you on board for June 8th too. Happy Wednesday loves :)

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Spring Inspired Shoot by Tonya Peterson Photography


I connected with the incredible Tonya Peterson just a few short weeks ago. I sent her an e-mail to see if she had any upcoming work I could feature on the blog and within the hour she had replied back. In just the first sentence of her reply back, I was immediately touched by her warmth, friendliness and eagerness to work with me and help in any way possible. Sometimes photographers don't ever e-mail me back. Sometimes they do weeks later, only to tell me they have nothing to share and thankyouverymuchforyourinterest. 


Then there's people like Tonya who are so kind and supportive of my little blog and best of all, who have the prettiest pictures to share. The rad thing about Tonya's green-hued spring themed shoot is that she did it all herself. That's right, the vendor list includes just one vendor; and all the credit goes right back to Tonya. You're fab Tonya. I love how you combined the vintage details together with pops of bright green. And aren't those models just darling? They surely put a huge smile on my face. Enjoy all the prettiness guys!


Eee! I love springtime. Tulips are some of my most favourite blooms!


Green and white is such a fresh colour palette. I'm afraid it doesn't get enough attention when it comes to bridal colour schemes though. Luckily for me, my March bride has picked apple green, black and white as the colour palette for her modern ballroom wedding. She's already finalized the florals and invites but her and I are still deciding on some escort card table ideas. Does anyone have any ideas they can think of that involve the loveliest shade of apple green? We're trying to steer clear of anything too vintage and anything that involves too many apples but still hope to incorporate a few punches of green. Any and all clever ideas are accepted!


To see more of Tonya's dreamy work, you can visit her lovely blog here or her website here. Be sure to give her a nice big hello when you get there; she is such a sweetie. Also, she works out of the sunny Santa Fe, Albuquerque but is available for travel worldwide. Happy Thursday everyone! Do something reminiscent of spring time today; the feeling of cool grass between your toes is just around the corner! Catch you all tomorrow for another instalment of FAQ Friday; it''s going to be a good one! xo

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Valentines Day Inspiration Shoot Recap

In case you missed it yesterday Style Me Pretty featured our Valentines Day Inspiration Shoot. Here's a little more about the shoot...


Michelle Ellen Lee from Papertalk Press designed and printed all of the paper products which included a letterpress invitation suite, belly band, custom lined envelopes, menu, escort cards, table numbers, drink signs and sugar cookie favour tags. I worked with Michelle to create our own wedding paper products and cannot say enough about her level of professionalism and of course, her incredible talent. Michelle married her hubby last summer in the most glamorous yellow-hued wedding, so she gets it. Brides want and deserve the best. Michelle will give it to you.

{the paper products} 
all paper: Papertalk Press
ribbon, lace and pearls: Fabricland
glass bottles: IKEA


I originally had my heart set on finding a vintage tea cart for the drink station. Yet the one I ended up finding was a bright blue and very large. I was granted permission to spray paint the cart but in the dead of December after we'd been hit with a snowstorm, spray painting is the last thing I wanted to do (not to mention I had to load up the white table, frame and everything else in one car load). Thankfully my sweet neighbors lent me this lovely silver hall table that worked perfectly. The goal was to design a simple vignette that was vintage-inspired, pretty and functional. I really loved this component of the shoot and think on this scale, it's perfect for a dinner or cocktail party. 

{drink station}
table: borrowed from friend
straws: leftover from wedding
books: flea market finds
pink tumblers: the Goodwill
white frame: HomeSense


The flowers were gorgeous. I had envisioned lots of creams, pinks and reds but the amazing Lisa Collins of Sweet Woodruff spiced things up with muted greens and pale purples. Check out this dreamy bouquet. Could it be any more perfect, my goodness I loved how textured and feminine it turned out. Lisa is such a doll and thankfully, fresh talent to have in the industry. Can you believe we did all of the shoot's florals in less than $150.00? That's how incredible Lisa is. Get a hold of her fast if you need any type of floral design.


{the florals}
bouquet/centerpieces: Lisa Collins, Sweet Woodruff
vintage heart brooch: found via etsy
lace netted gloves: found via etsy
centerpiece jars: The Dollar Store


The Mrs and Mr wood letters were found at Michaels and then spray painted white. I tied them to the chairs with ribbon from Fabricland. Easy, cheap and super cute. The chairs are the ones provided by the Art Gallery for all functions.


The cake table. Sigh. I have such a sweet spot for cake. The set up I designed turned out exactly how I had envisioned it. Olivia from I Do Wedding Cakes is a pure sugar genius. Not only are her cakes works of art but I've never tasted anything quite as fabulous as her baked creations. I sent her an Inspiration Board and voila, this is what she came up with. Brilliant. Without a hesitation I recommend her and her business to anyone who needs delicious, gorgeous and affordable cakes and cupcakes.

{cake station}
frame: borrowed from neighbor
love mugs: Anthropologie
pink fabric: Fabricland
white table rental: Marty Millionaire


The shoot was done at The Art Gallery of Hamilton which is one of the most unique places to get married at. The reception room is essentially one giant blank canvas with floor to ceiling windows; the natural light that streams through is heavenly divine. I have so many fabulous things to say about the Gallery but what really sets the venue apart from others is the courteous, helpful and kind staff. Picking a place that will make not only you and your significant other happy but that will cater to your guests and ensure a perfect event can be tricky. The AGH staff will make sure you're taken care of and will treat you like a friend, rather than just another bride or groom.


The sugar cookie favours were designed by yours truly and created by Sweetness Bakery in Burlington, Ontario. They tasted amazing and looked darling. The love banner was created by victorianstation via etsy and working with Linda was stressfree. Her products are the perfect mix of class and vintage and I adore the craftmenships that goes into her work.


The night before the shoot, the model I hired texted me saying she couldn't make the shoot. I was devastated and left scrambling to figure out what to do. I frantically called one of my best friends, Jody who had just gotten married last summer, still fit into her wedding gown, had the next day off of work and coincidentally is just as stunning as any model I've ever seen. What Jody did for me is a reminder of how grateful I am for our friendship. 


With no food in her belly she posed and posed all day long with no complaints, eagerly doing whatever it is Beth and I asked of her. She rocked it. And now I'm eagerly waiting a call form a model agency to sign her on :) She is truly one of the most fabulous chicks I know. Her make up was flawlessly done by Sarah Smith and her stunning hair was designed by Madeliane Griffin. Jody's hairpiece was created by Jennifer Wood of the always show-stopping, Mignonne Handmade. These chicks are the wedding dream team. So happy they were able to be a part of this!

{beauty, model and accessories}
make up: Sarah Smith
hair styling: Madelaine Griffin
model: Jody Mifsud
necklace/bracelet: The Art Gallery
brides earrings: ALDO accessories
gown: the brides own
brides hair piece: Mignonne Handmade


Last but not least, none of this would have been possible without the insane talent of Beth, who is the mastermind behind the camera. Beth and I instantly connected when we first spoke on the phone last November and now only three months later, I am honoured to call her a friend. She is talented, kind, beautiful, sweet; she gets it. She gets brides, knows how to make them look their best and knows a thing or two about love; which is in my opinion what weddings are really all about. Beth, I adore you. Thank you for everything! 

To all of the other vendors; thank you for your contributions and support. You are all so talented and incredible at what you do. To all of my readers, thank you for leaving comments on Style Me Pretty yesterday. As soon I saw familar names in the comments section tears began to stream down my cheeks. You're support has been beyond unbelievable. Thank you all, so much. I don't have the right words to realy express my gratitude. xo

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