Fine Art Ethereal + Industrial Photoshoot

You know that you’ve been busy when you just could not find the time to share one of your favorite photoshoots of all time! I mean, what the heck?! The whole reason I labor to create photoshoots like this is to share the final manifestation of a creative vision & professional collaboration…but alas, caring for a newborn is a legitimate (and joyful) impediment to productive blogging.

The primary impetus for this photoshoot was, ultimately, my desire to collaborate once again with photographer extraordinaire, Alixann Loosle. We teamed up for this Cape Kiwanda shoot and it was high time that we created together once again. Second of all, I wanted to transform one of Portland’s industrial wedding venues into a light and airy affair. When clients are searching for that perfect wedding venue they may find it difficult to imagine how juxtaposed elements like industrial architecture and traditional wedding design can marry in such a flattering way, so it is up to us vendors to show them what’s possible! The Portland wedding venue that we selected, The Castaway, has a wonderful open layout with oversized factory-style windows, so this was a perfect fit. I began mulling over how I could transform a larger section of the venue into a ceremony space that would photograph as light, bright and simple. The goal for this installation was multi-dimensional: it would serve as a frame for portraits, a ceremony stage, an elegant backdrop for dining and…I wanted it to be flower-free, as an epic floral installation just isn’t always in the cards, budget-wise. Maybe you could put it on the (credit) cards, but we aren’t trying to put you in debt here! We were pretty happy with how this fabric wedding installation photographed at Castaway Portland and have high hopes that we will meet some wedding clients in 2020 who are interested in a similarly inspired ceremony design!

Another design element I wanted to achieve was for all elements of the decor to be completely mute and colorless, except for the flowers. I wanted the flowers to be a bold pop of berry tones against the muted grey, taupe and ivory. Castaway Portland has a very monochromatic vibe with steel beams, off-white walls and cement floors. We played off of these characteristics by peppering in monochromatic accents of stone, terrazzo, velvet, wire mesh, jewelry, and more! We went heavy on the texture, since we were going light on the color.

Our model, Margaret Alba, wore the minimalist dress from Watters with stunning elegance. Kirstie Wight gave her a tousled (partially) up-do with classic and clean makeup. We accentuated with a pop of red on her lips, a nod to the minimalist table decor with the striking red blooms. We added a stone-like texture to Margaret’s look by adorning her with Wine + Whiskey earrings. I couldn’t believe how perfectly these melded with the rest of the decor.

The table scape was both everything industrial and everything romantic, placed on a soft and elegant velvet tablecloth from La Tavola. From terrazzo cylinders, scavenged from a construction site, to hardware cloth, with bold blooms woven throughout. I wanted a touch of romantic juxtaposing these elements, which I achieved through the baroque-inspired fruit selection, the porcelain dinnerware by Lilith Rockett and the painterly stationery touches by Jenny Sanders. The table was polished off with soft velvet seating from Archive Rentals. I love that they offer these chairs in quantity enough to fill out a head table for a wedding party. The floral designs on the table were comprised of cafe latte garden roses, ranunculus in shades of rust, peach, and brown, neon red freesia, red astilbe, plum hellebore, tulip magnolias, brown tulips, and plum and burgundy anemones.

The last main floral element was the bridal bouquet! We wanted to keep it simple, erring on the side of classic, rather than the boisterously large, textured and “organic” bouquets we see so much of right now. Not that I don’t love a big ol’ bouquet, but on occasion a smaller bouquet design just makes sense. This bouquet was comprised of cafe latte garden roses, ranunculus in shades of rust, peach, and brown, neon red freesia, brown tulips, plum hellebore, and plum/burgundy anemones.