Old World Romance: A Vintage-Inspired Wedding Styled Shoot
- Marcea Galindo
- Aug 12
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 13
Every once in a while, things just fall into place beautifully. We have done a few styled shoots in our existence as a company, but this last one was truly special. And fortunately for us, Washington Wedding Day magazine thought so too...we have a two-page spread in the Fall/Winter 2025 issue highlighting this beautiful editorial, plus an extra mention of our cake in another article.
But "fall into place" didn't just happen without a lot of planning and hard work. The team we chose to collaborate on this was stellar and thoughtfully selected.
It started with a wedding I did the previous fall at Trillium Nursery Farm in Redmond, Washington (trilliumnurseryfarm.com). Karissa, the owner, and I connected immediately and began talking about doing a shoot at her beautiful venue. Not long after that, I met Megan Jo Nealy (meganjophoto.com) at a wedding she photographed and I coordinated. We also hit it off and she was a natural selection to do this shoot. Karissa and I knew her style would capture it perfectly.
Next, we chose Rachel Rouse to do florals (rachelrousefloral.com), someone Karissa had worked with, and then Annie of I Do Bridal (idobridal.com), came on board. The five of us met on-site to dream about what this shoot could become. Out of that meeting came the Old World Romance concept where we would take vintage elements and feminine touches coupled with modern accents. Annie suggested some dresses as a starting point, and from her selections we chose the dreamy, blush, billowy, amazing gown by Monique Lhullier (moniquelhuillier.com) that is highlighted in the magazine. She also chose a second gown by Calla Blanche (callablanche.com) that you can see more of on my website (mgeventdesign.com/styled-photo-shoots).
Next, we knew we needed some fantastic decor pieces, and Vintage Ambiance had what we were looking for right in their name (vintageambiance.com), so from their website, I chose pieces I thought would tie it all together. I was also able to secure models (friends of a friend!), and the gown we loved fit our "bride" Hanna perfectly. For the "groom", Tyler (the model) and I visited Sew Generously in Pioneer Square (sewgenerously.org), and they helped us design a modern, vintage-style suit that came out perfectly tailored to Tyler. It was such a fun experience to pick the fabrics, cut--everything down to the buttons.
Our final element to plan was the cake. At that point, I had just heard about Kenna Giuzio through social media, and I took a chance and reached out. Kenna's style is very vintage and truly art (kennagiuziocake.com) She responded immediately in the affirmative to my invitation and invited me to her studio. What an experience! After sharing my vision, she put together the most incredible cake, and I'm so happy it received it's own cameo in the magazine. She's truly an artist. And yes, those flowers on the cake are all sugar!
On the day of the shoot, we started late in the afternoon, hoping to catch twilight at the right moment. Brooke from Onsite Beauty Artistry (onsitebeautyartistry.com) and the models were there first, putting her artistic touch on Hanna (who also wore earrings from I Do Bridal, my pearls from my wedding, a pair of my daughter's shoes, and even my veil with the second dress!).
I got to work setting the tables (borrowed from the venue) with not only items from Vintage Ambiance, like the plates and goblets, but adding some of my own touches like fabric, silver and crystal candlesticks with taper candles, my mother's silver chargers and silver cutlery, and beautiful linen napkins my sister-in-law brought home from Spain.
We also used a lovely couch and coffee table from Vintage Ambiance as a backdrop for some of the florals and photos. Rachel expertly draped the green velvet couch with blooms and greens that enveloped Hanna beautifully.
She also designed an installation going up the trunk of the blooming cherry tree, the whole reason we chose to photograph in early May. This provided a delicate and artistic backdrop for one of our two tablescapes.
Once the lighting was perfect, Megan got to work capturing the ambiance just right. The results were stunning, far beyond our expectations. We had two table locations, plus the couch vignette, and she used those and other locations on the property to put together the most stunning collection of photographs, a few of which are featured here.
So did it just fall together? Maybe not quite, but in the end, it felt so satisfying that we knew we had something special, so it felt like it.
Can't wait to do it again...
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