When Elisa mentioned incorporating her love of reading into their session, 2 images immediately popped into my head – one was of them standing among stacks & stacks of vintage books, a million feet tall, looming all around them like crazy book-skyscrapers. The second vision was them laying on a blanket, with tons of books again, except this time they were swimming in them. Either way, I figured we would need a googelplex of books.

So the next couple weeks were spent collected hardcovers, coming across gems from the 1940s from my dad, with the corners of the pages all brittle & yellow, and the prettiest collection of novels {those would be all the pastel ones you see} from Scott’s mom. I was seriously driving around town with bags & bags & bags of books in my car and it sort of made me crazy excited that I pretty much was in a mobile library & at any given time I could just stop and read them ALL (didn’t happen, but exciting nonetheless). And though, by the time the session came around, we didn’t end up with quite enough books to tower 18 stories above Elisa & Andrew or to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, I was quite super giddy with the more realistic versions of brainstorming that we brought to life!

But Elisa must have figured that super giddy wasn’t quite giddy enough, because she had a second genius idea up her sleeve. She brought to the session a handcrafted GIGANTIC red heart kite. A kite. That was a red heart. That she put together, WITH HER HANDS. It was perfect & combined with Elisa & Andrew’s super sweet & silly personalities, it made for the funnest of fun photos. GIDDY X 1000!

It is sometime past midnight. A dreamy makeshift cafe, nestled in the middle of a woodsy area, sweetly lights up the otherwise dark surroundings. Cozy candlelight, warm tea, beautiful vintage furniture.. the absolute perfect stop for a newlywed couple! And all making for an inspirational shoot so creative & lovely, that it would entice even this can’t-function-before-10am-photographer to drive into the woods at 3am to photograph this beautiful setting. I’ve photographed many sessions that have gone from sunset to night, but this was my first time shooting from night through dawn!

A big big thank you to Amanda Auer of the super stylish and amazing wedding coordinating team In the Now for conceptualizing and organizing all the fabulous details of this shoot. And to Amanda at Ruffled for featuring this shoot on her blog! Ruffled is one of my favorite stops for gorgeous vintage wedding inspiration. And of course a big thank you to the beautiful newlywed couple who remained so pleasant and so in love despite the chilling temps!

Scroll down for a beautifully told backstory on the concept of the shoot, written by Amanda. And be sure to hop over to Ruffled to check out the post there!

I imagined a couple deeply in love, newly-wedded, who got distracted with the idea of a cup of coffee and some dessert on the walk home from their wedding. After the grand send off, after the dancing and drinks, after the party…. THIS is where the end up. At a quaint cafe, open late, laughing and loving the night away until dawn strikes and they mosey on towards home.

I love the idea of these two lovebirds reveling in the memories of their wedding day. Their feet ache, her head hurts from being pinned up, they’re exhausted… but they’re elated. Full of joy. Full of newness, hope, and love. Full of lemon crumble cake!

The idea is that these two order a slice of cake, a tea, and a coffee, and chat the night away until the cafe closes and as they walk down a quiet side road in the breaking dawn… they give a whole new meaning to the term “walk of shame”. I adore the idea of a wedding “walk of shame”- like you spent the WHOLE night out and you’re walking down the road now barefoot, shoes in hand, veil off and hair let loose, ready to head to sleep finally.

{ As seen on Ruffled }

Styling – In The Now, Amanda + Rachel
Rentals – Classic Party Rental
Furniture and Decor – Jeni @ FOUND Vintage Rentals; In The Now
Hair/Makeup – Carlie Buys at Carlie B
Dress – The Vintage Bride
Veil – Candi Merle @ Crowning Glory Veils
Models- Nick Bowser of Crafthouse Productions; and his lovely wife, Yanessa
Photography – Adrienne Gunde
Location- Trabuco Canyon, CA

A special thank you to Style Me Pretty for featuring this shoot! SMP is one of my favorite wedding blogs and is always overflowing with great inspiration. You can see the full feature here!

I’ve been so excited to share this lovely shoot with all of you! The Mad Hatter’s tea party has been a source of inspiration for many beautiful tablescapes, so I was super excited when Lydia, my talented friend & blogger extraordinaire at Ever Ours, invited me to be a part of an Alice-inspired setting with a different twist. Striving for something unique and following inspiration from Tim Burton’s whimscial interpretation, she came up with this enchanting “dark & twisty” version of the much-loved tea party!

Together with the creative prowess of talents Lauryl Lane and Jane of Olive Hue, they bundled up mushrooms, clocks, textural florals, hanging arrangements in jars, and the most fantastic bright blues, greens and purples for a casual on-the-grass tea party that had me swooning left and right! As most of you know, I am a huge sucker for details and could not get enough of these – I was literally snapped away at the table until the sun went down!

But enough with my ramblings, on with the photos! Please take a seat on one of the cushions and enjoy this dark & twisty peek into wonderland :)

Jane personalized the tea bags in the sweetest way {and LOVE the contrast of Megan’s red nails against the blues and greens!}

How dreamy is this bouquet? Lauryl always produces the most unique, creative, and beautiful pieces…

A big thank you to this team of talented ladies for the opportunity to work on such a fun shoot!

Styling: Ever Ours
Florals: Lauryl Lane
Stationery: Olive Hue Paper
Linens: BBJ Linens & Bed, Bath and Beyond
Tableware: Bed, Bath and Beyond and Oneida
Antique Watch Faces: creativeARTifacts
Model: Megan Buchner
{ As seen on Style Me Pretty }