Sweet Lane Gardens Petaluma California | Styled Wedding

Months and months of planning my first ever styled wedding AND IT RAINED.  *insert crying emoji

It was only a few months into my photography business that I decided to plan my very own styled wedding.

** For those who are wondering what a styled wedding is, it’s where real wedding vendors come together to create a mock wedding.  It has all the aspects that a real wedding has (i.e. venue, florals, gowns, suits, cake, and models as the bride and groom.)  A photographer, or multiple photographers create images as they would for an actual wedding day and send them to the vendors who participated.  The vendors  are able to use those images for their portfolio showcasing their work.**

Without any knowledge of how hard event planning actually was, I dove right in.  I instantly regretted it, but it was too late to back out.  I’m a photographer; what the heck did I know about event planning?!  I started with the most obvious thing every wedding has; a venue, and went down the list from there.   The more I got into it, the more fun I was having.  I felt as though I was planning my own wedding, something I’d been doing since I was five (cause what little girl doesn’t play princess and dream about her big day?!)

The day was finally here!  I showed up at the venue 3 hours before the start time, so I could get everything ready.   One by one, vendors showed up.  AHH!  It was really happening.  I seriously planned an entire wedding in THREE months.  Everything turned out even better than I had planned.  The vendors outdid themselves.  Like, the florals?!  STUNNING.  Everything looked great.  Then it rained!!!  My heart dropped.  I literally checked the forecast that morning and it was supposed to be sunny all day!!  Everyone ran out to help me bring everything back inside.  We all stood there in disbelief and just waited.  I felt so bad.  I mean, I know it wasn’t my fault but still.  I planned an outside wedding in February without a backup plan.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  Lesson learned for sure.

The rain didn’t last long, and as soon as it stopped we set everything back up.  Praying that if there was to be more rain, it would hold off for the next few hours until we were done.  I guess everything happens for a reason though, because the rain gave everything a nice glow and the grass a fresh dewy look.   I had such a fun time shooting my own event!  Every time I took a picture, I looked at my camera screen and wanted to scream out of excitement.  I could NOT wait to get home and start editing!

Thank you to all of the vendors who participated and helped bring my vision to life!  Everyones work was outstanding!

• Venue:  Sweet Lane Gardens – 
• Florist:  Autumn Reid ~ Autumn’s Blossoms
• Cake:  Charmaine Jaramillo ~ Rose Quartz Cakery
• Lace Dress:  Lisa MacKenzi
• Tulle Dress: Christine Dilullo ~ Epiphany Boutique
• Hair & Makeup:  Cassandra McClure
• Custom Jewelry:  Kristin Webb
• Rose Gold Jewelry:  Nicole Victorino
• Calligrapher: Sara McConnell
• Rose Gold Linens:  Jeanette Vargas ~ Party Crush Studio