Last year when Victor and I talked about designing our own shoot, it seemed like ways away. After shooting and serving over 30 new families in 2016, we wanted to have something to look forward that was our own, in our own time, our style and collaboration. We’ve attended workshops and styled wedding photo-shoots. We paid a nominal fee and captured endless amounts of lovely details and beautiful models. The time came to have put together something small in one of our favorite places to shoot–San Francisco City Hall. After eloping there almost 6 years ago (whew time flies!) it inspired to concoct an Elopement styled shoot. We’ve seen hundreds of weddings, engagement maternity; you name it, but very and in between ‘elopement’ stories.

I pictured Audrey Hepburn stopping by San Francisco on one of her Roman Holiday escapades with her fictional beau Gregory Peck to tie the knot. Victor liked the idea of remaining true to a 1960’sesque (if you will) elopement. We researched and contacted other artists who liked the idea and whose style also pulled from this era. We couldn’t pull all the designers we had intended, like a quick reception venue place with a desert, stationary and jewelry but we made do with what we had. We chose to work towards December since we had slowed down our season by then.

Many things happened on the day of that were unexpected. The dress delivery was delayed, we couldn’t find a male model that ‘perfectly’ fit the profile we had in mind. Our darling model, Mariel, had a little incident that delayed our start time. Our sweet hair and makeup artist friend had been ill the whole week prior. To top things off, Victor was escorted out the building due to new policies of ‘safety,’ which in the 6 years of shooting in City Hall were now being enforced. I pleaded the Sheriff that we weren’t aware (as other of my colleagues were just doing this as well) that we couldn’t lean against the closed windowsills, but he proceeded to take Victor by the arm {insert here one of my most embarrassing moments of my career}. Thankfully, it was at the tail end of our shoot.

It was a learning experience, but it was also one of our 2016 accomplishments. After going through a couple of months of planning, these are 5 things you could do have a successful and smooth shoot.

1. Define your purpose. We created this styled shoot for us. Not for publication or to generate online chatter. We wanted to create content for our own portfolio. This made it all the easier to follow through with tasks. We also knew that to shoot more at San Francisco City Hall, we had to place ourselves there more. With this in mind, we were able to execute our shoot with a solid foundation.
2. Create a vision board. Creating a vision board, however abstract, is going to streamline ideas, colors, and the overall look. It also facilitates your idea to prospective artists who might be interested in becoming a part of it. It will also allow you to bring your purpose to something tangible. Our board came with old photographs from the 1950’s & 60’s. It also had details that were right for the wedding style back then. It also attracted certain people who already relate to this style.
3. Collaborate efficiently. It’s all one collaborative effort between people and their interpretation of ideas. Be open to the flexibility as they are donating their time and services. We chose to work with wonderful artists who were local and also love the ‘glamour’ look of our shoot. We now have them in our vendor directory and keep in frequent touch through social media. We love that they love the images because it shows their craftsmanship.
4. Plan like it’s a wedding – Yes, it’s completely obvious, but believe us, planning makes all the difference. We put the styled shoot on our calendar 2 months before (yikes!). We recommend maybe scheduling the shoot 3-4 months ahead if it involves less than 10 people. For shoots with more details and individuals involved plan even a year ahead, just like a wedding. Plan for the mistakes and plan for communication to fall through the cracks. But have a plan B ready just in case. Our dresses almost didn’t arrive on time, and I was very close
5. Check in with your people. Communication is key. We thought we had all of our bases covered, but after the rush of the Holidays, some things fell through the cracks. Follow up on conversations. Get people’s verbal confirmation on details, changes, and scheduling. If we could go back, we would’ve created a roster and just checked off things that needed just one more pair of eyes to look through.

Most importantly get creative and take your time! I can’t begin to say how much we got used to the fast-pace wedding schedules are, but I reminded us, let’s just have fun and shoot. This made a world of a difference to our overall look. Again, this couldn’t have happened without the contribution of the following creatives:

Models: Mariel Salgado & Tony Herrera
Hair & Make Up: Fox & Doll
Floral Designs: Studio Wildflower
Dress: Allison Parris
Jewelry: Tanya’s personal collection

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