This wonderful styled desert elopement was the brainchild of Kate (leader planner at Tapestry Event Co.) & mine's collaboration to focus on one of the less-visited and most intriguing areas of Washington that is beautiful, but not very well known. It's hardly a secret that I'm deeply obsessed with Eastern & Central Washington for its desert landscapes, wide open skies, sand dunes, and uninterrupted solitude. We try to shoot there whenever we can, and for this particular shoot, I wanted to try out an area we had seldom visited: the Hanford Reach National Monument. we had planned to execute this styled elopement sometime in the early spring. Like most plans in 2020, that definitely didn't end up being the case! After rescheduling about 4 different times, we were finally all able to come together in the early summer, after months of lockdown and stretch our creative muscles to bring this amazing shoot to life. Everyone pitched in an enormous amount of work and incredible talent during a huge upheaval of their businesses, and I'll forever be grateful to our real life couple Emily & Jaimie who agreed to fill in as our models at the very last minute and absolutely *smashed* it. They eloped themselves later this same summer at Mt. Adams, and I can't wait to blog their for-real elopement day!
But as for this shoot, the brides got ready at a gorgeous airbnb overlooking the desert before driving out on quite a few winding, unmarked dirt roads to reach the ceremony site. For the design, we wanted to focus in on the bright, warm colors of a summer day out in the land of sage brush and sand dunes, mixing the modern aesthetic of minimal acrylics and neutral tones with the bright pops of color from an incredible sunset bridal cape and blindingly gorgeous yellow florals. The Columbia River and the occasional overhead hawk were the only visitors we got on this particular hazy evening spent in the middle of nowhere. It remains one of my very favorite styled shoots, despite all the hurdles and many challenges, and I think it'll stay among my top creative collaborations for a very long time. Here are the incredible folk who made it happen:
Planning & Styling - Tapestry Event Co.
Hair & Makeup - Pacific Brides
Floral - Leah Erickson Floral Co.
Cake - The Night Owl Bakery
Signage - Woodland Custom Design
Furniture Rentals & Accents - Yay! Parties
Ring Holders - Cedar & Stone
Photography - Forthright Photo (that's us!)
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