Right before spring break, I was contacted to do some photo styling for an upcoming brand overhaul. The client, an etiquette expert,  needed a series of photos depicting tablescapes to match her new brand identity (designed by Emily McCarthy and Whitney English). They recommended me to shoot a series of photographs for the new website to be launched in the near future.

I was thrilled to get to help out, and the minute I saw the brand mood board, I knew that this was right up my alley. With loads of nautical stripes, gold accents, and contrasting patterns, we planned a series of 3 shoots: a tablescape (worst word EVER), a social scene w/ teenage kids at a party, and a series of stationery/product photography images. I immediately threw together a Pinterest board of the vision I had for the shoots, especially the table settings.

Despite this being for an etiquette expert, I wanted this to read as fresh and clean – nothing too old-fashioned or stodgy. We went for bold gold flatware (I DIE) and fun modern linens. The white placemats were Chilewich, courtesy of Bebe’s (and come in a bunch of amazing colors – seriously, the most perfect modern placemat ever); the napkins were a mix from Serena & Lily and Anthropologie.

Setting up the party shoot was a little more complicated than shooting the tabletop setup. I knew we needed a fantastic location, so I talked to the sweet girls at Green Goodies (remember this post?) and they happily agreed to loan us their space to shoot in.  Minted graciously provided all the paper products and two dozen Green Goodies cupcakes later, we were in business. We had a handful of really fabulous teenage models for the shoot, and these kids were the best. We had a blast in our own little party – check it out!

Bowties courtesy of Plenty Mercantile.

All the paper details from Minted were so cute; those pinwheels were super easy to assemble. I used them as thank-yous along with some flowers for the vendors who provided goodies for the shoot.  Minted also sent some super cute paper crowns, which unfortunately we didn’t get to use since we ended up shooting teenagers instead of little kids as I had originally anticipated.

All in all, it was such a fantastic experience to get to style this whole series!  Special thanks to Whitney English, Emily McCarthy, Green Goodies,  Bebe’s in Nichols Hills Plaza, Plenty Mercantile, and Minted.