Sorry for being a brat and leaving such a cliff hanger of a post this morning! I meant to conclude the post with a little paragraph about today’s activities, but I had to hit the road and rushed through the post.
But I’m back!
As I said this morning, today I did something very unusual.
I was the fill-in model for a bridal photo shoot!
Last week, my wedding photographer, Gina, called me in quite a bind. She and several other wedding vendors put together a mock wedding photo shoot for today and were worried because they could not find a model for the shoot.
A model I most definitely am not, but when Gina asked me to fill in for the shoot, I thought about it for a while and eventually decided to push my uneasy feelings aside and help her out because she’s basically the sweetest person on the planet and an amazing wedding photographer.
I honestly was pretty nervous going into today’s photo shoot because I am by no means a model and have basically one modeling look in my arsenal: The smile.
I can’t do serious looks, sexy faces, pouts or anything other than a standard smile but Gina assured me that she would coach me and make me feel comfortable.
After making the 2.5 hour drive to Sarasota this morning, I felt my nerves start to subside when I stepped into La Mariee bridal boutique.
How could I not be excited to try on wedding dresses!?
Gina and Anna Pohl, a fun and enthusiastic wedding and event planner, selected about five dresses for me to try on and pulled two to bring to the photo shoot.
(They ended up selecting the second vintage-looking dress for me to wear.)
Once we had dresses selected, I walked next door to get my hair and make up done at Ana Molinari salon.
We ran a little behind schedule with the hair, so I left with my hair up in pins.
I’m pretty sure everyone I saw at a red light en route to the Palmetto Riverside bed and breakfast where the photo shoot took place looked at me like I was a nut job.
When we arrived at the photo shoot, Gina and I took down my hair and pined pieces up under an awesome feather headpiece and took a bunch of photos outside of the bed and breakfast.
While Gina took pictures, MMD Designs set up a gorgeous table, ceremony site and wedding cake and Andy and Matt filmed.
I wore clip on earrings since my ears aren’t pierced and a layering of pearl necklaces. They really did it up!
(Photo from Andy)
Though I was completely out of my element, it was a fun day! Gina is planning on submitting the photos to magazines and wedding blogs and planned for the photo shoot to have a more editorial feel rather than a “real wedding” vibe. I’ll be sure to share some of the photos when she passes them along to me.
It was a really neat experience and I had fun playing dress up!
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don’t be silly julie, you are SO model material! just look at you! and i love how they did your hair- i want a similar style for my wedding one day! i look horrible w/ updos.
What a fun opportunity! You look very beautiful! All of the sets looked amazing!
Oh my, how fun!
OMG how fun!! I can’t wait to see the pictures! You look beautiful! What a fun opportunity!
You are STUNNING little mama! LOVE that last picture of you 🙂
It’s ALWAYS good to do something fun out of your comfort zone every now and again – I am so glad you had a great day!
The gold dress looks stunning on you!
I don’t have pierced ears either! I dont know why, but I love finding out about other people without pierced ears.
You look like such a happy bride, can’t wait to see more pictures.
lovely! lovely! and i love the creamy, crepy dress you have on. good for you for going outside your comfort zone.
how fun!
wow what a day! can’t wait to see the pictures 😀
What a fantastic opportunity and looks so fun! I would jump at the chance just to try some wedding dresses on again! I was abit sad taking my wedding dress to the dry cleaners 2 weeks ago to be cleaned and boxed after being a bride 6 weeks ago, I want to do it all over again! You look beautiful Julie and are so model material!
What a fun thing to be doing. You are definitely model material! Can’t wait to see more pictures, looks like you had a fabulous time!
That looks like so much fun! You look amazing 🙂
You looked great!! And totally model material. So fun!
This looks like so much fun!
So cool! You look gorgeous!
I figured your cliff hanger had something to do with a bridal shoot. I am already missing trying on wedding dresses.. and I haven’t even had my wedding yet. I can’t wait for mine to come in!
You look awesome! What a neat experience! 😀
You look so beautiful!!!!
Love it! Can’t wait to see more pics!!
Fun! That’s totally something I’d do without even thinking about it. Did you take advantage of the awesome hair and go out on a date with Ryan that night? 🙂
Ha!!! Good call, Paula! I’d totally make Ryan (well, my ryan) take me out for a fancy night on the town!
GORGEOUS!!! I so look forward to seeing the rest of the pics!! The dress and table setting was stunning. I am supper jealous of your opportunity! What a fun day!!!!
That looks like fun! I can understand feeling out of your element. I just had engagement photos done with my fiance and felt totally weird at first. I do say, a good photographer makes you feel right at home! Lovely pics 🙂
So much fun, Julie! You look beautiful! 🙂
It’s the perfect fix for wanting to relive your wedding…uhh…except not having your groom there or your guests or…well…still so much fun. 🙂
holy fun!!! You look so pretty!
Can’t wait to see more pics 🙂
Oh my gosh, so fun! Although I’d def feel like throwing up from nervousness haha.. love that dress in the last photo though- gorgeous!!
So awesome! And that’s kind of interesting that you don’t have your ears pierced–any particular reason?
i’m terrified of needles.
I’m incredibly jealous!
You’re just so beautiful… and humble too!
How fun! Knowing how much you love planning your imaginary second wedding on Pinterest, I bet you were ecstatic to do this 😉 You look so pretty. I can’t wait to see the pics!!
Beautiful pictures!! What a fun photo shoot.
I did a TTD photo session both with my husband and by myself. They are so much fun!
That looks like so much fun!! And you look beautiful!
How fun! Love the cake topper!!
i thought the cake was SO beautiful!
How pretty!! I can’t wait to see more pictures!
FUN!!!! Completely random but I used to do this in high school. I know crazy….a 16 year old kid posing for wedding magazines. Crazy. But I loved it because dressing up in those gowns was so much fun! Especially in some of the more outrageous ones that I would never choose for myself!
having people do up my mug and take pictures of me is my dream job. dang guidance counselor….
you look gorgeous btw.
That looks so fun! You look gorgeous and that dress is so pretty and different!
That is soooo cool! I hope you made use of your hair and make up later on and went out! 🙂
how fun is that?? thats awesome you look great!!
I love the strands of pearls–so classic, but also very beautiful.
That looks like so much fun!
So fun! Hope the shots get picked up for publication. That’s awesome.
SOOOOOO fun Julie!
What a great opportunity! You are a lucky girl, glad you had fun!
You are the perfect model for a bridal shoot. Your smile always radiates happiness 🙂 I can’t wait to see the photos. It must have been so much fun to get to try on wedding dresses. You probably didn’t imagine you’d be doing that again!!
Julie- you look awesome!
Weird question. Do you know who makes the dress they didn’t pick for you? I’m looking for a wedding dress and I love that one 🙂
i wish i did but i honestly can’t remember. perhaps you could contact la mariee in sarasota? i also know it was crazy expensive (i think around $5k), just to give you a head’s up!
Shoot! Well I’m going to keep that look in mind! I love the skirt portion!
Congratulations on being brave and saying yes to something you were unsure about. I’m glad you had a positive experience. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
I’m totally late to the party, but I just wanted to tell you that you look GORGEOUS!!
& it looks like SUCH a fun day 🙂 How awesome to get to try on wedding dresses again…since you would of never gotten to do it again. That’s so cool!!
I hope Gina’s pictures get published– please let us know if you are in a magazine!! 🙂
What a super fun thing to do! And you look gorgeous, as usual 🙂
This is so cool! You look absolutely gorgeous all the time (yes, even in your gym clothes! 🙂 ), so I think it’s very fitting you got asked to be a wedding model for the day! What a fun and different way to spend the day. I can’t wait to see the pictures!
Love the dress she picked out!!! Gorgeous!