I’m a complete sucker for all things moody, so when this mama was like, “I’m thinking I want to do a rainy day,” I pretty much gave her no other option than to stick to her word! ha!

It actually turned out to be a perfect moody day for a family lifestyle photoshoot in that it rained JUST ENOUGH. No one got soaked, but there was enough drizzle to wet the umbrella and turn hair into a moody dream.

You guys, this destination elopement wedding + gender reveal photoshoot was a DREAM. Joanna contacted me from her home in England saying she and her then fiancé (now husband) absolutely LOVED country music and were coming to Nashville for CMA FEST (country music festival here in Nashville.) Just to be clear, I am WAAAAY behind posting this shoot. This was like a year before Coronavirus. So. Yeah. Moving on.

They would be in Nashville for CMA Fest and they wanted to get married here, AND she was pregnant, didn’t know what they were having and wanted to do a gender reveal as well! They had two cups with either pink or blue confetti (they hadn’t looked) and we were going to toss it up and surprise them!

We had to meet EARLY for their elopement. CMA Fest gets PACKED, so I think we met at like 5:30 or 6:00am so they could get married on the Pedestrian Bridge without a crowd. They found this awesome diner that they had breakfast at first.

It was a rainy day, which I think they were slightly disappointed by mainly because it’s so rainy normally where they live, but, you guys, I was like THIS IS GORGEOUS!! hahah!! I was digging ALLL the moody rainy vibes for this wedding photoshoot! I grabbed my clear umbrella on the way out of my house, and that sucker came in super handy - both practically and creatively. And, really, there were just the most laid back couple that I’ve ever worked with, so the rain didn’t seem to bother them too much.

After breakfast, we all walked up to the Pedestrian Bridge in Nashville and met their officiant. And they got married!

It was kind of wild personally to be present for this. To be the ONLY person aside from the officiant. Knowing they had family and friends back home who loved them dearly and then it was ME that got to witness this event. While I obviously wanted to do the best job capturing this day beautifully for them, I also took on an energetic responsibility to be present and full of love for them!! I cheered for them and proclaimed my congratulations and tried to channel some energy from a family back home that I had never met.

After they exchanged rings, vows and a husband & wife smooch, we headed into the streets of Nashville to try to find a spot for the gender reveal photos!

AND YOU GUYS, did we find a spot! There was this unbelievable balloon wall just waiting for us! We took some photos there, then we had to figure out the logistics of me throwing confetti while ALSO taking photos. So, there was a group of people passing by (an extended family, I think) and they were asking what we were doing, so I asked them if they wanted to be part of the reveal! There were 2 women from the group who each took one of the cups with confetti. They stood on the sides of the newly married couple, Joanna and Rob closed their eyes, and when I counted to 3 the confetti was tossed and the couple opened their eyes to see…

PINK!!!

Actually, they said at first the pink was so light colored and there was a glare in their eyes and they couldn’t see the color at all!! haha!

We ended back at the diner since they had kindly held on to some jackets and things for us, and we all hugged and parted ways!

See anything that inspires you? Make sure to save it to a Pinterest board!

“I hope this isn’t weird. I just wanted to tell you that what you do is so important. My son never smiles in photos and he’s smiling in these. Please keep doing what you do.”

Those were some of the first things that Courtney ever said to me when she called me, out of the blue, after receiving her son’s school photos from the Montessori school that I work with every year.

THAT, my friends, is an ideal client. From then on Courtney and I connected and talked of being creatives and the joy and struggles of those gifts. She’s an amazing human for so many reasons, not the least of which is that she simply cannot do fluff talk and gets right to the hearts of things. She hears you, she’s honest, she’s raw, vulnerable, full of faith and ridiculously talented and passionate. She would fit right in with the coolest art scenes of NYC, but instead navigates suburban life outside Nashville, TN.

When she said she wanted to do a personal brand photoshoot, I was practically jumping up and down. After the planning session we had (that I have with all my On Fire clients), I could barely contain myself. I was beyond stoked for this brand shoot.

Her art is dark, deep, soulful; it makes you a little uncomfortable - and that’s the way Courtney wants it. She wants you to feel moved out of your comfort zone, but also so in love with the paintings that you must have them on your wall. I knew this is what I wanted for our shoot. I wanted to make the majority of our shots a little off - maybe the horizon would be a little crooked or I’d miss getting a foot in the frame or the composition would be not quite right. Something so that the viewer would go, “Hmm…there’s something off about this.”

Her brand photography shoot also needed to be moody, have a touch of angst, struggle, and passion. In short, it needed to match her brand dead on so that the images would serve as award-winning supporting actors in the story of her artwork.

She was my first personal brand photoshoot that was an artist/painter, and I have since done 2 more, and I am in love. Artists allow me to bring out my own artistry even further, and each has her own unique style, and creating inside of that is just the coolest.

So, this is some of her shoot. To see how she’s doing an UNBELIEVABLE job using her brand photos & incorporating her own photos of her work and other photos from her phone, check out her Instagram.

Want more brand inspiration?!
Check out these blog posts!