Dreams Do Come True

Event Feature

Sep 5

A STYLED SHOOT FOR VOW ICT

This styled shoot came about, in all honest, because of a love for brunch-type food. Simple as that!

Photographers Chris & Lara, Jorge with Le Luci, and Jaylee with Hennessy Social came together and founded VOW (Vendors of Wichita) in 2022. In January of 2023, they pulled together a beautiful event just for vendors to party at! It didn’t stop there, in March of 2023, vendors met at The Winslet for a VOW meeting. We came together to talk about what we wanted VOW to be and how it could become a pillar in the Wichita Wedding Community.

Stay with me here -
At the VOW party in January of 2023, Morgan met Jenny Wilson (Savour the Graze) for the first time. Did they become best friends? Yes. Did they do karate in the garage? Not yet, stay tuned though!

Cynthia Dalene Photography

At the VOW meet-up in March 2023, Morgan and Jenny met up again and got to talking. They quickly discovered (on a more professional level this time) how similar they were and how well they got along. Jenny mentioned that she had always wanted to create a brunch grazing table and Morgan was IMMEDIATELY on board with that plan.

When Chris announced that they were wanting to find vendors to “host” monthly VOW meet-ups (find a venue, plan them, showcase their work, etc.), Morgan and Jenny’s eyes met - that was their chance! And so the Dreams DO Come True Styled Shoot was born.

Cynthia Dalene Photography

Now, Morgan and Jenny knew they wanted the brunch grazing board to be a focal point, but were not sure how to make that happen. They also discussed how many wedding styled shoots look very similar. At almost every styled shoot, decor, lighting, and dresses are featured - as they should be, that’s what people want to see, after all! But Morgan and Jenny wanted to be different. They wanted to showcase the vendors that typically do not get shown - the ones that show up before the photographer gets there.

The main plan for the shoot was to focus on the morning-of the wedding. They wanted to showcase hair stylists and makeup artists, as well as get behind the scenes of what actually goes into setting up for an event. They chose Brick and Mortar for the venue because they have a very large and spacious bridal suite that would make it easy to get a lot of photos. However, just getting photos of the bridal suite did not seem like the best use of the space. They wanted to show off the entire venue.

Cynthia Dalene Photography

 “the little girls who come to your birthday party when you’re little are the same girls that will be there by your side on your wedding day”

Cynthia Dalene Photography

So Morgan came up with the idea of making two shoots in one and showcasing some other vendors that don’t typically get featured. She decided that she wanted to plan a little girl’s birthday party and stage that in the front room at Brick and Mortar. Honestly, it was the kind of party that Morgan would have LOVED to have growing up! They had a tea party set-up, individual tents to sleep in, and a whole bounce house! But Morgan felt like there needed to be some sort of connection between the two shoots.

With a little help from Regina Phelps (Awen Vera Events), Morgan linked the shoots by saying that the little girls who come to your birthday party when you’re little are the same girls that will be there by your side on your wedding day. So many women have friends that they grew up with, dressing up their dolls to get married, planning their Pinterest weddings as they got into junior high and high school, and just knowing that you would be standing by each other’s side on the happiest days of your life. That’s what Morgan wanted to show.

Cynthia Dalene Photography

So she put out a model call for some littles that wanted to come pretend like they were having a sleepover! They got to play, eat treats, and get some SUPER cute pictures of themselves. After 5 little models were found, Morgan searched for some adult models that would look similar to the littles to be the bride and bridesmaids for the wedding part of the shoot. Both the littles and the bigs had SO much fun getting their hair and makeup done and just getting to hang out in some PJs and take pictures. It was amazing to see the joy in their faces all day.

Cynthia Dalene Photography

Now, those that are familiar with Brick and Mortar will notice that we haven’t talked about the big room yet! The littles were in the front room, the bigs were in the bridal suite, and the big room was being set up for the actual VOW meet-up (remember how they wanted to do monthly meet ups?).

Well, Morgan really wanted this meet up to be as interactive as possible and truly showcase the work that went into it. So the little girl’s party was still set up as people entered, they got to see the incredible work that had been done. As people got to the big room, they would notice that the color theme incorporated throughout the shoot was the same theme in the meet-up. Here we showcased a photo booth and flower wall (Neon Flamingo) and one of the best brunch grazing tables you ever saw - complete with a syrup fountain!

Cynthia Dalene Photography

VOW members were able to snack on waffles and pastries while they took photos and enjoyed each other’s company. The photos turned out AMAZING, everyone had such a great time, and Morgan ended up hiring Savour the Graze to recreate the brunch grazing table for her baby shower a year later!