Our friend Alexia Crossman of Wiley Events Co. just gets us. It’s not often as a florist that you get free rein to play with moss, bare branches, mushrooms, and river rocks along with flowers, but Alexia always trusts our instincts. She had the brilliant idea of collaborating on an Elemental styled shoot, drawing inspiration from the atmospheric and ethereal beauty of air, water, and earth.
To bring the vision to life, we collected moss and lichen-covered branches from our yards; sourced oyster mushrooms from Carolina Mushroom Farm; bought tuberose, explosion grass, and millet from Piedmont Wholesale Flowers; and pulled from our treasure trove of dried grasses, clematis pods, rocks, and stems. Tuberose was the only fresh flower we used!
The late September day began early with styling and shooting at The White Space in Raleigh, NC. That afternoon, the models, photographer, and planner zipped away to Kitty Hawk for the second part of the shoot. Our focus was on creating a minimalist table design featuring a bare branch and simple bud vases, styling a modern Ikebana-inspired cake stand, and designing a bouquet and boutonniere that would tie together all the elements, and feel at home among the sloping dunes of Kitty Hawk. We love the windswept, effortless elegance of the resulting images by Kasey Smith Creative. You can also find this shoot featured on Magnolia Rouge.
Fun fact: both the planner (Alexia) and the models (Maddie & Harrison) are former wedding clients of ours. We love finding new ways to work and stay in touch with past couples– we are lucky to have such kindhearted gems to call upon!
