This sweet summer styled shoot is full of natural charm and whimsy. Set on an Alpaca farm in Idaho, we love how local small-town vendors came together to show that there are always wonderfully talented creatives — no matter the size of your city. Keep reading to hear from Heather Woolery Photography + Creative on the vision for this fun shoot.
“The original concept of photographing a wedding with alpacas came when a real wedding I was going to capture had to change venues last minute from an alpaca farm at the base of Mt. Adams in Washington, USA to a backyard wedding in Portland, Oregon due to the Eagle Creek fire that tore through the Gorge last September. For some reason the desire to capture a wedding with alpacas just didn’t fade.
I then started to book weddings for the 2018 year, but realized I wasn’t booking too many local weddings and when I asked local brides why they were taking their weddings out of state their response was they thought where we live was limited or didn’t offer a good selection to have a wedding…which broke me heart…as I know of several vendors and creatives in our small little Palouse area who all are struggling to find local work. So I wanted to bring together some of these creatives to showcase what a wedding in the Palouse (north Idaho) could look like.
The vision for this shoot was to embrace the greens of the Palouse and embrace the laidback feel the alpaca farm brought naturally. So we went with creams and neutrals with pops of yellow and blue throughout which felt summery to us without a color splash overload. Each of our vendors took this and incorporated the earthy North Idaho feel with homage to the earth and our landscape in every detail. Our florist went with local wild flowers that she was growing to embrace the “Idaho” aspect a little more. Our ceramics were hand crafted by a local ceramicist with a more raw less define edge bringing once again that earthy feel into the whole shoot. Our paper suite designer had the invitations and menus printed on an old 1800-century printing press which was local as well on all natural fiber paper.
The North Idaho lifestyle is very laid back, and for the most part a very calm part of the country to live in. And with the dawn of summer we wanted our couple to feel that relaxed warm vibe with everything from the soft dewy makeup to her casual but classy braid tucked under for a more sophisticated look. We ran with brass touches to bring an elevated look to the whole set up and peacock chairs for the couple to give them some elevation that contrasted the fun yet classy picnic feel of their sweetheart table. Our drink cart was simple yet colorful and fun which brought in all the yellows, brass and other elements we were using throughout the shoot, making it a centerpiece inviting guests to have a sip, let loose and have fun celebrating the newly weds. And finally our cake take showcased the lovely simple yet classy cake topped with really succulents to bring in more greens and the natural vibes once again.
It was our hope that this shoot showed brides that no matter how big, or small your town is…that there are always wonderful creatives who are so excited to work with you and help you make your special day exactly that…special and unique to you.”
