White Sands Styled Elopement

Wow okay I was really good at blogging for a little bit and then I kind of fell off the face of the earth. Life happens sometimes. I haven’t been busy but sometimes I get sidetracked and lose motivation and I think that is okay. I don’t want to drain myself from something that actually is life giving. This is one of many updates of what I have been doing and what God has been teaching me so get ready!

About a month ago, early February, I got a message from a photographer in Virginia, Alyssa. She saw one of my posts on Instagram through me tagging White Sands on location. She told me that her and her husband were doing a road trip across and country and wanted to have a styled shoot at White Sands. (Instagram is so cool because of all of these little connections!) We were chatting and trying to plan a styled shoot without even knowing each other and what the day was going to look like. We planned for a shoot two weeks after she first started chatting with me.

Okay first off, I have never been a part of a styled shoot, let alone plan one so it was challenging but oh so worth it! Because Alyssa would be traveling, I had to find all of the necessary details. I thought it would be more stressful than it was but, honestly, God provided it all so well. I reached out on instagram for a cake decorator, floral arrangements and for possible couple models. I messaged a few people but I got no replies, the dress I was looking for wouldn’t ship in time, and a few couples I reached out too weren’t available for that day. There were a few times, I wasn’t sure the shoot was going to work out but randomly one Monday, I was able to find a couple to model, a dress that was perfect, a florist, and a cake! (SO GRATEFUL FOR Wes and Sierra [models], easy searching on Amazon, Madi and Julianne [Desertflowers.co], and Ryan [The Smith and Rose Cake co.], and my sister [for letting me borrow her car] for helping this all come together!)

I was honestly super proud of myself for being able to coordinate all of this and have all of the colors and details work out! Now, I honestly think it would be fun to style every photo shoot like this haha! The day before the shoot, I was praying that everything would come together, the weather would work out, I would be able to have a safe and drivable car (cause mine was being a little wonky), and that everything would travel well. I was originally going to do a day trip- 4 hours there and 4 hours back- but the Lord provided and I was able to stay with one of my roommates in Las Cruces, an hour away from White Sands. BUT GOD IS GOOD and provided and took away all of my fears.

The day of the shoot, I drove to Las Cruces and had a photoshoot there before the White Sands shoot so I relaxed, ate some Chick-fil-a and took pictures of my friend Marina and her dog. Marina is an aspiring photographer so I thought she would like to tag along to the shoot to see what wedding portraits are kind of like. I drove our models, Wes and Sierra, Marina, the wedding dress, all of the flowers, the cake and the little side tables in my car and we drove an hour to White Sands. We finally got through border patrol and into White Sands! I met Alyssa for the first time, we started setting up the cake on the side tables, fluffing out the bouquet while Wes and Sierra became “bride and groom”. We shot all of the details of the beautiful cake and flowers.

I brought earrings and a necklace from my own collection, bobby pins, a slip for her dress, my makeup. I bought Sierra yellow shoes from Ross. I brought the colorful side tables from my house. I quickly pulled Sierra’s hair back in half-up braid and pinned some flowers and succulents. FUTURE BRIDES: if you absolutely need me to, I can do hair, make-up and accessorizing all day!

Also look how cute Sierra is and how perfect this dress fit her from AMAZON! It was so much fun seeing everything come together and to finally take these beautiful pictures at White Sands. We danced and ran around White Sands. People were walking by saying “Congratulations” even though it wasn’t even their wedding day so that was super cute! Wes and Sierra are recently engaged and are getting married in April so it was super fun for them to practice!

SO if you want to elope, tell me and I will help you plan it and we will create beautiful, magical photos like these! Like these are so beautiful and so fun!!!