Fall Vintage Wedding Shoot | Onyx & Honey » Heather Cook Elliott Photography

This past spring Amanda at Tailored Engagements and I teamed up with a slew of wonderfully talented people to create another dreamy inspiration shoot and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Amanda is the stylist behind a number of the stunningly beautiful weddings I get to photograph and of our gorgeous Mint Inspiration Shoot from a few springs ago but really, she out did herself this time. And 100 Layer Cake agreed, featuring our Onyx & Honey shoot as part of their fall look ahead series. Plus, I got to work with a real couple in love – the gorgeous Andrea & Jon who just recently tied the knot and had their own sweet day captured by our lenses. Lots of imagery to come, but here’s a note about all the shoot!

Sentimental right hand rings have become a common wedding must have and we see lots of wedding bands from moms and grandmothers on our brides. But recently, a late 70’s style black onyx ring caught our attention. You know the style – an elongated diamond shaped onyx supported on a thin gold band with exaggerated gold prongs to pull it together. It was the bride’s mom’s and had been her favorite as a little girl and with that simple onyx ring we realized that the 70s and 80s are the New Vintage. So, we wanted to style a shoot for the new vintage bride that loves the sheerness of lace but not lace itself, the shimmer of sequins but not bling exactly, the romance of a crown with out wearing a tiara, the detail of hand made items but not thrift stores, and her coffee with a little gold, or rather, honey.

With onyx and honey as our inspiration and the constant idea that we don’t need to look back to the 20s to get a vintage feel, all the exquisite details of this shoot came together. A few of my favorite things: Nothing says wedding like a gold chiavari chair, but Amanda reinterpreted the standard with a retro-vintage inspired tonal metallic chair I simply adore; sequined tablescapes are a must have for this year and a floral & fabric wall hanging could make any venue read wedding. My list goes on: the hippie-chic ease of the bridesmaid dress is totally glammed up by a costume jewelry necklace that demands a second look; both of these complement the (surprising) tulle strip skirt of the bride’s dress and all of it looks magical in the warm glow of late 20th century bar cart turned coffee cart. We love surprising “amusement” stations that allow guests to feel like they are a part of a special event and the onsite espresso bar complete with hand pulled shots and honey lattes is perfection. Finally, I have to say something about the awe-inspiring invites that pair exquisite letter-press with an over-sized invite to declare the importance of the day. That looping calligraphy is carried through to the place cards that sit atop the hand-painted polka dot plates on gold chargers (that are just a tiny bit 80s) and all together they create a stack of layered loveliness. And layers are what this shoot is all about – like honey sweetened coffee layered with creamy milk and foam the details are all multi-faceted, a little surprising and always sweet.