I’ve just spent last week at the Inn at Serenbe, in my home state of Georgia, attending a styling workshop led by Joy Thigpen who has styled just about every over-the-top-beautiful-but-understated wedding you’ve ever seen on blogs or in print. She is classy with a capital C and has impeccable taste, so impeccable and bright that you could see her work sparkling from a mile away, quiet as it may be in pale grays and soft peaches and wispy ivories. I was there to learn how to refine my eye and to deconstruct whatever it is that defines “beauty” and “loveliness.” Surrounded by so many talented ladies, I came home both humbled and inspired. And old! Everyone was so YOUNG! By like, DECADES. What HAPPENED. I was like one of the old hens on the farm, clucking around in her old chicken coop!
Here are some photos from the workshop, taken both with my digital camera and the iPhone. I had wanted to shoot film but decided that I really wanted instant feedback on this occasion. The “bride” in the woods is one of the attendees, Caroline of Caroline Joy Photography. We had some downtime, the rain stopped, and as I was obsessing over the trail lined with tall Georgia pines, I asked her if she’d be up for a shoot. The dress she’s wearing is super simple in drape and was extremely oversized. It’s cinched at the back of the waist by a clamp and the only thing keeping the dress from sliding off her little shoulders is clear tape. I pulled a few flowers out of the dying arrangements, gave her some of my lip gloss, she touched up her hair a little and we were good to go! The other wonderful ladies I met: Paula (my roomie!), Christina, Meghan, Anne-Marie, Melanie, Tory, Emily and Rylee.
P.S. I sure wouldn’t mind photographing a wedding at Serenbe one day!
