Less than an hour outside of Virginia Beach resides the charm of Smithfield Virginia. There are those who would argue that if you blink you'll miss it but not I and I'm willing to wager nor you if chance should ever bring you there.
Todays shoot took place at Smithfield Winery, a historic building, a venue, a place to gather and gaze about with lust in your eyes. One could also argue that the objective of todays shoot was to gather content for an up & coming event I'm planning to host. The truth however, was that I simply wanted to immerse myself within the atmosphere & have the space to satisfy my insatiable craving to create art amongst all of it's beauty and wonder!
Ellie arrived right on time. My shot list was mighty ambitious so we got right to it. I walked her through the shots and wardrobe changes. The clawfoot tub with dreamy undertones in the pink tule, the antique chests with edginess and attitude in the black tule and finally the wooden ladder in the boho gown with train trailing down. It was when I walked over to reveal her boho bouquet that my inside voice spoke up, 'where's the gown?' I scanned my staging area, eyes large, searching. My inside voice spoke louder and with undeniable panic, 'WHERE'S THE GOWN?!'. My outside voice screams, "I forgot the dress!!!"
I'm immediately sick to my stomach and can envision the garment bag with several dresses hanging in my client closet at home, ONE HOUR away. Uuuuugggghhhhhhh, my hands reach up to cover my face. Whispering, coaxing, insisting, my inside voice says 'it's ok, you've got the tule dresses, you'll be fine.' I rapid fire through a new shot list and recover, confident that all is not lost.
There's a rule when building 'measure twice, cut once'...I'm pretty sure it was Santa Clause who said something about making a list and checking it twice....check your list and check it again especially when you're renting a space and especially when you're an hour drive from your home base!
Honestly, I had to laugh at myself. Originally, I had planned on loading the leather tufted couch and bride bike. I'm designing a new website and was eager to showcase my rentals with this breathtaking venue as the backdrop. There's absolutely no way I could accomplish all of this in the two hour window I had. Especially when you have the set up and tear down to consider and subtract from the total time.
The slight moment of panic came and went as fast as a gust of wind on a calm summer day. The day itself was a dream, I left feeling drunk and giddy. I could have skipped down the charming streets of Smithfield, passing by the victorian houses and historic buildings now shops and boutiques.
Ellie put it best. She said that this location and the theme of this shoot 'speaks to my soul' and I agree!!!
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