Fairytale Elopement- A Beautiful, Intimate, Boho Styled Shoot in Cannon Falls, MN
May 10th, 2021 was not any ordinary Monday. This was a beautiful spring day in which dozens of amazing Minnesota wedding vendors came together to turn a styled shoot into an intimate and beautiful elopement. Wait, what?! A styled shoot became an elopement?! This couple basically got a free wedding day?! How did this happen?! This beautiful day was one of my favorites as a wedding planner so far, and the story is one for the ages. I am so excited to tell you ALL about it!
The Story
Real-life engaged couple, Camille McMahon & Kyle Loving, had done family photos with one of our photographers in the past and they were so enthusiastic and excited to be the models for this shoot. I love working with real couples for styled shoots! The real chemistry and fun they bring to shoots just makes photos come to life! Plus, it is such a fun “date day” for a couple to get dressed up and get a bunch of beautiful photos taken. As soon as we confirmed Camille & Kyle for our shoot, we were confident that our photos would be fantastic. That’s when fate took over.
As I mentioned before, Camille & Kyle were already engaged. As they both had been married before, neither of them were looking for a huge wedding. So they thought they would go out on a limb and ask us a crazy question… “What if we actually got married at this styled shoot?” We already had all the vendors and the space and they’d both be dressed up. All they would need to do is say their vows and have the officiant sign a marriage license! Camille & Kyle were both so gracious with this question. They were 100% willing to go along with our design and plan for the shoot and were still happy to participate should the answer be “no”. But between myself and the photographers on my planning team, we were all totally on board to see if we could make this happen!
As we connected with more and more vendors, everything just seemed to fall into place. All the vendors were super excited to participate in our shoot and were more than willing to help us make this a real elopement! After reaching out to Kayla Anne Hair to be our hairstylist for the shoot we found out that Camille was one of her regular hair clients! Kayla was so excited to join our vendor team and to help create a beautiful look for Camille on her big day. Autumn Made Co designed the invitations for our flat lay and made sure to not only include Camille & Kyle’s real names and actual ceremony time, but also made an extra copy of the invitation for them to keep. Carsyn’s Sweet Treats sent us a list of her cake and frosting flavors and Camille and Kyle got to choose the flavor for their wedding cake.
As we approached the last two weeks before our shoot, we were really crossing our fingers on two pieces that would make the whole vision come to life: an officiant to make this shoot an actual elopement and a horse for some unique outdoor photos. Call it luck, fate or just some intense networking but we somehow pulled off both! Liz of Liz Rae & Co happened to be available super last minute to be our officiant. She even made a point to connect with Camille and Kyle before the shoot to learn their story and help make her piece of the elopement meaningful. And thanks to some dumb luck and going out on a limb to reach out to a friend of a friend of a friend, we ended up finding not one, but THREE horses to add to our shoot!
Somehow, someway all of the pieces just fell into place to turn this vision for a boho styled shoot into a beautiful elopement for Kyle and Camille. And did I mention it would also be Camille’s birthday that day? It all truly felt magical and the day had not even begun.
The Vendors
The details of this day coming together so beautifully certainly felt like fate, but it was definitely more than that. The vendor team we had assembled was nothing short of spectacular! Never before had I worked a wedding where each and every vendor was so talented, positive and willing to go above and beyond to bring this vision to life. Not only this, but so many of our vendors were new and up and coming to the Minnesota wedding vendor scene, and/or young women and moms running their own small businesses. What an honor it was to work with all of these people! Here are a few I’d love to highlight:
Stationary/Calligraphy by Autumn Made Co.
Owner Autumn Bungum started this company as a side business/passion project to her main 9-5 gig and she is also an expecting mama to be! The invitation suite was absolutely breathtaking, and our photographers really knew how to pull in floral, ribbon, beautiful ring boxes and more to highlight Autumn’s work! She also created some fun dessert signage for this shoot!
Rental Décor & Styling by The Fond Collective
Owner Leah Koschak brings so much heart, passion and talent to the rentals scene and I have loved working with her on this and other projects! After officially launching The Fond Collective in early 2020, Leah continues to grow her inventory and is always adding and updating her beautiful pieces! You can see her work in every corner of our shoot, from the styled lounge (check out her Instagram post to hear the backstory on her Sally sofa!) to the unique dessert display to the fantastic diamond arch for our ceremony. She is also a not only a small business owner, but mama of two girls!
Floral Design by Juniper Rose Floral
After working several years for a floral shop, Crystal took the leap when her daughter was born last year to quit and become her own boss, and thus Juniper Rose Floral was born! Her floral design is out of this world stunning! When she arrived at Woodhaven for our shoot, Crystal showed us what she had made and asked “Is this too much?!” Our answer was “Absolutely not!” From the large and lush bridal bouquet, to the installations on the fireplace and ceremony arch, to the details on the bridal hat, to the tiny blooms in the bride’s gorgeous boho braid, I could look at photos of these flowers for days! She is so sweet, easy to work with and knows how to elevate a vision and make it come to life!
Dessert by Carsyn’s Sweet Treats
After specializing in custom desserts for a few years, owner Carsyn Juelsgaard is just now starting to break into the wedding industry and boy am I glad she is! Her cakes and desserts are beautiful pieces of art that are also mouth-watering and delicious! She customized not only a two-tier cake for our shoot but also dipped pretzel sticks, rice krispie treats and cake-sicles! She took our vision and totally ran with it, and is definitely a new wedding vendor to keep your eye on.
Photography by Alexis Chanel Photography, Mallory Gregory Photography & Bethany Walker Photos
In addition to owning their own businesses, Alexis Hohertz and Bethany Walker are also mamas to some young ones. And just this year, Mallory Gregory took the leap and quit her nursing job to pursue photography full time! All three of these women are incredibly smart and talented photographers who were instrumental in planning and creating the vision for this day!
Venue at Woodhaven Weddings & Events
Located at the Gopher Hills Golf Course, this venue is JUST now opening and will be having their first “official” wedding this month. They were such gracious hosts for our shoot and there are so many fantastic features to this space including a huge bridal suite and grooms suite, separate ceremony and reception spaces (that seat up to 350!) and stunning outdoor views of rural MN!
It was so empowering to be a part of a vendor team that included so many young women and mothers just starting out in the wedding industry (myself included!) pursuing their passions and showcasing their talents. These were just a handful of our amazing vendors (keep reading to see more!) Everyone who participated gave their heart and soul and brought so much positivity and creativity to the day!
The Details
It’s no surprise that when you take a romantic story and genuine couple, add a handful of talented vendors and mix with some gorgeous details you get a fairytale of a day. Here are some of my favorite beautiful details!
The bridal suite at Woodhaven is luxurious and full of great light, and was such a fun space for bride Camille to get ready with makeup artist, Anna Joy Makeup and hair stylist Kayla Anne Hair. Her makeup was elegant, soft and not too glam and her boho bridal braid came together beautifully with just a few tiny blooms poked into it.
This shoot had not one, but two amazing looks for both the bride and the groom! The bride started out in the lovely “Faye” dress from rental company Revive Yo Soul. Then, for our more adventurous part of the shoot (the outdoor piece with horses) she changed into a custom-made gown from West Collaborative. Laura, of West Collaborative, is a wedding and elopement photographer who has always had a passion for sewing and creating and is now starting to make custom gowns! We were so grateful to her for working with us and taking our vision and adding her own personal flair!
As for the groom, I was so excited to partner with Martin Patrick 3 for this laid-back, boho look. The first look was comfortable, but classy. We loved how versatile the brown linen shirt was! Depending on whether it was tucked or untucked or paired with the jacket or not could totally take it from boho casual to more upscale! His second look not only featured pants and a shirt from Martin Patrick 3, but also custom leather suspenders from Hattie Rose Collective. photos by Mallory.
Both the first look and ceremony were intimate, beautiful and so genuine. Although both the bride and groom had started out the day thinking they wouldn’t get emotional, they both found themselves needing Kleenexes throughout these special moments! Liz of Liz Rae & Co was an excellent officiant and had such a beautiful and personal message for the ceremony that was short and sweet but totally captured Camille & Kyle’s love story. With only a few of the vendors from the styled shoot present, Camille & Kyle said their “I dos” and made me fall head over heels in love with elopements.
What made this shoot so gorgeous and unique was our three extra models: Chevy, Cojax and Luna! All three horses were such good sports and gentle buddies as we adorned them with floral and marched them through the fields with our newlyweds! We still can’t believe how lucky we were to have them be a part of this shoot and make our vision come to life.
The last little detail was a very tiny and very fun surprise… Models and newlyweds Camille and Kyle were also a Mom & Dad to be! Camille was just shy of 11 weeks pregnant at our shoot, and although her bump was pretty hard to see at this point, it was super fun to get to feature Baby Loving in a handful of our pics! Not sure you can beat getting eloped at a styled shoot on your birthday while you are expecting your first baby! No wonder Camille was glowing!
This styled shoot felt like the light at the end of the tunnel for me. After a long year of navigating starting a wedding business during a pandemic (I do NOT recommend!), this shoot brought me so much joy and reminded me why I LOVE being in the wedding industry. It was also a testament to how a vendor team can make or break an event. If you are looking for talented, creative, passionate wedding vendors who are also amazing humans, look no further than this list!
Planning & Coordination Enjoyful Events Venue Woodhaven Weddings & Events Photography Alexis Chanel Photography, Mallory Gregory Photography & Bethany Walker Photos Videography Hinton Productions Floral Juniper Rose Floral MN Rentals The Fond Collective Coffee Table Rental A Family Affair Event Styling Calligraphy Autumn Made Co Dessert Carsyn’s Sweet Treats Officiant Liz Rae & Co Hair Stylist Kayla Anne Hair Makeup Artist Anna Joy Makeup Bridal Wear Revive Yo Soul & West Collaborative Groomswear Martin Patrick 3 Custom Suspenders Hattie Rose Collective Models-Camille & Kyle Loving Horses-Chevy, Cojax & Luna
