Many congratulations and sincerest wishes for a lifetime of love and happiness! Thank you for choosing us to be part of your day. XO – Ginger & Sarah
A BOUTIQUE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE
Many congratulations and sincerest wishes for a lifetime of love and happiness! Thank you for choosing us to be part of your day. XO – Ginger & Sarah
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. {1 Cor. 13: 4-8}
Check back on Thursday for part two of these college sweethearts.
We have a great love for crafting and DIY. Generally this works out for us and we enjoy the process of ‘doing’. Recently we took on a project that nearly had us throwing in the towel and we thought we’d share about it on the blog so we could all laugh about it together (though we may not entirely be there yet).
When we very first decided that we needed to have our own office space we decided to transform a spare bedroom in Sarah’s house into a meeting space for us to use. We had never had a space of our own before but we thought that 4 chairs and a round table would be perfect for us to meet with clients. We found a small set on Craigslist that needed a little work but seemed to fit the bill. In retrospect this may not have been the best idea, but we drove down and met a guy at his warehouse to pick up the table and chairs. I don’t remember exactly the situation but I do remember there being several hiccups getting there and back (locked keys &/or getting lost). Anyways, by the time we got home and actually got a decent look at the chairs we noticed they were in worse condition than we had realized. We had already had a plan that we were going to slipcover & paint the chairs so it wasn’t a huge deal. Of course the kicker is that neither of us had much (any) sewing experience. What we did have was a borrowed sewing machine, 4 yards of fabric, and a can-do attitude. We laid the chairs out on some paper and threw together a template. The next thing we knew we had 4 usable white slipcovers. They were FAR from perfect but they generally did the job.
Sarah ended up having Natalie and we decided to move the office to my house. Thank heavens we only live 8 houses apart. The new office proved to be a better space for us long term and we ‘lived’ there for almost 3 years. But as we continued to use the chairs the slipcovers really began to show how (ahem) well they were constructed. I washed them and a seam came apart! That slipcover moved to my chair and was held together with duck tape with the knowledge that we would have to redo the chairs ASAP. Turns out ASAP is something like a year. Of course. The chairs turned into one of those projects that was always on the list but never at the top. We kept looking at fabric but never found something that seemed just right.
We finally got the kick in the pants to do something about the chairs when I decided that I was going to list my house on the market. (Yes, lots of mixed feelings.) We have been working with Amy & Jan from The Wynbrick Event Venue a lot this year and through a turn of events we found ourselves moving our office to their space. (They are WONDERFUL! Click over to see their site here!) We knew that the first (and main) thing we had to do was to fix the chairs.
We found the fabric at Joann’s and then set out to get to work on the chairs. Since our initial go-round we’ve picked up quite a bit more in the sewing department (especially Sarah) so we decided that she would sew the bottom cushions. The chairs were already at my house so I set out to dismantle the chairs and paint them. I barely even have the energy to retell that whole process. Needless to say that there was literally blood, sweat, and tears involved (from both of us). It took about 5ish hours to get the seats and back cushions off of the chairs. SO. MANY. STAPLES. If I never see a staple again it will be too soon. Clearly these were done in a factory because there were just so many staples. By the end of the first night of work my entire body was exhausted from pulling and prying involved. I had cuts on both of my hands from all of the staples. And that’s a real bummer when your job doesn’t involve workman’s comp! ;)
These photos were taken after the first night of pulling staples and only after I looked around and thought, “Oh I should take a picture, this is a hot mess.” So they are most definitely not staged or glorious.
After Sarah got the cushions she began making the template for the bottom cushion. She had an equally awesome time removing all the staples that had the original fabric attached. Once she had the template, she made 2 ‘test’ cushion covers from scrap fabric. While she was working on those. I began sanding and painting the chairs. Can I just whine a little more and say that there were so many steps that went into these things? And that there are 4 chairs so it really felt never ending? (WHINE WHINE WHINE) In total each chair required sanding, 3 coats of paint and 1 layer of top coat.
Finally the template had been figured out, the cushion covers sewn and the frames were painted. We really, really wanted to get into our new office so we decided that in order to finish the chairs we would just marathon it out. The bottom fabric needed to be attached to the cushions and the back needed to be upholstered as well. The open back design is something we really like but also created it’s own challenges. After a last day and a half stretch all 4 chairs were finally finished! By the time they were finished I think we may have been too sick of looking at them to celebrate!
We showed off the chairs in our blog post about our new office at The Wynbrick, but here is a picture of the office with the chairs:
We’ve gotten quite a few compliments on the chairs, and are happy with the way they turned out, but I think we learned a VERY important lesson: Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean that you necessarily SHOULD. In this instance I think we both would probably agree we should have cut our losses and sold the chairs and bought something done! Ah, live and learn!
I think the title pretty well sums up this post but of course we have lots more to say than just that! It’s pretty common knowledge that we live on the same street but many of you may not know that I recently listed my house and am moving! (Insert all of the emotions.) Buying and selling your house is a crazy experience to say the least but one additional thing that we had to think about was what that meant for the CES office. Since we have no need for a shooting space, for the last 3 years we have officed out of my sun porch. The space worked wonderfully for us since it was essentially separate from the rest of the house and had it’s own entrance. (See that space here.)
Earlier this year we had the very good fortune to meet and befriend Amy & Jan at The Wynbrick Boutique Event Venue in Liberty, MO. In an effort to be more proactive with our vendor friends I scheduled a meet and greet. I’m so glad I did! Before we knew it we were talking about networking and styled shoots and just generally getting along fabulously. (I’m just realizing we’ve not done a vendor spotlight on the blog about them yet. Coming soon!) The four of us hit it off well and one thing led to another and it worked out for us to move our office space over there this past August.
We’ve been in a busy season wedding-wise which is why we are just now getting to show off the new space but we also have been trying to get the finishing touches in place before we photographed the office. The office is more or less done, though we do hope to do a little more work to the outside patio at some point.
We brought over our chairs from our old office, but they got a make over before making the trip. We’ve got a whole blog post about those coming up soon (hint: some DIY’s should be skipped). We LOVE LOVE LOVE our new space but it has been kind of challenging for us to decorate! We’ve never had so many shelves, or so little concealed storage! But look at those shelves! AND THE NEW CANVAS’S! (<– Those are our FAVORITES!) I am almost embarrassed to admit how much I have obsessed over filling the shelves. But Vann’s hand me down milk vases, lots of Sarah and I’s books, new succulents (which we might accidentally be killing), and a big trip to Ikea seem to have gotten the job done.
We are so excited to be apart of the Wynbrick space! As you can see in the photos above our office has it’s own entrance on the side of the building along with it’s own patio. Right now we have a rug and patio set but we do hope to add some accent lighting at some point too. So when you come visit us make sure and come to the left side of the main entrance (just follow the stepping stones), and you’ll find our door!
When we presented a new gathering of Northland industry friends earlier last week we shared that the group was an outgrowth of a conversation about connecting with local brides and the power of working together. (#communityovercompetition) From that conversation we decided to create an opportunity for us to all work together and showcase our work. A wonderful collection of creatives, some very sweet models and a day full of work was proposed. Our shoot came to life a few weeks ago. We’re so excited to finally be sharing this collection with you.
We used two different wedding gowns as part of this show, we were sort of obsessed with them and feel like they were a great starting place for our romantic cocktail party themed event. Both of the gowns were provided by Jan from Romancing the Gowns in Platte City (also a founding member of the KC North Network Group). Houndstooth men’s clothing store provided a dapper suit and details for our male model capturing on our color scheme of navy. The shoot was held at The Wynbrick and Shana of Shana Vaughn Designs created a magical floral, candle and detail focused set up. Our model got her hair and make up done by Melissa of Divine Designs by Melissa. The cake was provided by Heather Roebekke of Indulge Cake Studio.
All of us on site for the shoot kept gushing over the outfits for the shoot. I’m not sure if we were more impressed with the bridal gowns or the men’s attire! Andrea was the picture of bridal perfection in this beaded tulle pick up skirt, but we also all fawned over the 2nd dress (come back on Friday to see it!) that was blush with a fabulous feather-like skirt.
To be honest, menswear usually takes a huge back seat when it comes to the wedding day. That was NOT the case with the outfit Caleb wore for this shoot. This was no ordinary, off the rack one-size-fits-all number. It was a navy pinstripe linen suit with fushia lining, that was accented with blue suede shoes, green suspenders, a vintage feeling tie, and pocket square. From the in the store fitting to the day of photo shoot we can not say enough GREAT things about the people at Houndstooth and their clothes!
This shoot would not have been possible without the collaboration of many talented vendors who came together to bring this vision to life. Shana designed, decorated, and flipped a total of SEVEN different set ups for this shoot. By that we mean she brought a van load of flowers, candles, linens and accessories. We basically all bowed down to her and watched in amazement. We’ve been able to work with her in the past and were so excited when she was able to partner with us for this shoot. We also owe a huge thank you to our models, Caleb & Andrea for allowing us to dress them up and take part in this shoot. You guys did amazing.
We’ll be back on Friday showing the 2nd half of the images from this day, make sure and stop back by to take a look!
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Creative Team:
Venue: The Wynbrick of Liberty @wynbrick
Floral and Design: Shana Vaughn Design @shanavaughndesigns
Gowns: Romancing the Gowns Facebook
Mensware: Houndstooth @houndstoothkc
Hair & Make Up: Divine Designs by Melissa Facebook
Cake: Roebekke of Indulge Studio
Photography: Creative Event Studio @photosbyces